Iain Hamilton of Mother Mountain Forge (right) with Dave Bennett. Photos: Supplied.
The Cobargo Community Tree project is in its final phase. The bulk of the metal leaves have been made, the design of the tree the leaves will hang from is complete, and potential sites have been identified. The next step is raising the funds needed to build the tree.
The Cobargo Community Tree project started in the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires that tore through Cobargo’s main street on New Year’s Eve 2019.
Iain Hamilton came up with the idea. He has run Mother Mountain Forge in Dignams Creek for 25 years.
“After the bushfires I was deeply moved by how well our community came together and helped each other instead of waiting for someone to come help,” Mr Hamilton said.
He was influenced by a blacksmith who after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria wanted to make a tree that would not burn.
“Blacksmiths around the world made gum leaves and gum nuts and he welded them into a sculpture,” Mr Hamilton said.
After being involved in the Victorian project he thought it would be a great thing to do for Cobargo “but instead of random people sending in leaves, let’s get the community to do it”, he said.
Mr Hamilton joined forces with Swiss blacksmith Philippe Ravenel of Galba Forge in Wandella.
Understanding that the process of forging is quite therapeutic, they invited people from Cobargo and surrounds who were affected by the fires to make a leaf, stamp their name on it and make a tree.
All sorts of people took part, each taking about an hour and a half to make a leaf.
Philippe Ravenel of Galba Forge stamps a community member’s name on a leaf.
“You had to talk to people about being afraid of fires and not being confident,” Mr Hamilton said. “The easiest were the kids.”
He and Mr Ravenel worked on the project on their weekends whenever possible, showing community members how to forge leaves.
Mr Hamilton could only devote one weekend every month because he teaches on weekends while Mr Ravenel was able to contribute more weekends before the time came to start rebuilding the home he lost in the bushfires.
Between the men’s availability and the community’s physical and emotional capacity to turn their attention to the project, it took some three to four years.
“People took their time to get to it or to be talked into it,” Mr Hamilton said.
People had the option of putting the family name on one leaf or doing individual leaves for family members. The overwhelming majority wanted to do individual leaves, even down to babies. The youngest person to make their own leaf was three years old.
The two blacksmiths held a community meeting on 7 February where they explained all the work they had done in the background, where the tree would go and what it would look like.
The three potential sites are the Town Square, part of the Cobargo CBD rebuild which is nearly complete, in front of the School of Arts Hall, and behind the new Bushfire Resilience Centre.
“We will be giving the tree away, so it won’t be ours anymore,” Mr Hamilton said. They are looking for somewhere the tree will be safe and be maintained.
The completed design of the Cobargo Community Tree.
To date, 1500 leaves have been made. Another 500 are needed to make the tree.
Mr Hamilton said people liked the design of the topiary-like umbrella structure.
People will be able to stand underneath it and see people’s names on the leaves.
Mr Hamilton will be building the 3.9-metre-tall and 4.8-metre-wide tree himself full-time and needs around $70,000 to do so.
“The leaves are the easy part,” he said. “Building the structure to put them on is the time-consuming part and there are many other costs involved.”
That includes paying for the graphic designer who brought Mr Hamilton’s concept to life.
The community meeting was intended in part to get people excited about the project again because of the need to raise funds.
“The tree isn’t a memorial. It is about the community,” he said. “It isn’t to relive trauma, but I remember our community pulling together. The tree is solid. It shelters us.”
Mr Hamilton said many people found the leaf-making process very therapeutic. “A few people broke down in tears which was heartwarming.”
