Coombs road is the road where about 20 people died on Black Saturday, including Brian Naylor and his wife, which had been labelled a bushfire deathtrap by residents.
"The deaths, the fires, even the direction of the fires - they had all been prophesied."
The residents had been complaining since the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 that neglect by the council and other bodies had effectively turned the road into a seven-kilometre dead-end.
On the day of the bushfires, flames came up the open northern end of Coombs Road, leaving residents like "rats in a tube".
Many residents would not even have tried to escape via the southern end of the road because 200 metres of it was dangerously steep and so badly rutted with potholes it was considered by locals as a no-through road.
One local resident had suggested to Whittlesea Council that he pay privately for grading and levelling of this part of Coombs Road, and of another exit track, Parkers Road, that he believed was poorly maintained. "I was told that if I touched the road I would be fined," he said.
Another Coombs Road resident has a sheaf of documents given to her by the former owner of her property and by Coombs Road residents, detailing alarm over the effective closure of that end of the road.
In 2003 the residents wrote to the fire officer at Whittlesea Council warning: "The residents of southern Coombs Road have real concerns that should a bushfire strike this area there will be many families trapped on the top of the Coombs Road ridge, unable to escape to safety simply because the roads are in such poor repair."
In another letter they said: "The residents of Coombs Road are concerned that should fire come from the north, we will be trapped on the hill with no safe means of escape. The poor state of these two roads will hamper access by fire crews."
In 2000 another resident had written to the council warning of the need to clear growth and of the poor condition of surfaces on southern Coombs Road and Gingles Road: "I request you to rectify all three hazards before the loss of life (not after). In this respect I have ensured the safe-keeping of this correspondence for use at any inquiry or the DPP’’ (the Director of Public Prosecutions).
Twelve days later, he wrote to the council, "I am fascinated by the reply to my letter . . . and to hear that life and death are a matter of priority determined by a committee of the council, and the fact that Coombs Road, which has become all but impassable, is deemed adequate. I feel sure that it will not be so considered by a coronial inquiry or the DPP."
The residents had first started the letter campaign after the Ash Wednesday fires. They maintained that the southern end of Coombs Road was previously a through road that wound gently down the hill and that parts of this old road were still visible on land that had since been fenced in by Melbourne Water.
Coombs Road was re-routed to go straight down a 700-metre section of steep slope. A section of the road was then damaged by army trucks in 2001 and not repaired. But in 2004, the council wrote to the residents insisting: "This section of road is a fire access track . . . The track was constructed purely for access by firefighting vehicles in the event of a fire in the area." and the track was permanently closed.
You can climb the hill from the parking area, but, if you find the gate open, it is not advised to proceed past the gate in your vehicle. A fine of $500 applies, it is extremely steep and you will be unable to exit at the top.
Enjoy the view from GZ.and also as you drive out, look to your left, out towards the ranges.
Please re-hide the cache well, exactly as you found it. Thank you.
* The Source of information for this cache is an abridged excerpt from The Sydney Morning Herald by Karen Kissane, March 25, 2009