Beneath An Ominous Sky

By Anke Zet, Suzanne Newnham and Sharon Halliday

The 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires affected much of the East Coast of Australia. In the Eurobodalla, on the South Coast of NSW, over 500 houses were lost. The impact on people was both physical and emotional. The forward by Petrea King, best-selling author of 'Your Life Matters', she outlines the courage it takes to overcome trauma and write about the distress and fears. It is the first step toward healing.

The stories and poems in 'Beneath and Ominous Sky' cover the immediate aftermath of the fires and also the hope and resilience of time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anke Zet
• Release date: Oct 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005165284

Anke Zet

Anke loves creativity of any kind (*Creativity is a drug I cannot live without- Cecil DeMille) and has been part in many projects initiated by her writer’s group: the SSOW (Secret Society of Words).Known to surprise friends with rhymes for any occasion she’s now considered venturing into the world of publishing; encouraged, after finishing the first book ‘Deception’ of her sci-fi romance trilogy ‘Unearthly talents’.A graduate with a Doctor of Medicine, she moved from the UK to Australia in 2003 with her husband and two children. She currently works as a part-time GP on the beautiful south coast, when she’s not succumbing to her drug of choice*: writing anything that pops into her head without rhyme or reason.Although, sometimes it rhymes; and mostly it has reason.

Book preview

Beneath an Ominous Sky

A Black Summer Anthology by

the Fellowship of Australian Writers,

Eurobodalla Branch

Edited by CAT SHEELY

Beneath an Ominous Sky, Secret Society of Words, edited by Cat Sheely.

Copyright © 2021 by Secret Society of Words Publishing (SSOW)

Published by SSOW Publishing at Smashwords, November, 2021

Print ISBN 978-0-6451493-0-2

Ebook ISBN

Other SSOW Publications:

The Seven Little Goatlings, November 2014

Alien Zoo, October 2016.

Murder on the First, November 2017

Viv’s Last Hoorah, November 2019

Copyright © 2021 Secret Society of Words Publishing

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people nor redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Cover photo from: https:// www.superiorwallpapers.com

Printed in Australia

First Printing, 2021

Secret Society of Words Publications

26 Caitlin Crescent,

Broulee NSW 2537, Australia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD by Patria King

EDITORS NOTES by Cat Sheely

Heroes Amongst Us by SharonHalliday

Triggered, But Not Deterred by Sharon Halliday

Dark Days by Rosie Toth

Choking by Linda Kennington

The Battle Back to Me by Linda Kennington

Leaf Reflections by Arlene Liang

Docsden by Paula Boer

Surrounded by Susanne Newnham

A Year On by Suzanne Newnham

Bushfire New Year by Rosemary Frances

A Victim After All by Anke Ziergiebel

A Mouthful of Ash by Judy Turner

Bushfire Vegemite by Laura Tyler

Scorched Spotted Gums – Clyde Mountain by Bonnie Atteridge

Beyond Panic But Not Beyond Fear by Jennie Mairie

Incongrous by Linda Kennington

Thoughts – Scattered Like Ashes by Louise Falcioni

Our Salvation – A Kookaburra by Louise Falcioni

I Hate Cricket On The Radio by Rhonda Casey

Hope? Too Soon? by Suzanne Newnham

Fire by Arlene Liang

Phenix Rising by Arlene Liang

A Diary of Disaster by Gary Keady

Flane Cloud by SuzanneNewnham

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

COUNCELLING RESOURCES

Other Books by SSOW

FORWARD

For the past 35 years I have worked with people who are suffering some sort of trauma. For some those traumas have been physical and for others emotional – the shock of a life-threatening diagnosis, the wounds of childhood abuse, the despair of being publicly humiliated, the death of a child or any loved-one, people who’ve been subjected to awful violence, terrorism or been involved in various disasters. One by one people have shared their stories with me, but how do we assist whole communities who’ve been subjected to a terrible trauma?

The word ‘unprecedented’ has been used more about 2020 than any other year, up until now. On the Australian south coast, community members had long struggled with the heartbreak of drought, then fires ravaged their depleted landscape consuming homes, forests, native animals, birds and insects and sadly, too many lives. It seemed ludicrous to see people huddled together in the sea, while black smoke and encroaching flames made for no other choice.

The journey through trauma to healing is often long, solitary and tortuous. Trauma and unspeakable events and tragedies often cause us to retreat and isolate ourselves from the jangle of human relationships and the triggers that plummet us to our depths. It takes courage to heal. It requires time, patience and a willingness to give utterance to our distress – and, in so doing, we pick through the rubble of our former life, and find the first threads a new one emerging.

Such was the courage of this group of people who picked up their pens to write out their experience, their distress, their fears and their first steps towards healing. The Secret Society of Words enabled people to move the trauma from within the body of the experiencer, to the paper – where it can be witnessed and shared by others.

This precious book is a tool for healing. Those who wrote it, found the process of refining their words and reliving their experiences both upsetting – and ultimately, healing. Those who read it will be reminded of their own experiences and will likewise find comfort knowing that other people ‘get’ what it was like to traverse such powerful experiences and survive them.

The real gem hidden within these pages, is that healing is possible. Even when we have gone through unthinkable, unimaginable and unexpected trauma and suffering, the human spirit has the capacity to heal, to no longer be defined by the distress trauma creates.

This isn’t a book to read in one sitting. Let the stories move you, perhaps remind you of your experience and inspire you to find your own path to healing.

These writers have given us the gift of their insight, their courage and their capacity to heal and grow through their challenges. They have given utterance to the unutterable – and more than survived. We can follow in their footsteps to find our own creative pathway to acceptance, healing and peace.

Petrea King

Quest for Life Centre

Bundanoon NSW

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EDITORS NOTES

2020 was a most unusual year for more reasons than anyone could have foreseen. No sooner had our writing group completed our last novella, Viv’s Last Hoorah, in early November 2019 than the skies above our beautiful South Coast turned smokey from the fires burning in the Currowan Forest. As Christmas closed in, so did the threat. We watched in horror as the conflagration crossed the Kings Highway with the inevitability that it would race to the coast.

Our first meeting back in February 2020 turned into a conversation about our experiences. In many ways this was cathartic – the sharing and understanding of the horror, fear and loss of those weeks between New Year’s Eve and mid-January.

It was quickly decided that our stories and feelings should turn into our project for 2020.

The following stories and poems are essentially unedited and filled with emotion. All are from the heart. These stories are only a few of the thousands who suffered the fear and loss throughout the Summer of 2019/2020 not only on the South Coast but all over Australia from the top of Cape York, down the eastern seaboard, through Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

In compiling these stories late in 2020 it became clear that they were emotional and hit right where it hurt for those who had experienced it – including myself. I had to stop reading. At the last meeting of the year it was decided that there needed to be some positives or the anthology would be too dark, too sad. So we put off publication and many wrote encouraging pieces from the distance of twelves months. These are now included.

We believe you will emphathise with the pain and horror but mostly the hope and resilience as these stories unfold for you.

Cat Sheely

South Coast of NSW, March 2021

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Heroes Amongst Us

By Sharon Halliday

You’d better come home. It doesn’t look good.

I was trying to be strong. It would be the first of many moments that day when I’d have to pretend to be tougher than I felt. My husband Steve quickly retorted, Didn’t you get my message? His text had come through seconds before warning us not to leave, and specifically not to venture into Mogo, as my mother and I had planned for that day. Little did we know, half of the beloved historic village of Mogo, less than 14 kilometres away, was already a smouldering pile of rubble. Steve indicated he had work to do and that we’d be alright if we just stayed inside. I wasn’t so convinced.

Black leaves rained down upon me and my neighbours, who had now gathered in the usually quiet cul-de-sac. Warm to the touch, those leaves only moments before had been blazing embers. I realised this was going to be no ordinary New Year’s Eve.

Eight minutes later Steve’s frantic call came through. The fire front is going to hit east of Dunns Creek Road in the next 20 minutes. I’m on my way. If there was ever a way to feel safer and also scared out of your mind at the exact same time, this was it. I felt safer knowing my husband would be home soon and would know exactly what to do, I felt more scared knowing that the situation had just got serious…really serious, with the fire now less than seven kilometres away. I said a silent prayer for my mates who lived on Dunns Creek Road and hoped that by some miracle they were not in harm’s way.

The next 20 minutes were a blur as I began frantically grabbing, not the precious possessions I thought I’d grab in a situation like this, but essentials–food, water and clothes. Survival mode had kicked in. My mum, Jan, who had been visiting from Queensland, copped