Community leaders take centre stage at Resilient Villages Conference
Over a hundred attendees travelled from across the state to attend the Resilient Villages Conference which was held at the stunning Fairmont Resort in Leura on the weekend of February 11 and 12, 2023.
Attendees packed the conference room as local community leaders took centre stage to share their insights and experiences of community led recovery in the face of natural disasters.
Keynote speaker Carol Hopkins addresses conference attendees.
Attendees came from many parts of NSW to attend, including from the Central Western town of Eugowra which had only recently suffered the effects of catastrophic flash flooding in November 2022.
Dr Kate Brady, presenter of the ABC podcast 'After the Disaster' did a stellar job as conference MC as she introduced the keynote speakers, took questions from the audience and chaired panel discussions on topics such as ‘Sustainable Community Leadership’ and ‘Supporting Community Led Resilience’.
Dr Kate Brady chairs a panel discussion with community leaders (seated left to right - Carol Hopkins (Chair, MADRA), Allen Hyde (President, Mount Irvine Progress Association, Elly Bird (Executive Director, Resilient Lismore), Pru Jobling (Committee Member, Megalong Valley Community and Landowners Association, Kat Boehringer (President, ABCD Inc), Dr Valerie Ingham (Charles Sturt University).
Day One of the conference featured Carol Hopkins, Chair of MADRA (the Mallacoota and Districts Recovery Association) as keynote speaker. You could have heard a pin drop in the room as Carol spoke about the journey her community has been on since it was devastated by the Black Summer bushfires in 2019/20.
Day Two of the conference saw the second keynote speaker, Elly Bird, Executive Director of Resilient Lismore speak about what she and her community in Lismore have achieved during and after floods wrecked havoc on their community in February 2022, in a presentation that was inspiring and moving to watch.
Conference attendees (left to right) - Laurie Facer (Resilient Blue Mountains), Elly Bird (Executive Director, Resilient Lismore), Carol Hopkins (Chair, MADRA), Kris Newton (Manager, Mountains Community Resource Network), Susan Templeman (Federal Member for Blue Mountains), Dr Kate Brady.
Blue Mountains State and Federal MPs Trish Doyle MP and Susan Templeman MP also attended the conference and shared their own personal stories of the struggles that they, and their communities have faced in times of crisis.
Conference attendee Cathy McNamara from the ABCD Inc group (formed by residents of Bell, Clarence and Dargan) commented; “the conference has been really good today because we’re connecting with other local groups which we didn’t really know were just down the road. Hearing from Carol in Mallacoota about what her community has done, and the challenges they’ve faced and being able to have a chat to her about how we as a group might overcome the challenges we face has been really beneficial”.
Similarly, Tracey Willow, a lecturer in community development from Western Sydney University said of the conference, “its been an amazing opportunity to hear those lived stories and to learn what those stories mean to people. It’s extraordinary to be able to share these with students.”
Conference attendees Megan Kezik and Sally Weymouth from Peppercorn Community Services
More photos from the conference can be viewed here.