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Interview - Shane & Annemarie Harris, Black Saturday Bushfires, Stanley, Victoria, 8 May 2010
Reg. No: HT 27160
- Summary:
- Audio and video interview with Shane and Annemarie Harris by Liza Dale-Hallett at their business, Stanley, North East Victoria on 8 June 2010. Shane and Annemarie lost their home in Barwidgee Creek on Black Saturday 2009. They evacuated with their young daughter to a neighbour's home, Ray & Lorraine McCarthy, and subsequently evacuated to Beechworth. Their neighbour's home was also destroyed in the fire. They then lived temporarily in the Stanley Hotel, which they own and manage, before renting locally in Stanley.
This interview forms part of the Victorian Bushfires Collection and links with the interview with Ray and Lorraine McCarthy, who also lost their home in Barwidgee Creek on Black Saturday. - Description:
- Digital file
- Statement Of Significance:
- This interview features the story of 'tree changers', Shane and Annemarie Harris and their young daughter during the Black Saturday bushfires, in particular the loss of their home, the challenges that followed, their media involvement, and the different coping strategies used by men and women.
- Description Of Content:
- The interview covers their background and the reason they relocated from Sydney to the small town of Stanley. Both have extensive experience in the food and restaurant industry and were attracted to the lifestyle that north east Victoria offered them as a young family. In 1997 they purchased a 2 hectare (5.5 acre) property in Barwidgee Creek where they lived and had a small mob of Boer goats for meat, and redeveloped the Stanley Hotel as a French Provincial-style bistro, which also offered accommodation.
The interview includes the details of how Black Saturday was experienced by them, their evacuation, the distress of discovering that they had lost their home, the generous support received from their community and complete strangers, how their story was featured by radio, television and print media, and their thoughts about the Royal Commission, and the different coping strategies between men and women. They reflect on their experience of fire and agree "that at the end of the day it is nature and nature is bigger than all of us". - Acquisition Information:
- Collected & Donation from Ms Annemarie Harris, 2010
| Discipline: | History |
More information
| Tagged with: | agriculture, children, rural victoria, rural life, bushfires, emergency services, droughts, volunteers, rural women |
| Themes this item is part of: | Sustainable Futures Collection, Victorian Bushfires Collection |
| Primary Classification: | SUSTAINABILITY |
| Secondary Classification: | Natural Disasters |
| Tertiary Classification: | bushfires |
| Format: | Digital Audio & Video Recording: Colour |
| Interviewee: | Mr Shane Harris, Stanley, Victoria, Australia, 08 Jun 2010 |
| Interviewee: | Ms Annemarie Harris, Stanley, Victoria, Australia, 08 Jun 2010 |
| Interviewer: | Ms Liza Dale-Hallett - Museum Victoria Collections, Research & Exhibitions, Stanley, Victoria, Australia, 08 Jun 2010 |
Themes
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