In January 2022, Stewart’s Bakery in Mount Clear, Victoria, was gutted by a suspicious arson attack that started in the Midvale Shopping Centre and damaged five other businesses. The bakery was owned by Margaret and Noel Stewart and was a fixture in the small town. More than a year on from the fire, Margaret and Noel were able to re-open their bakery earlier this month.

“Everyone’s been asking ‘are you excited about it?’, and yes we are, but all we really want is our old shop back and our old lives back,” Margaret told Times News Group.

“It’s been very hard work rebuilding. This has affected a lot of people too; we supply a lot of football clubs, schools, the Mount Clear area. We’ve got to try and put our past behind us and look to the future.”

Redevelopment on Stewart’s Bakery started last September and has included upgrades on the oven and the cool room in the store.

Noel told Times News Group that the re-opening is like going back to the beginning.

“We’ve had to start from scratch. The difference this time is we’re starting with our customers already with us.

“We’ve spruced it up with new floors, new cash registers. The tiles we originally put down were over 30 years old,” Noel said.

The reception to the re-opening has been positive, and the time away from the business has given Noel a new-found appreciated of the legacy that he and his family have built in Mount Clear, he said.

“I didn’t realise how known we were until this. You might go to the other side of town and people would know all about the bakery,” Noel said.