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THEY’RE YOUR STORIES
‘Everything is gone’
I
t was supposed to be Patty Chinnock’s forever home. Echoing with the laughter of kids and grandkids, it was meant to see the expat Kiwi through a happy retirement. It’s now little more than ash, incinerated in the 1000-degree New Year’s Eve inferno that ripped through the tiny township of Conjola Park, a close-knit community on the south coast of New South Wales. The fire also consumed the house next door, belonging to her late husband’s Keith’s brother, destroying a cherished family stronghold. Patty feels like she has lost Keith all over again, with all the memories and mementos of their life together now little more than ashes. “Everything is gone,” Patty says through tears. “Thinking of all the things that are lost – the sentimental things that you just can’t replace – that’s
I LOST MY HOME
in the Aussie fires
26
New Zealand Woman’s Weekly
