Eight years on, grants still supporting recovery from Black Saturday

Media Releases, 22 February 2017

Bendigo, 23 February 2017: Today 24 community groups impacted by the 2009 Victorian bushfires received funding to support the community needs that continue to emerge post the devastating disaster.

Thanks to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund, these community groups will share in $344,856 across two grant programs to implement their locally led projects.

  • Grants for Resilience and Wellness (GR&W) will fund 15 community groups, sharing in $254,634, to implement their local projects. To date, the GR&W program has funded 111 projects to a total value of $1,413,705.16  
  • Community Group Futures (CGF) program will fund $90,222 across nine community groups. To date, CGF has funded 24 projects, valued at $286,004.

Rebuilding a community after a natural disaster takes many years. This month marks the eighth anniversary of the Black Saturday fires and the impacts are still being felt.

FRRR’s CEO, Natalie Egleton, said that the projects being supported via the GR&W and CGF programs reflect the need to facilitate long term recovery and to continue to build resilience through community identified solutions to support all parts of the community.

“Recovery takes time and while immediate support is vital, the ongoing demand for this support reinforces the need for people wanting to help in situations like the recent NSW fires to consider putting some funds toward long-term support programs.

“From our work with communities affected by the 2009 fires, we know that it’s been a tough journey and there are still challenges. Together with our donors, FRRR continues to support the impacted communities through the rebuilding and recovery process,” Ms Egleton said.

The Grants for Resilience & Wellness (GR&W) program recognises that an important part of community recovery is having opportunities to connect, share experiences, enhance individual and community wellbeing and resilience. This round, there was a common theme of strengthening community connectedness through local events, and a strong focus on supporting students of all ages through skills development, raising self-esteem and school preparation. 

The Community Group Futures (CGF) program is designed to help community groups experiencing operational and service delivery challenges post the bushfires, helping them look forward and build their sustainability, viability, capability and capacity. The most common projects funded this round were solar panel installation to reduce energy costs, paid positions to increase community engagement and participation, and developing strategies for long-term viability in the community.

Ms Egleton noted that there is still funding available for communities affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

The projects funded in this round are detailed below:

Grants for Resilience & Wellness (GR&W) – Round 10 recipients

Organisation

Project

Location

Amount

Bendigo Baptist Community Care Inc.

MADCOW (Make A Difference Change Our World) Community Garden – Bike Butcher

Support and empower disadvantaged and disengaged young people via the MADCOW Community Garden Bike Butcher project, an educational bike, scooter and skateboard workshop program. The GR&W grant will fit out a 40ft shipping container for the project to operate.

Eaglehawk

$19,466

CFA – Arthurs Creek / Strathewen

Strathewen Fire Education Partnership

Engaging Strathewen Primary School students in Grade 5 & 6 in a fire and country education program, culminating in the creation of a story book to present to the local community, and a DVD documenting the process for wider distribution.

Strathewen

$15,730

CIRE Services Inc.

Bringing Up Great Kids

Supporting respectful, caring and nurturing relationships for parents and carers of 0-6 year old children, through a suite of free parenting programs.

Yarra Junction

$3,900

Clonbinane Community Action Group

A More Resilient Clonbinane

Addressing a priority item from the newly developed Clonbinane Neighbourhood Emergency Plan, by purchasing and installing a 55Kva Diesel Generator at the Community Hall.

Clonbinane

$10,000

Continuing Education & Arts Centre Alexandra Inc

90 Up: Living Links to Alexandra and District’s Past

Celebrating the stories of resilience shaped by disaster and adversity of Alexandra and District residents who are 90+ years of age, via an oral history project will capture, record.

Alexandra

$19,000

Dixons Creek Landcare Group

Dixons Creek School Walking Track

Improving community connectedness to the Community Safe Area by construction a 1.5km walking track between the Dixon’s Creek Primary School and Dixon’s Creek Reserve.

Dixons Creek

$20,000

Ellimatta Inc.

A Bright and Positive Future for Youth

Ensuring high quality youth services continue to be offered to the Kinglake Ranges through a multi-year grant to fund the Youth Development Officer and Executive Officer wages for three more years. FRRR funding is matched by Kinglake Ranges Foundation (VBAF) and project costs by Kinglake Rotary. Funding will be staged over three years to facilitate building sustainable business and funding strategies.

Kinglake

$80,000

Glenburn Hall and Progress Assoc. Inc.

Glenburn Growth – Fly Screens and Refrigeration

Support volunteers and enhance community cohesion, by installing new refrigeration to store food and screen doors and windows for better ventilation to make community meetings more comfortable.

Glenburn

$6,941

Healesville Living & Learning Centre Inc.

Bush Works

Supporting local bush knowledge and bushfire preparedness through a practical, all ages program of up-cycling bush materials into furniture and creation of ‘found object’ art.

Healesville

$8,964

Marysville Motoring Expo Inc

Marysville Motoring Expo

Encouraging social and economic recovery post the Black Saturday Bushfires by supporting the three-day Motoring Expo community event.

Marysville

$7,065

Mirboo North Primary School

Provision of a Disabled/Universal Toilet Facility for Community Use                     

Supporting community cohesion and community resilience by upgrading the Primary School toilet facility to universal/ disabled functionality for the numerous local groups that access the school facilities.

Mirboo North

$19,000

Rotary Club of Alexandra

Sesqui Alexandra

Building a strong sense of place and contributing to economic recovery by engaging the community to co-create a one-day event to celebrate the sesquicentenary of Alexandra.

Alexandra

$5,012

Toolangi District Community House Inc.

KEYS – Kinglake Early Years

Support for local families to get children school-ready by researching and documenting family engagement in early childhood services in the Kinglake Ranges district.

Toolangi

$16,995

Yarra Glen Living & Learning Centre

Centre Community Edible Food Garden  

To aid ongoing recovery from the bushfires, a self-managed edible garden will be established.

Yarra Glen

$15,381

Yarram Community Emergency Planning Committee (Yarram & District Traders & Tourism Inc.)

Yarram & District Emergency Registration Point

Educating district communities on the Emergency Registration Point in Yarram, by developing and disseminating an information brochure to communicate actions to take in an emergency.

Yarram

$7,180

Community Group Futures (CGF) – Round 3 recipients:

Organisation

Project

Location

Amount

Boolarra Men’s Shed Inc.

Purchases of Computer

Improve communication and connectedness of the Men’s Shed members by purchasing a desktop computer and lessons in IT.

Boolarra

$3,170

Broadford Living and Learning Centre (Mitchell Shire Council)

Community Engagement Officer Broadford Living and Learning Centre

Build capacity and increase community ownership and participation through a community engagement strategy for the new Community Centre for Broadford.

Broadford

$14,976

Churchill and District Community Assoc.

Burned Out and Burnt Out  

Minimise volunteer fatigue and recruit new members to the Churchill District Community Association (CDCA) with the assistance of a consultant to engage with local community groups and individuals to build wider ownership.

Churchill

$9,000

Flowerdale Community House Inc.

Improving Flowerdale’s Operational Capability

Improve and build operational capability, with the support of a paid employee to develop financial management, reporting and compliance policies and procedures for Flowerdale Community House, Flowerdale Landcare, and Flowerdale Men’s Shed.

Hazeldene

$17,062

Glenburn Hall and Progress Assoc. Inc.

Glenburn Growth Project                           

Lower the energy costs to improve operational capital by purchasing and installing 4.5kw solar panel on the roof of the Glenburn Hall.

Glenburn

$7,350

Happy Valley Hall

Shining the Light on Sustainability         

Reduce ongoing energy costs for funds to be redirected to other community activities by purchasing and installing a 3.9kw solar panel.

Rosewhite

$9,848

Quercus Beechworth

Connecting Beechworth

Increase the connectivity, cohesion and resilience of the community through a collaborative project to analyse, develop and implement a town-wide communication strategy.

Beechworth

$13,400

Rotary Club of Kinglake Ranges

Governance Training                                    

Supporting existing members of the Rotary Club of Kinglake Ranges to effectively fulfil their responsibilities by running Governance training.

Kinglake

$1,100

Women’s Health Goulburn North East

Learning From Lessons in Disaster             

Engage with partner groups to be disaster prepared and resilient by co-design a ‘train the trainer’ program to deliver Gender in Disaster education.

Wangaratta

$14,316

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Amy Crawford

Amy Crawford has an extensive career in complex public policy and its intersection across government and communities.

Amy is the Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), representing 537 councils across the nation. Amy holds over 20 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service. She has a deep understanding of federal government policies and structures, with over 10 years’ service in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and has worked for the federal Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories. Amy has shaped a wide range of policies and programs including regional development, telecommunications, immigration, emergency management, social policy and pandemic preparation.

Amy is a Board Director of Austroads and represents ALGA on the Public Skills Australia Industry Advisory Group, and the Australia-New Zealand Emergency Management Committee. She is also a Board Director for the Canberra Youth Theatre which provides voice for Canberra’s youth through intelligent and challenging theatre.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Laws (honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) from the University of Queensland, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an alumnus of the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership. Amy was appointed to the FRRR Board in January 2025.

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Kylie Hansen

Kylie brings leadership and management experience from across academic, corporate, not-for-profit, social enterprise and impact investment sectors, having deep dived into a myriad of specialisations and systems. Her six tertiary qualifications are equally as diverse and complimentary, covering commerce, politics, international development, community development, project management and law. Her breadth and depth of experience enables her to draw on a number of disciplines and innovative ways of working and thinking, and she is well recognised as consistently delivering work and services of a high quality.

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Hon. John Anderson AC

The Hon. John Anderson AC is a sixth-generation farmer and grazier from NSW, who served in the Australian Parliament from 1989 to 2008.

He was a senior Cabinet minister in the government led by John Howard (1996 to 2005), including six years as Leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister.

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Mr Anderson currently hosts a regular podcast, where he is in conversation with thought-leaders from around the world, and is a regular media commentator.

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Regina Cruickshank

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Anna Palmer

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Anna is currently completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts to balance her creative pursuits and work as an HR professional.

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Philippa Twaddle

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