Loving tribute: Holcombes honour parents lost on Black Saturday by rebuilding Kinglake home

David and Carol Holcombe died when their Kinglake home was razed on Black Saturday but, 10 years on, their kids are rebuilding in memory of their mum and dad.

Patrick Holcombe is rebuilding his family home at Kinglake, where his parents died fighting the Black Saturday bushfires. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

PATRICK Holcombe lost his parents when fire tore through Bald Spur Road in Kinglake on Black Saturday.

David and Carol Holcombe were killed as they tried to defend their home, while their three children were in Melbourne.

On the 10-year anniversary of the deadly fires today, Patrick has opened up about his loss and his determination to rebuild his life and a home on the property that his parents loved.

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“There was never any question of leaving the property. We had to build a house there and it’s taken many, many years,” he said.

Patrick, 33, his twin Eugene, and sister Ella, 35, have set aside money to build the house to replace a small shed they put up after the fires.

Patrick Holcombe, with his dog Whittaker. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

They have regularly gone back to the property where they grew up to be close to the memory of their parents.

David and Carol, who were both teachers, built the original house themselves from recycled Oregon pine.

The new home will be different to meet new fire building standards, but the dream of having a place in the beautiful Kinglake area remains for the family.

Patrick, who graduated from the University of Melbourne with a science degree, changed careers after the fires.

He toured with a band and began making furniture, following in his father’s footsteps as a handyman.

That hobby became his career and he know builds handmade furniture, through his business Douglas Fir Design, using the same timber that his father built the Kinglake home with that was destroyed.

The smell of the timber and the sawdust reminded him of his home and his family.

“All I wanted to do (after the fires) was to design and build a home straight away,” Patrick said.

“This house will withstand bushfires, it’s well researched. If I could have built it earlier I would have but I didn’t have the clarity of mind to know what we wanted.”

The fires changed Patrick’s life, and he said he often reflected that he would have been doing a different job if things had been different that day.

“I wanted to make something with my hands, that makes me feel alive,” he said.

“The life mum and dad led as teachers was very hard. Given the choice, dad probably would have made stuff for a living. They didn’t have that choice but through these terrible circumstance I can do this.”

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