Beyond the Deluge
Kirsty and Quinton McLeod · 64 min
When the worst flood in 70 years hit Broke in 2022, Kirsty and Quinton McLeod turned their alpaca farmstay into an off-grid refuge for eight families — and quietly became the beating heart of their community's survival.
Kirsty and Quinton McLeod came to Broke by chance after a gifted holiday led to a job opportunity in the Hunter Valley. What began as tractor work in vineyards eventually brought them to Starline Alpaca Farm, where they built an agritourism business that reconnects city visitors to country life, land stewardship, and the origins of the things they consume. For Kirsty, the move held unexpected meaning: she later discovered her family ancestry tied her to Broke itself, making her return to land her relatives had settled generations before.
When the worst flood in 70 years hit on July 6, 2022, eight families with children as young as six months old were staying at Starline. Kirsty's sense of preparedness, informed by old knowledge from the older generation, meant the property was ready. The elevated position and off-grid solar power made the farm an island when floodwater consumed the town below. Quinton waded into Broke to lock up houses for people who had fled, encountering evidence of looting already underway. What followed was quiet, practical help: firewood for families trying to keep their children warm, a function centre transformed into daycare so parents could deal with the immediate crisis, meals prepared daily, and washing machines running constantly.
They learned that the people of Broke are fiercely self-reliant, often insisting someone else needed help more even while standing in contaminated floodwater. Walking through the wreckage afterward, Kirsty and Quinton saw possessions lined the streets with handwritten signs asking disaster tourists not to take them, and ashes mixed into the floodwater that belonged to someone they did not know. The disaster revealed what matters most in a rural community: not individual households, but the interconnected web of families, neighbours, animals, livelihoods, and land. Since then, they have become part of a community resilience team, identifying Starline as a hub for emergency response, and advocating for advanced warning systems that account for farmers' need to move animals and stay with their neighbours. Broke has been tested by drought, bushfire, pandemic, and flood since 2019, and each time the community has chosen to stay and rebuild together.
Every story here belongs to the person who lived it. They said yes to sharing it, and we sat with it carefully before it went up. Nothing here is exaggerated and nothing is used without permission. Read how we handle these stories ↗
Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗