Pictures: Ray Messner
As police close in on the arsonist believed responsible for the fatal Marysville fire, we reunite with the locals we first met in 2002.
In 2002, Woman’s Day went to Marysville to meet the residents and find out why this mountain retreat was such a loved part of Australia.
We found a close-knit community filled with thriving local businesses and residents committed to creating a safe place to raise their families.
Among them were cafe owners Jane and James Fraga. A lot has changed since 2002, not least the Fraga family, which now has two additions ? Benjamin, 2, and Anna, eight weeks. Other changes have not been so happy.
Tragically, not only did Jane and James lose their home and cafe in the fires, but two much-loved employees also perished.
“This is where my son’s bed used to be,” says Jane as she shows Woman’s Day what’s left of her house, now little more than dust. “It’s where I’d tuck him in and tell him, ‘Tomorrow we’ll go pick daisies from our friend Veronica’s garden’.”
It’s only in recent weeks that the Fragas and the rest of the town’s survivors have been able to return to Marysville, and many tears have been shed.
“There have been a lot of funerals. It hasn’t been easy,” says Jane. “It was a very tough wait not knowing if anything was left. Somehow, walking through it all at last has helped me to deal with what’s happened. There’s nothing left of our home, but at the cafe we managed to salvage a few bits of equipment.”
The resilience of Jane and James is inspiring. Putting their pain behind them, they insist that compared to some friends, they’re doing well, even using the word “lucky”.
“A friendly customer has given us their holiday home in Buxton, just 10 kilometres away, to rent for a few months,” says Jane. “We’ll build a new home in Marysville. Thankfully, we had insurance.”
When we first met Jane and James, they explained how the town’s beautiful forests and friendly locals had charmed them into making it their home. Their newly established Fraga’s Cafe was fast becoming a hit with locals and tourists alike, their Belgian lemon teacake gaining fame.
“We’ll never leave here,” said James, who married Jane in the forest in 2000. Despite the horrors of February 7, he hasn’t changed his mind.
“Like most people from Marysville, we’ll be back,” nods Jane. “For some older people, the thought of rebuilding is just too hard, but the majority of people want to stay in this community.
“To lose your house or business, that’s a setback. You can rebuild. But we’ve lost friends, the homes that Benjamin and I would walk past each day, waving at the neighbours. We’ve lost everything that made up our world. But we’re still here, and we’re focusing on the future!”
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