Clank, clank, clank, the murmur of voices, and gentle hum of the forges filled the space next to the Cobargo School of Arts Hall on Sunday October 3.
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The community gathered to create their very own leaf using steel and fire in remembrance of the bushfires that engulfed the region during Black Summer.
The leaves will eventually be welded onto a free-standing sculptural tree somewhere on the main street- the position to be decided on with help from the community at a later stage.
Iain and Sarah Hamilton of Mother Mountain Forge in Dignams Creek and Philippe Ravenel of Galba Forge in Wandella were set up with two glowing forges, a number of anvils, and the tools ready for each person to create their own leaf.
Around 30 people came out on Sunday to make their mark. Each person had the special experience of being walked through the process by one of the blacksmiths on the day.
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Blacksmith Iain Hamilton said, "a lot of people were really excited that the project is going ahead." He noted that despite the conversations he had with people who had lost so much, people were in an overall positive frame of mind.
"I think people realise the permanency of this, it is going to be there for the next 200 or 300 years, long after they're gone, so people are very excited about it," he said.
Although blacksmiths often make the process look easy, many on the day realised just how much work goes into the trade.
One of the participants even commented that albeit she went home with blisters, she was happy to have them as a mark of her hard work.
Many on the day expressed how "proud" they were after stepping back to admire their handiwork.
Co-organiser Ms Hamilton said, "I did have someone say to me that from what they'd seen, it was the most hands-on community project, that everybody could get in and have a go."
Both Mother Mountain Forge and Galba Forge will be running additional days at their workshops that will be available to book once their website is live.
At present Mr and Ms Hamilton will be able to take four people at a time over four sessions per day each Monday.
Mr Hamilton has been running blacksmithing courses with people for some time now, and said he was confident to take beginners through the process.
They said they would be running days in the community again, and that their first community day helped them, "iron out the kinks" for the next session.
Some of those kinks would include adjusting certain tooling and having the workshops run within an hour for each participant.
"Overall it was a really good first run," said Ms Hamilton.
Community members from the Cobargo and Quaama District are encouraged to keep their eyes on the Cobargo Community Tree Project Facebook page for further details and upcoming bookings.