17/02/2026
This is a bit of a mixed post, but as many of you are aware, on January 9th the fires came through our property here in Alexandra. It was one of the most daunting and challenging days we have ever faced as a family. As the day unfolded and conditions quickly turned for the worse, we made the decision to leave our property. It was a decision made on the spot, under immense pressure, and not one we ever thought we would have to make – especially given where we are located. But like so many others that day, everything happened incredibly fast. When the CFA informed us that we were in the impact zone while we were sitting at the depot, we truly feared the worst. Had we lost the house, stables, shedding and animals. We simply didn’t know. Once the front had passed, we made our way back to the farm and immediately began the exhausting task of putting out remaining fires to protect what we could, it was during this time that we started searching for the horses. One by one, we found them. Incredibly and something I will never stop being so grateful for they are all alive, some were affected by the fires, and the past few weeks have been tireless as we’ve worked to give them the best possible care and recovery, They have done extremely well, I am beyond relieved that they survived such a horrifying experience, not only did the horses survive, but so did all our sheep and cattle. We were very fortunate that the house and shedding were all fine, others up the road from us lost everything.
What has truly carried us through is the overwhelming sense of community. The support, generosity and kindness shown to us has been incredible. While I’m going to try and name as many people as I can, please know that if I miss anyone, it is not intentional- every single gesture, message, offer of help, delivery, and phone call has meant more to us than words can express. I want to start by thanking Alex’s mates the crew who came straight up and helped organize fencing and supplies Brad, Will, Tom, Nat, Miki and Lachie your support in those early days made an enormous difference.
Big thank you to my 3 brothers helping with fencing as well Steven, David, and Glen so as we could hold the horses, cattle and sheep.
Luke, being a life saver, buying a generator and bringing it up for us as well as bringing up horse supplies, thank you so much just for getting water back on was a life saver.
David and Sharon bring up food the electrolytes saved me and the horse supplies.
Jennifer and Piper brought horse supplies and donations offering help you both were amazing, thank you.
Shelly Harris for donating cream thank you
Large donation of Honey from Bens Bees and Yarra Valley Bees, Bob’s Bees & Rebecca’s Honey for the horses and I will be honest many times you would find me with my finger in the honey pot it was delicious and gave me a boost of energy for that day.
Tracy for bringing up donations from numerous others which were extremely helpful, hats off to her getting to us after travelling for hours around roadblocks.
Sarah and Laura visit all the horse stores buying bulk creams and helping with the horses not to forget the surprise horse food delivery Laura, both you girls are champions, thank you.
Sarah & Ruby/John & Liz for the donations milk powder, dog food and creams very much appreciated thank you.
Kate for her kind donation of creams and sprays thank you.
Kal for the donation of medical supplies.
Horseland for donations of cream and other items and everyone that brought a tub of cream thank you including Amy who called around sorting supplies.
Emily for ordering in medical supplies thank you.
Massive thank you to Anothony- Yea Veterinary Hospital coming out the next day assessing the horses and donating medication.
Massive thank you to Rebecca – Taggerty Vet Clinic for all the visits and supplying medication and creams and Christine for dropping off medications.
Christine for bringing down medical supplies, thank you.
Cindy and Mario, for your kindness, caring for our 3 cobs giving them a lovely shady paddock and allowing our cattle to enjoy some new scenery, thank you.
Massive thank you to my daughter Rebecca and her partner Alex for all the help and support you have both given us over the last few weeks, words cannot describe how grateful we are to you both. I don’t think I would have been able to get to where we are now if you both hadn’t been around to help thank you ######x
To everyone who has stood beside us – thank you. We will never forget
