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THERE was a great outpouring of support yesterday as news of the devastating fire at St Barnabas’ Church spread throughout Bathurst.
Many people who had nothing to do with the church expressed their sadness to see that it had been badly damaged by an overnight blaze.
Because even if St Barnabas’ wasn’t part of our daily life, it was certainly part of our community.
The sadness prompted by Sunday morning’s fire was reminiscent of the reaction to the Kelso High School fire in 2005.
The first reaction was shock, followed by sadness.
And then came a steely determination to move on from the devastation and rebuild a bigger and better school.
It will take some time to make a decision on the future of St Barnabas’ – and the Anglican diocese’s well-documented financial troubles won’t help their cause – but the parish community will be desperate to stick together.
But it will be the reaction of the broader community that will be interesting.
Like Kelso High, St Barnabas’ was part of the fabric of Bathurst.
For more than 100 years it has been the scene of great joy – including countless christenings and weddings – and great sadness at so many funerals.
It has been a South Bathurst landmark even for non-believers who may have never stepped inside. St Barnabas’ was a link to the city’s past, one that now seems certain to be lost to future generations.
Investigators are yet to determine if the blaze was deliberately lit but, as a community, we must hope that’s not the case. It is sad enough to see a grand old building lost without thinking that an arsonist might be responsible.