Paul Smith
The Beauty in the Flood: Paul Smith's Lens on the River Murray
Paul turned a near-fatal accident into a calling, then documented his community's breaking point with a camera.
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Kintsugi Studio
Paul Smith
Paul turned a near-fatal accident into a calling, then documented his community's breaking point with a camera.
Hear this story
In 2008, a near-fatal motorbike accident left Paul Smith on disability and forced him to rebuild his life from scratch. He moved to Mannum, a quiet town on the River Murray he'd always wanted to see, because it was the only place he could afford. Photography started as a way to occupy himself, but it became something deeper: a way to belong to a place and a community. He began photographing the local footy club, then community events, and slowly became known around town.
When the 2022 floods came, Paul found himself in an unexpected position. With access to the levees as the emergency structures went up down Mannum's main street, he documented the rising water day by day, using the historic marker tree to track how high it climbed. He watched the town pull together in ways that mattered: strangers helping empty shops before the levee cut them off, people from Adelaide driving up to spend money and support local businesses, unexpected friendships forged in the crisis. The flood changed his social media following from a couple hundred to over 3,000 followers almost overnight, but more than that, it gave him a record that people still thank him for.
Paul understood something important: he could show the beauty in the flood without minimizing what people were losing. He traveled through the downstream towns of Blanchetown, Swan Reach, and Walker's Flat, seeing how the same water hit different communities in vastly different ways, some with water over roofs, others facing inland seas as far as the eye could see. He still loves the river and never gets sick of looking at it. But he knows the truth: the river that makes the Riverland rich is the same river that brings devastation to the people living in its path.
“I didn't want to sort of encroach on people's tragedies, I guess. So I tried to find the beauty in the flood, if that makes sense.”
“I'm a boiler maker welder by trade, um, who back in 2008 had a near-fatal motorbike accident and that put me on disability and subsequently led me to photography just to try and sort of occupy myself and find an outlet.”
“I had a couple hundred followers on my photography page, and then that grew in the floods, grew to, oh, I got over 3,000 now. So it just went crazy. I didn't expect it. I was sort of documenting it all for my friends, local friends that couldn't get on.”
The hero, today
Paul didn't want to encroach on people's tragedies with his photography, so he made the deliberate choice to show the beauty in the flood while respecting what people were losing. After his motorbike accident left him on disability, moving to Mannum and taking up photography gave Paul a way to belong to a place and a community, not just occupy himself. The people of Mannum came together in the crisis in ways that mattered: strangers helped empty shops, outsiders came to spend money to support local businesses, and Paul made lasting friendships through it all. Paul understood that what he was documenting mattered to people; he used his access to the levees to keep his community in the loop when they couldn't get there themselves, and his images became a record that people still thank him for. Living on the river is a double-edged sword for the Riverland: the flood cycle has made the land rich for millennia, but it also brings personal devastation to the people whose homes and businesses are in its path.
Yes. Paul Smith 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.
Paul didn't want to encroach on people's tragedies with his photography, so he made the deliberate choice to show the beauty in the flood while respecting what people were losing.
After his motorbike accident left him on disability, moving to Mannum and taking up photography gave Paul a way to belong to a place and a community, not just occupy himself.
The people of Mannum came together in the crisis in ways that mattered: strangers helped empty shops, outsiders came to spend money to support local businesses, and Paul made lasting friendships through it all.
John Milham (Host) · 00:00
Kintsugi Heroes brings you the following River Murray flood recovery story, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and South Australian governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. To find out more about this podcast, head to kintsugiheroes.com.au. The 2022 River Murray floods in South Australia were caused by record water inflows from the Murray-Darling Basin due to heavy upstream rainfall. The slowly rising floodwaters inundated homes, businesses, and farmland, causing widespread displacement, infrastructure damage, and agricultural losses. The disaster significantly impacted local economies, communities, and led to the region's long-term recovery. In this special limited series of Kintsugi Heroes, John Milham sits down with members of the Riverlands community and gives them space to share their experiences of their personal adversity diversity and community resilience. It's only through connection and empathy that there can be a path to recovery. Today we're diving into the story of Paul Smith, better known locally as Jabba, a boilermaker turned photographer who witnessed the devastating floods in the Riverland area, South Australia. After a near-fatal motorbike accident in 2008 left him on disability, Jabba discovered photography as a healing outlet. As the floods encroached on the town of Munnam, Jabba captured striking images that juxtaposed the tragedy with the unexpected beauty. Join us as we explore how Jabba's lens showed the resilience of a community and how his photography created a permanent record of this traumatic experience for the people of the Riverlands. Enjoy John's chat with Jabba.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 01:54
Ah, so welcome listeners back to Kintsugi Heroes, and this is a very special presentation. This is part of our new series documenting the impact of the floods in the Riverland area in South Australia along the Murray River. And today I am very grateful to present a man who has a unique eye on the on the flood itself. Paul Smith, who is a photographer and documented the flood. Paul, welcome to Consigui Heroes and Beyond the Deluge in the Riverland.
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Paul understood that what he was documenting mattered to people; he used his access to the levees to keep his community in the loop when they couldn't get there themselves, and his images became a record that people still thank him for.
This conversation includes finding beauty in a catastrophe, the motorbike accident that changed everything, moving to mannum to start over, photography as healing, using the flood marker tree to track the rising water and the levee dividing the main street.
John Milham (Host) · 02:33
G'day, cheers.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 02:35
I've checked out some of your photos and I was amazed to find such beauty in the flood, right, and the, and the land itself, which was strange because I also knew that so many people were being negatively impacted by it. How did that play for you as a photographer?
John Milham (Host) · 02:59
Um, a bit interesting. I sort of looked at it— I didn't want to sort of encroach on people's, um, tragedies, I guess. So I tried to find the beauty in the flood, if that makes sense. Um, like I had friends affected and whatnot. Um, but yeah, it was just awe-inspiring. So I just sort of tried to show the beauty of the flood, if that makes sense.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 03:25
Was that— was that your eye? Is that something that comes to you? Is that how you see the landscape as a photo? Is that—
John Milham (Host) · 03:32
pretty much, yeah, pretty much.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 03:35
You always haven't been a photographer. Tell us a bit about Paul Smith.
John Milham (Host) · 03:39
Okay, well, I'm a boiler maker welder by trade, um, who back in 2008 had a near-fatal motorbike accident and that put me on disability and subsequently led me to photography just to try and sort of occupy myself and find an outlet. And it turned out I had a bit of a knack for it, apparently, so they say, and sort of grew from there pretty much.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 04:04
A knack for it? Is that, um, I was— I, I have a mate who is, you know, we played footy together, he picked it up and I look at it and I go, is that the same thing I'm looking at? Because I didn't see that photo when I was looking at that landscape standing next to you. Is that what you had, that experience? Somehow you took a photo and people are going, how'd you see that?
John Milham (Host) · 04:26
Yeah, I get that a lot. And they sort of— I get quite a few mentions on my perspective of how I did it all and I don't know how I did it all. I just point and shoot. And yeah, it's my style, I think.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 04:41
So a big accident, mate. That's really hard to come back from physically. And being, you know, having a new stage of life, you know, moving into disabled, right? Because you moved to the Riverland Country, didn't you?
John Milham (Host) · 04:53
That's right. After the big accident, I couldn't afford a mortgage in Adelaide or anything, but I could afford to move up here to Mannum.. And, uh, yeah, so that's sort of what led me up here, really.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 05:07
So you settled in Menom as almost part of your recovery, and photography grew from that. Tell us how, how that played out, you know, like what was the, the magic of Menom?
John Milham (Host) · 05:19
Well, I didn't know any— didn't really know anything about Menom or anyone up here. I— it was affordable, so, and I always loved river. Um, that, that was a no-brainer. It was, yeah, nice place to live, quiet. So yeah.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 05:37
And, uh, did the photography— was that part of your healing?
John Milham (Host) · 05:42
Pretty much. I sort of picked it up once I moved up here to Manam and just to occupy myself. And I had my ex-partner at the time, she had a couple of boys that played football, so I sort of started photographing them and that crew. And then the club got me as their photographer, and so I sort of sponsored the club now, the Menom Football Club, with my photography and time. And then that sort of grew from there and sort of got known. And then the floods, it went— I had a couple hundred followers on my photography page, and then that grew in the floods, grew to— oh, I got over 3,000 now. So it just went crazy. I didn't expect it. I was sort of documenting it all for my friends, local friends that couldn't get on. I had access to the levees, um, so I was sort of— ended up coming unofficially, keeping everyone in the loop pretty much.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 06:36
Yeah, well, so let's give, um, our listeners a little bit of context, right? So, um, Madam is down, uh, sort of not far, what, 80 kilometers from, from Adelaide. So at the end of the long sort of meandering journey that the Murray makes from the border at New South Wales through Renmark and then up, you know, takes the turn, the dogleg, and then that comes down to Murray Bridge. That's the kind of area we're talking about, isn't it?
John Milham (Host) · 07:05
So pretty much, yeah.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 07:06
Yeah. And, um, and Mannum's just up from Murray Bridge.
John Milham (Host) · 07:10
Yeah, we're about 29 k's over from Murray Bridge.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 07:14
One of the amazing series of photos, because you often took the same landmark over time. So this slow flood sort of trickled down through the systems and slowly taking land off the areas that lived by the river all the way through town. When it got to Mannum, you talk about that big park reserve, there's also a memorial And like a big tree that has flood marks on it?
John Milham (Host) · 07:43
That's correct. To start with, I was using picnic benches as my flood marker. As the water rose up, they soon went underwater, and the big marker tree was the one spot left that— and it had a gauge on it, so from all the old floods, so it was a good gauge pretty much. So yeah, I used that eventually once everything else got flooded out.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 08:05
I love the series of it, you know, like, and I was almost like pushing for the water to go a little higher, right? I apologize to all the people who were impacted by it, but because it was quite, you know, waiting to see the next series of photos, right? So of course the tree tells us that the 1956 flood was the high water mark, you know, and then, but this one was pretty significant. It kept getting higher and higher and higher than anyone expected.
John Milham (Host) · 08:35
Yeah, I think it got on the marker, uh, got to about the 1974 level-ish sort of thing, um, which over my head.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 08:46
Yeah, wow, you're up high. Tell us about the people in the town. What was it like for the— because some of the town was okay, and then areas, particularly even the CBD, uh, there were people that was quite impacted.
John Milham (Host) · 09:00
Yeah, and as the water was rising, we knew it was going to come through the businesses on the riverside of the main street. So, and that's when the big levee started going in down the main street itself. Um, basically half the road was all levee.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 09:16
So the big levee was constructed by locals, right?
John Milham (Host) · 09:20
Yeah, local, or sort of local company, Neo, did the big Mary Ann Reserve levee, and a couple others like I did other parts of the levee. Big, big old group effort. Sort of thing.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 09:32
What was— what did it look like?
John Milham (Host) · 09:34
Crazy. I saw him digging up the lawn at Maryanne Reserve, and then they started building the levee. And the guys that were doing that got to know me because I was always down there taking photos, so they started giving me permission to go on the levee itself, which no one else really allowed to. So that gave me the unique perspective on the other side of the levee, pretty much. And, uh, Yeah, I can't thank those guys enough for giving me the— really.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 10:04
Did the levy make a difference?
John Milham (Host) · 10:07
Um, I think so. I'm no expert. You hear six and a half a dozen of the other. Um, apparently a lot of the SA Water infrastructure had to be protected, and obviously was. Um, I feel for the businesses because the businesses on the riverside, they just got inundated.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 10:28
That must have been heartbreaking seeing a levee go down the middle of a road, right?
John Milham (Host) · 10:36
Once in a lifetime.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 10:37
So one person, people on one side, you've got a, you know, there's two cafes, one, one safe and one's wet.
John Milham (Host) · 10:44
Yeah, pretty much. And the businesses had prior warning that they were going to get blocked off by their levee, so they had to get out by set date and that sort of thing. Um, so I spooked for a while on my page to get people up here spending money in the town trying to buy them. So yeah.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 11:05
And, um, and the people— what, what was the feeling in the town?
John Milham (Host) · 11:12
Very weird. Like, it was the talk of the town, obviously. Um, everyone was talking about it everywhere you went. Yeah, it was, I said, once in a lifetime. I really didn't expect it to get up as big as it did.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 11:26
Uh, and of course that's huge, right? You, um, you know, you were documenting, uh, not, not just, you know, you were documenting the flood, but you were also documenting the activity in the, in the town's activity and stuff as well. What, um, uh What do you think the town did well?
John Milham (Host) · 11:49
All grouped, majorly grouped together as one, you know. Everyone looked out for each other. A lot of people were helping out when the shops had to be emptied. Strangers were coming and helping them. Um, out-of-towners coming up, spending money, helping out. Like, everyone just banded together. Like, it was really good.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 12:13
What do you—
John Milham (Host) · 12:13
did—
Paul Smith (Guest) · 12:14
was there anything you— the, the Madam gained from the flood?
John Milham (Host) · 12:19
Put us on the map. Um, we, we had politicians coming up left, right, and center. The governor. Um, lucky enough to meet them being on the levee. Um, but yeah, uh, put us on the map. A lot of people obviously devastated that lost stuff. I was getting calls from people that live in Adelaide but have properties up here asking me if I'd go and check their property for them, that sort of thing. When I was allowed to and it was safe, I would. Yeah, a lot of people did it tough, really tough. And I know I look— like I said, I looked at the river like a beautiful perspective, sort of.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 13:03
Yeah, like a landscape.
John Milham (Host) · 13:04
Yeah, yeah. But a lot of people, and I'm guessing still are, quite affected by it. Um, like I said, I, I'm just a photographer. I live enough away from the river, it didn't affect me. But other people, totally opposite story.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 13:23
What was the, um, the situation like? You know, you mentioned a friend earlier. What did— what happened to them?
John Milham (Host) · 13:29
Um, my friend, uh, Trudy from Madame Old Ways, she was my friend that got really affected. She's done a tough, um, feel for her. Bouncing back now, like.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 13:46
So the water comes in. Of course, floods are devastating because they just bring so much cleaning and so much, you know, they ruin everything.
John Milham (Host) · 13:55
Yeah, well, I got taken through Manamold when there was water still in there. They were allowed in there to sort of clean up a little bit, and the silt and the dirt everywhere, it was just heartbreaking. And they took a long time. They were actually, I think, the last business to reopen afterwards.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 14:15
Was there a feeling that the town had, had, um, you know, is now over it?
John Milham (Host) · 14:25
Um, we all still— well, see, I get stopped all the time and people recognize me from the photo, so I get told all the time, 'Oh, thanks for the photos.' So I think it's still in people's minds. Um, I'm hoping a lot of people are on the better side of it all now. Um, but the people I know are keeping on keeping on, you know. You don't have a choice, really.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 14:50
What do you love about the living by the river, mate?
John Milham (Host) · 14:53
It's just— I never get sick of looking at that river. It's— yeah, and it's so peaceful up here. We don't really have crime up here or anything like that. It's just a pretty nice place to live. My only, my only complaint is we need more car parking somehow, because we found that out during the floods. Everyone came up to support us, which was awesome. They couldn't park anywhere.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 15:22
You think with all that space there's no car parking, right?
John Milham (Host) · 15:25
Pretty much. That was, that was the big thing I took from it actually. Like, I got online one day for everyone to come up and spend their money. A lot of them listened, and then it was mayhem.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 15:40
Be careful what you ask for.
John Milham (Host) · 15:42
Exactly, exactly that. Yeah, yeah.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 15:45
Oh well, you know, I'm glad that people responded. What do you want the world to know about, you know, uh, a town like Madam going through floods?
John Milham (Host) · 15:54
Big thing is just everyone's got to work together, you know, um, and you do find that in times like that people just band together and That was the real good thing I took from it all, uh, and was awesome to see, you know. Oh, plenty. Everyone knows me now. I, I don't— because I stupidly put me mug on a couple of videos and now I get recognized all the time, which people know me and I have no idea who they are. Um, but yeah, no, I've made a lot of good friends through it all, actually. Um, photograph the guy that— the manager that built the levees. I ended up becoming good mates with him and photographed his wedding for him. So that was scary. But yeah, so I've made a lot of really good friends out of it, actually.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 16:50
Your work on Facebook and so on is available for people to check out, so it's Jabba Photography. Um, What's your favorite thing about capturing stuff on the river? What do you like to see? What are you hoping for when you take your lens out?
John Milham (Host) · 17:06
I'm just always searching for that next great shot, basically. Um, like I said, I do the football offseason in the footy because that keeps me really busy. Offseason, I relax by the river shooting the wildlife and the scenery. And it's like I said before, I just never get sick of looking at the river. So I just try and change that little bit of awesomeness every day. Or yeah, I'll do a few of the events here in town, the Truck and Ute Show for Man of Progress Association, and they sort of get me doing a few of their things, which for me, I'm just an amateur that loves photography.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 17:47
That's amazing. As I talk to other people around the floods, right? You know, the journey of the water, you know, seemed to have different impacts on different towns. And you mentioned you traveled a little bit through the affected country at the time. Tell us what you were seeing.
John Milham (Host) · 18:09
Yes, well, the council took me for a ride along one day and we did Blanchetown, Swanreach, Walker's Flat, all that. And Swan Reach, for instance, we were there and I'm seeing water over roofs and it was just totally engulfed. Um, whereas Mannum was a little bit different, we sort of held the water back. Some of the shops were engulfed, but areas like Swan Reach, there were— you could just see peaks of roofs above the water. And yeah, crazy. And then from some of the lookouts, the expanse going out And even our lookout in Mannum, you look over the river, the other side of the river is normally like cow pastures basically. Well, that started filling up, filling up, and as far as you can see behind the river ended up with water.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 19:00
So we were talking, we're talking that, um, you know, that, you know, classic inland sea kind of look, really.
John Milham (Host) · 19:08
Exactly, yeah. And it was water as far as So yeah, it was— that was one thing that really blew me out was just how expansive it was. Um, there was a local dairy here and he had levees holding off the water near Manapwaters. And then one morning we were down there when he broke the levee to let it out into his property to save everyone else a lot of trouble, pretty much. So all his cow paddock ended up becoming an inland sea as well. I'm guessing those cows are loving the pasture now.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 19:43
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But see, isn't that interesting? Because that whole riverland area has lived on this cycle over millennia, right? And it's a rich area because of that. So it's that relationship with the water and the flood. But of course, people suffer when it comes.
John Milham (Host) · 20:02
And that's where it's the double-edged sword, you know, like it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, but then obviously people are affected as well.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 20:10
I'm interested, you mentioned, you know, pulling together, and of course there's so many organizations and, you know, that we rely on in these moments, right? How did we do as a system, right?
John Milham (Host) · 20:25
Yeah, I think we learned a lot. I think we did pretty good. Um, yeah, I think you'd hope they've learned from it, you know. Um, yeah, I think— and we had support centers set up here in town at the Oval, and they were looking after people as well. That all— I mean, that's all positive, you know. So yeah, I think they've done okay. And obviously the powers that be that know more than me will know where they went wrong and where they can improve next time, if there is a next time. Some of the old-timers say we've got another big one coming. We'll rip down the levees now.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 21:08
I, I, I loved, um, seeing a little bit about the, you know, the, the stories that came out of the '56 flood, right? And they kind of, you know, badge of honor, they wear that, you know.
John Milham (Host) · 21:19
And that's what the old-timers are saying, oh, it's gonna hit '56 levels or bigger, and I'm still skeptical, but then I was skeptical the water wouldn't rise last time.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 21:30
Yeah, it must have been interesting just watching it because it would— it crept up, right? Day to day you were taking photos. When you went down to the water and then stood in the same place, were you hoping for the water to be higher or lower?
John Milham (Host) · 21:44
A little bit. Well, I've got to be honest, it was once in a lifetime. I was sort of hoping for higher. There was one day, one of the picnic benches that I was using as a flood marker, me and a couple of mates thought, right, that had overtaken the seats at the bench, we thought we'd get a photo on it. We went down the next morning, we were going to sit in the water at the bench. Bench had gone overnight.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 22:11
Oh, that was a great shot. Um, what do you want to do? You know, like, are you still in love with the river? Are you How is this experience? Because it goes over 6 months, right? You're like— and then the cleanup, which is still happening in some places. Yeah. How's your— you know, how do you feel about the river?
John Milham (Host) · 22:38
I love it. You know, it's our big rivers here in Australia are magnificent. I'm an ex-Broken Hill boy, so I grew up in New South Wales on the Darling River. So I just love the river system. Could be managed a lot better, I think. Menindee, New South Wales dried up there a while back. Just water management, I think, could learn a bit.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 23:07
Yeah, there's a lot of discussion, a lot of passion around water management. You can see why, though. It's huge, isn't it?
John Milham (Host) · 23:16
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, and it makes a big difference further on down too. Like, like I said, they let too much water out, we cop it big time. They don't let enough, they cop it. So it's double-edged sword, I guess. There again, I'm no expert.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 23:33
What do you want to do, mate? What, what's your next— you know, waiting for the big one to come, what are you going to— what are you going to spend your time doing?
John Milham (Host) · 23:41
I do need another catastrophic event to build my photography, I guess. No, joking. Um, yeah, I just, I just enjoy photography. It's my passion. I'm self-taught, so I just sort of winging it. But yeah, I'm getting there.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 24:00
But that's beautiful, mate. I, I, I would highly recommend people, you know, check out your site, your website. So where can they find your images?
John Milham (Host) · 24:10
But yeah, I've got my photography page on Facebook, Jabba Photography, which has most of the photos. I'll apologize in advance for the endless amounts of footy photos, but if you scroll past all them, you'll find other stuff as well. And I've got a page on Instagram as well, Jabba Photography. Put some stuff up on there now and then, but because I do big batches of photos, like for the footy, all that sort of stuff goes on on the Facebook one.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 24:39
Thank you. Like, you have painted such a beautiful picture of it, of such a tough time. It's interesting, right? I, I, you know, as I said, your images are striking. I'm really grateful I got your perspective, your artist's eye on the flood, my friend. Thank you so much for sharing with Katsuki Heroes.
John Milham (Host) · 24:59
Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Thanks for the support and following me.
Paul Smith (Guest) · 25:04
And yeah, no, all the best. And, uh, yeah, keep up the great work.
John Milham (Host) · 25:09
Thank you. Will do. Thank you for listening to this episode of Riverland Recovery Stories. If anything in this conversation has had a triggering effect, please seek support and reach out to someone who can help keep you safe. If you found this conversation interesting or helpful, please share it with your friends, family, and colleagues. So we can help more people with their recovery from natural disasters. To find out more about Kintsugi Heroes and our other projects, head to kintsugiheroes.com.au. Thank you to our production team, Kintsugi Heroes volunteers, and most importantly, the Riverland community for sharing their lived experience.
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