Out of the ashes, a vision for the future
When Peter and Vanessa Williams lost their Mogo home and pottery business in the Black Summer fires, the pain was so immense they never wanted to return.
When Peter and Vanessa Williams lost their house and thriving pottery store to the Black Summer fires, the pain was so immense they planned to never return to the town of Mogo on the NSW south coast that they had called home for 40 years.
But thanks to an outpouring of generosity from people around the world, the couple has chosen to stay and rebuild the deconsecrated church that housed Mogo Pottery, with building work due to commence this week.
“He cries every time he gets a donation, so he has been welling up a lot,” Ms Williams said. “It’s been amazing really.”
The couple, who trained as painters, have thrown themselves into their artwork since losing their kiln, clay and precious glaze recipes to the blaze and are now selling their works from a pop-up shopfront for local businesses destroyed by the fires.
“If it wasn’t for the art, we would have been floundering. I trained as a painter so I’m back to doing what I originally planned, which is rather nice and therapeutic,” Mr Williams told The Australian, pointing to colourful canvases adorning the walls.
“I’ve had a few people wanting regeneration paintings with the green shoots, but I’m not interested in reproducing the horror of it — I’m just celebrating the good bush.”
Ahead of the delivery of the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangement’s final report to the Governor-General on Wednesday, the Williamses say they hope to see better warning systems in place and more firefighting resources for local brigades. “The fire was horrific out there and we knew there was a chance it would come, but it was much more serious than they were letting the community know,” Mr Williams said. “They said it was two weeks away and when it did come, almost overnight, there was absolute panic.”
“The infrastructure here in Mogo was totally inadequate,” Ms Williams added.
“There was one fire truck sitting out there ready to save the village.”
While Mr Williams has found solace in his art, for Ms Williams it was a phone call with a young RFS volunteer that helped her come to terms with what happened. “The young lad that was fighting the fire at our church, he rang me and explained what happened beginning to end and that made a huge difference to me,” she said. “He was a little boy who grew up here in the town and we knew him really well. He couldn’t believe it went up.”
It is understood the report will be released publicly by the end of this week.
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