‘miracle’ mulberry tree of Upper Brogo saved family home from the devastating summer bushfires

Brett Hawkins was so stunned when he returned to his home after the horrific New Year’s Eve bushfires that devastated the South Coast hamlet he loves so dearly he felt like he was in daze. 

Standing tall and among burnt bushland, scorching soil and a charred shed, was a leafy green mulberry tree that glistened with hope for the future. 

Mr Hawkins, 55, and his partner Wendy Wolff had fled their Upper Brogo property, north of Bega in New South Wales, on December 30, as the Badja Forest Rd fire – that went on to cause 315,512 hectares of destruction - hurtled towards their home.

The blaze ravaged his 65 hectare property and Mr Hawkins was resigned to his home being reduced to ashes. 

But there was his house, intact and standing strong – and all because of his well-watered mulberry tree.

‘I was stunned that it was standing,’ Mr Hawkins told Daily Mail Australia.

‘I remember just walking around in a daze, I couldn’t process it.’ 

Mr Hawkins said the couple evacuated their home at about 8.30pm on December 30. The Badja Road bushfire came through their property at about 2.30am on New Year’s Eve.

‘Our neighbours and other people had said: ”It’s coming and it’s a big one”,’ he said.

‘We did some quick preparation. It caught us by surprise. It had been burning for days and it was stagnant but then the winds changed and it came rocketing towards us.’

The couple initially sought protection in Bermagui, before they were again evacuated to Tathra. 

About three days after the fire tore through the property, Mr Hawkins returned to the house for an assessment and to see if anything could be salvaged. 

Locals had been warned that another round of catastrophic fires were expected to burn through the area.

Mr Hawkins said the usual 30 minute journey took about two hours as he and a friend ‘had to chainsaw our way through to get back to the block’.  

‘The house we live in is down the back to the block, the driveway is up the top. What I saw up there was total devastation,’ he said, referring to the ash and fallen trees.

‘I just expected everything to be gone. It felt like we’d been hit by the Apocalypse, everything was black.

‘It was devastating, I thought there was no way anything could have survived this. 

‘By the time I got halfway down the driveway, I could see my house standing. 

‘The mulberry tree had green leaves on it. We still had power in the house, we still had WiFi.’

Mr Hawkins said there were scorch marks under the porch and the back of their outdoor toilet had suffered damage.

The car port, garden shed and a big shed with a guest room and freshly built timber floors were all destroyed.  

Mr Hawkins said tools, camping gear and memorabilia stored in the structures were also lost to the flames.   

But with the WiFi up and running, Mr Hawkins said he was able to call Wendy and share the mostly good news.

‘Even though there was still smoke in the air, it was an amazing thing to see,’ he said.

‘I was standing around the house dumbstruck. I felt physically weak, I couldn’t process the emotions. 

‘There was still green grass under the tree.’

Despite suffering through drought, the homeowners decided to ensure the mulberry tree was being fed enough water. 

The decision proved critical.

‘We’d made the decision as we watched everything dry out,’ Mr Hawkins said. 

‘We think it’s somewhere between 30 to 40 years old. We didn’t want it to suffer (during the drought) so we watered it regularly.’

They stopped watering their vegetable garden as a sacrifice and opened the gates to let the wallabies in. 

‘It turned out the be the best decision we could have made, the mulberry tree was full of water,’ he said.

Mr Hawkins believes the hydration allowed it to ‘withstand’ the blaze. 

The fire edged towards the mulberry tree first and Mr Hawkins believes the tree likely ‘reflected the heat’ and pushed the blaze around the home – instead of through the tree and the house.   

‘If that tree wasn’t there, I can imagine the fire ball of heat would have shattered the glass and found its way into the house for sure,’ he said.   

Mr Hawkins said they felt ‘blessed’ to still have a home amid the devastation – and during coronavirus lockdown. 

‘We’ve got lots of friends that have lost their houses, we know how hard it is for them. Even though we lost a lot of property, we still have a house,’ he said.

‘It made it easier to start again. It just made us fall in love with the mulberry tree even more for being that protective force that it was.’

Mr Hawkins said all their closest neighbours lost their houses, with the nearest homeowners living about one-kilometre away. 

The couple were able to properly return to their home about one week after the fire burnt through.

Mr Hawkins is glad for ‘good’ rainfall this year to ‘heal the place’.

‘Watching the rebirth process of the bush is quite inspiring,’ he said.

‘Nature just says ”come at me bro” and regrows.’

Photographer Talia Davis took the drone image of the mulberry tree and devastation.