John Mulligan is a fourth generation far East Gippslander, who grew up in Gipsy Point. 
Mr Mulligan was born in Orbost almost 91 years ago.
“After I was born I went home to Gipsy Point in the fish truck with my mother,” he told the Snowy River Mail.
“Orbost hasn’t changed much at all, except for the shops in the main street,” Mr Mulligan said, as he drove into the township last week.
However, the former farmer and chair of the East Gippsland Wildfire Taskforce Group, laments the changes to the bushfire landscape.
So appalled is Mr Mulligan that in December last year, he penned a letter to Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews, voicing his disgust at how the bushland has changed “from the open and park like forests of my youth to the mess and burnt forests we have today”.

IMAGE: John Mulligan fears another megafire like the Black Summer Bushfires will change the character of the bush forever. K302-5185