If you were impacted by the Badja Forest Road bushfire and have videos or stills of it, Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre wants to hear from you this month.
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The National Library of Australia is close to finishing production of 60 interviews to capture the oral history of the fire.
However, the CBRC's project is bigger than the oral history.
Rhonda Ayliffe, vice-chair of the CBRC, said there are also five micro-films being produced by Crewcible Studio.
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Crewcible is a video production studio based in Bemboka and Canberra.
Crewcible's Jimmy Armstrong-Logue, son of Cobargo's Zena Armstrong and Peter Logue, is video director so he understands the bushfires and is passionate about doing a wonderful job.
"We are trying to make everything as local as possible to highlight the talent in the area and that you don't have to go further afield to do projects like this," Ms Ayliffe said.
The micro-films go into pre-production in July and should be complete by September 30.
Stories of the community, told by the community
CBRC wants videos or still images, material that wasn't saturated by media coverage, and particularly from areas like the Belowra Valley and Nerrigundah that got less attention.
"We don't know what people have got," Ms Ayliffe said.
"They might have really important images that should be shared and don't know where to share them. This is the place."
The micro-films will be the centrepiece of the CBRC's theatrette.
"People can come to watch these stories of our community, by our community.
"It is telling our story, our way, which is exactly what the oral history project was about - returning the voice to the people impacted," she said.
Going to tender
The CBRC's DA was passed on June 9.
As they go to tender, again the focus will be on local sub-contractors and potentially a local builder.
"We are very mindful of protecting sub-contractors as many have been burnt recently such as in Bega."
Ms Ayliffe hopes work will start on the site before the bushfire's fourth anniversary on December 31, 2023.
There will be regular updates on progress plus open days.
The CBRC will tell the story of firefighting in Australia.
"We tell the big stories through local stories."
Ms Ayliffe said delays put the CBRC in jeopardy several times and was critical of the process.
"The volunteers get our job done and we are waiting for all the highly-paid professionals to do theirs.
"Competitive, high-stake grants are not the way to deal with recovery."
The deadline for videos and stills is July 31.
Please contact Ms Ayliffe on rhonda.ayliffe@gmail.com or 0418 417 988.
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