Kirsty and Quinton
Two people who arrived by accident chose to stay by commitment, turning preparedness into collective care.
Hear this story
Kirsty and Quinton arrived in Broke by accident. A young person they'd helped gave them a holiday as thanks, and during that break, Quinton found work in the vineyards. Four years later, they bought Starline, an alpaca farm stay where they could offer city families a chance to experience country life firsthand. What Kirsty didn't know then was that her own family had been among Broke's first settlers. She'd come home without planning to.
When heavy rain came in early July 2022, Kirsty felt something shift. She started preparing: fuel in the tanks, supplies ready, the property readied. Quinton's background in crisis work meant they both thought less about themselves and more about how to help. When the flood hit and families needed shelter, eight families moved into their off-grid cottages. The solar panels kept the lights on. Kirsty set up a daycare in their function centre so parents could deal with their losses. They washed endless loads of contaminated clothes. They provided firewood, hot showers, and a place to sleep.
Walking through Broke after the water receded was like moving through a war zone. Quinton waded into town to lock up neighbours' houses before looters could get in. Kirsty and Quinton saw families standing in front of their entire lives piled in the street, protecting ruined belongings from scavengers. They learned which neighbours would help without being asked, and which ones couldn't ask for help even when they needed it most. They learned that in a rural community, family means the land, the animals, the livelihoods, and the people next door. They learned that Broke doesn't give up.
Today, Kirsty and Quinton see a future for their town. They've helped set up a community resilience network and they're calling for better early warning systems that account for the time farmers need to save their animals and care for their neighbours. They're asking people to visit, to support local businesses still rebuilding, and to understand why they and so many others refuse to leave.
“The concept of family out here it's not just the family unit of the person it's the neighbor it's the animals. Some of these animals and the genetics that farmers have been working on so long and they are so important.”
“I call it a country woman's knowing. I had actually been preparing for something um and preparedness is very much in my nature.”
“We set up a little um food supplies for anyone on site. I would put food out every day for them. We turned our function centre into like a kindergarten day care for a lot of parents who were busy dealing with the flooding.”
The hero, today
Kirsty and Quinton moved to Broke by chance and later discovered their own family was among the town's first settlers, connecting them to the place in ways they did not expect. Before the flood, Kirsty's sense of something coming led her to prepare the property, and Quinton's background in crisis work made them both ready to think about how to help others, not just protect themselves. When the water came, Kirsty and Quinton offered what they actually had: off-grid cottages with power, space for families, firewood, washing machines, and a function centre that became a daycare so parents could manage their loss. Kirsty and Quinton saw people in their community refuse help because someone else was worse off, and they had to tell them directly that they were the ones who needed it right now. Rural communities need more time to evacuate because farmers will not leave their animals or their neighbors, and early warning systems must account for the fact that livelihoods and family are tied to land and animals in ways cities do not require. The flood brought Broke together in ways that showed who was willing to lead and help, and Kirsty and Quinton believe the town is now stronger because people know what they are made of.
Yes. Kirsty and Quinton is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Kirsty and Quinton moved to Broke by chance and later discovered their own family was among the town's first settlers, connecting them to the place in ways they did not expect.
Before the flood, Kirsty's sense of something coming led her to prepare the property, and Quinton's background in crisis work made them both ready to think about how to help others, not just protect themselves.
When the water came, Kirsty and Quinton offered what they actually had: off-grid cottages with power, space for families, firewood, washing machines, and a function centre that became a daycare so parents could manage their loss.
kugi Heroes brings you the following flood resilience stories in partnership with Singleton neighborhood center and grant funding from the hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network to find out more about this podcast head to kugi heroes.com [Music] Au on July 6th 2022 the worst flood in 70 years hit the town of broke and the surrounding Hunter Valley region the community is still recovering from the trauma the floods brought destroying their homes and their livelihoods in this special limited series of kugi Heroes John Millum sits down with the community who suffered as a result of the floods and gives them space to share their adversity resilience and compassion it's only through connection and empathy that there can be a path to recovery these are stories of trauma and can be confronting if you find they have a triggering effect please reach out to someone who can help keep you safe now listen in as John takes you beyond the Deluge with kuki [Music] Heroes welcome everyone back to another kugi Heroes story and today we're um really excited to hear uh from Kirsty and Quinton McLoud who are the uh owners and managers of Starline oaca Farm day in broke which has has a I have a soft spot for having been there myself but guys welcome to kugi Heroes the stories of the floods broke 2022 and um I just wanted to well I'll introduce you but I just want to uh offer the fact that you guys have been you know in this area for quite some time now and you have a passion for farming and and the whole wine experience and so on but you actually end up with our packet right so it's an interesting story I'm sure from a criminology background yes gy so I know their little crime their little um Rascals alpaca so maybe if I just throw over to yeah yeah maybe if I throw over to you guys and maybe you guys can share a little bit about what brings them a cloud family to broke uh your a bit of backstory and then of course leading up to the 6th of July 2022 what uh what was going on for you guys well we came here sort of by by a Twisted Fate it's a bit of an interesting story um yeah cool what had happened is um I obviously having a criminology and social science background have had a bit of a a lifetime of just trying to be a helping person yeah and I've helped out um a young person and she said to me I want to give something back to you I want to give something back to you and I want to gift you a holiday I a thank you for my life and I said okay sure no worries um we had um met and married in the region and we sort of came up for the holiday and it was sort of a after our son was born it was a sort of a dirty weekend we haven't really we had really had a chance to sort of get away since when our son was born and was our first chance to get away like any early parents probably for sleep yeah pretty much yeah yeah um so we ended up up here and um at the time I was a a chemical formulator for a chemical company on the central coast and um I was sort of had enough of it and it was quite dangerous and wasn't great for my health yeah um I've worked on farms previously but um while up here going wineries I just decided to start asking people if they new work going two weeks later I had a job in wi so I was doing all the tractor work and Vineyard work and that's how we sort of got back up into the into the valley um and I was doing that for four years and then I was offered the the farming position here in that Starline and um sort of never looked back really yeah it sort of it sort of evolved for there from you know A Gifted holiday and it brought us to the world of world of our packets yeah and Agri tourism and um something we've become very passionate about and sort of combined like some of our skills and knowledge into a weird concoction of yeah AG tourism management with our packets I think it was also a fact that um we both grew up I grew up in a lot of different places but um we both grew up in cities and I didn't really want that for our kids I wanted them to have a more countryfied learning hands on things rather than than being City and and just sort of tied all the boxes for us when we where we looked into Agri tourism and how it worked we realized what we could give to people yeah with this with sism and um give that country experience to the city Folk and let them know what it is like out here and an interesting fact is after the fact of us moving here i' actually got dressed for our wedding in broke and I later came to to find out that some of the houses that we' lived in and my relative actually were some of the first settlers of broke concept so I've actually come home after a long convoluted food my goodness yeah so your your DNA has called you home I think it has yeah wow I love that story like and it goes to Country what you're talking about you know when you talk about agre business and and promoting Urban people and experience about in the country you know aren't we aren't we calling people back to Country absolutely back to place back to land and that is being our sole goal in in the vision that we have for Star alone and so we've chosen to make it as inclusive and accessible for people to come and have that farm experience and we've built it on the morals that we have for Country hospitality and inclusivity and you know passion we have a little bit of a love for the old way of doing things so we have the spinning in the fiber we've got some like mindfulness and healing workshops that are happening and Community programs we also had um for time outdoor daycare like a re Wilding program that was happening because it's little lost it's a little lost yeah I think I think um getting people away from although we're on it right now but getting people away from technology and and back into hands on things and feeling things and and and looking at things from a different perspective um where things come from how things happen um especially in the in the farming I think a lot of people have people go to the grocery supermarkets and and and buy their groceries and they don't have an idea on where things come from um now we're not technically in the market for producing food or or vegetables yet but we produce a fiber that that is one good for for jumpers and things and again people don't realize where it all comes from you go buy a w and jumper from from a short store and yes it's expensive because it's a good quality product but they don't understand where it comes from they don't understand what it means to have an animal and raise an animal make sure that is nice and healthy to be able to give us the products that we use on a daily basis giving that opportunity to people coming to the farm to see that I think it's it's a great yeah and that passion um LED you to invite U the um enigmatic alpacas into your life obviously defin not just to producing the fiber but also as a as you talk about like as a a conduent to to bring um you know the experience of farming back to the world but they do they're quite therapeutic but it's interesting because you know leading into you like you came in and you re reignited the passion and connected back to country of course you invited other people into your world and and gave them that experience and of course there were other people there leading into the sixth of July wasn't there you had people yes in place yes we had young families um I think the youngest little person just about 6 months old yeah we had um eight families together and your family of course my family and that was just what was on site um that's that's not including when it all happened I managed to get a couple of families from bro as well up to the story that but yeah we had eight families on site with little kids ranging from six months to I think Els girls around 11 yeah so there were a lot of young people so leading up to that what what you know what were your thoughts around you know because it had been wet and you know some there had been bits and pieces of flooding across the board leading up how how did you know what was happening for you guys you know leading up to the day the river broke well for us I always had a oh it's a I call it a country woman's knowing cool it's a knowingness and so I had actually been preparing for something um and preparedness is very much in my nature you're laughing about it true no I love it I'm just I was even saying to him maybe a week before I think you need to go get petrol like why would I need to do that fell in you like I just which is such a blessing because we had some um so we're like we have preparedness and canning um which is something we are going to be doing more of I'm very much into like the homesteading sort of culture and so for me I was already at a level of preparedness which was of benefit and blessing to yeah the immediate we had uh covers for food and prepared for what's what was about to happen but I think um what we sort of had to stop sit back and look at was where where situated is up high so although the the flooding came in and it came in very quickly and I think it came in when most people thought it was going to we were sort of listening to the was in the lead up we were listening to things we were also listening to some of the old knowledge coming through um some people were saying no it's not going to but some of some of the our older generation remembered you know the stories back like a little while ago I saying look it is a possibility so I took that that as being I'm going to trust the old knowledge yeah so we were sort of preparing we were moving you were moving the alpacas to the highest round called yeah well as said we're quite lucky in the fact that we are up on a hill um although not a very big hill we ended up being an island basically um with a lot of other properties on on the street but I think that that made us even more prepared for when we did have the eight families from Sydney and to also have um know that we had a large backup solar system um yeah so so part of the property um and it's the corated on you're looking at as part of our function Center that with for Cottages is all offrd it all runs of its own solar energy so we were lucky enough to be able to put the families into the cottages at around off grid they were not used to like yeah them from Sydney and um sying so they wer used the no power and no running water because out here it's all tank water it's not yeah yeah not about just opening the for wers right there it's we have to really be concerned on where these Our concern was knowing the resources and preparedness and the level of knowledge we had was good our concern was how can we get our community to our place knowing knowing that this was right in our Zone in our skill set yeah this like you know with all the offrd stuff that we have done and we have all different modes of cooking and generators and just something we've always been interested preparing this it's a passion for us again in our next chapter and and since of FL we've we've also made it aware to the to the town and and to the local services and and things that if we've got the resources when the flood was happening they they were all down at at broke Hall and it had no power and they had all these white boards up and it was where everybody was going so since the flood we've also put our hand up and said look we're quite happy to house the emergency services and everything because we have this amazing space and we have the solar panels and we have the power backup to be able to host these people that that really do come out and and look after the everyday so yeah I suppose in answer to your question in the leader we were quite prepared as a business and as a family yeah obviously the physical preparations really fell into your you know your expertise space what were you emotionally prepared and and psychologically prepared do you think that was a factor for me given my background in high like in high trauma I was thinking to myself again here's here's a skill set that I have to offer helping identify trauma helping identify you know people who are you know not seeing it um people tend to to come to me because they know like my history and what I've dealt with so I'm that person that you know the Eternal mother been of calls me I Was preparing for that I was going to be able to utilize like the the grit and the the deeper emotional understanding that I have I didn't prepare for my the gravity of that for me I was not thinking I don't think either has ever thought about ourselves until far after the yeah the fact we were like okay this is what we can do this is what we have this is our strengths how can we apply that for our community that's the soul an an and people other people's anal same yeah that's true I think it was we were prepared for the wor um but we didn't expect it to be as well as it was no um yeah the like the gravity the gravity of it and I think we we just took a day by day if you get caught up in the weeds it's not going to help you or others so I was lucky enough to get two families from from broke up before the floods they stayed on the farm with us and one of them is a good friend of mine and he helped me carry a hay bale across the frers to to people's horses that was stuck out in Brak and they couldn't get that yeah but getting out once a flooded receded enough for us to get across it was like a almost like a a mini it was quite surreal to to walk around and see um how bad it was and how bad of damage plac I think the harder part for us was when you're talking about emotional preparedness is that when you kind of you are directly affected but indirectly as well you don't have the same level of like adrenaline going as other people do so it becomes like a compassion fatigue makes sense yeah yeah I mean looking on the out you know when you're going through something when you're in it that's kind of practical but when you're looking on the outside yeah it's quite it's quite shocking to obser observe like a lot of people's experience because we took in so many yeah it was very overwhelming empathy and I think um when I managed to get across into town to to try and help people out um ciry had messaged quite a few people that were evacuated all of a sudden my phone was going off saying can you go to my house I didn't get a chance to lock it up there's looting going on can you please go up this um check out the house let me know if there any damage or you know yeah things like we probably up and that was um although at the time I didn't really think much of it I just went in and lock people's houses up for them and and when you sit back and think about it you see who would do who would go and loot a a area that's just been destroyed and you know I was just hoping you didn't meet any of hope he doesn't come face and face with these people I don't know how it's going to go honest yeah look I don't think I was there during daylight hours and people around one SAS but yeah just just going on to people's properties and and going through their houses it was devastating s to to walk through some people's hous that it flooded and then some people's hous wer even touched so nothing can quite prepare you for for the CU these are not strangers these are people who who you know you go to you go to school with the you know they're School Ms they're they're your mates that you you know you've had a beer with they're the people that have had you know operations that you've been through or lost someone and you've been there for that or they're the little kids birthday parties these are families that you've supported their business and they've supported you and like in a rural community it it's just I'm not saying that like you know nonrural communities like this but out here their lives intertwined in a way and our Lively are intertwined in a different way so the effects are more personal whether or not it directly happened to you or um as a community it's there's immunity there so it is a very deep effect yeah yeah broke broke is that Community it's definitely there's you know although where sort of rins to broke and um doy dog the children of the founders um everybody knows everyone here um there's families that have been here for hundreds of years and and all their kids and grandkids and yes great grandkids have all gone through public school and then you got people like us that's coming into the community and and being welcomed arms because we we not only care and we help out and and it's sort of you scratch mine back I'll scratch your back sort of mentality you just don't get that I mean we've we've lived in on the central coast and Sydney and places like that and it's a lot of the times don't even know your neighbor but out here out here you do and what's theirs is kind of it's is yours in a way so you care about their their property and their animals and their kids and family you care so yeah leading up to the flood which I think what we're up to is our mindset was quite large like how are we going to get people out with um you know mobility issues or people that are struggling or we knew that there was one local person who' recently um gone through a separation and did she have the skills did she have the ability to get her animals out and load them out and yeah we were we thinking of what we could do how how much we could ring it it was a it was a matter of s back going we have the accommodation we we have accommodation our house didn't get flooded or yes we're affected but nothing near what they were affected like in town so I still although we didn't have power in our house we had people in the area which that did have the power in on the farm um and they were my first sort of make sure they're okay um and then it was where where were the luy we were able to offer help we were able to offer accommodation we were able to go into the town and say well you need us to get out can can we do anything for you um we offered accommodation to to people that couldn't come and stay back in the house so too badly damaged yeah um we tried everything that we could to help others because the end of the day it wasn't about us at all it was about what we could do to help people that's right absolutely and people that we've we've grown to appreciate and respect and and you know we might not see them all the time but every now that you catch up for beer you get together with the community center and they'll have barbecue or some sort of fundraiser and everyone gets together we all know each other so we could offer dry firew which we did for anybody who needed needed that um it's interesting the J position you know like you were looking at and preparing for a an event on an event level scale and yet you're describing on the day and during the event the little things that you could do right that was the so it went right back down to the micro level you know just one person one task yeah and those were the things I feel like that were appreciated I remember I have a beautiful local friend Beth and she was strugging to keep her kids warm and she said to me the best thing for me was just that firewood just to be able to keep my children warm was yeah as the flood hit I think I think it's my my background I don't always think of the this is going to be okay I more think ah this just might not be like this right yeah so yeah on the farm we were we were getting ready metaphor but you you almost had the you know glass half empty kind of water metaph we're ready we're ready for for a hit and one that we felt as prepared as any business or couple family could take yeah yeah we were ready to just go for our community yeah I love that and I love um that you like focus on community and the preparation included not just your safety but the safety of the place you live how do you think now as you look at that time you know when the greatest amount of stress people are losing things in front of you and they're dealing and they're less prepared or more prepared amongst themselves how how what what did you notice what came through for you the first thing I would say I notice is everyone out here are usually quite self-reliant people and there was I heard it a lot oh there's someone worse off than me and the amount of people I said I don't want to offend you here but you are that person that need help right now yeah yeah that's okay that's okay I I think it's uh I think it really is string way so um look I went into a lady house um that the water level I'm I'm 6'2 and the water level was up to my shoulders I remember she fell into my arms when she was at the thing fell into my arms and said to her you're not okay send you over by it's just so stoic that yeah and to go there and and talk to them and say listen you can come and stay on the farm we have power we have electricity you can be close to your house spend day there come back to warm shower man of people that turn around and said no I'm not doing that I'm not leaving my house it's they're strong they're strong people they strong people out here and and hats off to them and and they push through it and just a little thing that that we could do I mean one was get a heater out to somebody that works the other one was calling cuz we run a farm stay I've got contacts for air conditioning electricals and stuff like that calling some of my contacts to come out and and check on people's houses and see if they can get things running properly for them little things like that weren't little to them big things we try to keep it very quiet it's probably I first time we FOC about it to be honest yeah because for us it was not about anyone knowing it was we wanted to maintain everyone's privacy and just just help out in in the way that we could we set up a little um food supplies for any anyone on site I would put food out every day for them well we also turned our function Center into a um uh like I almost like kindergarten yeah day yeah day care for all lot a lot of parents were busy yeah yeah yeah how concerned you know being that we are a family establishment we have such a knowledge of you know kids and with the flood waters and it was the locan teachers that came out and and helped out with the the daycare while the parents were dealing with the flooding and stuff the kids were at least in a safe environment and be able to play and have a little bit of normality before going back to a flood affected house know knowing what kids are like that they won't understand the gravity of what flood water is and that's something that not everyone thinks about oh it's it's just a bit of water in a flood it's not just a little bit of water yeah I mean it's not just that the the health risk but yeah everywhere out here all these houses we're on tank and and there is some Town water going through but most of the houses are septic tanks yeah all of that went under so all that came out and people don't realize that um no it's not uh it's not swimming pool no it's not so quality yeah it's not something you want to be stuck in at all so you know just the am of effort from the SAS and even the local minds they sent out people to help and yeah we don't compare to what what they did the RFS that went around and even though they're locals as well they're going around helping other people before they help themselves so what the way I feel is what we did was is small in comparison to what what the SAS and the RFS and all land6 and water truck volunteers and and all that it it took it took a lot so we were just one little C then yeah in a big big wheel of things so yeah that's where we're that's yeah yeah you you were looking at the individuals and seeing them respond what did you learn about the people you live in in community with I don't think the community will ever ever quite be be the same in the way that um you got to see the best I want to say the best and the worst of people yeah you got to see it is a stressful situation in stress in trauma not in general um um in the way that they respond you got to see the people that were just wanting to help some people were shut down they all had a different coping strategy some some very small minut members of has been touched on around were opportunistic um I got to learn really what like the character of a lot of people some just some inspiring really inspiring stories I really got to learn the weight of how important it is to live in a community like this and how that's been a little bit lost in in some places and how f we are to have a community that'll band that'll band together especially Mard hats off to him um his response was incredible and it was so hard for him um I think he did still a job yeah he did a really good job and I it was hard for him and he was the frontman of the recovery and a local community member and you know what a what a a leader to to have him broke someone that that pull themselves together ignites he's going through their own stuff we saw a lot of people going through their own stuff but being just generosity for the greater good and like EV did the most amazing job she's an amazing local I call her brokes matriarch but she she did an amazing job pulling together the broke Hall and and I really learned what's important to people and it's something that that I know really want to touch on when anyone's dealing with a rural community that they understand that that the concept of family is different answer it's not just the family unit of the person it's the neighbor it's it's the animals some of these animals and the genetics that farmers have been working on so old and they are so important so and it's livelihoods so that's included in the concept of family out it's not just you got to author look out with the the animal side of things you when you're dealing with a flood or a fire or any of that sort of stuff you really just have to open the gates and say sorry guys but this is the best I can do and and uh hope to God that they they get out and able to to sort of f for themselves because if if it was to have flooding on this Farm I like we've got close to 90 hour Packers there's no way I'm going to be able to move on there's just just no way so and it's the same with a lot of people out here with with cattle with animals and cattle and also that grapes like grapes is such a huge fight of bro they had this we've had family too yeah family too and those Vineyards and KN working in The Vineyards out would just would destroyed all great and and it's been a couple of tough Seasons out here sort of drought to fires to floody and you got that's you know three three seasons for has broke as as a town has been through yeah the drought then the fire so there's a lot of smoke T the braks then we had obviously the pandemic and then we've had a flood like in terms of resilience the gravity as Community who relies on you know tourism farming obviously you know good culture how many hits can can a community take so what I've learned isili the resilience of community is it's it's qu St it is that's a that's an amazing point to make like the idea because the flood isn't gone when the water's gone no no look we've still got in town that aren't in their houses yeah still not our best friend one of our best friends in town she is finally nearly at stage of having her house rebuilt and this is a long time now yeah I mean it was 2022 it's now 2024 so you know it's it's and and a lot of it's to do with unfortunately Ino and and things like that but on that there's a leg there is a legacy that the flood's left in rebuilding livelihoods yeah because that our livelihoods out here are intertwined with with country and with land and also with tourism like the the tourism sector which is it has taken a hit and then you know our landscape is taken a hit our animals have taken a hit our families have taken a hit it's been an incredible straight As you say what a what a run so why are you why is everyone still there why is everyone still f F like what broke broke me it's kind of like a why they that I I think it's just um great great determination but I mean to to stop you have to stop and walk outside with a cup of coffee in the morning and you look at your back out and go that's fine that's this why we're here you know and we name you see the range you see the mountain range you don't hear the cars you don't you know this is why we're here and if you give up there is a flow like a flow on effect so if like if we were to to give up it would be you know the wedding and we are the largest accommodation venue in the region so like that that goes away that tourist traffic goes away so if you give up and this is why I mentioned about the important of community it has an effect and you can't you don't want to be the we amongst all these you know people and especially businesses in broke you know we're all a part of ecosphere we all contribute to Bringing tourism into the into the area um whether it be people just to come look at the arpacas or people to go to different Vinyards yeah or the the local soap shop or you know all these little things that people don't really realize is out here what all part of that ecosphere and if one of us fall down um then it will be a hit to the tourism it will be a hit to the economy of a I can't actually imagine many BR people giving up of being that in the makeup I think if You' got that attitude you fit in here great like yeah it's kind of been bashed out of everyone by now beautiful but of course going through all that you don't end up without scars and and CH and change you don't what do you think that broke the people in broke need to do to look after themselves and and their well out here there and in most rural communities you'll know that there is extra support services for mental health we have lost members which is very sad because of the like the effects of um it's um I think it's um we also got to stop being our you know we we got to stop being yeah we too um I know we they do it down at broke PA and and I'm one that I haven't Bor yet but they do like once a month a couple team yeah and a sh down at broke Hall um so having that that open discourse and and and saying to you know look I'm struggling I need help and um be willing to accept that help whether it is if they accepted for help whether it is for mental or whether it is some coming physical B for you you know but more likely to accept help for neor but like um the response on the ground After the flood is really good I always walking to a lady called Tabitha and um she sort of said to me oh you're you're okay and she said I'm telling you're going to crush I can see it in you because you know you just keep going yeah so I think having the support services was good and it's something that needs to be continue I know mck was very very good about putting those support service out there and we actually um facilitated with some amazing ladies locally to get some grants happening and we were able to provide just the venue for for the brca and and with um some yoga teachers got together like a so Wellness Wellness Grant so yeah we host um a weekly yoga and made to kids yoga as well some other like healing things that were put into place yeah for rebuilding some Wellness programs that we've tried to sort of put into something that's what what we we can we try what we can do to offer um is a place for for loal to come and practice mindfulness we have like the sound healing and the ice baths happening here and though I can take no credit for the actual programming we can at least provide the space yeah yeah to to do that so we've tried to get conversations going yeah yeah and I I haven't seen on the you know the Facebook notice you know inviting yoga and I I smile you know with the image you painted of that stoic Survivor standing on his you know up to his going yeah no I'm all right the bloke down the road needs help up for yog right but but that is really the conversations that need to happen you know what I'm hearing is that that maybe one of the areas is the locals need to learn learn to connect and care for each other almost like you know okay if the bike's doing it tougher you help him and then he let him come and help you times yeah yeah yeah I think um any any investment in the wellness of like a community and Recovery it's just so worth it it's so worth it especially a community like this one that's had not just one big hit like a few a few yeah and there needs to be uh I know if you you look at statistics in rural communities the men now here are even more stoic than than most I mean I'm I'm guilty guilty I think um I think most BS are you know it's it's we're not talking Bunch we're not you know we're not one to to wear our feelings and our sleeves and and and especially the guys out here that they're all hardworking you know Miners and farmers and you know we don't we don't we just don't um and and it could could change and I think um trying to figure out a way for guys to get together and you know sometimes not even talk about their feelings but just having another blog to talk to whether it is the men's shed or yeah the beautiful bian has got an idea about having a mened and working with Soldier on providing a space something that type healing healing work to happen CU I I think I know from for myself my own point of view you know when I'm having a bad day or I'm down on myself if I go and do something physical or whether it is fencing or building a table or um dealing with an animal that all goes away it's it's uh sort of our our natural way of of coping with things and it also gives you that that break to to come back to and think about things maybe that's a factor of why the community has been so resilient like you don't really have time to it's a lot to do yeah you know just he stop no which is which is one of the questions you know like um you you talked about the devastation you saw when you you know back in town and how that impacted you and of course it's been some time right it wasn't cleaned up overnight so what was that like watching people's lives in the you know put out in the front of their yard it it was um you you saw you're one of the first over uh it was hard um yeah yeah you you when when you either walking or or driving the streets which took a while before we could get a vehicle in there um you first went across with that yeah I had a friend of mine with a a stick would actually cross the flood water and he was telling me where there was holes while I was caring go feed some went across a little girl that we had staying here who meant a lot to us she just couldn't settle she was in tears because her horse would when had gone to go get um this young lady who had recently separated knowing that she didn't have anyone there to help her and uh she couldn't load the horse wouldn't load yeah well you know after the flood waters receded and you managed to get back out in town it was every house the whole interior of the house was out in front of it to get some even had signs on which was the hardest part and when I was touching some of the harder parts that people not our community that playings don't take these so at least the Assassins can look at there a sign so yeah they spray painting on on mattresses saying um please don't don't take because it was sort of like counil clean up where people going Pi C the rubbish yeah um they was saying don't take any of us because we still need our insurance assessment come um and there was lots of people that were Drive especially at night time come drive around through people's trash full of disaster tourists sort of put out there and then as the businesses sort of all the businesses got together and say okay well you know to keep the economy going we're going to stay close for this period of time we going to start opening back up um and that was because we didn't want to bring the tourists into the area we wanted people have that sort of privacy to grieve and all their photos and photos of loved ones and like even people who' lost a child and they've lost every photo record there was um we went to one of the meetings in the church and a lady came and said look uh it was terrible um she stood up in the middle I found someone's ashes so there were ashes fling around and not knowing my good who who they belonged to and it was just yeah all of people's lives all the kids all their toys because they have obviously been contaminated every like they were really ey everywhere people slept it must have felt just so incredibly invaded like vulnerable to lose everything you know I can't fathom you know how they well I know how that they did share it I could never completely comprehend because we lost obviously we lost animals and we lost some of our but not like at the end of day we you know and and we did what we could to help yeah some of the stor that came out will beet there were you know Mis yeah misplaced actes not not being able to find you know your your your pets your animals your losing everything the gravity I don't think that you can ever truly comprehend you know the the loss because it is it's not just the imediate loss it's the it's the loss of all of the the things you've treasured and then rebuilding and it's not the same and then it's the loss of your future like be crop or livestock or is just it's so big it's so big um driving through it was very very much like like you're in a war a war z and and the people some of the that's the right ter some of the the houses that their fings were walked away on there was a caravan in a hole that was as deepest Caravan you know well so the way the water SWR around quite and unfortunately the the the warnings there was no warning came me to a s trying to convince some people especially in I sh be right um Community was quite the TK people have said that they got the evacuation um about half an hour after they you know getting out possible yes well I was I was in town you were the night of the flood and I was watching his water R and rs and um then we had the the SAS come in and say if you're not out within I think it's like 10 or 15 minutes you're not leaving town cuz the way out was going to get fled in and that's when I pulled the families aside and say we have place for you up in the font get yourself together back your cars Let's Go sing but over is just like it's over the bridge so so when I first went into town before the flood happened there was no water over the bridge um and then when I came back out to come up the road to come back to the farm it was sort of lapping the bottom of my got full so it it came out super you probably won the last out yeah yeah um but you know said I'm couple fames course you go people back with bu so what concern is all of theirs yeah we got did all the good done anymore yeah so it you you know like you've so clearly and beautifully described the the impact of this on the people in the place but um and it's so tragic you to hear those stories and yeah that's not the all the story is it that you know is do you see the good anything that was good come out of this process yeah I I think for the community I saw like you got to know people at at a level you know that you didn't it it definitely brought Community together them more uh it also showed who is a really good leader within the community who is willing to highlight everyone's skill yeah it did highlight every skill and and it showed who was willing to sort of put their own stuff inside and go okay I'm willing to help you yeah you learn as Cy said I think it really showed who and maybe a cliche beautiful good to bad and the LLY of the community yeah you got to see some some really inspiring inspiring stories you got to be quite moved and you got to see who was willing to be an amazing human yeah um make a difference yeah at the end of the day you it wasn't about us and it wasn't about one particular person it was about everybody it was it was a coming together in a collective fight it was a collective rebuild it it saw the BR of Hall become just such a a har and you know you'd walk in there and you'd see like these Steel Magnolia these ladies who were like they were like right this is what I can do I can do food and they were doing food and they were people okay I have I can't do food I can do time they were packing grocery thing yeah or you know it' be I know there was a local Olive producer she might have been whispering but anyway they're like okay we've got olive oil we can do oil or Ben and Jay's from Monkey place um oh God he was he was incredible yeah he stop for days he was there at breakfast he was there like just such a Shining Light in what what he did um or it was like us we can provide accommodation if you if you need somewhere to stay and we were washing a lot of I washed I can't tell you how many loads of washing I did we have washing machines and of course every everything needed washing we had we had a lot of com to us with St of watching yeah um you know again yeah we're lucky and again what we did I I don't feel it was anything major special just what we could do yeah what you could do um there was some amazing electricians that were coming out and looking at like electrics there were so you got to see some of the greatest side of humanity and that was just beautiful another thing we also learned of it is like we identified resources for the community so we put our head up and said look if if anything like this happens again we have solar we have padic we have like if we could run out that Hub here you could have a a working we a commercial kitchen on site so we can run a emergency service or provide something for emergency services I think they said just would do some resilience leading what whatever yeah so that the the broken developed system resilience like an emergency resilience T um and there's uh six of us that are part of the sort of the team leader um where one of them here um and then they sort of spread out through broke so basically what they yeah basically what they found was that everybody in the area was trying to contact the hall to get information and it was would a lot of congestion so what they've done is we've got our resilience team leaders within Community now so if something like this happens again we're the ones that are going to have all the information so that we're going to be able to have a little bit contact us or come to us to ask us and same same with the other centers I think the good thing came out is that there's procedures in place now um around the brook and also there was the need for advanced Warning Systems like for and this is something that that I just I would Shad out to the rooftops if I could is that for a rural community with a different concept of family and livelihood it needs to be Advanced because a lot Farmers W these animals like you have to drag them out like Kicking and Screaming um and excuse we won't leave leave our neighbors like it's it's like you don't leave someone behind so we need more time to to get out because of because of those factors because it's it's your livelihood it's not like oh just leave it it's stuff it's not just stuff it's it's your income it's your family security it's your life's work and and it's when it comes to the sort of animal thoughts on things it's the you know Farmers that are are responsible with their animal so all have to be tagged for sort of biocurity reasons as well but if your animals if you're going through a disaster where you've had to open your gates up to let them free you want to be able to locate them again so to have them correctly tagged and have like the the the local land Council and all that sort of stuff come and be able to go okay well this is actually their animal pick it up and bring it back to them yeah I I think it's really important and I think information and teaching people on on what exactly to do in situations like this I think that is is I think preparedness and it's it's something that we have a bit of a heart for far and I think watch this face you know for stuff like that but Advent advanced warning systems and I would encourage every Community to have I know the surely right thing is part of our culture but like what if it's not what it can go so far when when everything is dropping around around you yeah I love what you said earlier about old knowledge old knowledge yeah how do you think that will play a part in your preparedness for the future I think it's everything I think so often we think oh we know cause but there is such a wisdom there's such a wisdom that look there's there there's a wisdom with the traditional owners of the land they know these areas better than us um but then also the wisdom of Bushcraft people people that know how to use knives and flint loocks and and all those things to to create a fire out and the fathers have their knowledge there's a collective knowledge there yeah you know there's there's all wisdom from every sort of corner that you you look at and when there's no power there's no technology there I get why you like this storytelling thing now yeah if you got if you if you're stuck suddenly and you've got no gaps how you going to start a fight to know because for us we had all of all of that I would love to see every family have the capacity to go off grid if if the occasion call like call corporate I knew we had three months so we person had three months worth of food ready and so so I guess that's what we've learned yeah the Le of is are being prep prepared early intervention procedures and now we have advanced warning systems coming along the brook but listen listening to the people going it has you know it has G over in the past and I think it all needs to be bought into a collective yeah you know Collective knowledge base Collective conversation yes yeah and getting people together with that knowledge and teaching uh I think I feel that we've lost our way of teaching it's all done online it's all computer based now and there's none of that hands on teaching and we've got great people in the area and throughout Australia that that are able to go seminars teach people the Hands-On things that need you need to know to get through a situation like this there needs to be a a re a re connection with with the land and the country and understanding what the wisdom of that yes that's awesome that's a great thought and on that like now you know you're talking about Lessons Learned and you know steps you people can make to increase preparator and the the steps the community can make I'm all I'm interested what then is your view how do you feel about bro's future and your future as part of it I love this place yeah look I I think I thinko itself broke self has got a really good future I think it's um oh you can get through all yeah it's it's an upcoming Ron it's it's U I think we're leaning into our quirkiness and I think the the whole experience of s is all a little left of center me yeah it's kind of got its own Vibe we're kind of like oh shit you know what y live in a dream so yeah look I I don't I don't see I see bro going from strength to strength um as you as C say we've gone through a lot and you look at from 2019 through to today what everything that's happened drought bushwise Co flooding I think it it's made us stronger as a as a community and as as a collective yeah it's also made us look at what's um important and what we need to to grow not only as individuals but as a region and as businesses as well we're quite formidable now as a region I suppose um not not to be not to be shaken and we've sort of yeah definitely unpacked a little bit in The Road Less Traveled a little bit left of center um I think what we do need is people to come and visit a wounded Community yeah please come and support support these businesses get back on their feet because I mean I know you could go to some of our neighbors neighboring regions but it's important to support the people who've endured I think if you could do anything to help a business or a person get back on their feet after such a Spate of things oh do it you'll only you you'll only be blessing people that really need it and and it will be something good for for your soul to do something like that I believe if any if there was ever a town that needed that it's this one um I know there are many out there please visit them all yeah like make your holiday there it makes a difference looking look at honestly look at the this the small the small businesses that in the area that's your unique selling proposition we their soaps yeah we've got the soap it's like a little Apothecary shop you walk in soaps and everything up we've got now the honey me guy that makes Honey Honey me we've got new cador like kale gate coming up lavender small bouque cador coming through their amazing sculptures and oh there there's too many today we've got all these businesses who have been resilient going here we are and we we need we need that's how we need the support is to rebuild and and you know I think if if people want to support us and and want to come out to the region I think they'll realize why we love it um not just through our own businesses but the the landscape itself is been quite unique it's you got the mountain range in the back of us I mean I know there's some you know big big hotels and you know big fancy overseas things but I mean if you could do something in your backyard and support a farmer support I don't think could be disappointed with our quirky quirky little town I think absolutely no one uh no one would be disappointed visiting broke for sure and think that's distiller now wow you like it it gets better and better every every minute we're on so um it do but look you have been wonderful advocate for you for the community you love and I like I know you you say it was small but uh I just want to acknowledge the um the work you did on behalf of that community and um I'm so very pleased to have heard your story it's been so much gold and I thank you for sharing it so so vulnerably so courageously and uh for all you've done for your community and all you will do it's been an absolute pleasure to hear you guys speak about it thank you a thank you John thank you [Music] thank you for listening to this week's episode of beyond the Deluge about the 20122 floods in Brook and the hunter Valley if anything in this conversation has had a triggering effect please seek support and find someone who can help keep you safe please share the show to your friends family and colleagues so we can help more people with their recovery from natural disaster if you'd like to find out more about kugi heroes and our other podcasts please head to kugi heroes. com.au our theme song was provided by Colin Lily thanks to Matthew Bliss for editing and production and to John Millum for hosting the conversations and most of all thank you to the community of broke and the hunter Valley for sharing their lived experience with us we'll see you next week in beyond the [Music] Deluge only when it's broken only when it's broken when it hits you in the middle of the night and the truth Burns so bright only when it's broken only when it's broken take pride in those cries it's only for tonight and then you rise only when you broken only when you broken only when you broken [Music]
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Kirsty and Quinton saw people in their community refuse help because someone else was worse off, and they had to tell them directly that they were the ones who needed it right now.
This conversation includes a gifted holiday that changed everything, coming home without knowing it, building starline with purpose, the country woman's knowing, eight families shelter on the hill and locking up strangers' houses.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
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