Not even a year after bushfire passed through the Cobargo district, people in its community have banded together to develop numerous projects to rebuild and improve their town and region.
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Projects include plans to rebuild Cobargo's lost main street retail sector, the construction of a community hall and bushfire refuge at its showground and the Cobargo Community Bushfire Recovery Fund which has been funding projects in the region.
Also, there is the Cobargo and Region Energy Transition Group, which is focusing on developing new local renewable energy generation and energy storage infrastructure, and the Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre.
The plans for these and more were on display at the Out of the Fires: Plant Giveaway Fun Day in Cobargo on Saturday.
The work in about 15 projects has been supported by Australian Business Volunteers (ABV), which has been assisting the groups towards achieving their goals.
ABV CEO Liz Mackinlay said at least six groups were at a stage where they could apply to the $250million Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund, jointly funded by the federal and NSW governments, which she said would provide "significant money for rebuilding".
But she criticised the fund's timeframe, as applications only opened in late October and close on December 11.
"To be honest it's incredibly tight and I think it's creating a fair amount of stress," Ms Mackinlay said.
"I don't think you will find anyone that says that timeframe is reasonable."
Not only is the submission date not far off, successful projects will not be announced until April 2021 then projects need to be completed by June 2022.
"I don't know how it's feasible," Ms Mackinlay said.
Ms Mackinlay said every community in Australia was different when it came to rebuilding after the fires, but Cobargo already had a strong social fabric and closeness when it came to working together due to the groups like the Yuin Folk Club and the Cobargo Show Society.
"I've just found them to be an incredibly motivated and dynamic group of people," she said.
Ms Mackinlay said her hope is that in several years time the Cobargo projects will be up and running.
"The beautiful language they used about being grounded in the history of Cobargo and building back better is a really beautiful idea," she said.
Albert McKnight
Twice weekly
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