A few days after Black Saturday my wife Louise and I, together with our good friend Pauline Crosby, visited the staging post at Whittlesea to try and see what we could do to help.
Although it was a place of great sadness I was struck by the amount of compassion and humanity there.
They told me they had no room for any more donated clothes and food, that they had more volunteers than people they were trying to help, and the queue of cars containing aid arriving stretched as far as the eye could see. I began to wonder what I, an untrained person, could do to help.
On the way round chatting to people, I bumped into a young girl. Her name was Katrina, and she had come down for the first time from Kinglake to buy some food for her and her Dad
She was in a daze and understandably so. All she wanted to do was get back to Kinglake, but had lost her police wrist band. While trying to find a replacement I gently asked her what had happened and she told me that on the night of Black Saturday she had stayed back with her father and two neighbors and after a four hour battle the 4 of them had managed to save the entire court they lived in. She also added that she had a heart condition and had lost many friends, yet here she was doing what had to be done so her family could eat.
Katrina couldn’t cry, it was like her soul had a padlock on it. At this point the words “From the ashes Rose the Spirit” came into my head and I knew I had to go back and work on a song that could help in some small way. Black Saturday left many people like Katrina devastated and needing something to try and just get them through the day.
I have been working with a local songwriter/producer, Kehinde and after a few days of work writing the song I turned up at his studio to record the song. It was in a rough form. After a day of adaption and refining we came up together with what was to become the song entitled: "Surviving As One". I must admit having never done such a song before we were both concerned that we wrote and produced the song in the appropriate manner. It had to be reflective, respectful but also had to contain an element of uplift that would make people feel a little better, or just let out whatever emotions they were holding in.
Having laid out the song in its raw form Kehinde then laid the guide vocals and was joined on vocals by Sesha and Rhiannon, two young ladies with great voices. On the following Monday Eltham High School kindly allowed us to use their recording studios in their music complex. Although it was short notice Pauline Crosby, from Bumblebee Factory, along with Tess Dwyer, & Genevieve Brayley, organised 30 children from 7 schools to attend to form a choir for the evening. This was really important to us, as one of the foundations of this project is that this music is a message of support from our shire, local people that want to let everyone involved in this that they are here for you.
After successfully recording the children after only a few takes (they learnt the words like true professionals!) the song was taken away and worked on until we were satisfied with the final mix. The song will be released free to download for all as a gift, and for those that wish to, they may donate a contribution to various charities supporting the survivors of the bush fires. These charities include the CFA, WRAP, & Wildlife Victoria.
I have always believed music to be a great healer and by offering "Surviving As One" we hope that people all over Australia, as well as our local community will listen to the song and start to begin the long healing process that is needed.
So Katrina, and everyone in our neighbouring valleys, and across Victoria, this one's for you.
Thinking of you all,
Bob Messenger
