Ray and Carole Mahoney, pictured with granddaughter Amy, are back home in Murchison Street, Marysville. 60894
By Kath Gannaway
“I THINK we owe it to the people who died to rebuild.”
Marysville post office owner Ray Mahoney struggled to fight back the tears just days after Black Saturday as he told then Premier John Brumby it was the kindness of others that had reduced him to tears.
Even as he walked away from the Healesville emergency refuge centre with an armful of donated blankets and pillows, he spoke of a future for Marysville.
It’s been a long, hard, two years since Ray and his wife Carole escaped the fires which left their post office shop and Indidj Art Gallery in ashes.
Local textile artist Lynne Stone also lost everything.
As the fires approached she was putting the finishing touches on some pieces for the exhibition of her unique three-dimensional embroidered native flowers that was to open at Indidj two weeks later.
On Friday 18 February Ray, Carole and Lynne picked up the threads of their lives as the new Marysville Post Shop and Indidj Art Gallery was officially opened featuring Lynne’s belated exhibition.
It is first business to completely rebuild in Murchison Street.
It was an emotional return to the main street as, surrounded by friends and family, Ray, Carole and Lynne officially launched the Picking Up The Threads exhibition.
Friend, Di James, spoke of the hardships and the resilience shown by all three.
“Carole spent two cold and bleak winters, and hot summers, in the red shipping container providing postal services to the town.
“There were tears but there was also a conviction to get Marysville’s businesses back together and to fulfil their vision of the gallery,” she said.
This happened because they didn’t sit back and wait to assess what was going to happen, they took the risks, and they got on with it.”
She said Lynne also had got on with the job, to fulfil her commitment to the planned exhibition.
“Lynne lost her home and the equipment she used to make her art.
“She has spent the last two years in one of the little boxes in the village and didn’t give up.
“Tonight celebrates not only the post office and gallery and Lynne’s art, it celebrates the courage, determination and the stubbornness of these three people,” she said.
