Their home – the historic Rosebrook homestead – was gutted by the Grampians bushfires in January last year.

But now, more than 20 months on, they have reason to smile as they start building a new home.

Jim and Jenny Carter are the sixth generation of Carters to own the homestead and National Trust-classified woolshed.

The property has been in their family for more than 170 years.

The homestead contained many historical items, including a series of oil paintings of the Carter generations.

Mrs Carter said it had been an emotional rollercoaster for her, Jim and their daughters Alana and Meg to get to the stage of building their new home.

“The process and legislation we had to go through was challenging,” she said. 

“Even though our builder and I were making phone calls and prompting people to speed things up, it took a long time.

“Friends of ours who lost their home and shop put their permit in before us, but got it approved after.”

Mrs Carter said the family initially lived in a friend’s house down the road from their property after the fire.

“It's a holiday rental and they made it available to us,” she said. 

“Now we're in our cottage, which was the shearers quarters. It’s a little two-bedroom cottage, and we have a caravan out the side. 

“We have been in here since the new year.”

Mrs Carter said though their temporary accommodation was cramped, they had managed fine.

She said the caravan was made available through BlazeAid, a volunteer organisation that works with families after natural disasters.

“That was a Godsend really,” she said. “BlazeAid has been fantastic.

“We've had great support from our friends and we thank them. The community has been fantastic too, especially initially.”

Mrs Carter said the family had experienced highs and lows since the fire.

“We are very accepting of people's emotions these days,” she said.

“The girls have had their ups and downs but they are generally really good. 

“The most frustrating thing is difficulty with internet, which the girls have to have for school.

“The school has been quite supportive though.”

Mrs Carter said the family often spoke about things they lost in the fire, as well as things that were lucky to survive.

“The girls talk about things like teddy bears they had, and the chart in the hallway where we measured how tall we grew,” she said.

“Jim and I sifted through the ashes after the fire and found grandmother’s engagement ring, which he gave me when Alana was born.

“We lost a homestead that had an impact on a great deal of people – Carters are spread far and wide.”

Mrs Carter said builder Shane Cross was keen to have the family in their new home by Christmas. “But we are realistic – we know things get held up,” she said. 

“We'll just go with the flow.”