In the early hours of Saturday morning Gary and Yoko Clist were desperately trying to save their Cooroibah house from fire but within minutes their house and granny flat along with 60-year collections of photographs, rare books, historic surfboards and kneeboards were lost.
Gary said about 1.30-2am a fallen candle in their rented-out granny flat sparked the fire that spread to the bed in “one of those silly accidents“.
The tenant, who is now homeless, did what he could do to put out the flames but the fire advanced quickly.
“You don’t have any idea unless you’ve seen it happen,“ Gary said of the fire’s movement.
“We had timber ceilings, timber frames, once it took hold there was no chance of stopping it.“
Gary said they were using garden hoses before Queensland Fire and Emergency Services officers arrived and “poured thousands of gallons of water on it“.
The house and granny flat couldn’t be saved but a nearby shed that houses some of Gary’s collection of kneeboards, though not the rarest ones, and neighbouring houses were unharmed.
“I had a collection of knee boards and surfboards, some of the rarest in the country and the world. There were rare books, old cameras, surfing postcards of beach scenes around the world, personal photos, signed photos from surf stars. I’m a local historian. I’d taken them around Noosa for the last 50-60 years.
“You keep thinking of things you’ve lost, that’s not there anymore and never will be,“ Gary said.
Destined for the heritage library, the value of his collection was huge in terms of its historic significance. Fortunately some local postcards had been given previously to the library but the bulk his collections are gone.
Born in New Zealand in 1951 Gary grew up in Sydney before moving to Noosa in 1967 with his family who bought the Noosa Park Inn at the bottom of Mitti Street near the National Park gates. Renamed the Noosa Wave Kiosk, it became a haunt for local and visiting surfers.
While the family lived on the premises Gary moved into his own space in a caravan parked at the dead end of the street from which point he could watch the swells roll into the National Park break.
As an adult Gary ran a camera and film shop on Hastings Street and later in Tewantin and became an avid photographer and collector of historic pictures of Noosa, among many other things. Gary and Yoko who married in Japan moved into their Cooroibah home 25 years ago.
Last Saturday local resident David Knechtli posted to social media of the couple’s loss and the community responded overwhelmingly.
Gary and Yoko later posted a thank you, saying they had all they needed for the present.
“People have been very generous,“ Gary said.
It’s fitting the community should help the couple who contribute so much themselves. Gary volunteers a couple of days a week as a teachers aid at the local primary school, Yoko teaches piano and both volunteer with the Salvation Army.
Having stayed with family members over the weekend the couple will return to their property to stay in a caravan that has been lent to them while they clean up, replace lost documents including drivers licences and passports and wait for their house to be rebuilt.
“Fortunately we think it’s fully insured. We’ll find out when the assessor comes,“ Gary said.
Luckily no one was injured in the fire, their two chickens took flight during the blaze and have since returned home unharmed, and their cars were parked a safe distance away.
“We’ve come out of it pretty well, all things considered,“ Gary said.
His message to the community is “stay away from candles, they’re dangerous things“.
