A fierce bushfire has torn through the Victorian town of Harcourt, leaving a trail of destruction and an estimated 50 homes lost. Residents are returning to a landscape of blackened earth and smouldering ruins, with stories of narrow escapes and heartbreaking loss.
Miracles Amidst the Devastation
Peter Suelzle holds the brass numbers that once adorned his gate post on Coolstore Road, now all that remains after the post was incinerated. In a stroke of fortune, the home he shares with his wife Lynne and his mother survived, even as the vegetation right up to its brick perimeter was reduced to smoking debris.
"We evacuated just as the fire jumped the highway," Suelzle recounted, surveying the wreckage which included his mother's melted mobility scooter. The family's luck was not shared by their next-door neighbour, whose house was burned to the ground—a stark contrast repeated along the road into town.
Community in Darkness and Disruption
The fire's impact extended beyond property. Critical infrastructure was crippled, with television and radio transmitters on Mount Alexander knocked out, leaving many without broadcasts. Homes in Harcourt, Castlemaine, and surrounding areas lost power, internet, and water pressure, compounding the crisis.
Further up the road, Chris and Augustine Sheppard sat outside the charred remains of their investment property. Their own home was safe, but they had been unable to contact neighbours whose houses were destroyed. The emotional toll was immediate, with Augustine revealing, "We obviously didn't sleep last night."
Defending Home and Herd Through the Night
While many fled, some residents stayed to defend their properties. Prue Walduck and Ada Milley of the Millduck Alpaca Stud took turns on an overnight vigil, protecting their home and their pregnant alpacas.
"Sitting on the lawn at two o'clock in the morning, it was quite calm... but there was no frame of reference to know where [the fire] actually was," Walduck described. The pair, in their concrete-rendered straw bale house, were prepared to herd their animals into a shearing shed if the predicted wind change sent the flames back their way.
Colin Pickering of Blackwood Orchard surveyed the "scorched earth," now without power and vigilant against reignition. Despite the damage, his perspective was tempered by the scale of loss elsewhere: "Compared to a person who's lost everything, I've got no hassles."
Ongoing Danger and Community Response
Authorities confirmed the situation remained dynamic and dangerous. At a community meeting in Castlemaine Town Hall, CFA incident controller Michael Masters stated it was still too unsafe to allow all residents to return home.
Mount Alexander Mayor Toby Heydon confirmed that local leadership had been coordinating the fire response even as some staff and councillors lost their own homes. A recovery centre is scheduled to open in Castlemaine from Monday morning.
While the town's primary school and miniature railway were saved, the popular Coolstore Cafe was destroyed. For residents like Prue Walduck, the threat is not over. "We're not out of danger," she said, planning another night-time watch. "Another wind change could bring it towards us."
