A widowed pensioner who lives in a remote region of the Australian Outback has revealed that she came close to losing her life during the 2019 bushfires which devastated the country.
In 1994 Barbara Walker, 69, left her life in Switzerland behind and settled 70 miles away from the nearest town, Kununurra in Eastern Kimberley – one of the regions which was badly battered by the inferno.
She told Ben Fogle – who was revisiting the wildlife enthusiast eight years on – in episode of Channel 5’s New Lives in the Wild which airs tonight at 9pm, that smoke filled her lungs as she was just ‘lying on the ground gasping for air’.
While the Swiss-born nature lover used to rehabilitate animals at the resort, she now focuses her attentions on restoring the land so that it can support life.
‘The fire came from five sides. It came over the hill, it just burned the whole lot,’ she recalled.
She told Ben Fogle – who was revisiting the wildlife enthusiast eight years on – in episode of Channel 5 ‘s New Lives in the Wild which airs tonight at 9pm, that smoke filled her lungs
‘All the fences were destroyed…the gates, everything was destroyed and the smoke…I almost died, I couldn’t breathe anymore.’
Barbara said she was ‘surrounded by smoke everywhere’ and ‘couldn’t do anything’ as firefighters came down all the way from Perth.
‘My heart was beating like hell,’ she added. ‘This woman came and brought me some water. I couldn’t do anything…and this is how you can die…’
The next day, she was faced with the devastating consequences of the blaze.
‘Dead kangaroos, dead snakes…dead stuff lying around,’ she described. ‘A lot of my animals disappeared, never turned dup anymore.’
The bushfires that ravaged Australia had created an unprecedented amount of damage and destroyed a fifth of the continent’s forests.
A series of studies and articles dedicated to the tragedy called the horrific fires ‘a fiery wake-up call for climate science’ and scientists stressed the blazes were categorically linked to climate change and worsened by a year-long drought exacerbated by it.
Barbara stressed that she ‘couldn’t leave’ after the disaster – no matter how scary it was.
While the Swiss-born nature lover used to rehabilitate animals at the resort, she now focuses her attentions on restoring the land so that it can support life. Pictured with Ben in 2015
In 1994 Barbara Walker, 69, left her life in Switzerland behind and settled 70 miles away from the nearest town, Kununurra in Eastern Kimberley. Pictured in 2015
The presenter was full of praise for his host as he admired her tenacity and ‘defiance in the face of adversity’
She urged: ‘You cannot walk away. That’s impossible. Because I’m here to care for a piece of land and for the animals.’
She admitted she’s scared of another fire – but acknowledges that she’s in a risky environment.
‘This is Australia,’ she told Ben. ‘You have floods, you have fire, you have storms you have…everything.’
The presenter was full of praise for his host as he admired her tenacity and ‘defiance in the face of adversity’.
‘She’s willing to put in the fire breaks, carry on trying to keep this grass down…and she’s trying to preserve this habitat,’ he said.
The land caretaker also revealed that in the past eight years, she had also tackled a battle with breast cancer and has since had to have a breast removed
Ben first learned of Barbara’s story in 2015, when he initially visited her remote dwelling for the programme
Her home is a pair of hand-made wooden huts and an old caravan. Pictured during the programme in 2015
Barbara’s shower is an old bathtub that has been rigged up to a fire pump and uses water piped directly from a nearby creek. Pictured in 2015
‘That’s the Barbara that I met eight years ago and she seems undiminished. I think many people would’ve run…but not Barbara.
‘Barbara soldiers on.’
The land caretaker also revealed that in the past eight years, she had also tackled a battle with breast cancer and has since had a mastectomy.
‘Normally my health was good but I had a lot of stress the last few years,’ she explained.
After feeling some lumps in her breast and suspecting it could be a cyst, Barbara was told she had cancer – and that an operation would be necessary.
She had forged a successful photography career and was, decades ago, earning up to £4,000 a month before she first arrived in Australia in 1994
Although 24 years her senior, the pair married and were together for 13 years before his death from cancer at the age of 77. Roy pictured before his passing
However, despite feeling nervous on the day of the procedure and being stressed as she was forced to travel for the surgery – she is ‘not frightened of death’.
‘Everyone has to go,’ she remarked. ‘When I came back, I was still the same person but I had to make changes’ and worked on feeling less stressed.
‘I have a mission to do and as long as I’m alive I have the power to do it.’
Ben first learned of Barbara’s story in 2015, when he initially visited her remote dwelling for the programme.
She had forged a successful photography career and was, decades ago, earning up to £4,000 a month before she first arrived in Australia in 1994.
Travelling around the country with a friend, she stumbled across the remote farmstead six months into her journey and fell in love with its owner – stockman Roy Walker.
Although 24 years her senior, the pair married and were together for 13 years before his death from cancer at the age of 77.
Since then, she has lived alone in the isolated bush camp.
Her home is a pair of hand-made wooden huts and an old caravan, while her shower is an old bathtub that has been rigged up to a fire pump and uses water piped directly from a nearby creek.
‘I never really felt comfortable in my home country,’ she had said of her decision to leave Switzerland and mod cons behind.
‘Since childhood, I just had to go against the stream. I just always felt a little bit like a slave – you know, people saying: “You can’t do this, you can’t do that, this is forbidden, that is forbidden”.
‘The older I got, the more it annoyed me.’
She eight years ago revealed how she supplemented her hand-to-mouth existence funded by her pension of £6,000-a-year.
Most of her money went on the animals – and despite the hardships, Barbara said she was living her dream, determined to keep the legacy of her late husband – who has been described as one of Australia’s last real cowboys – alive.
In tonight’s episode, Barbara admitted that 16 years on from her husband’s death, she has no desire to replace him with another man.
‘I don’t need a lover,’ she told Ben. ‘I need a labourer.’
Ben Fogle: new Lives in the Wild airs tonight at 9pm
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