2018 flood resilience projects
On Thursday 10 May and Friday 11 May 2018, the greater Hobart region was affected by an extreme weather event. It brought heavy rains, extreme winds and flooding. This event adversely affected many people in our community, their residences, and businesses.
Individuals, communities, and institutions need to act on the lessons learned during challenging times. This helps them be better prepared and able to support each other in the future.
We obtained funding to run several projects aiming to support Hobart communities along their journeys to recovery. The projects assist with building capacity to respond to future emergencies.
These projects have been jointly funded by the Australian and Tasmanian governments under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.
Afloat - children and families community resilience art project
Who was involved: Children, families, and educators residing close to the South Hobart rivulet.
Two local artists, Rosie McKeand and Leigh Tesch, ran several creative workshops with children, families and educators. They used creative recovery and play as a means to help children deal with change, adversity and associated feelings. These workshops culminated in a community event, a year on from the May 2018 floods at the base of the rivulet to:
- connect families together
- share stories
- celebrate community resilience
- support the ongoing process of community recovery.
One of the outcomes of this project was a booklet which documents the creative process and community day.
Afloat - Everything Changes booklet(PDF, 5MB)
Australian Red Cross workshops
Who was involved: Community service providers and leaders residing in Hobart, Kingborough, Glenorchy, and Derwent Valley.
Two 'Disaster Ready' workshops and three 'Communicating in Recovery' workshops were facilitated by the Australian Red Cross. These were for community service providers and community leaders in the areas most affected by the extreme weather event.
The workshops assisted:
- community service providers with tools and awareness to prepare for and act in an emergency
- community leaders to communicate more effectively after an emergency has occurred.
Communities Assessing their Own Resilience - a pilot project
Who was involved: Community members residing in Lenah Valley, New Town, Sandy Bay and South Hobart.
Community members were invited to form voluntary working groups to assess their respective suburb's resilience using the Torrens Community Disaster Resilience Scorecard. The City learned about the process of bringing people together to explore resilience in the context of their community, and the resulting impacts this can have on resilience-building efforts at the grassroots level.
Rain Coming - public artwork
Who was involved: Community members residing in South Hobart.
A new permanent work of public art. It provides the basis for acknowledging the destructive nature of the natural world and its incredible force. The artwork was an opportunity to build community cohesion, connectivity and resilience.
For more information visit the Rain Coming page.
Stories of Resilience
Who was involved: Flood-affected community members residing in Hobart, Kingborough, Glenorchy, and Derwent Valley.
This creative project was an opportunity for flood-affected community members to have their stories recorded for posterity. It also aimed to help others learn lessons from the experience. A podcast series, photo gallery, and a short film were produced.
A short trailer below provides an intriguing glimpse into the eight podcasts and documentary film:
The report describes the project methodology in more detail. It provides a snapshot of key themes that emerged from an analysis of all the recorded stories.
Stories of Resilience project report(PDF, 910KB)