Forty years since a devastating bushfire ravaged the region, and long-time residents say the town never quite recovered. Greg Brown believed it was hardest for Streatham’s elderly residents, like his parents, who at the time lost everything they had work for – gone in five minutes.

Greg, like his fellow CFA volunteers, was up the road fighting a fire in Nerrin Nerrin when they got word another fire front was coming for their home town. There was little they could do but try to get home.

“(Back then) it was classed as one of the fastest moving fires. The worst thing was smoke visibility, there was not much oxygen. It was hard to breathe,” Greg said. “It hit Streatham in different stages, coming through like a blow torch shooting through then 10 minutes later, another.

“A lot of people got in the local hall. It exploded along one side, windows shattering, people were running along roads and some lay under the bridge in the creek.

“It was one of those times when self-preservation just kicks in."

There was a sense across Streatham and its outlying areas this was going to be a bad day. Wind speeds picked up, temperatures rapidly rose and there were many fires breaking out in western Victoria. 

Fire hit Streatham just after lunch. The postmistress frantically started notifying residents but it was seemingly futile in the face of a rapid raging inferno.

Locals could not do anything much to save the town until after 5pm, when the winds died down.

Kaye Plunkett remembers the day as horrendous for all, but clear in her mind was the strong sense of community in the aftermath.

Neighbours were helping neighbours bury stock and rounding up what stock was left while trying to rebuild fences. Kaye did not see her husband Colin for days as he was doing just that.

The golf club, where fairways and trees were burnt, opened its clubhouse doors. Female members served meals and “bits ‘n pieces” people might need.

Kaye said people from outlying townships pulled together as one, all hurting but helping each other move forward.

Her son was among pupils taken in by Carrenballac Primary School for months, until a new Streatham schoolhouse was built.

Streatham Primary School has since closed, but it is in the new schoolhouse where old newspaper clippings and photos documenting the 1977 fire are housed.

A large display depicts an image of the old bluestone Uniting Church, which was gutted in the blaze.

The exhibit is part of the Streatham fire museum, which also features the town’s contributions to CFA dating back to WWII.

Forty years on, long-time locals say February 12 was a day they could never forget.

No matter how much the town and its surrounds had changed or evolved, memories from that day were too vivid.