Village Connect
Australia’s Green Shoots of Hope: Burned Bush Springing Back to Life
By LOUISE AYLING FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
Incredible photos have revealed the resilience of the nation’s wildlife as bushfires ravage Australia.
Vibrant green and pink sprouts have been captured pushing through the blackened grounds of bushfire-torn New South Wales, fighting back despite the drought and ongoing fire crisis.
The new life has offered a sense of hope in an otherwise emotional time for many coping with the impacts of the fires.
The images were captured on an outing by two local photographers around the Kulnura area of the New South Wales Central Coast.
One of those was Mary Voorwinde, who shared the images to her Facebook page ‘Photography by Mary’.
She accompanied Terrigal Resident Murray Lowe on a visit to several private properties on the fringes of a state forest in Kulnura on January 6.
Ms. Voorwinde captioned her post with an emotional message describing the sense of hope she felt after seeing a new life.
‘With all that is lost in nature, there is hope of life again.
After a quick trip out to Kulnura today and talking to some of the locals Lee and Mick, who faced the fierce fires before Christmas, it was a humbling experience to visit their property and hear their stories.
‘They spoke of the brave firefighters and emergency service personnel who helped them through some of the most scariest times of their lives.
‘Stories of sounds so loud it was deafening, the intensity of heat and the sheer power and speed of the fire just incomprehensible, lucky for them their house was saved, but only just,’ she wrote.
The keen landscape photographer went out looking for a happy news story after seeing all the ‘doom and gloom’ in the media.
Ms. Voorwinde said it was truly a symbol of hope in among all the images of dead wildlife and burnt-out homes.
‘I wanted to show that nature was saying it’s going to be okay.’
‘It was eerie being there and then in amongst all this ash and black burnt trunks was all this rejuvenation. It gives you hope,’ she said.
The ‘Three Mile’ fire burnt 45,944 hectares outside Kulnara before being controlled by fire authorities.
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has also shared a series of photos in the aftermath of the fires on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.
Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has also shared a series of photos of regrowth in the Bril Bril State Forest in the aftermath of the fires on the mid-north coast of New South Wales
The region was one of the first to be hit by high temperatures and catastrophic fires in early November.
Photos capture regrowth around the Bril Bril State Forest.
‘It’s promising to see this State Forest regenerating after the bushfires. New shoots from the trunks of koala food trees, and the sprouting undergrowth brought a smile to our faces,’ the post reads.
