The most catastrophic thing that has happened in the 50 year life of Reverse Garbage occurred once we had moved to Addison Road and had been operating there successfully for a number of years. The warehouse that we occupied was burnt to the ground. Someone had broken a window of the room where all the flammable liquids were stored separately and thrown in matches. The day of the fire I was driving home to the Inner West when I saw a pall of smoke rising on the horizon. The closer I got to this column of grey smoke the more worried I became only to have this dread confirmed as I turned into Addison Road to see what was now the smoking ruin of Reverse Garbage. Everything was gone. The building, a warehouse full of useful resources, all of our records and all the spaces we had created inside that building. Everything had gone up in smoke.
The very steel gutters that supported the walls and the roof lay crumpled on the ground. The next day when I came back to see what I could possibly salvage from the office a couple drove up in a van. They told me that they had driven all the way down from the far north Coast and had come to fill their van with teaching and craft resources for their local community. They had a cheque for their Membership. In those days schools and community organisations were able to have a Membership entitled them to take as much as they needed for that year. They asked if we were going to open again. I told them that was our intention and they were happy to leave that money with me. I also happened to be at our second hut in Addison Road when they returned to activate their membership and to fill their van. Phil, Founding Member