When farmer Pietro Porcu returned to his property in Gobur, south of Longwood, he was met with a scene of utter devastation. The bushfires that swept through the region had completely destroyed his home and the free-range organic farm that supplied his South Yarra restaurant, Da Noi, for over twenty years.
A Miraculous Survival and a Daunting Task
Amid the ash, crumpled sheds, and blackened trees, however, came a glimmer of hope. Miraculously, many of his chickens, goats, pigs, and cows had survived the inferno. "It's burnt everywhere. I have no idea [how they survived]. It's amazing," Porcu said. Faced with a disorienting recovery, his immediate focus was clear: "We don't really know what we're doing, but first of all, we're looking after the animals."
He has not faced this monumental task alone. The community's response was swift. A local vet in Yea loaned him a caravan after his farmhouse was lost, neighbours provided a generator, and others brought bales of hay. Porcu was deeply moved when a man who had lost his own home in Yarck delivered a drum of water. "This makes me believe in humanity a little bit more," Porcu reflected. "Even in this lost, totally lost kind of situation."
Grassroots Mobilisation: Hay, Help, and Hope
Across the fire-affected areas of Victoria, similar stories of grassroots support are emerging. With feeding surviving livestock a critical priority, community groups have sprung into action. The Dookie United Football & Netball Club's call for hay donations on 11 January triggered an overwhelming response, resulting in seven or eight truckloads of fodder being delivered to farmers in the Longwood area, supported by the University of Melbourne's agricultural campus.
Other initiatives include:
- Racing Victoria delivering feed to evacuated thoroughbreds in Nagambie.
- Affordable Plants nursery in Glenburn gathering and distributing hay, water, and supplies to towns like Ruffy and Yarck.
- Emergency horse transport being coordinated via a 200-member WhatsApp group.
Fundraising from Castlemaine to the Cork Trees
The spirit of recovery is also being channelled into creative fundraising. In Castlemaine, tattoo artist Leonie New, whose community was affected by the Harcourt fires, is organising a tattoo flash fundraising day on 8 February, with sixteen artists donating their time. Meanwhile, a hastily arranged lunch at the Boomtown Winemakers Cooperative raised over $130,000 for the Harcourt community and local fire brigades.
For Pietro Porcu, the road ahead is long. A fundraising page set up by his daughter, Romey, has raised over $20,000 and attracted offers of practical help. Yet, some losses are profound: decades of work on orchards, an olive grove, heirloom seeds, and cork trees from his native Sardinia. "I want to rebuild everything and better," he says, acknowledging the task will require "a big hand." As he looks out at the grey landscape, he holds onto a simple hope: "There'll be a little rain and then everything starts to go green, and you start to smile again."
