River Murray Recovery Stories
Tony Siviour
Tony Siviour led his island town through Australia's second-largest flood in 152 years by making one decision at a time.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Tony Siviour grew up in Barmara in the Riverland, left for work on the West Coast, and came back 13 years ago to lead Renmark Paringa Council. In early October 2022, he returned from a family holiday in Mooloolaba to face what would become Australia's second-largest flood in 152 years. But Renmark was not like other towns. It sits on an island surrounded by a 38-kilometre levee system that crosses 350 private landowners. The town had two weeks less warning than communities downstream. When Tony sat down with the SES CEO and Department of Environment and Water officials in his office, they sat in silence for what felt like an hour, knowing exactly what was coming.
What followed was 12 weeks of non-stop work. Tony's team carted in excess of 150,000 tonnes of clay to reinforce the levees, right as Renmark experienced its single biggest rainfall event in recorded history on 23 October. When the stormwater system threatened to flood the town from within, crews sealed 29 outlets and poured concrete into pipes that could not hold the pressure. Every day from 13 October to 13 January, Tony's emergency team met for exactly one hour. They identified the biggest problem and acted. No house behind the formal levee network was damaged. The turning point came when they deployed a Defence Cell barrier on the riverfront with help from Costa Group's Pacific Islander workers, giving the community visible proof that the infrastructure was in place. Tony admits he should have stepped away during the event for rest and recovery but did not want to leave. Two years on, the town is nearly back to normal. The real work now sits with government: figuring out who maintains and pays for a levee system managed across 350 private owners when there is no flood.
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