Lady Tradie Day was just one of many initiatives the Snowy Monaro Regional Council is lending its support to. Photo: Snowy Monaro Regional Council.
The bushfire recovery effort is still underway in the Snowy Mountains with a variety of local groups banding together to provide much-needed support throughout the region.
Whether it is volunteers or motivated local women gaining hands-on experience, it’s most definitely a multi-faceted recovery effort.
For example, Council’s Women’s Community Connect bushfire recovery initiative recently saw a group of women spending the day gaining hands-on-experience with engine, tools and equipment.
The so-called Lady Tradie Day took place at the Colinton RFS Shed and attendees received an introduction to vehicle maintenance as well as an in-depth look into gardening and landscaping tools and equipment.
Council’s Community Recovery Officer Susie Diver said events like these do more than just provide access to training and learning opportunities.
“It also helps to build a more resilient and capable community and it brings people together to share, reflect and reconnect after the difficulty of the last 18 months,” she said.
Also out on the ground has been a group of volunteers from the NRMA and Frontier Services in the town of Bumbalong, not far from Colinton, which was devastated in the Black Summer fires.
This team has been building fences, mending cars, trucks, tractors, cutting grass and putting together a new shed for the use of the Bumbalong Valley community and RFS Brigade.
Volunteers from the NRMA worked tirelessly to revive decades-old community fire vehicles, replacing suspension in paddock bashing utes and getting reacquainted with carburettors.
Then, when they were through with the mechanical work, everyone got stuck into fencing, painting, metalwork and countless other jobs.
Workers from Frontier Services and the NRMA get stuck into fencing work. Photo: Snowy Monaro Regional Council.
Mayor Peter Beer said the community owes these volunteers a deep debt of gratitude.
“These selfless people have travelled from across the state to work long, hard hours for days on end – rebuilding and repairing a small community that was left devastated after the Black Summer fires.”
He said that engaging person-to-person with communities in recovery is just as important as helping them with the practical realities of rebuilding.
“There are stories of heartbreak and tragedy from one end of this small valley to the other, and rebuilding a community and its people’s lives takes more than bricks and mortar alone.”
For more information about Council’s Community Recovery initiatives, visit their website.
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