‘We’ve been abandoned’: the long road to recovery for black summer bushfire survivors

Nearly two years after fires devastated the NSW south coast, families still live in caravans as they struggle to rebuild in the face of red tape, a skills shortage and dwindling government support

As the early morning sun rises over the hills of Wandella, a small hamlet of farms and rural properties near Cobargo, it is possible to momentarily overlook the devastation that tore through the area almost two years ago. Birds chirp, dairy cows roam the valley and a wet winter has left the area carpeted in verdant greenery. The national gaze has long since moved beyond Australia's black summer bushfires, and even here at ground zero it is possible to imagine that day can be forgotten.

But only for a brief moment. When the sun pokes above the adjacent ridge, it illuminates row after row of barren trees that betray the tranquillity. A potent reminder of the fire's enduring impact, the trees are upright but still yet to recover. The same is true of those who inhabit this beautiful but now melancholy part of far-south New South Wales. For many, the long road to recovery has only just begun.