By Jesse Graham
AFTER five years and nearly $50,000 raised for local fire brigades, the Black Saturday Remembrance Cruise is locked in to return next year.
The cruise, run by Troy and Stacey Kinsmore, will return for its sixth year, with the event to be held on Saturday 11 February.
Ms Kinsmore said that, due to a large number of vehicles taking part each year, the beginning of the event had been shifted from Lilydale to the Yarra Glen Racecourse on Armstrong Grove.
Vehicles of all shapes and sizes, including vintage and modern models, will leave at 1pm, touring the Toolangi area that was impacted by the bushfires, before driving through Chum Creek to Healesville’s Railway Station by 2pm.
At 3pm, a remembrance ceremony is held to remember Black Saturday bushfire victim Kate Ansett, along with each of the 173 people who perished in the fires.
Each year, the event draws hundreds of people and various vehicles from around the state, and Ms Kinsmore estimates that about $50,000 has been raised for the Healesville CFA over the five events.
She delivered a cheque for $9000 from the 2016 cruise to Healesville CFA on 1 December, which helped to pay for a remotely-controlled hose nozzle on the front of one of the crew’s tankers.
Secretary Jeannie Roberts said the nozzle meant that crew members would be able to fight fires from the tanker cabin, without having to climb out of the cabin and onto the back of the truck in dangerous circumstances.
“There’s a 1000 litre water tank on this vehicle, and it means they can direct the spray without having to get outside, climb onto the back of the vehicle and spray around – they can do it all from the cab,” she said.
“It’s good for grassfires, so they can drive through … they can spray as they go.
“This (donation) really helps us.”
Ms Kinsmore said the event is always looking for more business sponsors to offer their support, which will mean more money donated to the CFA.
“If any business wants to jump on board and help us out, that means more money we can give to the CFA, because we have to cover our own costs,” she said.
“We’d be pretty grateful for that.”
Ms Kinsmore said she wanted to have more of a focus on remembering the victims of Black Saturday at next year’s event, and for the attendees to take part in the remembrance ceremony.
Each year, Ms Kinsmore, her family and event attendees walk the labyrinth at the railway station, before placing flowers in the centre as a memorial for the victims of the 2009 bushfires.
“We want to make sure people realise it is a remembrance event, at the end of the day,” she said.
“We’re all there together – we don’t want to forget, and we won’t forget.”
