Families lost everything when a bushfire hit town. This club helped them heal

It is Thursday night at Harcourt Football Netball Club, and it soon becomes evident that fire has changed the way they view success.

The under-12 side is having a scratch match against their parents. Laughter breaks out when a dad slips over and almost pings his hammy. A son sells his mother some candy as he dances around her outstretched arms and delivers the ball neatly to a teammate.

President Mark Dorian is busily unravelling cords and plugging a cash machine into the bar before clearing tables for the Thursday night meals – pizzas and a hearty scoop of Neapolitan ice-cream for the kids.

There is a buzz around the club as five teams enter a weekend of finals, including their senior team against Navarre at Maryborough’s Princes Park on Sunday.

Blackened trees, their branches regenerating with sprouting leaves, stand at the edge of the recreation reserve’s elevated car park, revealing just how close the flames came to engulfing the clubrooms.

A damp clearing, to the west of the ground, is all that is left of the Harcourt Cooperative Cool Store – a vital storage base for up to 90 local businesses that was razed to the ground. More than 50 houses were lost.

As Dorian emerges from the clubrooms, he trades witty quips with parents enjoying an afternoon drink.

Through his guidance Harcourt Football Netball Club has become a crucial focal point for the community.

With support from AFL Victoria and Netball Victoria, one of the first things they did was offer free registration, free uniforms and free equipment for families. Then they provided free meals on a Thursday night.

“We just made a big effort to try and bring normality to people’s lives. I mean, especially for the juniors, it was really about having a place to go,” Dorian says.

“People are still going through all sorts of things now, whether they lost everything, or it affects their work, or who knows? It affects people in different ways. But what this does is gives people a place to unwind, and get away from it, even if it’s for an hour or so, and just enjoy being around people.”

Mother-of-two Shelby is one of those people. The junior coach is putting the under-11 netballers through their paces ahead of their weekend final and also plays for the club’s C-grade team.

She admits she is still finding her feet after the fire burnt her rental home to the ground.

Shelby, who asks for her surname not to be used for privacy reasons, and her son and her daughter lost all of their possessions.