Australian musician loses valued guitar collection to bushfire

Record ID: 1451179

  • Title: Australian musician loses valued guitar collection to bushfire
  • Date: 3rd January 2020
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF HILLMAN PLAYING ONE OF FIVE GUITARS HE SAVED FROM HIS HOUSE BEFORE IT BURNT / HIS DOG LOOKING ON
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2020 06:26
  • Keywords: Australia bushfire guitars natural disaster victims
  • Location: MALUA BAY, BATEMANS BAY AREA, AUSTRALIA
  • City: MALUA BAY, BATEMANS BAY AREA, AUSTRALIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wildfires/Forest Fires
  • Reuters ID: LVA002BUMAEYV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Retiree Michael Hillman came home to south coast Malua Bay along the Batemans Bay area in Australia on Friday (January 3) for the first time since they evacuated to a local beach on New Year's Eve.
    He found devastation.
    The inferno not only stole their home but also destroyed 65 of 70 Hofner guitars that Michael had been collecting over the past 20 years.
    "My friend next door who I am recording an album with, his house is OK, so some of our music might be saved. I've got a couple of my guitars here." Hillman told Reuters.
    "I've lost probably 65 guitars out of my collection, which is devastating because I can't replace them. I just can't think of anything else to say. I'm just devastated, completely."
    Originally from Melbourne, Hillman and his partner moved Malua Bay to settle down in retirement three years ago after they fell in love with the neighborhood during their honeymoon 30 years ago.
    Hillman said he was disappointed with the government's handling of the natural disaster.
    "I think the government's, both state and federal have let us down here. They should have done much more pre-emptive, taken much more pre-emptive action to get bombers (water) in. On New Year's Eve, we were stuck on the beach and we saw one little helicopter that had no hope of saving anything. Fire brigade did the best they could," he said.
    Staying in a temporary accommodation, Hillman consoles his family with one of the five guitars he managed to save playing a song he wrote for his partner, Chrissie, called "Reach Out".
    Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's conservative government has long drawn criticism for not doing enough to address climate change as a cause of Australia's savage drought and fires.
    Bushfires so far this season have scorched more than 4 million hectares (10 million acres) of bushland and destroyed over 1,000 homes, including 449 homes destroyed on the south coast this week.
    (Production: Jill Gralow, Juarawee Kittisilpa)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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