By Jess Baker
Three Southern Downs farmers are this week celebrating moving forward in their natural disaster recovery journey, each of their fences now rebuilt after recent bushfires and floods destroyed them.
Rural charity Rural Aid deployed a team of 21 volunteers to farms in the Upper Freestone and Swanfels area to assist farmers between 5 and 12 September.
Upper Freestone farmer Chris Mauch had kilometres of fencing destroyed by fire and said he was grateful to the Rural Aid volunteers who helped him fence for a week.
“It’s unbelievable to cut a long story short. I put a brand new fence up there before the fires and it turned to ashes,” Mr Mauch said.
“I’ve been on the land 50 years, all my life, and it’s hard enough to be on the land. It’s just great to get a hand to repair all those fences that are in desperate need. I’m indebted to Rural Aid.”
Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said the volunteers had been redirected to the Southern Downs from Victoria due to Covid-19.
“One of Rural Aid’s strengths is being resilient, and we’ve been able to reroute our Queensland volunteers closer to home with a visit to Warwick,” Mr Warlters said.
“It’s fantastic to see the farmers and volunteers form friendships while toiling away at tough fencing work in rugged terrain.”
“Having fences down for two years has been a burden for these farmers, so it’s great to lend them a hand to tick this job off their list. These big jobs would normally take these farmers months of effort, but together, they were able to get it done within a week.”
The Rural Aid team stayed at the Warwick Showgrounds whilst working on the three farms, thanks to funding from Southern Downs Regional Council.
Mayor Vic Pennisi said the volunteers’ efforts were appreciated by the region and its farmers.
“Our region continues to recover from bushfire and floods, and Rural Aid has been a pillar of support to our rural communities throughout the journey,” Cr Pennisi said.
“At a time where negativity dominates the airwaves, Rural Aid offers a lifeline to our farmers doing it tough and these heroic gestures of kindness breathe hope into our communities.”
