Bushfires: Razed Clifton Creek school provides lesson in hope

The inferno that unleashed its fury on Clifton Creek turned the rural hamlet into a blackened wasteland and razed its school.

Jake Brunswick, 10, at what remains of Clifton Creek Primary School after fires tore through East Gippsland. Picture: David Geraghty

Sitting among the charred remains of what was once his school, it would be easy for Jake Brunswick to dwell on everything he has lost to the nation’s devastating bushfire crisis.

Instead, the 10-year-old is focused on everything he has gained: a hard-won lesson in courage and resilience.

Jake’s home, his belongings and his primary school next door were all destroyed when a fast-moving inferno tore through his tiny home town of Clifton Creek, about 300km east of Melbourne, on December 30.

Now, as students across the country this week return to classes, Jake and Clifton Creek Primary’s nine other pupils are being forced to relocate to a school in the neighbouring town of Nicholson, about 30km away.

Despite it all, he remains upbeat, saying: “I normally fit into places, so I’m pretty happy.”

His proud mother, Bree, said his positivity had inspired her as their family struggled to come to terms with the disaster.

Ms Brunswick fled to the coast with Jake and her two other sons, Ashley, 15, and four-year-old Joey, when the bushfire struck. Her partner, Jim, stayed to try to defend their house from the flames.

There was little he could do as the blaze reduced the rural hamlet to a blackened wasteland.

“It felt like walking into a war zone. Everything was just black and there were just shells of buildings left. It was a bit surreal (and) it took a while to sink in,” Ms Brunswick, 41, said.

“Everything was gone in an ­instant. It’s especially hard for Jake. Not only did he lose his home and all his belongings, he also lost his school.”

The school community has vowed to rebuild, the state government has del­ivered portable classrooms to the school site and the mountains of rubble left behind by last month’s inferno are being removed.

“It’s a tough road ahead but we have a lot of support,” school principal Sue Paul said.

Ms Paul said the road to recovery had been made easier by the outpouring of support and the influx of donations: “It was overwhelmingly devastating. But these things bring out the best in people and we’ve had donations of books, equipment and stationery from all over the world.”

The principal has also made a donation of her own: moving out of her home to let the Brunswicks move in while they search for permanent accommodation.

“It’s much easier for one person who hasn’t lost their house to find a place to go than a whole family who has been displaced,” she said.

The Victorian government has pledged to rebuild Clifton Creek Primary along with a host of other schools devastated by bushfires in December and January.