I can't know how it must feel to live in queensland right now... to have your life turned upside down by water water everywhere.... I can only imagine - and as a farmer I CAN imagine what lies ahead - lost stock, lost paddocks, lost livelihood, months and months of cleaning up and rebuilding - and a lifetime of regathering, remaking, reviving land and life.
I haven't spoken much, only hinted at what we've been working through over the past few years. Let me tell a little today. Over the past year we have survived here at Sams Creek with the assistance of government support (Exceptional Circumstances Income Support - which in our case was $720 per fortnight..... making life happen on $720 per fortnight is a whole other tale... as is the process of getting gov support). Our land and lives were devastated by the worst drought in recorded history which lasted 10 years. Drought brings a slow creeping death over the land - things aren't immediate - there is no raging torrent or inferno to fight.... just a grinding year after year of hanging on....
Even though the drought broke here almost a year ago, we are on the lifelong journey of rebuilding, regathering, remaking, reviving...... It will take us at least 15 (good) years for us to get back to square one....
(February 2010 - the drought broke.... these were our feeding troughs ....
you can see them in action here)
you can see them in action here)
How much more horrible it must be to watch your life's work wash away.
or worse.... (I don't want to get maudlin or sensationalist so I'm not going to go there)
to all those affected (and you don't need to be in a flood prone area to feel the affect) I send thoughts and hopes and prayers for your safety and recovery.
here's a link to where everyone can donate.
.....
Weather is a bastard sometimes....you can't plan for anything.....and it can snatch everything away in a second....drought, flood, storm, fire...what a wonderful place but our country does hold all the cards in terms of extreme weather propositions(and deals them out) at times. My thoughts are with everyone who is dealing with this at the moment. Look after yourselves and each other.
ReplyDeleteI hope that all the gov agencies that will be brought on line to assist all the flood affect folk have a smoother application process - these guys - and I think of the farmers in particular - will have enough to deal with without the bulls**t that goes with beaurocracy.... our drought assistance application was 90 pages long (x 3) - took 3 months to complete and more than 2 months to process (oh and centrelink 'lost' our financial papers somewhere along the line)
ReplyDeleteit would be appalling to imagine queenslanders having to go through anything even remotely similar
Oh Ronnie, what you've been through! I do hope things go well for you now. Yes, we can only hope that "they" have streamlined the process but seems hard to imagine they have. We Aussies are a resilient people but sometimes this beautiful country of ours just seems a bit too harsh.
ReplyDeleteOur trial pales in comparison to what I can imagine faces farmers in queensland over the coming days, months and years.... (I'm embarrassed to speak of it to be honest)
ReplyDeleteI just wish - I really really wish that we could get at least one herd out.... we've been talking via other folk to see if there is any way we can get a truck up to and out of kingaroy - to take out a load of stud jersey heifers.....
in fact - if we can help out any dairy farmer by taking their herd - we will