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Natural disasters are common in rural Australia, but there is something particularly devastating about floods. They sweep through towns and communities often without warning, and leave people to pick up the pieces. And unlike bushfires, there is no way for people to take measures to deter the ferocity of a flood. On July 6th 2022, a flood swept through Broke and the Hunter Valley in NSW, Australia and disrupted over 300 community members. It had been 70 years since a flood so dangerous and o ...
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Melissa O'Toole, a well-respected Broke Village local, gives us her perspective on the floods both from her personal experience and from what is now a hub of the village, Magoony's Coffee House, which plays an important part in village life. Melissa and her husband Paul moved to Broke nearly 30 years ago with their family and had a couple of busine…
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Chris Brooks, the proprietor of the iconic Wollombi Tavern during the July 2022 flood, is a resilient and community-oriented individual. In the early eighties, when Chris was in the army he discovered the tavern during regular trips to Singleton. Originally a builder from Sydney, in 2016, he and his wife decided to buy a small hobby farm and drew a…
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Bernadette lives with her husband, Max, on a property called Broke Estate on the outskirts of Broke where they have accommodation, a vineyard, and cattle. They were on other side of the road collapse that blocked of the local villages. Eventually they could get to Singleton but it was a few days before they could get into Broke. ‘It was scary becau…
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Rob Gordon gives us a powerful and detailed explanation of the effects on the human psyche of trauma from disasters and describes strategies for healing. He is warm and compassionate and his examples which all come from his experience over many years illustrate the complexity of the human response to tragic events and explain why it can take many y…
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Mick is a man who was acknowledged by the village as being an absolute hero when it came to supporting the community. His operational role was essential and his heart was huge when it came to supporting the local people. Born in 1963 he was in the Army from 1981 to 2013. In 2016 he moved with his wife to Broke where he owns a small business. He was…
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Carina and her husband Leith were severely impacted by the 2022 flood but because they live at Warkworth, away from the main flood area and cut off by flooded roads, they were not assisted by emergency services. “I was a little bit bitter that nobody had come, simply because if Leith hadn't been here, I would not have left. I would have waited for …
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Annie is a volunteer firefighter and a deputy captain with Wollombi Brigade in the Lower Hunter District. During the floods in 2022, along with many other firefighters in Wollombi Brigade, she undertook the daunting task of cleaning out local residents' flooded homes and businesses. She learnt how important it was for residents to start the recover…
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Kirsty and Quinton McCleod are a couple who manage Starline Alpacas Farmstay in Broke. They have a shared passion for farming, agritourism and for the growth and development of our region. Quinton came to the region with an interest in viticulture , but his farming background saw him return to his first love, and Alpacas took the limelight. Kirsty …
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Leith has a heart rending story about the events of the 6th of July 2022, when he and his wife, Carina, were caught up in the floods and lost everything. Their village, Warkworth, was out of the way and not part of the hub of activity in the area, but they were heavily impacted on the day of the flood. They ended up camping by the roadside in atroc…
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Evelyn Hardy is a well -loved local pillar of the local community in Broke. She loves to keep busy and found that during the 2022 floods her commitment to the wellbeing of the local community was a way of dealing with her own losses in the flood. In her story she shares her experiences during the floods. As secretary of the Broke Community Hall and…
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Tony is a long-time resident of the Wollombi area up near Broke. He moved there with his partner in 1992. His story concerns the 2022 Broke and Bulga and Wollombi flood situation. He has a unique perspective because of his long association with the Rural Fire Service (RFS) and community support. During floods, the community reaches out for help and…
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Carly Dawson only moved into Broke almost a year to the day before the floods. She had been around the area for a while before that after she and her and her son had spent a long time travelling and working around Australia with a caravan, but with no plans to settle in Broke. Circumstances led them to the Hunter and she subsequently got a job in t…
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G'day, John Millam from Kintsugi Heroes, and welcome to Beyond the Deluge. There are some encounters in life that no amount of preparation planning and past experience will equip us to deal with when they hit. On the 6th of July, 2022, the rivers and streams outside of Wollombi broke and other villages in the Undervalley, New South Wales flowed ove…
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