Merrilyn Williams would like to visit the place where her father is buried.
The farm was in the family for about 40 years and was once a place where her family spent most weekends and school holidays.
"I should probably go down to the area more often, but there's something that psychologically prevents me from doing that ... since it was sold about seven years ago, I've probably been there twice," Ms Williams says.
In January 2013, she stood with her mother and children in the water at Connellys Marsh beach, in south-east Tasmania, watching the area burn.
Her mother was in her mid-70s and her children were eight and 12 years old when the Forcett-Dunalley bushfire broke out about 15 kilometres away.
They waited for eight hours in the water as the fire came closer, destroying nearby properties — including their farming business and one of the family's homes.
They witnessed gas bottles exploding and horses running panicked along the beach.
The SES evacuated them via boat at about 9pm that night.
Two years later, they sold the property.
The almost decade-long fight
The January 2013 bushfire destroyed 93 homes, 186 buildings, and burnt through 20,000 hectares, causing an estimated $100 million in damage.
Following a historic trial, lawyers acting for the victims say millions of dollars in compensation has now been paid out.
"We recovered over $28 million for the victims of the Forcett-Dunalley fires and their insurers," Matt McDonald from Hall and Willcox Lawyers said.
While many of the victims had received money from their insurers — for example for houses lost in the fire — Mr McDonald said there were "substantial" other losses.
Roughly two-thirds of the money was going towards reimbursing the victims' insurance companies, with a third paid directly to victims who had uninsured, or under-insured losses.
"In many cases they lost farm machinery that was uninsured, or things like crops and livestock that are often not insured. Some of our clients suffered very, very substantial uninsured losses and it was an enormous relief to be finally compensated through this recovery action."
Mr McDonald said that in all but one or two cases where they were chasing people to provide their bank details for payment, everyone had received their compensation.
Defendants made 'paltry efforts' to put out campfire
In July 2021 a court ruled the fire was the result of negligence on the part of Melissa Jane Barrett and her partner Hamish Robinson, who on December 28, 2012, had illegally lit a fire in an old tree stump on their Forcett property.
Justice Stephen Estcourt found Ms Barrett and Mr Robinson made only "paltry efforts" to extinguish the fire, which spread through the tree's root system and then surfaced again on January 3, igniting grass fires.
The civil case, which began in 2018, was one of the largest of its kind ever launched in Tasmania and was ultimately paid for by insurance companies on both sides.
That meant bushfire victims did not have to pay any up-front legal costs and were never at risk of having to pay in the event they lost.
"It was a history-making trial in Tasmania, for a number of reasons," Mr McDonald said.
"One being that we were acting for 445 bushfire victims and their insurers. It was also the first fully electronic trial - completely paperless, and the entire trial was live-streamed."
RACT, acting on behalf of one of the defendants, based its case on trying to disprove the Tasmania Fire Service investigation that had found the fire was triggered by Ms Barrett and Mr Robinson's tree-stump campfire.
"The TFS investigators were very impressive," Mr McDonald said.
"The RACT defence sought to test the integrity and thoroughness of that investigation."
Ultimately, the judge found "overwhelming" evidence to support the conclusions of the TFS investigators, Mr McDonald said.
"There was expert evidence that the defendant relied on, but those reports were obtained in many cases years later with people going back to the scene, and a lot of the physical evidence by that stage just didn't exist ... That strategy was ultimately unsuccessful and the TFS investigators were fully vindicated by the judge."
The defendants' insurers were ordered to pay compensation to the 445 victims of the fires and their insurers.
"The defendants ultimately didn't have to pay anything, because they were indemnified by their insurers," Mr McDonald said.
"For our clients that was a good thing, because they weren't trying to recover money from people who don't have deep pockets to pay tens of millions of dollars in compensation."
Looking forward
The court proceedings have been a constant reminder for the victims of what happened back in 2013.
While eventually yielding a positive outcome, Matt McDonald said the whole experience had been draining for many of his clients, and they're now hoping to rebuild and move on.
Ms Williams said the estimated damage to their farm and business was over $1million, but in addition to the financial losses, the loss of the family photo albums — all kept at the house they lost — was one of the hardest parts.
"We received the uninsured losses on a pro-rata basis, and the lawyers involved did a fantastic job on behalf of all the plaintiffs to secure the compensation," she said.
"I know that money can't compensate for the emotional and those property loses but it gives a sense of closure all these years later."
She said the 10th anniversary of the fire might be time for the family to return to the region.
"I think [we will do] something to mark the anniversary next year, perhaps a visit to the site by family members, doing something nice on that day."
