Jenna Sharp, Uninhabitable (LANDSCAPE 2022)

On the night of June 9 2021 a catastrophic storm brought a level of destruction previously unseen by the inhabitants of Mount Dandenong. The wind direction of this storm was unusual for the Dandenongs. As such, trees were buffeted on their weak sides by winds that broke the gauge at 127km/h, but are believed to have reached over 200km/h. More than 25,000 trees came down that night, damaging 173 buildings, 76 were deemed uninhabitable. The Mt Dandenong Preschool building was one of them. One year after the storm, none of these homes and buildings had been rebuilt. Extensive damage across the mountain is still evident. As it the collective trauma of the residences who experienced that terrifying night. On October 31 2022, the local MP announced that the Preschool building would be replaced. The process is expected to take at least 2 years.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.