Along with the 65 homes that were destroyed in the town, a vast tract of bushland also went up in smoke: land that was home to wildlife. 

Tracey’s sister is a volunteer wildlife carer in the Tathra district and Tracey decided to collect animal first aid and medical supplies to assist the South East Wildlife Rescue carers in treated affected animals.

Having made that decision, however, she then realised she could also assist the Tathra community with practical supplies. She contacted Bega News and Vinnies in Tathra and asked what sort of supplies were most needed. Annie Clarke offered the use of the Visitors’ Information Centre as a central drop-off point, Tracey put the call out on the local Facebook page and the donations flooded in from locals keen to help.

The scale of the response from Braidwood was totally unexpected. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Tracey.

“I expected to collect maybe two or three boxes. I ended up doing two fully laden trips to Tathra with clothing, bedding, food items, pet food – everything.”

This was on top of the medical supplies for the animals, which came in from the Braidwood vet as well as wildlife carers and the community.

Tracey believes living in a rural community, particularly in a time of drought, means we’re all aware that next time it could be us needing help, and we know other communities would step up and offer that support. “You couldn’t do that in the big city,” she says.

Between the South Coast Wildlife Rescue carers and WIRES, and with the donations of medical and first aid supplies that came in from as far as Sydney, they were able to treat every animal that was brought into care.

“Obviously there were some animals that didn’t make it,” she said, “but they were able to treat all of them.”