Simone Bailey · 54 min
A brand-new mayor sworn in the day after a flood emergency was declared, Simone Bailey had to lead her community through one of the worst natural disasters in South Australian history before she had even learned the job.
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Simone Bailey moved to Mannum in her twenties because she and her family could build a home mortgage-free and she could stay with her children. She fell in love with the small riverside town, its serenity, and its people. Years later, when she saw council spending she disagreed with, she stood for election as a councillor, then as mayor. She won in early November 2022.
The day after she was sworn in, a flood emergency was declared. Simone had never led a council before, but she had to immediately make decisions about where to build levees to protect parts of Mannum's main street. She had to knock on doors and convince business owners and householders to accept protection that would save some but leave others exposed, knowing the water would come. She coordinated with five other councils, most also led by new mayors. She gave 97 TV interviews in four months. She learned to call the Premier when a tourism voucher scheme threatened to hurt her community while caravan parks were still underwater.
What stayed with her was a specific image: people walking through Blanchetown with devastated faces, their holiday homes destroyed, places held in their families for generations. That image drove her advocacy during recovery. After Christmas, she started coffee and chat events where people could talk about their fears. She discovered that once someone said they felt the same way, people realised their worry was normal, not something to carry alone. The government saw what worked and funded similar events across the region.
Simone's children have made clear they will never enter politics. She will decide by November 2026 whether to seek another term. She knows she does not want higher office because she sees funding flow to areas based on population and voting patterns rather than need. What matters most is that communities keep telling their stories so people outside the region understand what help is needed.
“I was literally thrown in the deep end.”
“My community is amazingly resilient, and I often say, you know, I wish we didn't always have to be so resilient.”
“I feel people's pain probably as much if not more than they feel it.”
The hero, today
Simone moved to a river town with her family as a young mother because they could build a home mortgage-free and she could stay with her children, and she has never regretted it. When people didn't believe the flood was coming, Simone had to knock on doors and convince business owners and householders to accept levees that would protect some but not all, knowing the water would come. Simone holds an image of people walking through Blanchetown with devastated faces, holiday homes held in families for generations destroyed, and that image drove much of her advocacy during recovery. Simone started coffee and chat events to let people talk about their worries, and discovered that once someone said 'I feel the same way,' people realised their fear was normal, not something to carry alone. Simone learned that communities tell their stories to be heard, and that without telling how they felt and what they needed, people outside the region might not understand or help. Simone will decide by November 2026 whether to seek another term, but she is certain she does not want to enter higher politics because she sees funding flow to areas based on population and voting patterns rather than need.
Yes. Simone Bailey 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.
Simone moved to a river town with her family as a young mother because they could build a home mortgage-free and she could stay with her children, and she has never regretted it.
When people didn't believe the flood was coming, Simone had to knock on doors and convince business owners and householders to accept levees that would protect some but not all, knowing the water would come.
Simone holds an image of people walking through Blanchetown with devastated faces, holiday homes held in families for generations destroyed, and that image drove much of her advocacy during recovery.
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. In this episode, John Milham is joined by Simone Bailey, the Mayor of Mid Murray Council. She speaks about her pivotal role during the 2022 floods in the Riverland region of South Australia. Simone stepped into office just as a flood emergency was declared and quickly adapted from her initial financial and strategic focus to tackling the crisis at hand. She worked tirelessly to support her community, coordinating with local councils and advocating for government resources. Simone navigated challenges from levee construction and insurance issues to maintaining essential services during prolonged floods. Her journey highlights the importance of community resilience and effective leadership in the face of natural disasters.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 01:54
So ladies and gentlemen and listeners, Kuntuki Heroes, again, welcome. And today we have someone who was up to her armpits in the flood, so to speak, right? It's the mayor of— so it's Mid Murray Council, Simone, and you live in Mannum, which is one of the towns that were heavily impacted. So Simone Bailey, welcome to Kuntuki Heroes: Beyond the Deluge.
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Simone started coffee and chat events to let people talk about their worries, and discovered that once someone said 'I feel the same way,' people realised their fear was normal, not something to carry alone.
This conversation includes welcome to mid murray, from adelaide to mannum, accountant to councillor to mayor, a third of south australia's river, sworn in the day after the flood emergency and the people who had to be left out.
John Milham (Host) · 02:21
Thank you for having me.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 02:25
Fantastic. And of course, as a, um, so you're, you're a mayor, right? That tends to be— maybe we're doing a little bit of politicking here, but this is, you know, this is very germane to your world, right? You're— this is your, your town, your places, um, you know, you were, you know, having to deal with issues, but What's interesting is you were a new mayor when this popped up. We might go back. How did you get to become mayor of a beautiful little town like Mannum on the banks of the Murray River? What's the Simone Bailey journey?
John Milham (Host) · 03:01
Well, I came from the city, so lived in Adelaide for all of my life up till mid-20s, and we came to visit Mannum one day and we loved it. We saw the prices, we sold our house in the city and we moved up. It has been the best place to live. I am the kind of person that changes my job every 5 or so years. I get a little bit bored. So about 8 or 9 years ago, I applied for a job at council as the accountant, and I saw how they were spending my money and I wasn't really happy. So I decided to put my hand up as an elected member instead of being accountant. I did that for 4 years and I still wasn't getting as much change as what I liked. So I thought I had this great idea of going for mayor. And yeah, I won the election in early November and I actually got sworn in the day after the flood emergency was declared. We hadn't had rain for many, many years, like, you know, really good rain. So when people were talking about floods in about August, none of us really believed there was water coming. So I was literally thrown in the deep end.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 04:10
So, uh, yeah, which is a great metaphor. So, like, uh, interesting. Are you, uh, you, you talk about, um, you know, applying as an accountant, but then becoming a councillor. Was that, are you an activist? Is that your, you know, natural place?
John Milham (Host) · 04:28
No, not really an activist. And when you talk about politics, I actually hate politics, you know? And so when people say that I'm a politician because I'm a mayor, I disagree. I'm a community person and I'm trying to do the best for my community. Um, but yeah, I just, I saw a council that I didn't believe that they understood, you know, finances. I could see in our long-term financial plan that rates were going up 6.5% every single year for the next 10 years. And I was concerned that, you know, if the spending didn't stop, that it would go up a lot further than what they were predicting. Um, now you've been to our beautiful town of Mannum, but that's just only part of the Mid Murray Council area. So we go all the way up to Morgan. Well, the river in South Australia is 640 kilometers long and we actually have 220 kilometers of it. So we're about a third of the river in South Australia. So not only did it hit Mannum, but it hit another 16 of our towns, um, and 52 of our shack areas. So yeah, we were well and truly inundated over that flood period.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 05:29
And of course, um, you know, Mannum is a little, uh, you know, a beautiful little urban center. Right. But there's, you know, there's places that are larger and smaller in your area, right? So quite a diverse group of needs that you are facing. Yeah. Responding to for the flood.
John Milham (Host) · 05:50
Yep. It certainly is.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 05:53
Yeah. What is your Mid Murray like? You know, how do you see it? Right. Because you are actually like, there are so many people in that area who actually have been there for generations. Right. So you've come in. How do you see it?
John Milham (Host) · 06:09
Look, it's a great community. You know, whatever town you belong to in Mid Murray, you really feel like you've got the community behind you. And if you're not part of a town, you might be part of a farming community. And you know, everyone's got everyone's back and that's what we loved about it. And the first visit that we did to Mannum, we went into the food land in the main street and everyone was saying hello to us and we felt so welcome that we just wanted to move up there.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 06:33
Wow. Um, it's a huge, um, move. How did you decide to pack up? What was the, you know, what was, it's quite a courageous move to, to, you know, the tree change, right? And so especially if you've been in the city all your life.
John Milham (Host) · 06:48
Yeah, look, we were a young family at the time. Um, we both didn't love our jobs, um, but we were in decent jobs. Um, we could own a house in Manama. We could build a brand new house and not have a mortgage. So that, that was a big sell for us. And because I'd had my first child and we were hoping for more, it was, you know, it was a smart move because then I wouldn't have had to have gone back to work.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 07:11
So yeah. When you ran for council, what was that like? You know, did you become completely enamored of the, you know, serving the community process?
John Milham (Host) · 07:26
Yeah, look, I've done that all of my life. You know, my life has been service. My mum and dad taught me that from a young age, and I'm hoping to teach my kids the same. So all I did was just went out to each community and, you know, hope that they got to know me and got to know that, you know, my heart is with them and I will fight for whatever is right in each community as much as I could. And yeah, the, um, the current mayor had been in for a long time, so I think the community was looking for a change. And yeah, I was lucky that they, they trusted me.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 07:57
What was your platform?
John Milham (Host) · 07:58
Um, The platform was that we had a potentially unsustainable council, and I was very concerned about our finances. And I'm an accountant, so, you know, I had the background. And yeah, in February after it— so it was 3 months after I'd been, um, put my hand up and, you know, been sworn in— we actually did get an unsustainable rating from the Essential Services Commission of South Australia. So, you know, at least what I was, uh, talking about was proven right, sadly. Yeah.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 08:29
Yeah. Well, and of course, as you said, you've taken the robe of office, the jewelry is wrapped around your neck, you know, although you were telling me there's not much jewelry involved.
John Milham (Host) · 08:39
Yeah, just fake jewelry for me.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 08:42
Bit of costume jewelry. And then, you know, you thought you'd be worried about, you know, strategic plans and finances, but you were, you know, immediately had to make some massive decisions. Tell me about what was, what was on your plate the first week you were in office.
John Milham (Host) · 09:00
Yeah, look, um, the CEO called me after the votes were counted and he said, oh, Simone, I have to tell you something. We've actually been looking at building some levees in, you know, the main street and one in Morgan and one in Mannum Reserve. And you might want to, um, learn about these quick smart. And, you know, within a few days we had media crews coming up to talk about these levees. You know, staff were just amazing. We have a very, you know, small, small base of staff for such a huge area, 6,000 kilometers with about 92 staff. So, you know, anything that I could do to help. So in one case, we were trying to call community meetings to talk about these levees that we were going to build in the main street of Marnum. So put my hand up to go and deliver flyers and talk to each business owner in the main street and as many householders as I could. To talk about what that meant for them. But, you know, to do, to do what we had to do, we, we were trying to save the rest of the town from having septic, you know. So even though there were lots of houses that were above flood level, had we not built levees, then they wouldn't have had septic for the whole time of the flood.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 10:10
Yeah. So the, the levee process, right? It's a challenging one when you look at it, because it actually split the street. So there were places on the riverbank that were going to go under as well. How, how was it dealing with the, you know, the conversations around those you're out, you're in type thing? That must have been tough.
John Milham (Host) · 10:33
Yep, that was really difficult. And at the time, people still didn't believe the water was coming, so it was really hard to have those conversations. Like, you know, I really need you to come to this community meeting and listen to to what we're saying. Um, and then of course, once that had settled in, it was like, why couldn't you build it behind my shop so that I'm safe? And, um, things like that. But, you know, we'd done all the research and we just couldn't build it in any other place. The levees had been built in the 1970s. So, you know, we had a reason for putting it where we had to put it.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 11:09
So as you were saying, you know, 200+ kilometers of riverbank, you can't do, you know, it was unlikely you couldn't do 200 kilometers of levees. How did you, like, how were you making those kind of decisions? Was it a work group? Was it talking to experts? Who even knows about this stuff, right?
John Milham (Host) · 11:27
Yeah, well, good question, because, you know, a lot of the young guys that were, you know, designing these levees had just been to university and learned about levees. None of them had actually been in this situation of having a flood before. So it was very interesting. We had to go strategic. I mean, the first chat, the Premier came up on the day I was sworn in and I had a chat to him and I said, you know, if if we have to pay for these levees, we're not building them. So, you know, that was even the first road bump is if we had to pay, there was no way I was going to take money from people from Truro, you know, their rate money, and they're not anywhere near the river and, you know, plough it into a levee. So we were very lucky to get government support and the government said, no, we'll pay for them, we'll pay for them to come down. So at least we knew that was, you know, agreed. And then, yeah, we had to look at the most strategic point. So we had a caravan park in Morgan and it already had a road levee around it, but it needed to be built higher. So, you know, that for that protection of asset, we really had to do it. And then, yeah, the Main Street of Mallon, like I said, that was strategic to make sure that the rest of the town could keep their septic system going.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 12:37
Yeah, there are lots of examples of people going under. So how many people, and you know, at the, with the full extent of your area of concern, how many people couldn't be protected?
John Milham (Host) · 12:52
Look, we had around about 2,300 homes inundated, homes and businesses inundated over that period of time. And that was about 36% of the value of our council assets. So it was huge.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 13:06
Wow. Wow. And, and what was the, what was the basic issue? Like the, so these town, these houses, uh, when, when we say they were impacted, inundated, you know, some I've seen photos, some the water up to the roofs of some houses, right? Um, yeah. Yeah. Did we lose a lot of, of places?
John Milham (Host) · 13:31
Yeah, I think we did. You know, we still don't know total numbers. Um, there's some people that haven't come forward. They, Some people that still haven't been to their property. There's a little, little part of Morgan. They all had to leave their houses in about September because the roads were going under. And all of those people had looked at the flood numbers at the time and decided, yeah, let's put all of our furniture up to the second story. So they all did that. But then the government kept redoing the numbers, you know, at the point in time where they realized that it was actually going to hit their second story, it was too late to get in. You know, some of them boated in and, you know, lifted things up on buckets or on kitchen benches upstairs and things like that. But unfortunately for those people, because the predictions were so different, you know, right at the start to in the middle, they'd, you know, lost everything because they thought it was going to be safe when they left their houses.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 14:25
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 14:25
Wow.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 14:26
So we hear a lot of stories about challenges in the, um, you know, recovery insurance, you know, rebuilding world. What's been the experience that you've seen, right, supporting people? Because they would, you know, they'd be looking to you for, you know, some, you know, leadership or encouragement. What, what, how has that aspect rolled out?
John Milham (Host) · 14:49
Yeah, there's been some real horror stories. We were able to advocate to the government and they were supporting people that didn't have insurance because there was a lady in the Swanreach area who, you know, went to reinsurer about November when the floodwaters were coming. And her insurance had gone from $3,000 to, I think it was $16,000. Now she was on a pension. There was no way she was gonna be able to cover that. So she wasn't able to renew her insurance. So it was a little bit unfair, you know, like she'd had it all for all of the years when there'd been no floods, then all of a sudden she wasn't able to get it. Well, the government did come in and help, but you know, very small payments, you know, compared to the price of the house. There were some really good insurance companies and there's some really bad insurance companies. A lot of the stories that I've heard is, you know, there was a shop in the main street and they were able to get their insurance money, they've rebuilt, but then when they're ready to, you know, open their business, they couldn't even get public liability insurance just because the flood had been. The other people in Mannum or anywhere that had the postcode of us, which, you know, some of them are 10, 20 kilometers from the river, all of our insurances went up. So even though we weren't, you know, part of a flood, um, at the time, if you'd bought a new car, you were unable to even get insurance just because of that postcode. Um, so yeah, you know, you had to really look around to make sure you could find an insurer that would help. So yeah, there's, there's plenty of horror stories about insurance.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 16:24
Well, it's an interesting question how, you know, particularly with You know, um, you know, people are noting that climate change, you know, is potentially, you know, going to see, we're going to see more, um, natural events that impact us. You know, it do, what's, uh, as someone, you know, in charge of a community, what's your concern and what, what are your thoughts for how we deal with this?
John Milham (Host) · 16:49
Look, I'm really concerned, you know, like the majority of people were covered in that last flood, but not many of them have been able to keep their insurance up because of those huge increases in their premiums. So next flood, we're going to have a lot more issues of people being uninsured. So it does concern me. Anyone that's built a new home since the flood, we were able to work with the government to get the planning laws changed so that any new builds should be built at a height where you know, as long as we don't get a super mega flood, they should be built at a height that they'll be safe. The water should flow down in that first storey. They're only allowed to build a very small toilet type area down the bottom storey. So, you know, we're hoping that next flood there's not as much damage, but, you know, we won't know until it happens.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 17:43
Wow. So the building codes have responded to this flood already.
John Milham (Host) · 17:47
Yeah, we, our staff were right onto that. They actually started working with the government in August. So the code changed quite quickly thanks to the government's quick action on that. And it came in instantly, even through a consultation period, so that new builds could get started. Because, you know, that Main Street shop, for example, they were already looking at building a new shop before the flood hit. So that sort of got their plans, you know, working a little bit faster.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 18:16
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 18:16
Wow.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 18:17
So if we accept that, you know, uh, you know, building codes aside, you know, um, it's difficult in some ways to live by the river. Like the most desirable land is down close to the river. But, you know, we, we've now, you know, there's been the record flood in '56, you know, floods in the '70s, um, you know, 2016, now 2022. Um, the river will flood, so, you know, people will continue to build there. Is that just going to be, you know, is it just going to be something people have to understand will happen or?
John Milham (Host) · 18:56
Yeah.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 18:56
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 18:56
And I think most people that live on the river do understand that. And, you know, the, the benefits to the river flooding are also great, you know, like it's terrible that people lose their homes or get inundated, but what it does to the river to make a really healthy ecosystem. So I think people understand. And we just hope that they build to the standards so that, yeah, we can be more resilient to floodwaters.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 19:23
The river is incredibly beautiful. It's an amazing kind of landscape to do there. What, something I know, I noticed talking to people, people seem to be captured by the land. They seem to be very much, you know, part of the land, they go away and come back, right? Is that, as someone who's been drawn to it, right, and taken it, what is that about? You know, like, is it, you know, what's the myth, what's the magic that the river, that river has on it, you know, sort of drawing people to it?
John Milham (Host) · 19:57
For me, it's the serenity. You know, you can sit there, you, you just have beautiful sounds around you. At nighttime, you see the, you know, darkest sky with the most beautiful stars and it's really hard to step away from, you know, living in a place like that and still only being, for us in Mannum, an hour from Adelaide, an hour from the Barossa, an hour from the beach, you know, you're in the middle of bliss. Wow.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 20:24
And they seem to have muddy water in their veins, right? So they'd seem, you know, Jen. Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 20:30
Yeah. Look, I've been talking to a few Indigenous people and I really wish the river was like it was 100 years ago, you know, when we could see to the bottom. It would have been even more beautiful then, but You know, the fact that we can enjoy it even the way it looks now, I think it says a lot. Wow.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 20:46
That, um, you know, what, what, what are you, what is your feeling for the river? You know, like it's now, you know, there's a lot of discussion around water and, you know, water rights and, you know, agriculture and the future of agriculture in the area. As the mayor, you know, where you have concerns about the lot using the river as well as the health of the river and the using the land and the health of the land. How do you, you know, what do you feel is the way forward for that stuff?
John Milham (Host) · 21:13
Look, I'm a big advocate to keeping the river as healthy as possible. I would like to look for sustainable farming, you know, so that we're not wasting water where we can be doing something else. I would also like, you know, in Adelaide they take a lot of water from the Murray when we have desalination plants. So, you know, it always makes me wonder why we're not just taking more water out of the desalination plant to try and keep the river flowing and, you know, more healthy. So yeah, there's plenty of discussion to go. Yeah.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 21:48
And the flood for you, what was the flood like? You know, because it was a long, slow buildup, right? And of course you were busy putting the emergency steps in place and so on. What was it like for you personally?
John Milham (Host) · 22:04
Every day was different, you know, different issues for different peoples every day. I was very open to communication. I was trying to get out into the community as much as I could. For someone that had never really done TV interviews before, I think I had 97 in the first 4 months of— oh wow— you know, my career. One of them was, you know, Christmas Eve when our levee— we had a problem on the other side of the levee, so the dry side of the levee. And, you know, so we're doing interviews about that. So yeah, it was crazy times. Every day went really, really fast. We had some wins, we had some— we saw some terrible things. We saw community working together amazingly. Yeah, I was really proud. I was really proud of the council staff and how hard they worked. You know, I think I told you the story of the CEO on New Year's Eve rang one of the staff and they couldn't find anyone to man the levee. And, you know, he got out there and he's not a guy that normally would run a diesel pump. He's the CEO. And, you know, he did that at midnight so that his council staff could enjoy New Year's Eve. So, you know, there's stories like that throughout each of our communities of just people doing things that they wouldn't normally do just to try and help people.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 23:19
And, you know, you know people and people would talk to you about people who are directly impacted and, and then the entire community obviously is impacted by what's going on around them, even if the water doesn't lap at their feet. You know, were you excited to do that? What did you do to get ready for that kind of conversation every day?
John Milham (Host) · 23:42
Uh, no, I wasn't just, uh, excited. I was a little bit traumatized. I feel people's pain, uh, probably as much, if not more than they feel it. Um, so Yeah, very empathetic. So I was really nervous in any conversation. I was really lucky for a lot of the relationships I was able to form with ministers of the government, the Premier, you know, so that I knew that I had people that I could trust to go to when there was just something that didn't fit in a box that, you know, somebody was suffering and, and they weren't being helped. So yeah, we got a few things through that I never even would have thought we would have got through, um, just to help people. So it was a big learning curve for me. Someone who didn't understand politics really understands politics now.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 24:29
Wow.
John Milham (Host) · 24:29
Wow.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 24:30
And you were telling me you have, uh, you know, like, just quietly on the download, not that we want to encourage anyone to, to, to get you to use it, but you had, um, you know, the Premier's number for an invite to call if something got desperate. That must have been, uh, it must have been, uh, you know, drawing you, you really, you know, sense of I'm gonna give him a call again, right?
John Milham (Host) · 24:54
Yeah, yeah. No, when he gave me his number, he said, you know, if no one else can help you, you are more than welcome. Um, so it was nice to have there. And I said to you that, you know, through the flood, I didn't actually need it. You know, there were times where I'd go different ways and we were able to get what we needed, but yeah, there was this tourism voucher scheme that was coming out and I just was really concerned about how that was going to affect my community being that none of our caravan parks were up and running. And, um, yeah, so I certainly, uh, used that number that day and he was able to, um, talk to the treasurer and get a half a million dollars set aside just for Mid Murray. So, you know, that, that eased the pain that I was feeling that day. So yeah, it was certainly worthwhile developing those relationships.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 25:42
So it must have been like it, as you pointed out, like it's a tough gig to, you know, to go out there and to help people that way and to be responsible for those big decisions. What, um, what are you proud of?
John Milham (Host) · 26:00
Um, I'm proud we got through it. I'm proud we got through it, you know, without too many people being affected in really bad ways. I'm. Proud of how the community stuck together. You know, you would know most people love to hate their local council. It's the one bill you get where you probably know someone that works there and you like to, you know, hate your rates notice. But at the time of the flood, people could see how hard our staff were working, how hard the elected members were working, and were really grateful. So it was, you know, one time of not many that we were having some really positive feedback. And that certainly helped us through. So, you know, if you are involved in some sort of trauma, make sure you thank council staff. You know, that does help get them through the days because there's not many times, you know, that we do get that positive feedback. It's normally that negative stuff that you hear all the time.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 26:51
Yeah. Yeah. From a family point of view, you're like, your kids and stuff are running. How did they handle the— oh, it's pretty, you know, a, mum is up to her armpits in stuff. B, you know, it's— there's a, you know, there's a fair bit of fear and concern in the community. Did that impact your kids?
John Milham (Host) · 27:10
Yeah, look, my daughter wouldn't come down the main street after the flood, you know, when all the devastation had happened and we didn't have money to rectify anything. She'd decided in the school holidays, I'm not going down the main street with Mum because everyone wants to stop Mum and ask when we're going to get things fixed. You know, they did many, many days where mum wasn't home to cook them a meal and they had to sort it out themselves. Um, but they, you know, they're very proud of the position and the work that I do, so they're always by my side. So I'm very lucky for a really awesome family.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 27:43
Yeah. And, um, their understanding of the world now, has that been changed as a result of what they, you know, going through?
John Milham (Host) · 27:51
Yeah, look, I've got, um, two that are over 18 now, and we had a vacant council position. I tried to talk them into it and they're like, no way, Jose. So I know that none of them will ever go into politics, whether it be council, state government, or federal government. So I've turned them off of all of that, which is probably a good thing.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 28:08
Yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 28:08
Yeah.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 28:09
Yeah. That's their journey to work out. Yeah. Um, speaking of council, right? There's a, there's 4 councils involved, I think, in the, in the, you know, from Redmark to Murray Bridge. What, um, what was it like trying to work with other institutions with other priorities.
John Milham (Host) · 28:28
Yeah, there's about 6. So there's 3 up in the Riverland, we're smack bang in the middle of Riverland Murraylands, and then there's 2 down the Murraylands way. Um, of those 6, um, all of us except for one was a new mayor. So we all came in on that same day and we're learning, you know, really quick about all the things that were planned and might be coming for us. So I made some really good friends, you know, like we've got some great colleagues. It was easy to pick up the phone and say, hey, we've just gone through this. Have you got any suggestions? The three upriver, they were seeing everything just before, you know, it was about to hit us. So for them to send some intelligence down to say, hey, you know, this is what we've just been through. Don't use these sandbags or, you know, do this. So it was really great to have some really hardworking colleagues that were happy to share their journey with us as well.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 29:19
Do you think, um, the, you know, the, um, councils work well together?
John Milham (Host) · 29:25
Yeah, I think we do. We've got a really great group, but we also had councils from the city, you know, helping us out. We had one council send sandbags up because they were really hard to get, um, throughout the flood. And, and that's something probably that hit the community the most, is they all wanted hundreds of sandbags to save their houses, not understanding that sandbags are really for really quick flooding, you know, flash flooding where it's just 1 or 2 days. They don't last sitting 3 months underwater. So, you know, people were trying to get heaps of sandbags, whereas the SES were just saying, hey, just put them in your sinks and under your doors. And, you know, you really need to let the water flow in and out. So that was something that, you know, even though we knew it wasn't going to help, we needed to get those sandbags there to make people feel like they'd done what they could do to to, you know, look after their homes. So having all that support from other councils down in Adelaide or even other regional councils was just amazing.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 30:22
Yeah. Who, who was in charge?
John Milham (Host) · 30:25
Oh, the CEO, um, for our council area, but they had this little ZEST group, like a Zone Emergency Group. So they were having online meetings all the time where people were sharing this intelligence. Um, the, once the flood emergency was called, the SES was the driving force, so they, you know, made every call that needed to be made. Um, you know, in a way that was good for council because we could say that it wasn't in our control. So I think it was something that I'd asked the Premier quite early is, you know, please take that so that we're not in that stressful, um, situation of trying to make decisions. So that was really good for those decisions to be, um, taken away from us, but it also meant that we could build levees without development approval and we could go get that afterwards. So once that flood emergency was called, we could do things a little bit quicker, as you would know, you know, like government, there's always forms to fill and, you know, bureaucracy to go through. So when they call that emergency, you can just get through all of that, which was really great.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 31:31
Now, there are stories out there, you know, I've had the joy of of talking to people with the range of experiences, one of which, uh, the emergency services can be a little blind at times. Do you think that there's, you know, an opportunity to improve how the emergency services did their stuff as well?
John Milham (Host) · 31:50
Yeah, certainly. And I think I shared this story with you. There was a farmer that was saying, hey, I think you need to break your levee here. And, you know, the emergency services guys, again, you know, young and this there's some really great young people out there, but they hadn't been through it. And, you know, he had life experience and, you know, he was saying, you need to break it here so that it doesn't take your road with you. And of course they made the decision not to break it. And 2 weeks later, the levee broke and took the whole road with it. So what that meant is that, you know, to get to that ferry, it took 2 months more than what it should have because we had to, well, government had to fix the road, more expense, all that kind of stuff. So, you know, something that I've put across in any learnings, and we have evaluated the flood, there's been an inquiry on the flood, is, hey, maybe just have a really good listen to the people on the ground, because they might have seen or heard something, and, you know, they might have some good ideas.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 32:44
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some tragic sort of decisions being made that, you know, went one way and it could have been avoided. It's one of those stories, I guess. It's really important to capture those lessons, right? And listen to the people and the lived experience of this flood. I guess this is, you know, we're talking and sharing stories on in this forum, but is there another forum? Are you, you know, like, are we locking in those learnings?
John Milham (Host) · 33:09
Yeah, the, so the state government did call an inquiry on that flood. So a lot of people have, you know, presented to that inquiry. So there will certainly be some good learnings from that.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 33:21
I was speaking to some guy and he was talking about the lockmasters knowing that the numbers, the predictions weren't right, that they were going to be, you know, that they were saying it was going to be higher. It's a fascinating idea, the old folk, the people who had seen '56 and also people who knew the river from multi-generations, and of course Indigenous knowledge, that they seem to have, you know, a whole different awareness.
John Milham (Host) · 33:48
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it was really unpredictable in Mannum where you saw, you know, we'd built levees so water couldn't come this way. Our normal river, I think it's about 300 meters wide. Well, one of the levees broke across the river and ended up being 1.3 kilometers wide. So what you were seeing upstream, you know, really high water, you weren't getting that in Mannum because obviously it went wider rather than higher. So Yeah, it's all that unpredictability. And because water was flowing different ways than they'd expected because of, you know, different things, and probably the drought over the years has also, you know, changed the way that water flows. So I don't know that even that the next flood will go the same, you know, same way, or that we'll be able to predict it clearly, but we can obviously put more things in place so that we can get closer.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 34:39
I love an image was described of, uh, you know, like once the levee's up and it's holding, right, of course it's maintenance. And even in Mannum, even the main road, you know, uh, uh, somewhere I think it was your, um, director was talking about putting a hole in the bitumen and it was, you know, the water had come up and was operating like a fountain.
John Milham (Host) · 35:04
So Yep, yep, our roads were bubbling, you know, so we had to stop traffic. And that whole idea of having that levee was so that people could still get through to the other side of Mannum, but we did have to stop traffic because we weren't sure on loads. But also, on the good side of the levee where it was meant to be dry, the cellar of the pub and the hardware store was filling up with water, and they were pumping that out onto the road, which obviously had the stormwater drains blocked so the water didn't get into the dry end. So yeah, we had some issues, but we worked through through them.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 35:35
Yeah, the man-made Lake Manum there. So yeah.
John Milham (Host) · 35:39
Yes. Yeah. And you know, no one even talks about this, but we had huge rainwater tanks around Manum and people probably didn't know, but they were actually filled with septic. You know, sort of doing the overload until the trucks could come. So trucks were coming down our main street every 2 hours, pumping out the septic to make sure that we didn't overflow. So yeah, it was a really shitty situation.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 36:07
Uh, and so you've got through, and of course that, that maintenance every day. So you're like, it's a long period. Of course it was what, 9 months lead in and then, you know, the peak was in January and then, um, you know, the water slowly did went down and then you've got cleanup. How, uh, so what was it, 12 months all up really? It was a 12-month flood.
John Milham (Host) · 36:29
Oh yeah, look, the, the water was there for about 3 months, um, but we're still recovering 2 years later. Um, a lot of it to do with not having funding to do things, which, um, we'll still work on and advocate for. But yeah, it was, it was long. And yeah, I don't think any of us were prepared for, you know, how long it was going to be and how traumatic that, that makes it. Because, you know, it's not just over tomorrow and you can have a debrief and then, you know, get on with it. You know, like I said, Some people still haven't gone and seen their blocks of land, or, you know, you drive past the old shop in the main street that's not there anymore, and you feel for the 85-year-old that, you know, lived in the back of it, and he's now living in a caravan or a shed, you know, like, it's still heartbreaking every day.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 37:16
What, um, what are the images that stay with you? What, like, you know, it, like, visually, it's an extraordinary landscape. And then with the flood there, it's like you described, you know, 1.4 kilometer wide expanse of water and so on. What, what images stay with you?
John Milham (Host) · 37:36
There's this one image and I think about it a lot when I think about the flood. I went to a town called Blanchetown. Now Blanchetown, you know, they love their community. It was probably one of the worst affected areas that we had in Mid Murray. It went pretty high. And the day I went up there was for a community meeting and they'd just opened the roads up. So I decided, well, I need to go and have a look at the devastation. And the people were walking down the street just with zombie-like faces, like the, the mouths were open. They were just looking around. Um, the trees were sort of dead up to a point where the water went, you know, and then a little bit green above that. The ground was all open and muddy and it had almost looked like a bushfire had ripped through and, you know, like there's brown on the ground and the trees dead to here. And yeah, but it was the people's faces, the devastation. They were going to see their homes or their holiday homes. And some people have had those holiday homes in their family for generations and they'd normally spend Christmas there and they weren't able to spend Christmas there. And it was about end of February or early March. As the water was subsiding. And that's something that I just couldn't get out of my head. And a lot of my advocacy efforts went back to that, that point and that those spaces. And I thought they're the people that we're fighting for. That's, you know, what we're doing this for.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 39:03
Wow. Powerful. Um, going through Blanchetown now, you can see, uh, you know, there, there is, there's some, you know, rebuilding going on and yet there are also places that are not touched. Yeah. So, you know, is there a percentage of people who won't come back, do you think?
John Milham (Host) · 39:22
I don't know. Um, I think some of the ones in Blanchland that haven't been touched is because no one had been there for so long. So it's even about council learning who actually owns that and are they still around. Um, yeah, a lot of the other ones are just waiting for their knockdown. So, you know, they'll happen. In time. Um, so I think, you know, Blanchetown, like I said, those people love Blanchetown, so I think it will get back to how it was. And, you know, they're, they're very resilient people. Um, yes, I can't wait for that to go back to how it was.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 39:57
Yeah, it's a, um, you know, as you said, people have come back and grown up, right? They're multi-generations, have holidayed, or, you know, or, or have, you know, spent time. Um, and that's really been the building of, of the, uh, river, of the Riverland, the, you know, the visiting and the tourists and so on. How do you encourage people to come back? Because initially, right, they would be coming back to something that wasn't the same. It wasn't, you know, as nice, or it might have been changed or things. So how do we, you know, encourage people?
John Milham (Host) · 40:35
To do that? Look, I think, you know, most people that have lived in the area or have those holiday homes in the area, they just do it because that's how it's always been. But I do know that the very first Christmas after the flood, you know, 8 or 9 months after the water had subsided, was quite hard on some people, especially the ones that had to have their knockdowns. I think this Christmas wasn't so bad, but the memories will still be there. I think as we rebuild more and more, it will be better. Um, getting the tourists back, um, it's just about advertising and letting them know what we love about the river. And we have had a lot of support from the Tourism Commission and the government to do that. Um, but like I said, once you come and, you know, be in that area for a little bit, you just want to be there.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 41:18
So yeah, it's a, yeah, it's a very, yeah, it's a, it's an amazing place. Um, so the future for the Riverland and the Murraylands, what, what do you feel is gonna happen going forward?
John Milham (Host) · 41:36
Um, look, we will continue to work together. We'll continue to advocate together. We'll, you know, try and keep everything, um, safe and flood resilient. Uh, I think I talked to you about our, one of our biggest issues at the time of the flood is that we had, there's a bridge at Blanchtown, there's a bridge at Murray Bridge, but there's literally an hour and a half to drive between those two bridges. So people on the other side of the river that might have only been 5 minutes from Mannum via ferry ride was suddenly an hour and 10 minutes from Mannum and they had to go all the way around. So kids were leaving an hour before they would ever have to leave before. So a lot of the stuff we talk about is trying to make us, we know that there's going to be another flood one day. So it's about making us more resilient. So what are we going to do next time so that the kids don't have to get up an hour earlier? You know, can we raise those roads? Because that was a lot of the time, the problem is that the road wasn't high enough to keep that ferry running. We had a ferry in Keddale, which the government was going to stop about 10 or 12 years ago, and the community fought really hard knowing that it was one of the highest river crossings. So, you know, trying to get some of that resilience into, into our infrastructure or into government infrastructure so that it's not so, it doesn't hurt so much next time, I guess.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 42:53
Yeah. Do you think technology can help?
John Milham (Host) · 42:57
Yeah, you know, there was a time where the REA had contacted me and they were talking about drones to get medication across the other way. So yes, certainly will help. And you know, as time goes on, maybe we can get some better phone towers and internet. Like even today I'm going on and off and I'm only 2 kilometers from the main street of Mannum. So that, you know, we can use that next flood. So we'll continue to advocate for that. For that.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 43:24
What about flood-based technology? I understand they were using some, um, uh, you know, uh, levee technology, right? We used artificial walls. Um, yeah, that was exciting from my point of view. Did that help?
John Milham (Host) · 43:38
Yeah, the bags that they used in the main street were pretty amazing. Like, those went up within a week. It was really quick. Whereas we did the earthen levee in our, in our reserve, and that took, you know, a good month. We had to start that straight away. We had to dig down, which ruined all of our sprinkler systems and things like that because we had to do it so quick. Whereas this, yeah, levee made out of these bags that the Army were using, at the time it was like, really, is this gonna work? But after seeing it, you know, we think we would definitely use that again. It worked really well. It was easy to put up and take down. It didn't leave, you know, a huge mess like the earthen levee did. So yeah, the technology has been great. And although we didn't really want to be the testers of that technology, you know, they did tell us, you know, we have a lot of faith in this. We have used it in wartime and things like that. So, you know, yeah, now knowing that we won't be so uncertain and we'll just go ahead and do it next time. Yeah.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 44:35
And, you know, it might be necessary to, you know, to explore even more technology, right? Because, you know, it's a huge job to build a, you know, a giant wall every time the water comes up.
John Milham (Host) · 44:48
Yes, yeah, I, I really am looking forward to the inquiry, you know, the outcome of that inquiry. I'd really love for government to help support in those situations because it was a lot of work for our staff to do as well as their normal everyday business. You know, there were towns that weren't anywhere near the floodwaters that probably weren't touched, you know, for 6 months to 12 months because we were trying to do all this flood flood recovery and prior to that getting prepared for the flood. So yeah, it would be nice to get some support from other agencies. So we've fed back and we hope that's listened to.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 45:27
That's magic. What do you, what did you do to get, you know, as you said, you bore a lot of that sort of empathic weight of going through something very traumatic for the community. How did you look after yourself after the flood?
John Milham (Host) · 45:46
I have a lot of support systems, you know, I've always had mental health issues, so I do know when to seek help. So I had some counseling throughout the flood. I do remember calling one of my elected members on Christmas Eve just to check how he was. He had to be moved out of his home about a month earlier and he was living on a caravan about a kilometer from his home. And that day there was just something in his voice and I was very, very concerned. And, um, you know, he talked about a lot of his friends that just were struggling. Um, the water, you know, hadn't hit at the top level at that time. And I got off the phone and I thought, what am I going to do? Like, you know, the staff are so busy, I can't bother them. And ended up, we've got this great group called Caring Connected Communities. At the time they were called Mid Murray Suicide Prevention Network. But what we found is if we use the Suicide Prevention Network, people wouldn't come to our community connection event. So I sent an email around Christmas Eve and I said to these guys, you know, this community is really suffering and I'm just wondering if we can help them in any way. And within, I think it was about 4 days, I think the 27th of December, we got in a council van. I picked them all up on the way. It was about an hour and a half travel and we ended up in Morgan and Blanchetown. We stopped off at both and we did these coffee and chat. And it was just great that people, you know, even though I couldn't help them from a council side of things, at least we could listen and then let them know, hey, we can advocate for that. So it was about trying to find out what biggest worries were. And at the time, a lot of people's worries were not knowing when the electricity was going to be cut off or not knowing about what their insurance covered. So at least we could sort of get some support in that way, not knowing how it would happen after the flood and things like that. So it was just listening. Um, yeah, so it was a really great event and they ended up coming back, I think about 3 weeks later and we just, we ended up with a lunch and chat. So the RSL at Morgan put on a free lunch and we just had these conversations. So what I did find is these community connection events worked and I'm really proud that from that the government saw that and was able to give funding to many communities over the flood and continue to to keep doing that, to make sure that people are getting out and talking. Because, you know, one lady in Blountstown said to me, I felt like I was the only one going through. Of course I knew that everyone else was going through it, but until I sat down and talked and somebody else said, yeah, that's exactly how I'm feeling, she went, oh, okay, so that's normal then, you know. So yeah, and, and that's what I've learned throughout this is, you know, when you've got this worry, there's no point just thinking about it over and over and over again. Just spit it out, you know, tell someone about it, because they might go, oh yeah, I feel the same way, or You can put your heads together when somebody is not as stressed, they can be more solution-focused than you can. So yeah, big learning for me and we'll always be sharing this is just talk, you know, like the Are You Okay Day is the best day in the world and you should ask your friends every day, are they okay so that we can get out our worries and make it normal, normalize talking. Beautiful.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 48:52
Important to say. Well done. The, um, What do you think community has learnt from this? You know, do you, how do you feel about what the community's, you know, going forward with?
John Milham (Host) · 49:08
I think the community has learnt that if the government says there's going to be a flood, we probably should listen right at the start and, you know, start preparing early. Like I said, you know, a lot of us didn't believe it, so, you know, they weren't getting their sandbags to the end. That's another thing, you know, people were building these sandbag walls and they just weren't worthwhile. So I put so much time, effort, money, you know, some people even got earth movers in to, you know, build their own levees. So I think we've worked out that none of that works for these long floods unless you've got this quality engineered levee, you know. So be prepared, get the stuff out from the bottom levels, or, you know, if it's going to be top, get that out too, build higher, all those sorts of things. Um, yeah, that's, I guess, a lot of learnings that I've heard from community.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 49:56
Yeah. Wow. Wow. And what about the, um, mindset? Do you think the community likes each other? You know, is there been, uh, something happen as a result of facing something together?
John Milham (Host) · 50:10
Yeah, the community connection seems to be a lot better than it was before. Um, Definitely the resilience. You know, my community's amazingly resilient and I often say, you know, I wish we didn't always have to be so resilient. I wish that the people down in Adelaide would understand us without us being resilient and send help. So we all know that we can rely on each other. I guess people in our community know, hey, let's share it with the council, even though they might not be able to help, they might be able to come up with a solution or advocate for us. So yeah, there's been lots.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 50:45
Well, you know, it's like, it's a pretty tough place to, to, to love, you know, like, uh, it's hot, you know, it's a struggle on the land. It's a struggle on the river. Um, so you guys have really need to be resilient, but, uh, you know, you seem to be doing that beautifully.
John Milham (Host) · 51:03
Yeah.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 51:04
So, um, what do you personally want for your future, right? When you look forward, you know, you've had this tough couple of years in office. Are you going to be a 20-year mayor? Are you going to be a, um, you know, uh, you know, are you going to go and, you know, go to high office? What's, what's, what's Simone's plans, right, looking forward?
John Milham (Host) · 51:33
Um, Good question. I don't like to plan too far ahead, so my term ends in November 2026, and I'll probably make my mind up about a month before November 2026. I am very proud of how far we've come, and, you know, a little piece of me will be concerned about leaving that to someone else, and, you know, whether that, you know, keeps up the good work we've been doing. I certainly don't want to go into politics. I don't like politics. I don't like that areas that need funding or support don't get it just because they don't have enough people or they don't vote for the right color. I'm really hoping that we change that, and I have seen a lot of change over my time as mayor. I really do hope that our communities keep telling their stories because that's one big lesson for me is that Maybe people weren't helping us because we weren't telling the story. We weren't telling them how we were feeling and what we were needing. So, you know, big, big lessons for me. Yeah, I don't know. A little part of me just wants to be a foster mum and cuddle babies all day and have no stress. But yeah, we'll just, I'm a big believer in the universe. It always sends me where I need to be.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 52:50
So, well, I think, you know, it sent you where Manim and Mid Murray needed you as well. So. Great job. Thank you so much for sharing your story around the flood and of course around your community. You've been a wonderful servant and a wonderful advocate for it. All the best going forward. And I'm sure, right, you know, by 2026, right, they'll all demand you to take another term.
John Milham (Host) · 53:24
We'll see what happens. Thank you for having me and thanks for what you're doing. I hope that somebody can take something from this and, you know, get through a traumatising situation easier than what they would have beforehand.
Simone Bailey (Guest) · 53:37
It's been wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Simone Barley, Mayor of Mid Murray. It's been wonderful. Katsugi Heroes, thanks you.
John Milham (Host) · 53:46
Thanks. 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. 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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