Scarred shares stories from Mount Cole fires

A NEW book tells the stories of many local residents and landholders who lived through last February’s devastating Bayindeen-Rocky Road fires that savaged the Mount Cole area.

Launched at the Cave Hill Creek camping venue in Raglan late last month, Scarred captures a multitude of local voices, sharing their sometimes harrowing and hair-raising stories that emerged from the scorched landscape.

The project is the brainchild of Raglan Fire Brigade member Rod McErvale, who enlisted the services of experienced Ballarat-based author Hugh Patrick Carroll to help tell the stories that had been seared into many locals’ memories and “needed to be told”.

“I honestly had no intention of writing a full-length book,” relates Carroll, for whom the extent of the project emerged after attending a barbecue in Raglan shortly after the fires.

“After I was invited to Raglan and spoke with the affected families, I quickly realised there was a story here and it needed to be told.”

He began the writing process by interviewing locals from Elmhurst, Amphitheatre, Ararat, Raglan, Beaufort, Warrak, and the surrounding areas, eventually speaking with more than 100 people.

“Everyone had different stories, and no one had the full picture of what happened across the fireground,” Carroll said.

“There was this universal shock at the scale of the fire. Even seasoned locals who had experienced fires before weren’t prepared for something of this magnitude.”

Carroll said he was also struck by the diverse backgrounds of those who had been impacted.

“I expected to find mostly farming families who’d been there for generations. But I was struck by the diversity, people from places like Paris and Mexico City, or those with family histories shaped by global conflict, all ending up in this quiet corner of Victoria,” he said.

“Their reasons for settling there were just as compelling as their experiences during the fire.”

The result is a book that blends personal histories with reflections on the fire and the resilience of local communities.

Mr McErvale, who convened the Book Group tasked with bringing the project to life, said a $10,000 grant from the Bendigo Bank’s Bushfire Recovery Fund helped turn the idea into reality.

“We formed the group and applied for the grant,” he said.

“When we were successful, we thought ‘OK, we can really make something special here’. Fortunately, Hugh had also agreed to come on board free of charge,” Mr McErvale said, praising Carroll’s storytelling approach.

“It reads like a novel, I was surprised by how candidly people opened up,” he said.

“It wasn’t like we asked them to bare their souls, but once the interviews started, it became clear people needed that chance to speak. There’s still some wounds out there. It was like a healing process.

“The way the book weaves different people’s stories together is brilliant and to have something like this to pass down through the generations is just fantastic.”

Mr McErvale said the book has been so well received that they’ve now had to print more copies.

Proceeds from sales of Scarred will support the restoration of bushland campsites and community spaces in the Mount Cole area, with copies of the book available by emailing [email protected].

“Copies are also available at Beaufort library, Beaufort newsagent and at the Bloomin Fresh shop in Beaufort,” Mr McErvale said.