Farming through fires The moment Bairnsdale Constable Greg Coates finished work the evening of the fires, he raced home to his wife and two young children to defend his own house. Having grown up in the East Gippsland town and on his family’s farm at nearby Buchan, Const Coates was all too aware of the fire threat this summer posed. “Coming into the fire season, we had one of the driest three-year periods on record in East Gippsland, so everyone was more aware than usual that it could be a tough year,” Const Coates said. “I worked up to about 5pm when the fires came through on 30 December and myself and my shift partner both had to go home to defend our own properties.”
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The donations have been an absolute godsend and we can’t thank those people enough.
Const Coates was thankful his home wasn’t impacted, but his concern shifted to his parents John and Janice Coates in Buchan, who were facing fire threats from all sides. “The last contact I had with them that night was a picture message showing the fire crossing the mountains on both sides of their house,” he said. “Then telecommunications dropped out and I didn’t hear from them until my brother and I went up there the next morning. “It was a massive weight off our shoulders when we saw they were okay.” While his parents and their house made it through, their beef farm had been hit badly.
Const Coates was due to work three more days before going on planned leave but was allowed immediate time off to help on the farm. For days on end, Const Coates, his brother and parents worked long hours to save cattle, fix fences and clear roads. “To get access to our property and cattle over near the Snowy River, it took two days of my brother and I on chainsaws and tractors just to cut a track through the bush,” he said. “We were able to get those cattle back and muster them with horses to the Buchan property.” Crucial to their recovery efforts were the donations of hay and feed from across Victoria. “All the pastures we had planned to get us through summer got completely wiped out,” Const Coates said. “The donations have been an absolute godsend and we can’t thank those people enough.” He also praised the support of police from around the state who were deployed into the area to give local police a hand and a break, as well as those from the Heavy Vehicle Unit who provided escorts for convoys of trucks delivering hay and feed. “They’re out of their comfort zone, obviously away from their own families,” Const Coates said. “It means a hell of a lot that they’ve come up here to help us.” Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann
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Helping the helpers While police worked long hours for days on end during the bushfire disaster, community groups and businesses generously supported them along the way. Hundreds of extra police flooded fire-affected areas of Victoria’s east and north east, keeping people safe and helping with the recovery efforts. Residents and organisations in these areas went out of their way to express their gratitude for the work of the emergency services, displaying the best of country kindness and community spirit. Bairnsdale Police Station was the local hub for hundreds of police working in East Gippsland during the fires, and local pie producer Patties Foods had taken notice. Site manager of Patties’ Bairnsdale plant Michael Hall said the business helped fuel the police efforts by temporarily providing the station with a large pie warmer and plenty of pies and sausage rolls. “Quite often the people who look after us can be the ones we forget, so we wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case with the police,” Mr Hall said. “The last thing we want the police to have to worry about while they’re working so hard is how they’re going to get some food while on the go.”
Bairnsdale RSL was also getting behind the recovery mission, giving meals to all emergency services personnel. The town of Corryong benefitted from the generosity of Warrnambool Central Rotary Club on the other side of Victoria donating $2,000 to the eatery Maccas Takeaway to cover the cost of giving away free coffees and milkshakes. The shop’s owner Louisa McFarland said they used generator power to open in the days after the fires affected the small town. “The police we’ve had out here have been such a great team of people, and there are so many,” Ms McFarland said. “We just want to thank the police and other emergency services who have come up and helped us out.” At the other end of the generosity spectrum, global oil giant Esso donated the use of two of its oil rig supply ships and their crews to care for people stranded in Mallacoota. From ships to sausage rolls, it all made an important difference.
Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann POLICE LIFE | AUTUMN 2020
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