New memorial a haven for Black Saturday survivors

FOR Karen Plant and other survivors of Bendigo’s Black Saturday fire, the city’s new memorial is a haven to remember and reflect.City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Rod Fyffe yesterday inspected the memorial and garden at the Albert Richardson Reserve in Marong Road.The memorial was designed by landscape architect Karoline Klein after development work by a committee comprising survivors, the council, and other agencies.Karen Plant, a member of the committee, husband Brad and son Kyle, now 16, lost their house in Albert Street when the Bracewell Street fire swept her neighbourhood on February 7, 2009.She said the memorial was a fitting tribute to those who suffered during and after the fire.“It’s been a healing process for me as well because I’ve been involved in it. The memorial is something good to come out of it. Part of one of the granite walls at the memorial.Along with the completed bushfire tree, three black polished granite walls are presented as a timeline of the fire from destruction, to remembrance, to renewal.The first has a silver panel that buckles on one side, with three silver mounds in front representing metal that warped and melted on the ground in intense heat.The second houses a sealed window containing household items such as teacups, scissors and a melted glass salvaged from the ashes.Photographs and tiles contributed by 35 victims and assembled as a mosaic by artist Kerry Punton feature on both sides of the wall. The mosaics include text and photographs including one of Mick Kane, who died in the inferno.The third wall has enamel print panels in bright green shades representing regrowth and renewal.A gathering space and community garden has been established at the reserve as part of the $239,000 redevelopment.