Town Talk

So many people were impacted — by water, by fear, by a lack of electricity, by a threatened shortage of food, by major highways falling apart. Or perhaps by threats to loved ones or a brand new home. There are things to say. There are bouquets to throw — and one brick. So that’s where I’ll start.

The television coverage of ‘The Flood’

It is probable that some of the television news coverage was helpful — a true community service. However, some of it was fear-mongering and dramatic. An example: a young man in a helicopter, reporting on conditions in Shepparton and Mooroopna and showing many of our watery streets. He said: “There are 34,000 homes down there, still in danger.” The response from the Sydney studio: “Oh, that’s terrible!”

To begin with, there are not 34,000 homes in Shepp and Mooroopna. There are not 34,000 homes in all of Greater Shepparton. Let’s say there are 21,000 homes in Shepp and Mooroopna — that’s reasonably accurate. And let’s say that 50 per cent were under threat of some kind. (I don’t know that percentage, I’m guessing). But that would mean around 10,000 homes affected – and even that seems too high a number to me. (The News, Monday, estimated 7300 homes and businesses ‘affected’ in Greater Shepparton.)

I don’t know where he got his numbers from, I’m simply saying that this kind of reporting isn’t helpful. For our loved ones, no longer living here, and dependent on media for their information, this was frightening.

And then I watched a young lady reporting from the end of Lachlan Cres. It was dawn on the day after we returned home to a completely dry street. She was facing that dry street, with the south end of Wyndham St behind her (there may have been some water there, I couldn’t see in the dark.) She spoke, in the present tense of the Broken River flooding Broken River Dve. She didn’t say it was retreating rapidly — that wasn’t exciting enough.

And then there were strips — or ‘pull-throughs’ or whatever you call them — at the bottom of the screens of various channels — telling us “too late to leave Shepparton”. At that stage, our roads were starting to open up. The causeway was still closed — true — but we were no longer isolated.

I’m not normally an angry person, but these people have a responsibility to the population they serve. I was startled by the number of nasty words I had at my disposal and, watching television, I used all of them.

Some bouquets

Now, the Community Flood Intelligence Portal (Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority and Greater Shepparton Council) was absolutely outstanding — with modelling of every home in Shepparton and Mooroopna and how it would cope with various river levels. It is possible this was also available to our smaller towns. I’m not sure about that because, when we had been evacuated, I was busy checking the modelling of our home and our neighbours. The modelling took into account the floor level of each house.

Armed with this, and a live graph of each of the rivers, I knew what was happening at our home — about 6km away. I am hoping our community was aware of this and, as a result, felt informed and empowered.

The amount of preparatory work that must have gone into this is incredible — and a big bouquet to the people involved.

And to this newspaper! The people who kept us all up to date with information also have homes here. It can’t have been easy! I love that their blog is available to all. In other words, the newsroom doesn’t care if you haven’t bought a newspaper in 50 years, you are a part of the community the newspaper serves. Now that is community service!

Many of you know that I have a long history with this paper and there is some bias. Many years ago, I helped (to a small degree) with sorting through the values the newspaper held — and trying to put words into place to accurately reflect them. The final outcome was written by someone with far more literary skills than I, but I absolutely know that they were not pretty, meaningless words, without fact. They were, and are, fair dinkum. And the additional work, taken on by the editorial department, through the months and years of COVID-19 — and demonstrated now with another trauma affecting the community — should be appreciated by all of us. They truly reflect the values, and work ethic, of the News.

Thank you, guys!

What is community spirit?

In last Friday’s newspaper, I read a column written by a newcomer to the editorial department. His name is Zac Standish.

Zac comes from Adelaide and he has worked in a couple of other places that never felt like home. And here I take the liberty of quoting him:

“But as the Shepparton community was faced with one of the biggest challenges in its history, with floodwaters engulfing many homes and businesses, I saw and felt something incredibly powerful — community spirit.”

Zac goes on to mention the acts of kindness he witnessed, and then: “It felt like I was part of something bigger than myself, and for the first time outside of South Australia, I felt I was home.” He concluded with this sentence: “Shepparton and the people that make the community so great, will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Zac, the first thing I want to say is “welcome, mate”. The second is that your words moved me; in fact, I’ve read them several times. It is easy to describe what you see; it is difficult to describe what you feel. So, thank you.

I have always felt the spirit of this community and, looking back at our past, see many examples.

A small ad for a fire bell was the beginning of a volunteer fire brigade — in 1888. Funds were raised, by street stalls, concerts and fetes, to purchase fire-fighting equipment. That fund-raising continued until quite recently, when things changed substantially for our fire brigade.

Our centenary in 1938. There was one thing I found quite incredible for a small town and I know I’ve written about this before. But the streets were lined with peach trees in blossom, for the 10-day celebrations. Think about this for just a moment. There were 200 trees, and they must have been transplanted into some sort of bin or large pot, probably well in advance. At that time, Shepparton had a population of around 6000 people. Think of the work involved; think of the passion, pride and commitment that must have driven that work, to make our streets beautiful.

Think about ‘Churchill House’. Just after World War II, our community decided to help out the people of Shepperton, in Surrey (UK). They raised funds in any way they could, built a house and sold it, sending the proceeds to the ‘Food for Britain’ campaign. An appreciative Winston Churchill thanked us. The population had almost reached 8000 by this time.

And, in every instance of trouble, particularly floods, there are stories: of a team of people visiting to pull up carpets; of community members in boats doing the necessary shopping; of people opening their dry homes to damp strangers; of a group of people getting together to cook meals; of businesses giving away some of their profits with coffee and sandwiches. There have been countless examples of what can happen when the ‘spirit’ is engaged. So, what is it?

Well, it’s not unique to this city or this country. There are good people everywhere. I think it begins with a passion to help others and, in our neck of the woods, it is fuelled by mateship; one person may be able to change his world but doubtless it is easier with a couple of mates. Wanting everyone to have a fair go must also come into this. A sense of belonging is, I think, essential — along with the fact that others belong to the same ‘tribe’ — in this case, Shepparton. Perhaps tribal is a key word here — and we all want to look after one another. Perhaps the hard work of building a city from nothing is in our DNA? No! It isn’t unique to us, but it does seem that we are particularly good at it!

As I’ve just written — it is easy to describe what we see, and difficult to describe what we feel.

One hundred Town Talks.

This is a ‘centenary’ (of a kind) for us — and what I have written is not what I planned to write (when I stumbled across some dates). I wanted to tell you my favourite story, about my favourite day. It has nothing at all to do with our town — but has a great deal to do with a small village, more than 17,000km away. I figured that some of you would be quite interested, some of you would be indifferent, and some of you would have hollered “She’s writing about what?” and turned the page.

Well, we might find another opportunity; perhaps on our second anniversary or during the ‘silly season’ (when everyone is rolling about, feeling fat!).

I use plural pronouns when I write about this column because it wouldn’t have lasted three months without you guys. Talk about community spirit! The fact that Town Talk has a second anniversary soon is your miracle, not mine. I now have friends I have never seen, but with whom I seem to have a lot in common; some with whom I share regular coffees; and some who leave nice things on my doorstep. You are the team behind Town Talk and I love you all.

May it be easy, my friends.

Marnie

Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au

Letter: Town Talk. Shepparton News. P.O. Box 204. Shepparton 3631.

Phone: Send a text on 0418 962 507. (Note: text only. I will call you back, if you wish)