MARYSVILLE once boasted eight licenced venues and 3000 tourist beds across the district.

The town now has just 1000 beds, two licenced premises open three nights a week, and a population halved.

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Those who stayed have become the pioneers of a new Marysville after 90 per cent of its buildings burned; modern steel reinforced houses have risen where old cottages once stood.

Resilient business owners say they are positive about the future of their town, which is once again green, pretty, and ready to welcome back tourists.

“In only five years you can hardly see the bushfire intrude,” said sculpture garden owner Bruno Torfs.

“I believe Marysville is coming back beautifully. Never going to be the same but the people around, they still love being here.”

Buxton mum of seven Marg Fiddler, who moved out of temporary accommodation and into a new home just before Christmas, said sitting down at the table with the whole family was her happiest moment after the fires.

But even without the house, Ms Fiddler (pictured below) said her family always felt like they were home, living in the shed on their farm.

“We were black all the time, we were always black because there was black everywhere,” she said

“But it’s home, this is home … because we’ve always been together.”

The ski hire shops are back, and the famous lolly shop, bakery and patisserie are open for business.

A new $28 million hotel and conference centre will open in the main street by the end of the year.

“We’re certainly not over it but I think as every new step has happened in town, as every new thing has happened we’ve gained some momentum,” said David Stirling, head of the Marysville and District Chamber of Commerce.

“We could have easily taken the easy way and just said no, it’s all too hard … so every business in town has done a remarkable job in at least opening and staying open because it isn’t easy.”

The fire claimed 40 lives, destroyed or damaged 538 homes across the district, wiped out the quaint Marysville business centre, pub, resort, police station, health clinic, kindergarten and primary school.

Peter Gill, owner of the rebuilt El Kanah guesthouse, said while the generosity after Black Saturday was “amazing”, businesses were offered little financial support.

Some business owners walked away rather than facing the myriad building permits, approvals and new fire regulations.

The Murrindindi Shire, which encompasses the fire-ravaged communities of Marysville, Kinglake, Strath Creek, Taggerty, Yea, Flowerdale, Strathewen, Buxton and Alexandra, received $31 million worth of new community assets after the fires, funded by the State Government and bushfire relief fund.

The assets, among them a multipurpose stadium and a big visitor centre, were a boost for the town.

But with a $9.2 million government assistance package winding up at the end of 2013, council said it may have to increase rates again to cover the maintenance and operational costs, at $1.8 million a year.

Struggling ratepayers have already been slugged with a 6 per cent rate rise each year since 2010.

Murrindindi Shire mayor Margaret Rae said the council had been pleading for another $14 million from the State Government for almost two years.

Government spokeswoman Jessica Jackson confirmed that the additional $14 million had not been granted, “but the Government continues to work closely with Murrindindi Shire to develop and implement a strategic and sustainable response in relation to these gifted assets”.

“The Victorian Government has provided Murrindindi Shire Council a considerable amount of support since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, assisting the council in managing the significant rebuilding process,” she said.

Cr Rae said ratepayers would suffer if further funding was not given.

“If we don’t get assistance we will struggle financially and unfortunately I think the outcome for that would have to be a future impost on ratepayers because you have to get your money somewhere,” she said.

Council documents show income from rates and charges have increased by almost $3.8 million in the five years since the bushfires, from $10.8 million to $14.6 million.

Former Murrindindi Shire mayor Lyn Gunter resigned at the end of 2009 as a result of the rate rises.

She suggested a maximum 2 per cent increase, but was outnumbered by her fellow councillors.

“I resigned on principle,” she said.

“I wouldn’t be a part of what they were doing to the community.”

Mrs Gunter said when she sat on the bushfire appeals fund she raised concerns when the council signed off on millions of dollars of new infrastructure.

“I said ‘do you realise what you’re doing here, passing rates onto the people … these are small populations in a large area whose rate base can’t afford it’,” she said.

“There’s been some fantastic things and some great progress and services but if only they had done it in a sustainable way.”

In the past four years, fewer properties have been sold in Marysville than in the year before the fires.

In four financial years to June 2013, just 19 properties sold in Marysville, 12 of those in the past two financial years.

One year before Black Saturday, the town recorded 28 sales.

The volume of sales is so low that an accurate median house price can’t be calculated.

Fires near Marysville in recent weeks put the community  on high alert as the smell of smoke wafted across the district.

Woods Point policeman Leading Senior Constable Ken Dwight says vigilance is essential.

Leading Sen-Constable Dwight, who helped lead many in the town to safety on Black Saturday and won a valour award, said there was no room for complacency.

“Bushfires in these mountains are a way of life – they happen every year,” he said.

“The bush grows back, the new growth is already halfway up.

“I wouldn’t say it’s perfectly safe... If anything it’s only getting worse.”

Where the attraction to Marysville was once the quaint country atmosphere and cottages, devastation now marks Marysville on the map for many tourists.

Almost every day visitors can be seen driving slowly into town, cameras at the ready, eyes searching for signs of destruction.

The first question on visitors’ lips is often, “Were you here on Black Saturday”.

Cr Rae said the community didn’t want to dwell on the fires.

“They reflect to an extent but they don’t always want a lot of stirring up in that way because it’s not helpful moving forward,” she said.

“The message from us is we’re positive about the future.

“OK, we’ve got challenges and it’s not an easy road, we can’t turn the clock back to what it was, but we have a future and that’s what we’re working toward.”

MONEY LEFT UNSPENT: Towns still rebuilding

THE KEY PLAYERS: Where are they now?

VOLUNTEERS: Day still haunts truck crew