A volunteer firefighter in Australia, previously from Westfield, has been helping to tackle the extensive bush fires that the country has seen in recent months. His father, Jeff Parsons, tells us a little about the ‘Ladies of the Land’, as Andrew continues as a member of the Rural Fire Service at Tarraganda, a locality near the Far South Coast township of Bega in New South Wales.

?“For many months, New South Wales farmers have suffered a drought, which has affected their farms and families. If that was not enough, the prolonged drought brought an early start to the bush fire season last October, which spread southwards from north of Sydney right down to the Far South Coast around Eden.

“By the same token, fires started in Gippsland, the eastern area of Victoria and spread northward, meeting up eventually with the fire at Eden.

“I am sure we can all recall the horror stories told on our television news programmes about the fate of the holiday makers in the small seafront settlement of Mallacotta, almost on the border between the two states, and where they had to resort to the beach to avoid the conflagration bearing down on them.

“Ladies of the Land is a charity which was set up to help families, and in particular wives and partners, of the hard-pressed farmers in the farms to the west and north of the state of New South Wales.

“They raised funds and made up parcels of ‘goodies’ for the farmers’ wives and partners and called them ‘Pamper Packs’, toiletries etc and a bottle of wine, which they distributed all around the affected farms and holdings.

“But this was not just for farmers’ families. At the end of January, a van turned up at the Rural Fire Service Tarraganda Fire Shed with packs for firefighters’ wives and partners.

“The NSW Rural Fire Service comprises around 2,500 local brigades with something like 70,000 volunteer firemen,

many of whom have been, until very recently, on call, stand by or active duty almost continuously in the Tarraganda area since just before New Year.

“Accompanying each parcel was the following poem which, simply, encapsulates the thoughts behind this good deed:

‘In the midst of fear and turmoil, you wave your partner off,

‘Never sure what lies ahead, if they are safe or not,

‘I think that could easily be the greatest kindness known,

‘You put the needs of others before your very own,

‘Please take this little offering, it is yours with all our love,

‘You’re the cream of our community, you truly rise above.’