Summary

Hand-made wooden 'Solitaire' game made by Bill as a fund-raising effort to support Maddy, whose mother, father and sister had perished on Black Saturday. Maddy survived the bushfire but suffered severe burns. Stella purchased several of these games from the Smith's Gully store, and gave them as gifts to friends.

Alan and Stella Reid live adjacent to the Kinglake National Park. They created 'Wildhaven' in 1998, as a refuge and rehabilitation centre specialising in kangaroos, wallabies and koalas. The Black Saturday bushfires destroyed everything on their property, all of the animals in their care were killled, and their home and other buildings were razed. Stella is a member of the St Andrews CFA and was on active duty during the day; she witnessed her home go up in flames from across the valley. Alan, who was at home when the fire struck was lucky to escape without injury. The fire killed twelve of their neighbours, the 40-50 animals in their care, hundreds of animals in the surrounding properties, and (according to their estimate) up to 90% of the wildlife in Kinglake National Park.

Physical Description

Hand-made wooden 'Solitaire' game consisting of wooden triangular base board with 15 painted wooden pegs in holes (1 yellow, 2 white, 3 green, 4 red and 5 orange).

Significance

This item is part of a collection relating to the experiences of Alan and Stella Reid following the devastating impact of the Black Saturday bushfires. In particular it helps provide insights into the community response through the variety of gifts and donations provided to survivors of the bushfires and the ideas of the types of needs they represented.

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