CreatorLeah R.TitleBush FiresDate2020MediumWatercolour, pen and pencil on paperDimensionsH. 260mm x W. 378mmPlace MadeUlong-NSWArtist StatementHi my name is Leah ... and I will be sharing my experience of what my family and I went through.
It all started on November 2019 when we were in Ulong.
When I woke up I had my breakfast and got changed. I went outside to play with Aleaha and Bella. When I got outside the sky was really pink, purple and orangey and it was really Smokey. I ran into mum to ask why the sky is really bright and colourful and also really smoky. So mum walked outside to see what I meant. She called Amy and asked what it was like down there she said it is also smoky dark and gloomy. They sat on the phone for about 20 minutes I wasn’t quiet shore what they were saying. Bella ran into my room to put on the television to see what was going on. The fire brigade was on the news telling us to evacuate and get out of there. While there were 100s of firebragades putting the fires out. The fire brigade said that they are about to shut the mountain so that the fires do not reach us. Mum called out to all of us and said pack your bags were leaving. So I ran into mum saying what is wrong why we are leaving the house. So we packed our favourite stuff like all the baby photos and the metals that we won.
Once we packed the car we were on our way. Then we got a call from mum's friend Myana and Johnathan. We asked them if they were staying or if they were evacuating. They said they were staying. So we asked them if they could watch the house while we were gone. Then they hung up. Once they hung up we kept driving. So mum started to do her window down because she was having trouble following the white line. Once the window was down mum was having trouble breathing until we got down to the bottom of the mountain. Then we started the trip to Queensland. After eight hour drive we were all so tired. Once we got there we finally went to go say hello to my grandmother, Aunty Sarah, Uncle nick and our cousins our cousins were so excited to see me.
All we did was went swimming played and did things
By the end it was a relief because it was all over and we could go back home. Accession NumberG2021.9.1Access AdviceFor research purposes only. No reproduction without permission of Yarrila Arts and Museum.
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Description
Painting depicting a koala in a tree surrounded by bushfire; watercolour, pen and pencil on paper.
This work is part of the Bushfire Recovery Project - creative works made in response to the devastating 2019/2020 Bushfire season. It involved working with small schools in fire-affected communities of the Orara Valley.
No Deed of Gift Form (including licence agreement) was received.
