Big stories, small towns: Strathewen

There is a disconnect between communities that have experienced trauma and agencies seeking to support the recovery of those communities. Community-led recovery can be difficult to imagine for both sides. One possible mechanism to develop strategies for bridging this divide is through community storytelling. This research project saw the Big Stories, Small Towns transmedia documentary project take place Strathewen as part of bushfire recovery activities. The intent of the research was to investigate and create a working model of community storytelling that would form a multitude of outcomes - from archive of community experiences for the community, to a story bridge that could be used as case studies by agencies working with communities recovering from trauma. Strathewen is in a valley 40 kilometres from Melbourne at the foot of the Kinglake Ranges. It lies in the shadow of Mt Sugarloaf. Arthur’s Creek runs through its heart. Home to the Wurundjeri people, Strathewen was settled by selectors in the 1870s. Over a century it became a thriving farming community of vineyards, orchards, cattle and sheep. The names of many families who selected holdings in those early years are still present in the valley today. More recently, families moved to Strathewen because of its natural beauty and close-knit community which centered around the historic local hall (c.1902) and school (c.1917). But on the 7th of February 2009, Black Saturday, Strathewen was devastated. Fires travelling for three hours from Kilmore East approached the town without any official warning. The ensuing loss of life, property and environment was unimaginable. 27 of Strathewen’s 200 residents were killed and most of the houses in the area were destroyed, as was the school, the fire station and community hall. Everyone in the town experienced loss and trauma of some form. For the next three years, filmmaker and resident Celeste Geer documented her community rebuilding their lives. Then The Wind Changed was selected for prestigious international festivals and screened on the ABC. But only some of the stories could be told. The town formed a community led renewal association and sought to capture learnings of their journey to recovery through a multi-modal, multi-voiced storytelling process. This process reflects the multi-faceted stages of the recovery and renewal journey. In addition the community sought to have the stories emerging from the research archived in a single site for future reference and dissemination. Martin Potter, leading the Big Stories team worked with Celeste Geer and made Strathewen their residency during Autumn 2012. Local people in the area were given the opportunity to create their own stories by participating in digital storytelling workshops run by the Big Stories team as well as photo essays and oral history recordings. Stories were created with community collaboration and premiered in Strathewen on completion. The works are now held in archive by Strathewen council, and lodged in permanent archive at the National Film and Sound Archive. Stories are owned by the community and licensed to the Big Stories project and are publically accessible online at www.bigstories.com.au The Big Stories project in Strathewen examined the potential and limitations of storytelling for victims of trauma – specifically bushfire. Attention is focused on the experience of victims and survivors of the Black Saturday bushfires telling stories of loss, recovery and renewal with a view to create a multi-vocal archive of communal experiences that can serve a multitude of purposes including as memorial, as therapeutic experience and as powerful first person case studies that can inform agencies involved in future events. The intent of this community-led storytelling process was to establish a collective solidarity, wider acknowledgment of their experience by both recovery agencies and wider society and to provide what they feel is a diverse, ‘truthful’ (legitimate) and inclusive account of stories emerging from the experience of the Black Saturday fires. The mixed methods employed include facilitated digital storytelling workshops, participatory photography programs and filmmaker created stories. These methods have been refined through the Big Stories project since 2008 and emerged from a wide range of participatory documentary storytelling and photography practices. Key story threads that emerged explore the event of the bushfire and the immediate aftermath, the town’s self led recovery, creative healing projects such as the Knitted Chook project and the Letterbox project, the recovery of the environment, resident support and friendships, the role of volunteers, memorials and commemoration and the processes of rebuilding. The stories of recovery can be a useful reference for others impacted by future natural disasters. The generosity of donors to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund made this project possible