As job losses following the Dunns Road bushfire loom at the Tumbarumba mill, the local community is taking a stand in support of a potential solution.
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Mill owner Hyne Timber is lobbying for government support to transport timber from areas as far as Ballarat to substitute the losses from the fires over the next three years.
As a joint project with the Tumbarumba Chamber of Commerce, the 'Timber for Tumba' campaign has formed in recent months with community members throwing their support behind it.
Local business owners have shown their support by sharing photos making a 'T' sign with their hands, with Australian icon Sharon Strzelecki even backing the campaign during a recent visit to the region.
Ken Dale from the Chamber said the Tumbarumba community was well aware of the value the mill brought to the town.
"For every person that's employed by Hyne and the allied industries, you're looking at for every dollar they receive, it brings five dollars into the town," Mr Dale said.
"When you lose that five to one, that's a massive impact on the community."
He said the mill had been a "fantastic corporate citizen" and brought benefits that go well beyond economics.
If the mill is unable to substitute the timber, it predicts a 40 per cent drop in volume from March into mid 2021, leading to 63 direct job losses and as many again through allied industries.
Hyne Timber executive director James Hyne said transporting the timber from so far away would be expensive, and while the company was able to contribute $43 million it was asking for a further $29 million.
Mr Hyne and a community delegation visited parliament last week to meet with senior politicians including Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack to discuss the proposal.
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Mr Hyne said while he believed Mr McCormack understood their situation, with so many regions and industries affected it was difficult to fund a project like this.
"They have been putting a lot of money out, a lot of stimulus but the big prob for us, all the funding that they're putting out ... we've looked at it and what we're asking for doesn't fit into that funding," Mr Hyne said.
Mr Dale said the 'Timber for Tumba' campaign was about making the social benefits of the plan clear.
"What we're trying to do is make it relatable to our town and relatable to other bushfire affected communities that have suffered badly from the bushfires," he said.
"We don't want to see our town go backwards and fall apart."
