On that blistering hot Friday 4th January 2013…this same wharf became a life saving critical refuge. Desperately trapped residents fled their homes from a raging inferno bearing down upon them and clung below the wharf for dear life, immersed in the cool salt water.
Dunalley’s Wharf became a final refuge for people of Dunalley to survive what would otherwise have been certain death by bushfire. It’s unassuming but vital human value is now etched in local memory, which must now already be legend.
Such horrific memories are destined to endure local lifetimes.
What let the firestorm descend upon Dunalley was negligently and morally wrong. It was stoppable on the 3rd and the escalated firestorm should never have come to this.
No-one deserves this, ever!