I live in the northern outskirts of this little city - it take me less than
40 minutes to reach the southern suburbs - and as I write, the sunset
singsong of Mr Magpie, Mrs Galah, Mrs PeeWee and the tuneless laughter of Mr
Kookaburra are all but drowning out the last sloppy, romantic tune of
Judging Amy.
But this afternoon, just 15 minutes away, I was in a place where there are
no birds left to sing. I visited a friend and my journey took me through
the suburbs that just a fortnight ago were in the mouth of the fire-dragon.
And I just couldn't stop weeping. The beautiful forests still stand tall
but instead of their green cloaks sweeping the ground, their naked fingers
point starkly to the sky, frozen in that awful moment. Some trees have not
even straightened up - they are bent over as though trapped in a perpetual
wind and rigor mortis has set in.
Street upon street looked like mouths of uncared-for teeth. Every now and
then there were homes still standing, but there were more gaps than houses.
Ruins of what were happy homes now stand abandoned, piles of rubble with any
valuables found already taken away in a little bucket, beribboned with
yellow and black Keep Out tape and sings saying looters will be hung.
Already the crew that cleared Ground Zero have moved in and in four months
all that will be left of 30 years of hard work will be ash-soaked bare
ground.
There were no animals - 99% of our precious wildlife in the local
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve has gone - yesterday they found the sole
remaining koala. She is seriously burned, but the rangers have christened
her Lucky and put her in the care of those who can. You have to think that
a similar percentage of the free-roaming wildlife has not survived.
The images and the smell and the silence will be with me for a very long
time.
When I came home I started to create some webpages about the appeal for
teddy bears, but I found myself having to include some of the pictures that
I found on the web. I will put the happy pages together during the week as
I start to unpack all the teddies that have arrived already. I keep
thinking of this as the Phoenix Appeal - it has risen out of the ashes.
There is a link to what I have done so far from the main page of our website
http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au but for now I am going to sit outside as
darkness falls from the first clear skies in two weeks and listen to the
serenade.
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher-Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA
T. 61 2 6205 6162
F. 61 2 6205 7242
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au
E. barbara@austarmetro.com.au
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