Author(s): Janice Newnham (Photographer)

Biography

From The Inside is a personal view of the 2019/20 Green Valley / Black Summer Bushfire impact on the Newnhams' farm, home, family, and community from inside the fire zone in Walwa, Victoria, Australia.

Isolated from friends and family and enmeshed in the fight to defend her farm from the 2019/2020 Black Summer fires, Janice Newnham was moved to document and communicate her family's situation to the outside world via Facebook posts. (Satellite internet connection was the only form of communication available when telecommunications were destroyed by fire.)

It started as a need to quickly reassure worried friends and family, but soon became a mental health exercise, a necessity to unload by uploading to Facebook!

This book represents the first nine weeks of an ongoing story and is representative of many Australian farmers during an unprecedented bushfire season.

From The Inside is an intensely personal memoir yet reflective of the experience of many rural families who battled the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/2020. From The Inside provides a unique insight into the bushfire experience. Accompanied by more than 200 photographs captured by the author in the midst of the smoke and anxiety, coupled with a punchy, descriptive narrative, the book transports the reader inside the fire zone. Raw, often confronting but laced with a humorous twist, it is a gripping read!