Cyclone Marcia was a category 5
cyclone when it reached the Queensland coast at Shoalwater Bay on the 20th
February this year. It had wind speeds of 205km/hr. By the time it reached
Yeppoon 50kms to the south, four hours later, it was downgraded to a category 4
with wind speeds up to 156kms/hr.
Nob Creek Pottery, at Byfield,
is about halfway between them.
In 2010, we visited Nob Creek
Pottery and it didn’t take long to realise you were looking at not only skilled
craftsmanship but also high level creativity. The ceramics created there by
Steve Bishopric and Sue McBurnie were stunning and original.
They still are, it’s just that in
between, Marcia came for a visit.
Steve met us when we arrived,
soot from head to toe but mostly covered with the remnants of the heartbreak
the cyclone had wreaked eight weeks earlier when it had invaded the home and
business he started 35 years ago. He retold the lowlights of the days which
followed: of a giant tree straddling his house and swimming pool; of the
kindness of the neighbouring national park sending men with chainsaws; of the
damage; of the media spotlight which focused on his place; of the politicians
who came and those who stayed away; of the extent of intricacies in making
claims to the insurance companies; and of the sense of being overwhelmed every
day since with the work that still has to be done.
Yet, he told it all with a sense
of humour, not resignation and despite the burden of the last eight weeks, he
retains his spirit of fighting back. He doesn’t have his hands in the clay –
there is too much other work to do – but he has his showroom trading.
How, I don’t know.
He had been away when the cyclone
hit and returned to a massive jumble of trees which looked like the start of a
giant game of pick up sticks and under which his studio, kilns and showroom
lay. Four of the national parks blokes arrived with chainsaws and offered
assistance, so Steve suggested they might like to at least clear the path to
the studio. The pile of rubble was such an effective blanket, the studio
couldn’t be seen, so as a guide, Steve identified the first pavers of the path
in the car park, the only ones visible and just told them to follow the path
in. It took them six hours, with four blokes cutting, to reach the studio just
25 metres away.
In the main, the buildings are
still standing and prior warning for his son, who was at Nob Creek at the
time, allowed much of the stock to be packed away but more than three quarters
of million dollars damage has still been done. Many of the many trees he had
planted had been knocked down or destroyed, including one he had planted at the
birth of his daughter which was a metre in diameter when Marcia removed it.
270 hard days work have been done
by many hands in the eight weeks since the cyclone. The showroom is open and
trading. Photos cycle on a screen in the showroom and Steve opens his heart if
you ask him. His greater concerns, strongly voiced, are for the implications
that such signs are for the reality of climate change and the denial of some of
our politicians to its reality. Maybe that’s why the Prime Minister didn’t
visit.
We purchased two exquisite wine
goblets for the van. They are part of his new series, with the unique Byfield
fern motif in relief on one side and the wonderful deep blue glaze running down
the opposite side. The finest pieces we have owned and among the most beautiful
ceramics we have seen. We also ordered a large tea pot for family occasions.
You hear about such stories or
sometimes see people like Steve interviewed on news broadcasts in the aftermath
of such mammoth disasters but it’s not until you are standing where their shoes
tread that you really have a sense of the magnitude of the unwanted change to
their lives. Around us, trees were snapped off and whole stands of state
forests are now permanently bent in the direction that Marcia dictated.
Detritus is everywhere at Nob Creek and yet so much has been done to repair
and move forward.
Just like the news broadcasts,
the world moves but they still stand there in the rubble, trying to make some
sense of it. Some people seem to have more than their share of tenacity and
courage.
We drove on in the mid afternoon
for a late lunch at Yeppoon and watched a giant white sea eagle swoop and catch
fish and then glide on the strong breeze whilst Brahminny Kites followed it
complaining.
At Wreck Point, toward Rosslyn
Bay and the big marina there, we watched a bloke flying his remote controlled
glider, using only the strength of the breeze to keep it aloft. In the midst of
taking photos and shooting some video, four Australian Ravens floated in on the
breeze doing exactly the same thing. It wasn’t hard to see where the
inspiration for the glider came from.
Travelling south along the coast,
we stopped in the late afternoon at Emu Park and the amazing Singing Ship, a
large sculpture with wind chimes that moan in the wind which was installed to commemorate Captain Cook's voyage past this point in 1770. A fresh breeze had it
in good voice. Nearby, workmen were getting toward the finishing touches of a
new walkway which extends from the Singing Ship back to one of the best war
memorials we’ve seen. The photos will do a better job of explaining it than
words. It includes a 3cm thick transparent glass panel recreation of a famous
painting of troops landing at Gallipoli. When viewed with the coastline and
islands of the Keppel group showing through the glass from behind, it gives the
painting a realism which is very moving.
We got back to camp in
Rockhampton just after sunset and settled in for a night of reoccurring showers
on the roof.
