After losing their home, treasured family photos and nearly everything they owned in the Yarroweyah grassfire earlier this year, Mary and Louis Kirby are slowly rebuilding their lives ― thanks to the kindness and generosity of the Cobram community.

The Yarroweyah grassfire on Friday, January 9, destroyed 12 homes alongside hectares of farmland and sheds, leaving many residents devastated and facing the difficult task of starting again.

After hearing of the Kirbys’ loss, Future Fitness owners Taylar and Emma Hocking set up a GoFundMe page in the hope of raising a couple of thousand dollars for them.

Knowing the family personally, with Mary a member of the gym and their daughter Marianne having worked there on and off for many years, Mr Hocking said hearing about their loss was devastating.

“They’d lived in that home for a long time, brought their kids up and family up in that home. They lost all of their family history photos ... stuff that was irreplaceable,” he said.

What began as a small fundraising effort quickly grew into something much bigger.

“Within 12 hours, we’d raised $10,000, I was blown away, I couldn’t believe that that much money was raised straight away, and by the end of the week it was up to $30,000,” Mr Hocking said.

“It shows the power of the Cobram community, the love that’s shared around and how much people are really willing to help.”

For Mary and Louis, the generosity of the community has been difficult to put into words.

“It’s unbelievable,” Mary said.

“You can't believe all the people that come up to you, that you didn’t even know very well, and they put money into the GoFundMe.”

The couple said they had been overwhelmed by the support and were incredibly grateful to everyone who had helped.

As it nears a year since the fire, Mary and Louis have recently moved into their new home in Cobram.

With the money raised through the fundraiser, they have been able to purchase brand-new furniture and appliances, including a lounge suite, bed, television, fridge and washing machine.

For the couple, who are both in their 80s and have never owned brand-new furniture or appliances, it is particularly special.

The couple also made the conscious decision to purchase everything locally, ensuring the money raised went back into the community.

Of all their new purchases, it is their brand-new bed that Mary is most excited about.

“It’s the best thing ever,” she said.

Mr Hocking said knowing the couple could now enjoy things they had never had was particularly rewarding.

"When I hear them talk about the fact that they’ve never owned new furniture, and they’re at that age, and now they get to enjoy it after years of not having that sort of stuff, it’s pretty special," he said.

While their new home has brought plenty of comfort, moving has also meant adjusting to a very different way of life.

The couple's former property was a 50-acre farmhouse outside of town, where they had lived for around 13 years, so the move to a modern home in Cobram has been quite the change ― one Louis said had been “hard”.

“It's hard and unusual because we’ve never lived in a town before, we lived in the country, we’ve never lived in a city,” he said.

Despite the adjustment, the couple described their new home as “beautiful” and are enjoying being just a short walk from Thompsons Beach.

While they settle into their new surroundings, the day of the fire remains vivid in their minds, with the couple recalling it as if it happened yesterday.

“I can still see the policeman coming up the drive, and I can hear the dogs at the gate,” Louis said.

“It was the policeman with the lights on saying, ‘Come on, Lou, the fire’s just up the road,’ and I didn’t believe him. I just couldn't believe that the fire was just up the road, and I’m standing there with a little hose.

“He just said, ‘Lou, you've got to go because the fire is at Churchill Rd, you’ve got to go’ and so we went.”

Mary said the hardest party was losing their family photos, including ones of their son, who had passed away many years earlier.

“We didn’t even get any of the photos ... I’d always thought that’s the first thing I’d do, but we just had to go,” she said.

Thankfully, the couple managed to get their two dogs to safety and all their cattle survived; instinctively moving into a channel, where the fire did not reach.

Mary said they had never thought something like this would happen to them.

“We were saying, ‘Oh, we’ll be going back in a minute,’ we never thought that it would happen to us. That’s what we thought,” she said.

“In one way though we’re pretty lucky with all the help we’ve had. It’s extremely lovely.”

The Yarroweyah grassfire may have taken their home, but it has shown the compassion and love of the Cobram community ― one that ensures no-one gets left behind or forgotten.

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Friday, 12th May 2028

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