Ben Kemp, who staged epic marriage proposal in the days after Pinery bushfire, to wed Jadine Mold
ON the day they got engaged, Ben Kemp and Jadine Mold overlooked their charred Roseworthy property. On Saturday, they celebrate their marriage at the family farm, which has recovered from the Pinery bushfire.
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ON the day they got engaged, Ben Kemp and Jadine Mold overlooked their charred Roseworthy property which had been devastated by fire.
Ten months later, on the day of their wedding, the crops are green and the couple are worried about whether rain will stay at bay.
On Saturday, they will tie the knot at an old heritage-listed church near Rhynie before the party kicks off at the family farm, which has recovered well from the Pinery bushfire in November last year.
“I really just don’t want it to rain - I know everyone says it’s meant to be good luck but it’s just more awkward than anything else,” Ms Mold said on the eve of her wedding.
“But I know the wedding is going to be amazing.”
Her soon-to-be husband captivated South Australia when he proposed to his girlfriend less than a week after the Pinery bushfire swept over his family’s Roseworthy property, blackening paddocks
and destroying a shed filled with hay.
Mr Kemp, 29, led his girlfriend, 29, to Barossa Helicopters on the pretence of them surveying the damage the fire had caused to his family farm less than a week earlier.
On the burnt ground were undamaged hay bales. From eye level, they were of no significance but from the air, they spelt the words, ‘will you marry me?’
Mr Kemp and Ms Mold had no idea how well received the proposal would be in the community
– that out of something devastating, light could shine.
“I just thought I’d get a bit of stick from my best friend, setting the bar a bit too high but it got a bit more attention than I thought it would,” Mr Kemp said.
“The fire magnified it a bit.
“I wasn’t really sure whether I should be doing (the proposal) or not after an event like that. I didn’t know how people would see it - whether I was doing the right thing.
“But I haven’t received any bad feedback about it, all turned out very well.”
Across the Kemp family properties, about 500ha of land was scorched and 1000 large square bales valued at $100,000 were destroyed in one hay shed.
The hay bales used to spell out the marriage proposal were the only ones salvaged on that 300ha
property, because Mr Kemp had put them aside for the special job.
During the blaze, Mr Kemp had been at Mallala helping to fight the fire with their farm appliance when fears were raised for the family farm. His family and workers saved cattle, sheds and the cottage the couple want to live in.
In the months after the fire, both the couple and their families worked hard to restore the farm,
including fence re-posting, ripping up burnt trees and controlling the dust that had overtaken their property.
It took five months for the dust to disappear and now the landscape has returned to its former glory.
Following the wedding, the couple will head to the Cook Islands for 10 days for their honeymoon before returning in time for harvest.
