En: Victoria Bushfire Appeal

Picture: Oat Wacharachat Vaiyaboon

Victorian Freemasons' 2018 South-West Victoria Bushfire Appeal

https://fmv.org.au/victorian-freemasons-2018-south-west-victoria-bushfire-appeal/ DONATE now !

Brethren, join Freemasons Victoria and Grand Master, MWBro. Keith Murray in raising funds to assist those in South-West Victoria who have been affected by the bushfires over the weekend of 17 March 2018. Thankfully, there has been no loss of life, however the severe loss of livestock and the impact on our farmers has left an overwhelming trail of devastation. Together, we can all make a difference and help our farmers recover from the tragedy that roared through South-West Victoria.

Bro. Dr. Craig Wood

Bushfire

On Saturday 17 March 2018 several bushfires roared through south-west Victoria. The devastation that it has left is vast with almost 40,000 hectares burnt and dozens of livestock lost. At one stage over the weekend, at least 40 towns were under alert and asked to evacuate and 22,000 premises were left without power. The fires have claimed at least 18 homes and 42 sheds and have left at least 1,700 people without power. There are no reports of any loss of life at this stage. A long and dry summer, combined with lightning strikes and strong winds triggered the fires as they spread around Terang, Camperdown, Cobden and Gnotuk, west of Colac. The main firefighting efforts were placed in the Cobden region in the hopes of saving the communities from devastation. Corangamite Shire Mayor Jo Beard said a large number of dairy farms had been lost and significant stock loss was experienced in the worst disaster to hit the area since Ash Wednesday.

Grand Installation 2018

Installation of Keith Murray as GM & Richard Elkington as DGM at Crown Palladium.

Took as many photos as I could from where I was sitting, sorry to those I missed! What a spectacular event!!

If you save any photos, a donation to our Community bushfire appeal would be greatly appreciated. This can be done through the Rosebank Lodge Appeal or the Grand Masters Appeal. Feel free to tag and share.

All photographs: Sally Patterson. Please don´t forget to mention.