We will never fully know the extent of the heroics and horrifics that took place during the 2022 Northern Rivers flood event.
What unfolded on that fateful Sunday night, early Monday morning and the days/weeks/months following was nothing short of catastrophic and extraordinary.
The shape of the response was like no other seen (nor required) before – neighbours saving neighbours, local boaties performing countless rescues, stranded livestock living on bridges – desperation and survival, beautiful and devastating all at once.
With its office submerged in Lismore’s CBD, the Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW Northern Region (RFCSNR) realised the need for support was dire. An organisation you mightn’t initially consider having a formal role in the emergency flood response, the rural financial counselling team relocated to a make-shift business hub at the local university and within a week, their counsellors were working alongside streams of locals, helping them navigate the financial devastation left in the floods’ wake.
A career often embedded in dust and desperation for rain, transformed in an instant, into one of supporting a vast number of folks, across numerous disaster-stricken communities.
“We’re here in all seasons, the good and the bad,” says Emma Wallace, who came to work for the RFCSNR directly after the flood hit. Emma worked alongside small businesses as part of the staffing surge required to support the prolific number of people in need across the Northern Rivers.
“My father-in-law was rescued off his roof by the tinny army – he lived with us for months afterwards – everyone around here has been affected by that event in some way, and the impacts are ongoing” Emma says.
“To go to work and provide practical support to those who need it, this has been a great privilege,” she says.
The ethos of ‘breathing it, walking it, doing it, living it’ couldn’t be truer for this group of locals, understanding exactly what their communities were experiencing.
This has always been important for the RFCS – founded in 1986 when times were tough in the rural sector (drought, low commodity prices, high interest rates as well as the deregulation of the financial sector), the northern region service has helped countless locals in financial hardship in the decades since… but just how many lives have been changed through this service is now uncertain, thanks to the 2022 flood taking all of the official records.
“30 plus years of our history got washed away, it all got destroyed,” says Gary Goldberg, the Chief Executive Officer for the RFCSNR.
“There we were, cleaning out our offices, the defence force was helping carry out what was left of our things – it was really confronting, and it was very hard to see it all destroyed,” remembers Gary.
“Then my phone rang – it was one of our counsellors who was struggling – they were standing there watching one of our clients bury their cattle… I knew then I couldn’t dwell on how hard it was watching our office being gutted – we had to keep going, and so we did.”
Kirsty Freeman works alongside Gary, as Chief Operating Officer. Kirsty’s property narrowly escaped the bushfires during the 2019/2020 season, so to have another emergency on her doorstep so soon, was unfathomable.
“We didn’t sleep… when you’re faced with losing your property, it’s like losing your identity and purpose – it’s what you’ve worked so hard to build,” says Kirsty.
“Our service is fully confidential; our counsellors are embedded within our communities, they live life on the land and have a true understanding of this lifestyle… they are dedicated to helping others,” Kirsty says proudly.
In fact, it was this caring culture that drew Kirsty away from her corporate job in the city, to work in a job where she feels they make a difference every single day, no matter the conditions.
So then, how different is the support needed, when comparing life on flood-ravaged country to one being lived within a landscape that’s merely a brown-grey shadow of itself?
“It never stops, it just changes shape,” says Kirsty of the intuitive nature of the RFCS services that are delivered.
Gary agrees, “This has given us a confidence we didn’t have before – the sheer magnitude of all that’s happened in these recent years – drought, covid, bushfires and floods – we’ve continued to operate without missing a beat, we’ve supported more people than ever before, and that’s a testament to our team.”
Whilst Gary, Kirsty, Emma and the RFCSNR staff were back in their office in downtown Lismore in August 2022, the financial counselling and support work continues.
It is clear no matter the challenges faced within a community, your local RFCS are navigating them too and offer a style of support that is invaluable.
The Northern Rivers flood event is one example of how the RFCS responds in extreme circumstances, however this free financial counselling service is there to support you and your enterprise through everyday challenges of life on the land, all year round.
For confidential financial support in your local area, call 1300 771 741, or head online: www.rfcsnetwork.com.au