Fighting Spirit photos and poems salute Aussie communities smashed by the Black Summer

Raw photos and moving poems by children caught in the horrors of the Black Summer bushfires are part of an extraordinary tribute to Aussie resilience.

The children who lived through Australia’s Black Summer don’t only talk about what they saw during those terrible days of fire – their sense memories swirl around smell and sound too.

Five moving poems by young people included in the new commemorative book Fighting Spirit bring a child’s eye to the arresting images of the 2019-20 devastation, collected in this moving photographic tribute to our bushfire-affected communities.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE POEMS

A summer of horror and heroes ... one of the photos by members of the public included in Fighting Spirit. Flames illuminate Tomakin Headland in NSW, January 2020. Picture by David Wallace.

Disaster approaching ... Kate Hudson captured this image of the beginnings of the Orroral Valley fire in January 2020. It is among many taken by members of the public and included in Fighting Spirit.

Manu Sage, the 17-year-old senior division winner of the Kids News Bushfire Poetry Competition, from which the poems were sourced, said the book’s images and words of survival, loss and recovery were “incredibly important”.

“These sorts of things are way too easily lost, so you have to have something permanent to keep them in,” he said.

“It was very scary, if I’m being honest. The smoke was all you could smell and breathe and your lungs hurt from it. When the fire actually got there, there was a roaring sound … like a tornado. Going through it, and all the time after it, rebuilding and stuff … it did bring the community together.”

‘A roaring sound, like a tornado’ ... Manu Sage’s poem is included in the book.

Youngsters from all around Australia entered the competition, and in addition to the five poems published in full, inspirational lines from many more are scattered throughout the pages of Fighting Spirit.

The book also contains photos submitted by people caught in the firestorms – some of which are featured here – as well as many striking images by News Corp photographers and others.

Junior poetry winner Lincoln, 12, a year 6 student at Cobargo Primary School in NSW, said one parent told him he had “done Cobargo proud”.

“That was a great feeling, to have done that,” Lincoln said.

Family homes in ruins, but hope remains ... Laura Spee submitted this photo, of their property in Bobin, for inclusion in Fighting Spirit.

“I will never forget that image of the fire coming over the hill towards our property. It looked alive, like an enormous herd of red, orange-coloured cattle on the move coming over the hillside.”

Ignatius Hassett, 12, runner-up for his poem Losses, said he was motivated to write because it was “such a trying time”.

“Not just the fire, but the fact that we lost our dog as well,” he said. “It was unrelated, but it was just that same period that we lost him. That time period was devastating.”

The publication of Fighting Spirit was a huge source of pride.

It began two years ago ... this photo, submitted for inclusion in Fighting Spirit by Molly Saunders, was taken during the early blazes in September, 2019.

“I’ve actually achieved something big,” Ignatius said. “I’m there in history – in the record.”

Fighting Spirit is a collaboration between News Corp Australia, HarperCollins and the Federal Government’s National Recovery and Resilience Agency. Five thousand copies will be donated to libraries and schools in bushfire-affected communities and all royalties will go to the bushfire charity BlazeAid.

Fighting Spirit: A tribute to the bushfire-affected communities of Australia’s Black Summer, published by HarperCollins Australia, is available Monday 4 October.

In the historical record ... cover of Fighting Spirit.

UNEARTHLY

The road ahead is burning

The road behind’s on fire

A three point turn then racing back

Amidst the unearthly choir

Arriving in the village

Barely able to cope

Sheltering in the fire shed

We could only sit and hope

But the waiting was the worst part

When there was nothing we could do

But sit there in the darkness

Wishing it wasn’t true

In blackened hills we gather together

People I’ve known my whole life

I look over their tired faces

Faces changed by one cruel night

— Manu Sage.

Manu Sage, winner (senior), Kids News Bushfire Poetry Competition.

SUNRISE ON A HILL

I can see a fire

It’s just over that hill

But if we stick together

We will be fine

There was no sunrise

On the hillside

Even though my sister said there was

I said, ‘No Astrid

That’s the fire

No sunrise to see here today.’

I can see a fire

It’s just over that hill

But if we stick together

We will be fine

Pack the car

Call the dogs

Where do we go

What do we do?

I can see a fire

It’s just over that hill

But if we stick together

We will be fine

If we stick together

We will be fine

— Lincoln Alderman.

Lincoln Alderman, winner (junior), Kids News Bushfire Poetry Competition.

LOSSES

Blackened red sky

Flying ashes, burning embers

Racing hearts, plunging hope

Home in danger, saved by the river

Our tree house left this world in a blaze

of fire

I remember like yesterday we sat on the

soccer wall in denial

Weeping as we saw blackened cloud

looming above

I knew right then that it was gone

But still hoping, wishing, praying against

all odds

We lost our dog to highway traffic

I barely missed him at first

Then I began to miss the biting of feet

on the trampoline

I know now that things like houses and

treehouses are replaceable

But our friends are not

— Ignatius Hassett.

Ignatius Hassett, runner-up (senior), Kids News Bushfire Poetry Competition.

I WILL NEVER FORGET

I will never forget that year,

the smoke was thick, the sirens were loud,

and the fire was near.

I was scared.

Our school closed down,

we turned on the news and there was our town.

We danced for rain, but it just didn’t come.

The fire came near,

and our town lived in fear.

We packed up our stuff,

and I had to be tough.

I was scared.

It was too late to leave on New Year’s Eve.

Sometime after lunch the sky turned to black.

There was no turning back.

We waited and watched,

and our place was spared.

But I was still scared.

Today I give thanks as I look at the sky,

for the firies that saved us and gave up their time.

— James Fielding.

James Fielding, runner-up (junior), Kids News Bushfire Poetry Competition.

THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS

Thank you firefighters

For risking your lives

To make sure we survive

When we are in danger.

Thank you firefighters

For working all day and night

To make sure there’s not a fire in sight.

The conditions you were in couldn’t get

any stranger.

Thank you firefighters

For helping out

When we are in doubt

And saving us.

Thank you firefighters

For making the fires go,

Even if the process was slow,

And doing it without any fuss.

Thank you for everything, firefighters.

— Fintan Daly.

An Honourable Mention was also awarded in the Kids News Bushfire Poetry Competition to year 4 student Fintan Daly, whose poem captures something the whole of Australia feels every bushfire season: our immense gratitude to the nation’s firefighters. “I remember that the Black Summer bushfires were a time of sorrow, but also a time that brought us together as a country,” Fintan said. “I feel very honoured to appear in this book and I am so grateful for the firies that worked so hard.”