Tragedy of treasures lost
Couple dream of return to home razed by fires
EVERY morning when she wakes up, Pamela Skeen just wants to go home.
The Beechmont woman, 74, and her husband Stewart, 70, lost their treasured residence of more than 25 years in fires that swept through the Scenic Rim two months ago.
The couple will likely have to wait until the middle of next year before their house is rebuilt.
“The hardest thing for me at the moment is I can’t go back home,” Mrs Skeen said.
“We were there over 25 years. I just want to be back home. My house is everything to me. I did everything in that house. You feel like you don’t know where you stand.”
The hinterland community has banded together to support those who lost everything in September’s devastating natural disaster, which claimed 11 homes, the Binna Burra Lodge and thousands of hectares of bushland.
The Skeens have settled into a one-bedroom cottage provided by the boss of the nursery where Mr Skeen, 70, works several times a week.
The couple were watching TV on September 6 when all hell broke loose, Mr Skeen said. They were none the wiser before a neighbour phoned and warned fire was approaching their Timbarra Dr home. They were told “You have to get out of here”.
“You just didn’t stop to think. We were just told ‘you’ve got to get out’,” Mrs Skeen said.
“You don’t know what to grab, what to pick up. How to decide what to take out the door? That was to me really mind boggling.”
The couple evacuated with a family photo, the clothes they were wearing and 15 pet canaries.
Mrs Skeen, a keen baker, said she dearly missed her home and often daydreamed of returning.
In the meantime, the couple will continue to be propped up by the hinterland community.
“We’re slowly getting back on our feet. The community has been wonderful,” Mrs Skeen said.
“All the people in Canungra, the businesspeople, have been tops. Everyone comes together.
“That’s what country people are all about, I reckon.”
The Skeens, who said they had been working with a “fantastic” insurer, have been on edge as fires have flared in recent days, bolstered by weather conditions that fan the blazes.
They prayed the region would not face another bushfire disaster.