Cathy Fawbert on the completed concrete slab. Photos: John and Cathy Fawbert.
Six years after their house was destroyed by the Black Summer bushfires, John and Cathy Fawbert are still living in a shed.
They are doing as much of the work they can to build a new home on their rural acreage property in Yowrie, near Cobargo. With various health issues between them, there is only so much the retired married couple can do.
The critical stumbling block is money. They are one of the families who lost their entire life savings to allegedly fraudulent Melbourne building company Atomic 6.
The Fawberts entered a contract with Atomic 6 in December 2020. Their four-bedroom double-brick home was insured, so they passed the insurance payout, along with all their savings, to Atomic 6.
In late November 2021 Bega Valley Shire Council told them that a stop work order had been placed on all properties in the shire connected with the company.
On 12 July 2023, Atomic 6 Pty Limited was wound up by the Supreme Court of Victoria. The liquidator advised there was little chance creditors would receive anything. The Department of Fair Trading commenced proceedings against Andrew Lennox in late 2023 relating to his alleged misconduct as a director of Atomic 6. In April 2024 Bega Local Court issued a warrant for his arrest due to non-appearance in court.
Because they were insured and received an insurance payout, the Fawberts could not qualify for any government grants that may have been available to others. They are living in a shed. It has power, water and a roof but it is all in two simple “rooms”.
Retiree and owner-builder John Fawbert working on the framework.
The development application for the house has been approved by council. So far council has inspected the completed plumbing and the steel on their completed concrete slab.
Next to be inspected are the frames that the couple are making with the help of their daughters. A former neighbour who now lives in Bemboka visits them once a week to help John, a former sheet metal worker, with the frames that are too big for Cathy to handle.
“It isn’t quite the way we expected to be spending our retirement,” Cathy said.
The concrete slab will be polished to save the cost of buying tiles.
The community helped by collecting and donating glass items to go into the concrete and dropping them off at their gate.
“The Cobargo pub collected a big variety of different coloured bottles,” he said. “Cathy cleaned it all, took the labels off and crushed it. There is a fair bit of work involved in doing that.”
A shop in Narooma donated a bathtub, vanity and taps, while a shop in Bega is storing their new fireplace for them. The kitchen appliances they bought in 2021 for the house that Atomic 6 had promised are in storage but the warranties are running out.
John Fawbert putting up frames.
John is making all the trusses himself. The largest are 19 metres long and four metres high. He will need someone with expertise to lift them into place with a crane and fasten them.
Then they need money to buy steel for the roof.
Local businesses including Narooma Betta, Pambula Mitre 10 and Swan Plumbing in Pambula have offered generous discounts, but the Fawberts do not have the money to take advantage.
“We have a little bit of money, but it is rapidly running out,” John said. “We got a very good price on insulation and the roofing blanket, but that will take all the rest of the money, and you can’t put that down before you have the steel to cover it, so we need to be able to afford the roof to protect the insulation and everything else.”
He remains angry towards Atomic 6 and frustrated by the lack of government help.
“We are very excited by what we have achieved but we are frustrated that there is no offer of help from any of the government agencies we have approached,” John said. “They just shut the door and push us aside. There is no hint of any possibility of assistance, just a straight-out no or no response.”
Cathy said they were uncertain what lay ahead.
“If we don’t keep going and keep trying, we will just be sitting here in this shed and be so depressed and our lives will be shorter,” Cathy said. “We made the decision to go ahead and see how far we can go and get some financial help or even materials donated or some skilled workers like electricians to help us out.”
