The Marysville 'Beauty for Ashes' Quilt will be presented to members of the Marysville and Triangle area on Sunday 7 February, the first anniversary of the Black Saturday fires.

We invite everyone who has been a part of the project to join us at Gallipoli Oval in Marysville on this day.

From 9.30 to 10.45 there will be a non-denominational service held. From then onwards will be Community Time in which members of the community will share their thoughts, poems etc.

We will be presenting the quilt between 10.45 - 11 a.m.

This will be a low-key, reflective event, with few media or politicians. Graeme Brown, the president of the Marysville and Triangle Development group, said that the committee were all in favour of the quilt being presented at this time.

If you are free that day, it will be wonderful to see you there.
My number is 0432 105 162 if you need further details.


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The hearts of people all over Australia have been touched by the news of the devastating 2009 bushfires.

Many towns in beautiful mountains and valleys across Victoria suffered direct impact.

In my hometown of Warburton, we're lucky to be completely unscathed, despite a few risky days when many evacuated.

But on Saturday 7th, I was in Marysville with my three children and parents. We escaped with our lives, minutes before the firestorm hit Marysville and the town imploded.

Warburton is a beautiful little town nestled in the hills, with colourful characters and a strong community spirit and identity ... just like St Andrews, Marysville, Strathewen, Kinglake, Flowerdale, Steels Creek, Churchill ... names many of us may never have heard of before but now are seared on our national identity. I look at our glorious tree-clad hills and think, that could so easily have been us ...

That day in Marysville, I personally experienced the neighbourliness, courage, and common sense of Marysville people. The spirit I saw alive and well that day, through acts of kindness and bravery, can never be destroyed. Marysville will rise.

I drove through many fire affected areas close to my own home town in the weeks after the fires. Pining to return to Marysville, it was heart-rending to see the loss and destruction along roads, forests and fields so familiar to me.

Yet it was also a healing experience to see that, in the dead silence, in the whisper of the wind through leafless trees reduced to blackened spines, the beauty and power of the land is still there. These hills will once again embrace bush-loving dwellers, who will reflect the resilience of the land around them. These towns will rise again. The bush will renew. There will be beauty from ashes.

I was inspired to create a quilt for the community of Marysville that reflects these things, expresses our care and concern, and our hope for their future. Marysville was beautiful, and will be again.

Thank you for visiting this site. We invite you to contribute a quilt block towards the Marysville 'Beauty from Ashes' Quilt Project. In this site, you'll find inspiration, step-by-step instructions (especially for those who, like me, have never quilted before!), helpful 'how-to' links, and examples from clever quilters to inspire us others.