When the world was celebrating the end of a decade and the beginning of a new one, Mallacoota, a small town in the East Gippsland region of Victoria province, Australia experienced a somewhat subdued New Year Eve. With red skies and fire on the horizon, the resident of Mallacoota were left to fend for themselves.
Rachael Mounsey, a resident of Mallacoota, captured the night in pictures. The fire is believed to have destroyed a 100 housed on the NYE. People were pushed back to the beaches and were told to get in the water if the raging fires got too close. The Australian Navy, they were told, would carry out a mass rescue operation soon. Mounsey sent her children to safety but chose to stay behind and capture, what could be a night that could cost her more than just her home.
Bastion Point Road leading to popular Bastion Point Beach. Over summer this road is normally lined with holidaymakers in their cars.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Families and children play at the foreshore caravan park moments before evacuating to the main hall.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Local creative Don Ashby lost his family home. His house welcomed many artistic visitors to Mallacoota, offering solstice soups and warmth.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Bastion Point Road, Mallacoota, after the Border Fire ripped through.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Jan Kernahan, 95, returns home after staying at Eden during the fires. She and her immediate family were brought back to Mallacoota on an abalone boat the same day evacuations began.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Five-year-old Theo Gibson and his parents rode their bikes to Bastion Point Beach and created a ‘dug- out’ during the emergency warning. Lou Gibson described the early morning scenes of fire from the beach as ’pretty eerie’. “We were right on the high tide mark and we could see columns of smoke and flames. We could see properties as they went up in flames.”
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Children play in Bottom Lake, catching the ashes as they begin to fall from the sky.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
The second round of fires is about to hit Mallacoota. There is a sense of calm in the air until the wind picks up. A family evacuates to the hall.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
A family of campers at Captain Stephensons Point, hours before the firestorm.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
The first boat load of evacuees is taken to the HMAS Choules while Drew Moreland and his dog Mags stand on the Bastion Point breakwall awaiting the arrival of wife Barb and mother who took refuge in Eden during the firestorm.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
The town evacuates to the beach.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
The pub pool.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
Under an amber sky, birds swirl through the air by the wharf as people begin to take shelter.
Photograph: Rachel Mounsey
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