Black Saturday - A Tale of Two Artists
Art provides us with many journeys, opportunities and challenges, however few would have been expecting the tragic situation which occurred in Victoria on Black Saturday and would be thinking of it as a driver or motivator for art works. Two Contemporary Australian Artists Ursula and Werner Theinert were caught in the fire and lived, and are now able to share their harrowing experience with us.
I am pleased to say they have seemingly come out with only a few “scars”, (For regular readers you will know Ursula as one of our interviewees and also her contribution of a story on her first solo exhibition.) Both Artists will be part of at least two exhibitions later in 2009 - 10, Regionalis and Fields of View, you can track those shows via each website over the coming months.
Now, their incredible the story…
BLACK SATURDAY - 7TH OF FEBRUARY 2009 - CALLIGNEE VICTORIA
My name is Ursula Theinert and my husband Werner and I are artists who live in Callignee. Callignee was one of the areas which suffered terribly in the Black Saturday Fires of 7th of February, 2009.
We stood and fought this dreadful fire and managed to save our home, though badly damaged, but lost our studio, workshop and garages and all that was stored within. This meant of course all the tools and stored treasures, but most upsetting of all were the many paintings, etchings, sketches, photographs and sculptures and five years of art materials.
We love our little mud brick home way up in the hills south of Traralgon Victoria. Our farmlet is surrounded by farms, quarries and plantations. The area inspires our art and as Environmental Expressionists, we feel passionately about the environment and believe art is an important vehicle to encourage insights and discussions into the many complex issues which are confronting us all. I mostly paint and Werner photographs.
As you can imagine we were deeply shocked by this frightening experience, but have managed to begin rebuilding our lives with the great help and support of many kind and generous people who have helped us emotionally, financially and psychologically deal with this trauma.
The sharing of this story is to help others understand the events of that day and even though we feel, and are incredibly lucky and fortunate to have survived it will also assist us in coming to terms with our experiences and loss.
Our day unfolded….. Everyone knows what a terribly hot day that Saturday was, and we were expecting Werner’s brother’s family from Tasmania and had the house in readiness for a fun weekend. The temperature climbed and we asked them to stay in Melbourne because the heat was causing rail problems and there were dangerous fires in the Bunyip area (to the west). Indeed, we were intently listening to the A.M. radio station 774, and watching the weather satellite and CFA websites because we were concerned for our friends near this ever growing fire.
Our hearts sank when we heard there was a new fire coming from Churchill and heading towards Mt. Tassie, which is only a few kilometres away from us. When we heard there was a wind change coming, we knew we were in serious trouble. We had always planned to stay and fight a fire, but we felt very tense and frightened when we realized all our fears were becoming a reality. We silently went into setting our ‘Fire Plan’ into the final stages of readiness, preparing ourselves we started the pumps and began watering.
The smoke turned the day into night and then we heard IT!!! The sound of the fire approaching was like a 747 airliner coming into land. The wind was gusting and we found it very hard to breathe. We had torches in our pockets and had to use them because even though it was only about 5 o’clock, it became pitch black. Well until we could see the glow off in the distance. The power went off but we still had the petrol fire pump and kept on watering.
Then we saw the glow grow brighter and started back towards the house. The embers came for only a few minutes and then we had to make a desperate run for the house as the fire ball struck. The flames were like a giant blow torch blowing past our house. Embers came through the door gaps. Smoke and flames crept into our study roof and we began the fight with wet towels and buckets. We lost the fight at first with the smoke driving us out of the study. We stood in the kitchen and witnessed the fire exploding all the surrounding trees. Our workshop and studio and our neighbours house were all being devoured. Night turned into a horrific searing daylight!
We were becoming quite frightened now, because the smoke was filling the house and it was too dangerous to go outside. It was a dilemma, but we were choking and had to leave. Luckily, we had a small alcove outside in our entrance area and it was that little space, which saved us during the continuing firestorm.
When the fire eased a little Werner ran to the fire pump, but it had been destroyed, as were all our fire hoses. Our outside buckets had melted down to the water line, the bungalow was now on fire and the water inside the house and the bungalow could not be reached because of the acrid smoke.
We had felt again in terrible straits but then realized that our swim spa’s 6,00 litres of water was our only hope. We gathered together some buckets and began the long and difficult task of putting out several fires with only the water from the spa. We had many moments of fear that our efforts would fail because the fire was so stubborn and resisted our efforts. We continued to bucket water and do continual checks around the house and bungalow until 3 a.m. we were physically and mentally exhausted!
We will never forget watching the fires all around in the early hours of Sunday, holding each other’s hands and realizing how lucky we were to have survived this harrowing ‘Black Saturday’.
In the smoky dawn we saw the aftermath of that night and we fell into a kind of shock as our minds came to terms with this experience and the losses of most of our artwork, art materials and tools.
It takes quite some time to actually realize what has been lost and feel rather overwhelmed to think about beginning from scratch. Of course, many things can be rebuilt and bought anew, but many other things cannot!
Werner was terribly upset because he was just about to retire and had been working extremely hard to prepare his workshop and finish all of the house projects. He had lost his extensive collection of tools, and nearly all of his photographs.
In the following weeks he had some good fortune and managed to retrieve his saved photographic files on his computer hard drive. He was particularly fortunate because the fire had seriously damaged the study and destroyed all of his back-up drives. It was a happy day when on newly bought computers he could save some of these files and have his photographs reprinted.
In the days following the fire good people overwhelmed us with their generosity and gave us the support and encouragement to start again.
We have rebuilt our garage and have begun gathering together tools to help us begin again. Werner has reprinted most of his photographs, and we both have begun on a new series of work inspired by the devastation and regeneration of both nature and humankind.
Our artistic journey continues and has in some ways been strengthened by the Black Saturday Fires. We were determined to carry on and exhibited in Art Melbourne in April. I have completed my first painting after the fires called ‘Ashes to Ashes’, and I have just begun another painting.
Werner and I are only a small part of the whole of Victoria affected by the Black Saturday Fires. We all felt under siege and suffered stresses and hardships, each to their own circumstances. What was also shared was the bonding of that terrible summer and the soul searching caused by the events of that day. Out of the darkness of the fires came the great spirit of the community and our country to help and heal each other.
The Black Saturday Fires were life changing events and Werner and I feel incredibly lucky and will never forget all the support and kindnesses, and will carry all of these incredible and touching experiences into our future.
Ursula Theinert 2009
Here is one of Ursula’s works, post Black Saturday called “Ashes to Ashes”.
Thanks Ursula, for the graphic account of a day many of us will struggle to forget, Steve Gray.
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What an incredibly moving recounting Ursula. The tears started falling one line in, I shudder to think of trying hard to save a home while watching studio and art be destroyed. I am so glad you and Werner are moving forward. Thank you for sharing and all the very best to you both.
Thank you Amanda for your kind words.
Cheers
Ursula