AESM Vol 31, ISSUE 4 2022

VOL 31: ISSUE 4, 2022 

FLOOD RESPONSE 

TEAMS: WHAT 

THEY NEED 

WHEN FLOOD 

STRIKES AGAIN 

STATE OF THE 

CLIMATE: 

LATEST REPORT 

LIVING IN 

BUSHFIRE PRONE 

AREAS - WHAT 

LAWS NEED TO BE 

FIXED 

LATEST TECH 

aiding Earth’s 

asteroid 

defencE

Get 

storm 

ready. 

Storms can strike at any time, that’s why it’s important 

to always be prepared. 

Prepare your home 

Stay safe while driving 

Trim trees and branches close to your house 

Secure loose items in your backyard 

Clear gutters, downpipes and drains 

Get your roof checked for damage or corrosion 

Make sure all shades, sails and awnings are 

properly fitted 

Get your insurance up-to-date 

Always follow flood warning signs 

Never drive through flood water 

Shelter vehicles under cover, not under trees 

Avoid driving when a storm is coming 

Get your insurance up-to-date 

Helpful hints: 

You can ask the council or energy 

company to check trees on your street 

that may pose a threat to your property or 

powerlines. 

Even if you’ve cleared your gutters 

recently, they can soon fill up with leaves 

and other debris, especially after a 

downpour. On average you should check 

they’re clear every couple of weeks. 

If you don’t already know your neighbours, 

go and introduce yourself. They might 

need a hand getting storm ready. Plus, 

when bad weather strikes it’s important to 

be able to tell the SES who lives nearby. 

Make sure everyone in your household 

knows what to do in severe weather. 

For tips on developing a house 

emergency plan use the SES guide at 

www.stormwise.com.au 

If you do need help during a severe storm, call the Queensland State Emergency Service on 132 500 

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FEATURE 

CONTENTS 

FEATURE 

State of The 

Climate 

A new report is out 

and details what 

Australian’s need to 

know going forward 

First Natural Hazards 

Research Forum 

The aim of the Forum 

was to focus on the 

future, with a shift from 

identifying natural 

hazards problems to 

actively solving them. 

11 

FEATURE 

The Danger of 

Shallow Earthquakes 

A closer look at the recent 

earthquake near the 

Indonesian city of Cianjur 

in West Java that caused 

at least 268 deaths and 

damaged 22,000 buildings 

7 

Satellite and Drone 

Defence against 

Asteroids 

Weather radar, drones and 

satellites are being used to 

find and track asteroids. The 

future of combating these 

devastating objects. 

Australian First 

Responder Foundation 

Dedicated to strengthening 

the preparedness, mental 

fitness and capability of our 

emergency first responders to 

manage the potential stress, 

psychological distress and 

trauma they may encounter 

through their service to our 

communities. 

21 

Flood Response 

Teams and what they 

need 

Some key findings after 

speaking with the Hunter 

Valley Flood Response 

teams. 

25 

27 

15 

www.ausemergencyservices.com.au

THE REGULARS 

• Editor’s Note 

3 

• Recent Events 

SES responds to over 20 000 requests in NSW 

Icons of Summer team up for water safety 

2023 National Volunteering Conference 

Aerial Firefighting crews protecting farmers 

• Suicide Risk is high for Emergency Service Personnel 

• Let’s Talk Mental Health with Dr Lisa Holmes 

• In the Spotlight - Australian Private Networks 

• Emergency Breaks - Byron Bay 

4 

5 

6 

6 

11 

17 

39 

41 

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LET’S TALK MENTAL HEALTH 

Dr Lisa Holmes - Unit Coordinator and 

Lecturer Paramedical Science. Edith Cowan 

University. Course Coordinator Master, 

Graduate Diploma and Certificate of 

Disaster & Emergency Response. 

MAGAZINE CONTACTS 

31 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT 

Editorial Content 

editor@ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Advertising Enquiries 

advertise@ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Distribution Enquiries 

distribution@ausemergencyservices.com.au 

Living in Bushfire 

Prone Zones 

As we prepare for the next 

major fire season, it’s vital we 

take a close look at our laws. 

Why? Because these laws 

can clash in ways that make 

it harder for us to prepare. 

Each edition features a 

profile on a person, team, 

partnership, squad or unit 

to showcase their unique 

contribution to the Emergency 

Services industry. 

EMERGENCY BREAKS 

Explore local surrounds, or 

new places that are only a 

short plane trip or drive away, 

so you can maximise every 

minute of those days when 

your name doesn’t appear 

next to a call sign on the roster 

POSTAL ADDRESS: 

Suite 112, Locked Bag 1 

ROBINA TC, QLD 4230 

Scan Me 

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Suicide is a complex issue that 

impacts 425,000 Australians every 

year. That’s because up to 135 people 

are directly or indirectly impacted by 

each suicide death. 

Military and emergency services 

personnel (such as those in the 

police force, fire and rescue services, 

and paramedics), have higher rates 

of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and 

deaths than the general Australian 

public. This may be because they 

experience repeated traumatic 

events and are at risk of workplace 

harassment and bullying. 

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON PG 35 

www.ausemergencyservices.com.au 

DISCLAIMER 

The Australian Emergency Services Magazine 

is a community educational resource 

publication and does not promote itself 

as a charity or fund raising institution, nor 

solicit on behalf of charities and is no way 

financially supported by or associated 

with any government, union or similar 

institution. The Australian Emergency Services 

Magazine is an independent publication that 

is not associated with any services or similar 

entities. 

Distribution of the publication is quarterly 

and is circulated via a database of interested 

parties, including business, subscribers, 

advertisers, volunteer organisations, 

emergency service sectors, emergency 

and disaster management, government, 

universities, TAFE and council libraries. A 

digital magazine is distributed to a targeted 

database in each State & Territory. 

Every effort is made to ensure that material 

presented in the Australian Emergency 

Services Magazine was correct at the time of 

printing and is published in good faith, no 

responsibility or liability will be accepted by 

AESM Pty Ltd. 

The views and opinions expressed are not 

necessarily those of AESM Pty Ltd and its 

employees. The content of any advertising 

or promotional material contained within 

the Australian Emergency Services Magazine 

is not necessarily an endorsement by AESM 

Pty Ltd. 

Published by AESM Pty Ltd 

ABN: 97 659 160 899 

WANT TO CONTRIBUTE? 

We are always looking for new 

and relevant content that 

our readers will enjoy. If you 

would like to be featured in 

the magazine there are many 

options. You may have a story 

you would like to share, or 

perhaps be featured in our “In 

the Spotlight” regular column. 

Please submit all articles or 

expressions of interest to the 

Editor for consideration at: 

editor@ausemergencyservices. 

com.au 

Articles should be no more than 

1000 words and be relevant 

to the content within the 

Australian Emergency Services 

Magazine. 

3 


RECENT EVENTS 

NSW SES RESPONDS TO OVER 20,000 REQUESTS 

FOR HELP DURING THE STATE’S WORST FLOODING 

NSW SES has clocked over 20,000 

Requests for Assistance (RFAs) since 

record flooding commenced across 

Inland New South Wales, almost three 

months ago. 

These areas include Central Western 

NSW, along the Lachlan River which 

received more than 3,000 RFAs (Forbes 

and Condobolin) and Northern NSW, 

along the Namoi (Wee Waa) and Mehi 

(Moree) which received more than 

1,600 RFAs. 

NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Sean 

Kearns says the last three months 

have been extremely busy for all parts 

of the agency. Our members have 

been responding and supporting their 

local communities along with our 

members in Incident Management 

Teams coordinating the NSW SES 

response to flooding. 

“This relentless flooding is forecast to 

continue for weeks to months, with 

ongoing wet weather and already 

swollen river catchments,” he said. 

“NSW SES volunteers, along with interagency 

and international support, have 

worked incredibly hard to support 

communities who have been affected. 

“Members of the public have required 

assistance to be rescued from flood 

waters, evacuations, essential and 

medical resupply while isolated, animal 

rescues and storm damage.” 

This event has been the largest 

operational response the NSW SES has 

ever seen, with some areas that do 

not usually flood, being inundated with 

devastating flooding. 

Current areas of concern remain 

along the Lachlan River, at Hillston, 

the Edward River at Moulamein, the 

Murray River at Wakool Junction 

and as water continues to travel to 

downstream catchments across NSW 

and into the South Australian riverine 

system. 

NSW SES continues to plan for 

potential major flooding and 

consequences on communities 

through to the end of February 2023. 

Assistant Commissioner Kearns is 

encouraging the community to remain 

vigilant with warnings and staying up 

to date if you reside in flood prone 

areas, particularly with holiday periods 

approaching. 

“Despite a slight respite in the weather, 

blue sky flooding continues. With 

storms forecast throughout much 

of NSW the risk of flash flooding and 

renewed rivers rises remains,” he said. 

“Now is the time to remain aware 

of the warnings and to prepare 

your properties and business for 

the potential of storms and further 

flooding.” 

For information on preparing for 

floods and storms visit www.ses.nsw. 

gov.au 

For emergency help in floods and 

storms, call the NSW SES on 132 500. 

In life threatening situations, call Triple 

Zero (000) immediately. 

www.ausemergencyservices.com.au 4

RECENT EVENTS 

Icons of Summer Team Up For Water Safety 

A first in a targeted Surf Life 

Saving NSW and the Sydney 

Sixers have teamed up to 

spread a message of surf and 

water safety, signalling the 

start of summer and, just as 

importantly, National Water 

Safety Day – where the focus 

is on raising awareness of 

safe practices around the 

water. 

beautiful coastline. 

Last summer (December – 

February) 25 people lost their 

lives due to drowning, with 

the summer accounting for 

46% of all drowning deaths 

across 2021-22. In January 

alone, 10 people, or 18% of 

the year figure, drowned on 

the NSW coastline. 

the state season begins but 

that won’t stop the players 

from hitting the beach and 

celebrating summer in the 

best way possible. 

“I love heading down to the 

beach for a swim, it’s great 

for recovery but it’s also just 

relaxing,” all-rounder, Maitlan 

Brown said. 

awareness,” he said. 

“This is the first summer 

without restrictions in 

two years and we know 

beachgoers are busting to 

head to the coastline and 

make the most of the warm 

weather, but we really urge 

everyone to be cautious and 

not take unnecessary risks. 

The first day of summer, 1 

December, was declared 

National Water Safety Day in 

2020 in a bid to encourage 

all Australians to make water 

safety a priority. Vigilance 

around the water takes on 

added significance this year 

following the tragedy of 

record drownings last year. 

In NSW between July 2021 

and June 2022, there were a 

total of 55 coastal drownings, 

up 10 on the previous year 

and up 12 on the 10-year 

average. 

The highest number of 

drowning deaths occur 

during the months of 

summer with beachgoers 

making the most of the 

“On National Water Safety 

Day, we are getting behind 

our volunteer lifesavers 

and we’re really keen to be 

supporting everyone to keep 

safe on the beach,” Sydney 

Sixers’ Fan and Community 

Impact Specialist, Haley 

Fraser said. 

“It’s one of the things you’re 

taught a lot when you’re 

growing up, is to swim 

between the red and yellow 

flags,” fast bowler, Stella 

Campbell added. 

Fresh off the WBBL season 

where the team fell just 

short of the title in a hardfought 

final against Adelaide, 

recovery time is short before 

“For me it’s about rest and 

relaxation at the beach,” 

Stella added. 

“I’ll take a good book, slip 

slop slap, sit in the sun with 

my friends then jump in the 

water to cool off.” 

Surf Life Saving NSW 

President, George Shales 

said that keeping safety in 

mind this summer was of the 

utmost importance. 

“Spreading the message of 

surf safety with the Sydney 

Sixers just makes sense – two 

of the most iconic aspects 

of summer, the beach and 

cricket, coming together in 

the name of education and 

“Simple things like swimming 

at a patrolled beach between 

the red and yellow flags, 

observing the safety signs 

posted around the area, 

not swimming under the 

influence of drugs or alcohol, 

and wearing a life jacket while 

boating or rock fishing can be 

the difference in ensuring you 

go home to your family. 

“We’re really excited for the 

summer. Our volunteer 

lifesavers and lifeguards and 

ready and we can’t wait to see 

everyone at the beach.” 

Story and images by Surf Life 

Saving NSW 

5 


RECENT EVENTS 

2023 NATIONAL 

VOLUNTEERING CONFERENCE 

PROGRAM ANNOUNCED 

AERIAL FIREFIGHTING CREWS 

PROTECTING COMMUNITIES 

DURING HARVEST 

Volunteering Australia is 

delighted to present the 

2023 National Volunteering 

Conference Program. 

The Conference Program 

has been designed 

to balance strategic 

conversations about the 

future of volunteering 

with practical sessions 

which showcase research 

insights and volunteering 

innovations. 

The Program includes 

six plenary sessions and 

five concurrent session 

streams. 

Plenary Sessions: 

• The Launch of the new 

National Strategy for 

Volunteering 

• Changing landscape, 

changing climate, 

changing attitudes: 

the evolution 

of emergency 

volunteering 

• Reimagining 

volunteering across 

the ecosystem: 

learning from and 

collaborating with each 

other 

• The international 

context 

• Volunteering for the 

common good: the 

future of charities 

and the not-for-profit 

sector 

• The Future is Now, so 

what next? 

Concurrent session 

streams: 

• Evidence and practice 

• Inclusion, diversity and 

Intersectionality 

• Leadership and 

innovation 

• Volunteering across 

the lifecycle 

• Volunteering across 

the nation 

Join us on Ngunnawal 

Country, Canberra, 13- 

14 February 2023 for 

Australia’s leading event on 

the volunteering calendar. 

Register Now! 

Farming communities are receiving 

protection from above this harvest, 

with waterbombing aircraft based 

in grain-growing regions providing a 

rapid response to crop fires. 

After a successful pilot program in 

2021, two aerial strike teams are 

once again based in agricultural 

areas for the hottest and most fireprone 

stretch of the State’s grain 

harvest, boosting response times 

across WA’s nine million hectare 

grain growing region, a land area 

almost the size of Victoria. 

The first strike team started in 

Geraldton on 19 October, dropping 

more than 88,000 litres of water and 

suppressant on four large fires at 

Eganu, Howatharra, Allanooka and 

Beekeepers Nature Reserve. 

As harvest swung into gear further 

south, the second team commenced 

in Narrogin in late November. The 

teams will be moved to different operating 

bases in the Wheatbelt as the 

harvest progresses, or if response to 

active fires requires it. 

Each strike team comprises a 

five-person crew, two fixed-wing waterbombers, 

an air attack supervision 

aircraft and a fuel truck that can be 

deployed to assist ground crews. 

The aircraft can cruise at a speed of 

280km/h, can drop up to 3150 litres 

each and need just minutes to refuel 

and reload. 

Fire and Emergency Services 

Commissioner Darren Klemm AFSM 

said crop fires were often sparked 

by machinery or lightning and when 

combined with dangerous weather 

conditions could escalate quickly. 

“Crops provide an easy source of 

fuel for fires to take hold and this 

strategy is about supporting firefighters 

on the ground in the initial 

stages of fires,” he said. 

“This strategy proved extremely 

successful last year, dropping more 

than 390,000 litres of water and 

retardant to suppress flames and 

prevent fires from spreading, providing 

crucial support for farmers 

and firefighters on the ground.” 

CBH Group Chief Operations 

Officer Mick Daw said the extra 

firefighting resources for the 

Wheatbelt were welcomed. 

“The safety of our growers, our 

employees and their communities 

is our top priority,” he said. 

“Many of our growers and team 

members are also bushfire service 

volunteers and the fire season 

can add extra pressure during the 

already busy harvest season. 

“We welcome the additional support 

these aerial strike teams will 

provide to support the efforts of 

the on-ground firefighting teams.” 

The program is funded by the 

Department of Fire and Emergency 

Services, with support from 

the Department of Biodiversity, 

Conservation and Attractions and 

Department of Primary Industries 

and Regional Development. 


State of the climate: 

what Australians need to know 

about major new report 

Matthew England 

Scientia Professor and Deputy Director of the ARC 

Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science 

(ACEAS), 

UNSW Sydney 

23rd November 2022

The latest State of the Climate 

report is out, and there’s not much 

good news for Australians. 

Our climate has warmed by an 

average 1.47° since national records 

began, bringing the continent 

close to the 1.5° limit the Paris 

Agreement hoped would never be 

breached. When global average 

warming reaches this milestone, 

some of Earth’s natural systems 

are predicted to suffer catastrophic 

damage. 

The report, released today, paints 

a concerning picture of ongoing 

and worsening climate change. 

In Australia, associated impacts 

such as extreme heat, bushfires, 

drought, heavy rainfall, and coastal 

inundation threaten our people and 

our environment. 

The report is a comprehensive 

biennial snapshot of the latest 

trends in climate, with a focus 

on Australia. It’s compiled by the 

Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, 

drawing on the latest national and 

international climate research. 

It synthesises the latest science 

about Australia’s climate and builds 

on the previous 2020 report by 

including, for example, information 

from the most recent assessment 

report by the Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate Change. 

And the take home message? 

Climate change continues unabated. 

The world is warming, sea levels are 

rising, ice is melting, fire weather 

is worsening, flooding rains are 

becoming more frequent – and the 

list goes on. 

What follows is a summary of major 

findings in three key categories – 

and an explanation of what it all 

means.

1. Warming, heat extremes and bushfire 

The 2020 report said Australia’s 

climate has warmed on average 

by 1.44° since national records 

began in 1910. That warming 

has now increased to 1.47°. This 

mirrors trends across the world’s 

land areas, and brings with it 

more frequent extreme heat 

events. 

The year 2019 was Australia’s 

warmest on record. The eight 

years from 2013 to 2020 are all 

among the ten warmest ever 

measured. Warming is happening 

both by day and by night, and 

across all months. 

Since the 1950s, extreme fire 

weather has increased and the 

fire season has lengthened across 

much of the country. It’s resulted 

in bigger and more frequent fires, 

especially in southern Australia. 

2. Rain, floods and snow 

In Australia’s southwest, May to 

July rainfall has fallen by 19% 

since 1970. In the southeast 

of Australia, April to October 

rainfall has fallen by 10% since 

the late 1990s. 

This will come as somewhat of 

a surprise given the relatively 

wet conditions across eastern 

Australia over the past few 

years. But don’t confuse longer 

term trends with year-to-year 

variability. 

Lower rainfall has led to 

reduced streamflow; some 

60% of water gauges around 

Australia show a declining 

trend. 

At the same time, heavy 

rainfall events are becoming 

more intense – a fact not lost 

on flood-stricken residents in 

Australia’s eastern states in 

recent months. The intensity of 

extreme rainfall events lasting 

an hour has increased by about 

10% or more in some regions 

in recent decades. This often 

brings flash flooding, especially 

in urban environments. The 

costs to society are enormous. 

Warm air can hold more water 

vapour than cooler air. That’s 

why global warming makes 

heavy rainfall events more 

likely, even in places where 

average rainfall is expected to 

decline. 

Also since the 1950s, snow 

depth and cover, and the 

number of snow days, have 

decreased in alpine regions. 

The largest declines are 

happening in spring and at 

lower altitudes. 

Extremely cold days and nights 

are generally becoming less 

frequent across the continent. 

And while parts of southeast 

and southwest Australia have 

recently experienced very 

cold nights, that’s because 

cool seasons have become 

drier and winter nights 

clearer there, leading to more 

overnight heat loss. 

Any camper will tell you how 

chilly it can get on a clear 

starry night, without the warm 

blanket of cloud cover.

Sea surface temperatures 

around the continent have 

increased by an average 

1.05° since 1900. The greatest 

ocean warming since 1970 

has occurred off southeast 

Australia and Tasmania. In 

the Tasman Sea, the warming 

rate is now twice the global 

average. 

Ongoing ocean warming has 

also contributed to longer 

and more frequent marine 

heatwaves. Marine heatwaves 

are particularly damaging to 

ecosystems, including the 

Great Barrier Reef, which is at 

perilous risk of ruin if nothing 

is done to address surging 

greenhouse gas emissions. 

Oceans around Australia have 

also become more acidic, and 

this damage is accelerating. 

The greatest change is 

occurring in temperate and 

cooler waters to the south. 

Sea levels are rising globally 

and around Australia. This 

is driven by both ocean 

warming and melting ice. 

Ice loss from Greenland, 

Antarctica and glaciers is 

increasing, and only set to 

get worse. 

Around Australia, the largest 

sea level rise has been 

observed to the north and 

southeast of the continent. 

This is increasing the risk of 

inundation and damage to 

coastal infrastructure and 

communities. 

3. Oceans and sea levels 

What’s causing this? 

All this is happening because 

concentrations of greenhouse gases 

in Earth’s atmosphere continue to 

rise. The principal driver of these 

gases is human burning of fossil 

fuels. These long-lived gases form 

a “blanket” in the atmosphere that 

makes it harder for Earth to radiate 

the Sun’s heat back into space. And 

so, the planet warms, with very costly 

impacts to society. 

The report confirmed carbon dioxide 

(CO₂) has been accumulating in the 

atmosphere at an increasing rate in 

recent decades. Worryingly, over the 

past two years, levels of methane and 

nitrous oxide have also grown very 

rapidly. 

What comes next? 

None of these problems are going 

away. Australia’s weather and climate 

will continue to change in coming 

decades. 

As the report states, these climate 

changes are increasingly affecting the 

lives and livelihoods of all Australians. 

It goes on: 

Australia needs to plan for, and adapt 

to, the changing nature of climate risk 

now and in the decades ahead. The 

severity of impacts on Australians and 

our environment will depend on the 

speed at which global greenhouse 

gas emissions can be reduced. 

This point is particularly confronting, 

given the abject failure of the recent 

COP27 climate talks in Egypt to build 

on commitments from Glasgow only 

a year earlier to phase out fossil fuels. 

It’s no surprise, then, that the 

insurance sector is getting nervous 

about issuing new policies to people 

living at the front-line of climate 

extremes. 

While the urgency for action has 

never been more pressing, we still 

hold the future in our hands - the 

choices we make today will decide 

our future for generations to come. 

Every 0.1℃ of warming we can avoid 

will make a big difference. 

But it’s not all bad news. Reengineering 

our energy and transport 

systems to be carbon neutral will 

create a whole new economy and 

jobs growth - with the added bonus 

of a safer climate future. 

Do nothing, and these State of the 

Climate reports will continue to make 

for grim reading. 

This article was first published on The Conversation 


First Natural Hazards Research Forum reflects 

sector shift towards solutions 

By Bethany Patch, Natural Hazards Research Australia

Engaged representatives from 

research, industry, government 

and community sectors met early 

this month to drive tangible change 

through natural hazards research and 

innovation at the inaugural Natural 

Hazards Research Forum. The aim of 

the Forum was to focus on the future, 

with a shift from identifying natural 

hazards problems to actively solving 

them. 

The Forum was hosted by Natural 

Hazards Research Australia on Turrbal 

and Yuggera land in Brisbane from 12– 

14 October 2022, in acknowledgement 

of the United Nations’ International 

Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on 13 

October. 

Three hundred attendees came 

together, predominantly in person 

but also online, to collaborate on the 

current state and future of natural 

hazards research in Australia – what 

it is, what’s being done, how it can be 

used and what should be done. Across 

three days of programming, attendees 

heard from more than 65 speakers 

in keynotes, panels and interactive 

sessions, as well as extra morning and 

evening events. 

The Forum opened with a Welcome 

to Country from Yuggera man Tommy 

Bundamba-Ya, before an official launch 

of the Centre by Minister for Emergency 

Management, the Hon Senator Murray 

Watt, alongside Queensland Minister 

for Fire and Emergency Services, the 

Hon Mark Ryan MP. 

“Researchers are unsung heroes 

in the emergency management 

sector,” Senator Watt said. “None of 

the work we are doing in emergency 

management can be done in isolation 

and I want to thank you all for your 

ongoing commitment to collaborating 

across the sector. The work you’re 

doing is making a real change to how 

we all respond to natural hazards.” 

The Centre’s CEO Andrew Gissing’s 

opening address set the tone for the 

agenda across the three days. 

“Disasters are more complex than 

they’ve ever been and are being driven 

by large global forces. We are very good 

at describing the problems but the key 

thing that we need to focus on is the 

solutions. How do we work together 

through research, innovation and 

science to keep our communities safe 

from natural hazards?” he said. 

Chair of the Centre’s Board, Dr 

Katherine Woodthorpe, reiterated the 

importance of collaborating to create 

actionable research that addresses 

major challenges. 

“Our aim here is to pose the big 

questions, to guide us all to solutions 

to the inevitable challenges of today, 

tomorrow and the longer term,” Dr 

Woodthorpe said. 

Attendees also saw keynote 

presentations from Prof Mary O’Kane 

AC; Head of Climate and Security 

Policy Centre, Dr Robert Glasser; 

Dominique Hogan-Doran SC, CEO of 

Landcare NSW, Dr Turlough Guerin; 

Brendan Moon, Coordinator-General 

for Emergency Management at the 

National Emergency Management 

Agency, giving his first keynote in this 

new role; Prof Lauren Rickards, RMIT 

University; and Zoe Robinson from the 

NSW Advocate for Children and Young 

People. 

Innovative research solutions to 

future problems 

Across all sessions, there was a 

renewed focus on how to better 

leverage innovative, useful and usable 

research evidence moving forward. 

Innovative advancements were key 

to the Operational Response and 

Innovation session, which brought 

together multi-disciplinary experts to 

unpack operational data that is ready 

for agency utilisation. 

Leigh Kelson from FireTech Connect 

outlined some of the technologies 

already available to start analysing 


ushfire data for insights that can 

support capability. 

“We don’t need more data, we need 

more insights from data to better 

train the machine learning that 

agencies are doing,” Leigh said. 

Using research to build a stronger 

future was also the central message 

of the Workforces and Communities 

of the Future panel. Speaking on this 

panel, Elly Bird from Resilient Lismore 

shared her recent experiences 

running a community response 

organisation and what she feels is 

needed to equip a future workforce 

for disasters. 

“We are using volunteers to rebuild 

peoples’ homes. Communities need 

to be enabled to actively participate in 

their own recovery,” Elly said. “They’re 

all trying to do it themselves with 

no money. It’s very easy to resource 

those communities now so that they 

can respond to their own emergencies 

in the future.” 

On what’s required from research 

to create a future-ready workforce, 

Celeste Young, a diversity and 

inclusion researcher at Victoria 

University and senior policy developer 

at the Department of Fire and 

Emergency Services (WA), provided a 

research sector perspective. 

“We desperately need to hold on 

to the importance of public-good 

research. It’s very important to have 

industry-based research but that 

will always be funded. Public-good 

research is about the communities 

– our most vulnerable people are 

the least able to fund it themselves,” 

Celeste said. 

Innovative solutions were also front 

and centre at the Disaster Challenge 

Final at the end of Day 2, which 

saw three finalist teams pitch their 

responses to the wicked problem: 

how can disaster preparation engage 

with the unengaged, the moving 

or the hard to reach? Attendees 

saw presentations of three ideas 

for sharing disaster preparedness 

information with transient 

communities, including mobilising 

diverse gatekeepers to share directly 

with their communities, using artistic 

community beacons to disseminate 

localised information, and using wi-fi 

portals to disseminate information 

to tourists. You can read more about 

the Disaster Challenge Final and the 

winning team at www.naturalhazards. 

com.au/disaster-challenge. 

First Nations solutions helping guide 

the way 

First Nations solutions – a topic 

that was integrated across the 

Forum program – was central to the 

Sustainable, Safe and Healthy Natural 

Landscapes session that explored 

how combinations of traditional 

and modern knowledge can care 

for Country and reduce natural 

hazard risks. Vanessa Cavanagh, a 

Bundjalung and Wonnarua scholar at 

the University of Wollongong, spoke 

about the importance of Aboriginal 

women leading the way on caring for 

Country. 

“I am drawing on the momentum 

of cultural burning for thousands of 

generations. Aboriginal women want 

to protect our Country and we need 

access to Country to be able to do 

that. Aboriginal people need to not 

only be involved but they need to be 

leading this process,” she said. 

Bundjalung man Oliver Costello (Jagun 

Alliance and Centre Board member) 

presented recent experiences of 

flooding in the northern rivers’ region 

of NSW, which helped reiterate that 

First Nations custodianship is crucial 

to recovering landscapes. 

“Climate is always changing, 

landscapes are evolving. We need 

to understand the responsibility we 

have to Country,” he said. “These 

landscapes have been so heavily 

impacted by colonisation and 

mismanagement and we all need to 

understand that connection to place 

means we work together to look after 

places and species and habitats.” 

The importance of First Nations 

co-design in fire management was 

also discussed by Dr Andrew Edwards 

(Charles Darwin University), who has 

experience creating co-designed and 

Indigenous-led research on savannah 

burning in northern Australia. 

“Savanna burning is very strategic, it’s 

well thought-through and there’s a 

lot of background info and planning, 

including annual consultation with 

Traditional Owners and land managers 

in Arnhem Land, the Kimberley and 

Cape York,” he said. “Most of the 

carbon credit that the Traditional 

Owners receive is poured back into fire 

management and we’re seeing huge 

improvements.” 

The Centre also launched its 

Reconciliation Action Plan. The launch 

began with Tommy Bundamba-Ya’s 

smoking ceremony that cleansed 

guests using the smoke of eucalyptus 

leaves as a sign of good-faith knowledge 

sharing. Guests heard from Oliver 

Costello, Murramarang Yuin artist 

Leanne Brook, CEO Andrew Gissing 

and Board member Sandra Whight, 

who each shared perspectives on the 

importance of reconciliation – not just 

as a business-as-usual focus for the 

Centre, but also as a leading value for 

the sector as a whole. 

Community-led solutions for 

recovery 

Community recovery was central to 

almost every session throughout the 

Forum, especially the Learning from 

Disasters and the Community-led 

Recovery sessions. 

The Learning from Disasters session 

drew together community research 

findings from historic and recent 

Yuggera man Tommy Bundamba-Ya conducted a smoking ceremony as part of the Centre’s Reconciliation Action Plan launch. 

Image Credit: Natural Hazards Research Australia

CEO of Natural Hazards Research Australia Andrew Gissing (left), with the winners of the 2022 Disaster Challenge Final, Dr Kamarah Pooley (Fire and Rescue NSW) and Mark Owens 

(Country Fire Authority). Image Credit: Natural Hazards Research Australia 

disasters, including Cyclone Tracy in 

Darwin in 1974 and new research 

from the 2022 floods in NSW and 

Queensland, to share lessons that can 

build future solutions. Dr Mel Taylor 

(Macquarie University), who is the lead 

researcher of the Centre’s Community 

experiences of the 2022 eastern 

Australia floods project, led an engaging 

discussion with her research team on 

their ongoing social research of flood 

experiences. 

The Community-led Recovery panel, 

chaired by Executive Director Dr 

Margaret Moreton from the Australian 

Institute for Disaster Resilience, 

brought together an excellent panel 

of experts from communities and 

community research. A key theme that 

arose from this panel was the need for 

meaningful and democratic community 

engagement to lead recovery. 

Prof Lisa Gibbs (University of 

Melbourne), who has been leading the 

development of community recovery 

guides built around different kinds of 

capital, reiterated this. 

“With community recovery, we need to 

focus on the principles of deliberative 

democracy: influence, inclusiveness and 

deliberation. The engagement process 

should genuinely have an influence on 

the outcomes,” Prof Gibbs said. “And 

the role of inclusive community groups 

is really vital.” 

Person-centred emergency 

preparedness was another key theme 

for this panel, which A/Prof Michelle 

Villeneuve, from the University of 

Sydney’s Centre for Disability Research 

and Policy, illustrated when speaking 

about engaging with people with 

disability during disasters. 

“Person-centred emergency 

preparedness doesn’t mean emergency 

personnel need to go door to door, 

it means we need to better prepare 

our communities,” she said. “It’s about 

putting the power into the hands of 

the people with disability, empowering 

volunteers in the community sector, 

empowering personnel at local council, 

and empowering transformative change 

in how they work.” 

Community solutions were also a key 

focus of the closing session about 

managing risk in our climate-changed 

future. This session was introduced by 

the Centre’s Chief Science Officer Prof 

Deb Bunker and included an engaging 

discussion with representatives from 

academia, child advocacy, emergency 

services and Indigenous management 

on how to build a resilient future. 

Zoë Robinson from the NSW Advocate 

for Children and Young People 

presented research with children 

recounting experiences of disasters, 

highlighting the ways that inclusion 

of young people’s wellbeing can build 

more resilience within communities. 

“Children and young people aren’t 

asked what they would like to see 

when it comes to their wellbeing during 

disasters,” she said. “We now have 

funding to connect with young people 

in communities to hear what they 

need.” 

Also speaking on this panel was Barry 

Hunter from the North Australian 

Indigenous Land and Sea Management 

Alliance (NAILSMA), on what he sees for 

the future of government-to-community 

partnerships. 

“While we play an important role in 

facilitating and enabling relationships 

between government and communities, 

I’d like to think we can reduce our role 

and move onto other things, to allow 

those partnerships to keep rolling on 

their own,” he said. “First responders 

are most often community members, 

so we need to have them ready with 

skills, qualifications, training and 

confidence in their roles.” 

Recordings of Forum sessions are now available 

via the Replay Program at www.naturalhazards. 

com.au/nhrf22. 


FRESHER & THE AFRF PROVIDING MENTAL 

HEALTH SUPPORT TO FIRST RESPONDERS 

Emergency service first responders work on the front 

line to help protect the Australian community. They 

are exposed to dangerous, traumatic and stressful 

situations. Australia wide there are over 120,000 

employees and 240,000 volunteers in the emergency 

service sector and sadly exposure to intense stress 

arising from the service can lead to significant to 

mental health ill health including suicide. 

Author - Louise Murphy 

The Australian First 

Responder Foundation

With the emergence and growth of 

potential mass casualty incidents, 

large scale emergencies and natural 

disasters, it is essential that all first 

responders need to be mentally fit, 

prepared, responsive and ready to 

serve and protect the community. 

The high number of emergency 

service first responders having 

suicidal thoughts are over two times 

higher than adults in the general 

population and more than three 

times as likely to have a suicide plan 

(Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016). 

Along with one in three volunteers 

report being diagnosed with a 

mental health condition (though 

such conditions may not arise, or 

be contributed to, from exposure to 

critical incidents while volunteering). 

With these alarming statistics in mind 

and understanding the struggles and 

challenges often faced as a volunteer 

emergency first responder, in 2018 

Louise Murphy a St John Ambulance 

(NSW) volunteer emergency first 

responder of 18 years applied for 

a Churchill Fellowship to examine 

international evidenced peer support 

programs to reduce mental health 

issues and suicide in emergency 

service volunteers. To her surprise, 

Louise was awarded the Churchill 

Fellowship by the Churchill Trust and 

felt reassured that the Churchill Trust 

also believed in the cause of looking 

after the mental health and wellbeing 

of emergency first responders. 

In 2019, Louise set off to Europe, 

America and Canada for nine weeks 

to see what was being done in these 

countries to support emergency 

first responders’ mental health. 

The opportunity to visit residential 

facilities, talk with emergency first 

responders and meet face-to-face 

with subject matter experts in each 

of these countries recognised for 

their expertise, innovation and 

exemplary peer support programs 

has provided significant insights 

and understanding associated with 

development and implementation of 

peer support programs applicable to 

the Australian context. Subsequently, 

on return to Australia Louise set 

up her own not for profit charitable 

foundation, namely the Australian 

First Responder Foundation (AFRF). 

The Australian First Responder 

Foundation (AFRF) was founded 

in Wollongong, NSW on World 

Mental Health Day in October 2020. 

Dedicated to strengthening the 

preparedness, mental fitness and 

capability of our emergency first 

responders to manage the potential 

stress, psychological distress and 

trauma they may encounter through 

their service to our communities. The 

AFRF vision is a world with responsive 

and mentally healthy first responders 

and motto of with the motto of “We 

Look After Those Who Look After Us”. 

To support this, the AFRF delivers 

three-day First Responder Emergency 

Services Health Education Retreat 

(FRESHER) weekends at no cost to the 

participants. 

The FRESHER weekends are the first 

of its kind for volunteer emergency 

first responders and are based 

on the principles of Peer Support, 

and designed and developed with 

emergency first responders, and 

experts in the field (locally and 

internationally). 

Our approach is to take a proactive, 

preventative, and restorative 

approach and provide volunteer 

emergency responders with the 

opportunity and the space to 

reconnect (with themselves and 

with peers), to reframe (with their 

experiences) and to reset themselves 

(using specific tools and practices) 

to equip themselves with the mental 

fitness, resilience and preparedness 

to effectively counterbalance the 

demands and volunteer work and 

family. 

To date four FRESHER weekends 

have been held in NSW with a total of 

67 first responders from NSW, ACT 

& Victoria attending. The weekends 

are open to all emergency service 

organisations (i.e., RFS, SES, St John 

Ambulance, Marine Rescue, NSW 

Police, NSW Ambulance and NSW 

17 


Fire & Rescue) with priority given to 

volunteers. 

Feedback from the FRESHER 

participants has been very positive. 

Some feedback from the weekends 

includes “Activities were interactive 

and allowed us to share and connect 

deeply”; “We were stimulated to 

think and work with others to share 

knowledge, experiences, and ideas”; 

“It was all very relevant and enjoyable, 

“exceptional content.” And “this 

should be MANDATORY for all first 

responders”. 

We employ an evaluation tool, based 

on statistically valid measures of 

Participants at the 

FRESHER courses 

creating support 

networks and mental 

health resilience 

resilience and other factors, to gauge 

effective change in participants 

pre- and post- our training. We also 

follow-up 3 and 6 months after the 

training with participant feedback on 

the weekend gathered and reviewed 

to determine areas for improvement. 

To date 92% of respondents at the 6 

month follow up report continuing to 

look for creative ways to alter difficult 

situations while 80% believe they can 

grow in positive ways by dealing with 

difficult situations. This reinforces the 

work from the FRESHER weekends 

focusing on reframing experiences 

and help seeking behaviour. 

On completion of the FRESHER 

weekends, we encourage and 

support the development of peer 

support networks, sharing the 

burden and seeking support from 

peers as an effective approach to 

developing mental health resilience. 

Due to the success of the AFRF and 

requests for expanding our offerings, 

2023 will see an expansion of 

educational offerings to emergency 

first responders with half day and full 

day workshops being offered. 

To find out more about the AFRF, 

please check out the website 

www.afrf.com.au or Facebook 

page @Australian First Responder 

Foundation. 

Bio: 

Louise Murphy a Nurse Practitioner, 

and a volunteer emergency 

first responder for 19yrs is the 

Founder and Managing Director 

of the Australian First Responder 

Foundation (AFRF). 

Louise through her work in the field 

of mental health and as a volunteer 

with St. John Ambulance Service was 

very aware of the impact on mental 

health of critical incidence stress. 

Louise has been NSW Peer Support 

Coordinator of St John Ambulance, 

NSW for nineteen years and was 

awarded a Churchill Fellowship 

in 2018 to examine peer support 

programs to reduce mental health 

issues in volunteer emergency first 

responders. 


Lets 

‘ 

Talk 

Mental Health 

with Dr Lisa Holmes 

Dr Lisa Holmes 

PhD 

Unit Coordinator and Lecturer Paramedical Science 

Course Coordinator Master, Graduate Diploma and 

Certificate of Disaster & Emergency Response 

It seems like only a short time ago we were welcoming 

the new year filled with the hope of recovery from the 

pandemic and all that it has created. In a blink of an eye, 

we are reaching the end of another eventful year. 

Whether you celebrate the festivities or not, this time of 

year can be full of joy and connections with family, friends 

and colleagues or filled with triggers, grief and loneliness 

or a combination of all. Not to mention the expectations, 

financial pressure and post season blues, all of which can 

be challenging to navigate. 

For some this is their busiest time of year, with longer 

hours and few days off which can lead to increased stress, 

fatigue and illness. 

Mental Illness can mean that some will potentially find 

the festivities and increased activity particularly difficult 

and in order to cope, sufferers can withdraw further and 

become isolated, possibly going unnoticed in this busy 

time of year. 

Organisations such as Lifeline, RUOK? and Beyond Blue 

offer much advise and strategies to assist at this time of 

year. 

In summary the advice given for this period is: 

• Understand that this time can be challenging 

• It is ok to not want to celebrate 

• Set realistic expectations 

19 


• Stay connected with those 

around you 

• Take some time to do something 

for you each day e.g., cuddle a 

fur friend, connect with nature, 

go for a walk, grab a cuppa, step 

outside and star gaze. Book this 

in your diary or set an alarm if 

you need too. 

take time to do 

something for you 

• Remember everything in 

moderation 

• Ask for help if you need too 

The greatest gift we can give 

ourselves and those around us is 

care and compassion, particularly at 

this time of year. It is important to 

remember that if someone does not 

want to participate then leave the 

door open and check in regularly. 

Whatever you choose to do, take 

good care of you. 

cuddle a 

fur friend 

Some support available: 

https://www.lifeline.org.au/ 

https://www.ruok.org.au/ 

https://www.sane.org/media-centre/ 

media-releases-2016/1934-whereto-find-mental-health-support-thisholiday-season 

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ 

media/media-releases/mediareleases/be-kind-to-your-mentalhealth-this-festive-season 

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/ 

beating-christmas-stress-and-anxiety 

Go for a walk and 

Connect with Nature

Why are shallow earthquakes more destructive? 

The disaster in Java is a devastating example 

Phil R. Cummins 

Professor, 

Australian National University 

Mudrik Rahmawan Daryono 

Senior research scientist, 

Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN) 

Stacey Servito Martin 

PhD Candidate, Earth Sciences, 

Australian National University

On November 21 2022 an 

earthquake near the Indonesian 

city of Cianjur in West Java caused 

at least 268 deaths and damaged 

22,000 buildings. 

At magnitude 5.6, this earthquake 

was much smaller than many other 

earthquakes that have caused death 

and destruction in Indonesia over 

the past few decades. 

Why is this one so different? One 

of the main reasons the Cianjur 

earthquake was so destructive was 

its shallow depth of 10km. 

This event should serve as a wakeup 

call to improve building practices 

in Indonesia, because we know from 

the past that much larger shallow 

events can occur in Java; it’s not a 

question of if but when. 

The role of earthquake depth 

Two of the most important factors 

that determine the intensity of 

ground shaking caused by an 

earthquake are its magnitude and 

distance. 

Large earthquakes of greater than 

50km depth can and do cause 

widespread damage, but the 

intensity of shaking is reduced 

because the seismic waves travel 

at least 50km before they reach 

people. 

Such earthquakes rarely cause 

massive fatalities – the magnitude 

6.5 Tasikmalaya, Java earthquake 

in 2017 occurred at 90km depth 

and killed only four people and 

damaged 4,826 homes. 

The recent Cianjur earthquake was 

much smaller – at magnitude 5.6, its 

energy was 21 times smaller than 

the Tasikmalaya earthquake, but it 

did much greater damage. 

The Cianjur earthquake had a 

greater impact because it ruptured 

within a few kilometres of the city 

of Cianjur, where the shaking was 

classified as “severe” (Modified 

Mercalli Intensity 8).

A similar comparison could be 

made with giant subduction zone 

earthquakes that occur offshore. While 

these can be far greater in size than 

this week’s Java earthquake, they are 

generally 100km or more distant from 

population centres, so they kill fewer 

people through building collapse. 

Infrequent danger 

There is another reason inland shallow 

earthquakes can be so devastating, 

particularly in Java: they occur 

infrequently, so most people are 

oblivious to the danger. 

The population of Java increased by a 

factor of four through the 20th century, 

and during this time there was only 

one shallow earthquake in 1924 that 

caused nearly 800 deaths, and another 

four that caused between 10 and 100 

deaths. 

It wasn’t until 2006 that a really major 

event occurred: the 2006 Yogyakarta 

earthquake, magnitude 6.3, which killed 

killed 5,749 people. 

Elsewhere in Java there is no lived 

experience of a major earthquake, 

often stretching back several 

generations. 

As a consequence, little attention is 

paid to the earthquake resilience of 

residential construction, so when an 

earthquake does occur many of the 

weak buildings will collapse. 

A starkly different colonial past 

Java’s earthquake history during the 

colonial era paints a starkly different 

picture. Our recent study shows many 

damaging earthquakes have occurred 

in Java since the 17th century. At least 

nine earthquakes since 1865 have 

caused shaking so severe they were 

almost certainly shallow events. 

These include two earthquakes near 

Wonosobo in central Java in 1924 that 

caused catastrophic mudslides that 

killed nearly 900 people. 

In our recent study we also 

documented extremely violent shaking 

caused by the October 25 1875 

earthquake near Kunningan in West 

Java. An eyewitness described being 

thrown off a chair and saw a herd of 

cows being knocked off their feet. 

Cirebon also experienced a damaging 

earthquake on November 16 1847 

which is thought to have caused a river 

channel offset of 5 metres, suggesting 

a magnitude of 7 or greater. 

This photo was taken at an earthquake victim’s house in Cianjur, West Java. Indonesia 

Cianjur, the site of this week’s 

earthquake, has experienced at least 

one damaging earthquake, on March 

28 1879, which caused the collapse of 

several buildings in Cianjur with some 

loss of life. 

A fact of life 

Geologists understand well that 

earthquakes are a fact of life in Java. In 

work over the past two decades they 

have identified many faults – cracks or 

joints in Earth’s crust – in Java that are 

likely to be active, but only a handful of 

these have been studied in detail. 

The Lembang Fault on the outskirts of 

Bandung, Indonesia’s fourth-largest city 

(population 8.8 million, as opposed to 

Cianjur’s 170,000), is one of the few for 

which geologic evidence of prehistoric 

earthquake activity has been 

established. This fault is thought to 

be capable of producing a magnitude 

6.5–7.0 earthquake every 170–670 

years. 

Other active faults are known to 

threaten the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya 

and Semarang, in addition to 

Yogyakarta. And these are just the ones 

we know about. 

Preparing for the next quake 

Shallow earthquakes could occur 

that are much larger than the Cianjur 

earthquake, next to cities that are 

much larger than Cianjur. What can 

Indonesia do to avoid massive fatalities 

in such an event? 

The typical answer is to improve – 

and enforce – building codes, forcing 

any new construction to be more 

earthquake-resilient. 

Indonesia does have a building code 

based on a modern seismic hazard 

map, but it is only applied to buildings 

of eight floors or higher. Given the high 

poverty level in Indonesia, universal 

enforcement of the building code is 

regarded as impractical. 

An alternative may be the adoption 

of simple, minimum standards 

for concrete strength, quality of 

reinforcement and other aspects of 

building practice that may not conform 

to the building code, but at least 

afford a higher level of protection than 

current practice. 

Any change in building practice 

requires a change in culture: people 

have to expect more of builders, and 

be willing to pay for it. 

Correction: This article has been 

updated to correct two points – the 

recent Cianjur earthquake was 21 

times smaller than the Tasikmalaya 

earthquake, not eight times smaller. 

Additionally, it was clarified that the 

1847 earthquake caused a river channel 

offset. 


23 


In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000) 

To contact the police, fire or ambulance in an emergency, call 

Triple Zero (000) from any telephone in Australia. Calls are free. 

When to call Triple Zero (000) 

You should only call Triple Zero (000) in life 

threatening or time critical situations when 

an urgent response is required from police, 

fire or ambulance. 

What will happen when I call 

Triple Zero (000)? 

The operator will ask you which emergency 

service you require—police, fire or ambulance 

—and will connect you. The operator may also 

ask where you are calling from. 

What if I have difficulty speaking English? 

If you have difficulty speaking English, you 

can ask for an interpreter once you have been 

transferred to the emergency service you 

requested. You will not have to pay for the 

interpreter. 

When you call Triple Zero (000), stay calm, 

stay on the line and clearly answer the 

operator’s questions. 

www.triplezero.gov.au

Iftekhar Ahmed 

Associate Professor, University of Newcastle 

Thomas Johnson 

Associate Lecturer, University of Newcastle 

We spoke to the exhausted flood-response teams in 

the Hunter Valley. Here’s what they need when the 

next floods strike 

People living in the Hunter region of 

New South Wales know all too well 

the devastation disasters can bring. 

After enduring the 2019-2020 horror 

bushfire season, La Niña settled in 

for three wet summers and residents 

experienced back-to-back floods. 

Since early October, we’ve conducted 

nine in-depth interviews with members 

of flood-response teams in the Hunter 

for our ongoing qualitative research 

into how prepared these communities 

are for future floods. Many people 

in the Hunter are living in temporary 

accommodation. A councillor we spoke 

to pointed out, “there are still people 

living in caravans, and they’ll be in 

caravans for quite some time”. 

For the Northern Rivers region, which 

was ravaged by record-breaking floods 

in February and March this year, some 

relief is coming. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and 

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet today 

announced a A$800 million buyback 

scheme for residents in seven areas – 

including Lismore, Ballina and Tweed 

– where “major flooding would pose a 

catastrophic risk to life”. Some 2,000 

homeowners will be eligible for funding 

to sell their homes, repair damage, or 

make their homes more resilient. 

More flooding is expected across 

eastern Australia in coming weeks, as 

La Niña conditions are set to persist 

until early 2023. This is a time to take 

stock of the lessons gained from the 

previous spate of floods, and to assess 

how agencies and communities are 

heeding these lessons to manage 

coming floods. 

25 


Authors: 

Iftekhar Ahmed 

Associate Professor, 

University of Newcastle 

Thomas Johnson 

Associate Lecturer, 

University of Newcastle 

can improve their 

resilience and capacity to 

adapt to floods. 

In the Hunter, floods 

have severely impacted 

businesses. Cumulative 

losses in businesses 

across the region caused 

a significant economic 

setback, at a time when 

many were still struggling 

with the economic impacts 

of COVID. 

For example, a pub in the 

centre of Wollombi was 

submerged to its roof last 

July. And a vineyard and 

resort owner we spoke 

to explained: “We were 

trapped here for nearly 

a week in July, including 

some resort guests”. 

[to residents] from the 

services on the ground”. 

This was in regards to 

when exactly residents 

should evacuate. 

These mixed messages 

not only hampered timely 

evacuation operations, 

but also strained the 

communication between 

the regional Emergency 

Management Centre and 

on-ground staff, as well 

as between emergency 

services and communities. 

He also pointed out 

the challenge of local 

complacency to heed 

warnings, encapsulated in 

the typical “She’ll be right” 

mentality. 

floods this month, we saw 

the rapid deployment of 

sandbags and even the 

building of a new levee in 

Echuca. 

Across towns in the 

Hunter regions, our 

research participants 

told us of efforts to 

improve, for instance, 

equipment supply and 

inter-agency coordination. 

For example, the NSW 

SES have, in recent years, 

initiated “Flood Forums” 

to gather together, 

plan and coordinate 

different emergency 

agencies, in response to 

communications issues. 

What next? 

Floods in the Hunter 

Overall it seems regular 

warnings are being 

provided and agencies 

have actively stepped up 

their operations. Still, some 

Australian communities 

currently experiencing 

floods, such as in Victoria, 

remain vulnerable. 

For example, this month 

many people have become 

marooned in places where 

flood defences were 

inadequate and it was too 

late to evacuate. 

Our research focuses 

on the Hunter region’s 

experience of recent floods 

as they relate to climate 

change. We want to find 

out how local communities 

Towns such as Broke, 

Gillieston Heights, Maitland 

and Singleton were 

completely isolated, as 

road networks became 

inundated. This made 

evacuations difficult or 

even impossible. 

A police officer said people 

were trapped in recent 

floods and he expected 

the same if another flood 

strikes, adding: “We need 

to put in place better 

evacuation systems.” 

Great demands are placed 

on volunteers of the State 

Emergency Services (SES). 

As one volunteer said: “I 

just joined the SES early 

this year and since then it 

has been a very busy time!” 

Other volunteers 

mentioned the potential 

for “burnout” after dealing 

with so many floods over 

a long time, including this 

month. 

Mixed messages 

The biggest problem to be 

solved, according to our 

interviews, is inadequate 

communication. 

A local police officer told 

us: “The focus should 

be on early warning and 

communication. There 

were mixed messages 

Research shows 

social media offers 

communication 

opportunities during 

disasters, but it’s also 

evident that the potential 

for misinformation on 

social media can hinder 

effective communication. 

Lack of internet access 

and language barriers 

can also make effective 

communication difficult. 

Another police officer 

said: “Communication is 

something that I am always 

thinking of. It’s not just us 

getting the messages out 

but getting [communities] 

to hear our messages 

and respond to them 

appropriately”. 

The importance 

of emergency 

communications has been 

highlighted in Australian 

research on disaster risk 

management. For example, 

a 2016 paper found around 

20% of all emergency 

management problems 

since 2010 were linked 

to communicating with 

communities. 

As agencies and 

communities grapple 

with frequent flooding, 

it seems preparedness 

measures may indeed be 

improving. For example, 

in anticipation of Victoria’s 

Another key area that 

deserves attention 

is to understand the 

multi-hazard scenario 

confronting Australian 

agencies and communities, 

as we face back-to-back 

bushfires, floods, and 

storms under climate 

change. 

One way to tackle this is by 

bringing together agencies, 

such as the Rural Fire 

Service and the SES, into 

coordination to address 

multiple hazards, perhaps 

even as a single entity. 

Interestingly, this was 

suggested by both SES 

and Rural Fire Service 

volunteers in our research 

interviews. They told 

us that combining the 

agencies into a single entity 

would lead to, for instance, 

less competition for 

recruiting volunteers. 

As soil remains sodden 

and catchments are 

saturated, towns across 

Australia should be wary 

of more floods in the 

coming weeks. We hope 

being awareness of the 

urgent need for disaster 

management agencies 

to communicate better 

will lead to tangible 

improvements. 

This article was first published on The 

Conversation

How satellites, radar and drones are tracking 

meteorites and aiding Earth’s asteroid defence 

Hadrien Devillepoix 

Researcher in Planetary Astronomy, Curtin University

On July 31 2013 a constellation of US 

defence satellites saw a streak of light 

over South Australia as a rock from 

outer space burned through Earth’s 

atmosphere on its way to crash into 

the ground below. 

The impact created an explosion 

equivalent to about 220 tonnes of 

TNT. More than 1,500km away, in 

Tasmania, the bang was heard by 

detectors normally used to listen for 

extremely low-frequency sounds from 

illegal tests of nuclear weapons. 

These were two excellent indications 

that there should be a patch of 

ground covered in meteorites 

somewhere north of Port Augusta. But 

how could we track them down? 

My colleagues and I who work on the 

Desert Fireball Network (DFN), which 

tracks incoming asteroids and the 

resulting meteorites, had a couple of 

ideas: weather radar and drones. 

Eyes in space 

Finding meteorites is not an easy task. 

There is a network of high-quality 

ground-based sensors called the 

Global Fireball Observatory, but it only 

covers about 1% of the planet. 

The US satellite data published by 

NASA covers a much larger area 

than ground-based detectors, but 

it only picks up the biggest fireballs. 

What’s more, they don’t always give 

an accurate idea of the meteor’s 

trajectory. 

So, to have any chance to find a 

meteorite from these data, you need a 

little outside help. 

Weather radars 

In 2019, Australia’s Bureau of 

Meteorology started making its 

weather radar data openly available 

to researchers and the public. I saw 

this as an opportunity to complete the 

puzzle. 

I combed through the record of events 

from the Desert Fireball Network and 

NASA, and cross-matched them with 

nearby weather radars. Then I looked 

for unusual radar signatures that 

could indicate the presence of falling 

meteorites. 

And bingo, the 2013 event was not too 

far from the Woomera radar station. 

The weather was clear, and the radar 

record showed some small reflections 

at about the right place and time. 

Next, I had to use the weather data to 

figure out how the wind would have 

pushed the meteorites around on 

their way down to Earth. 

If I got the calculations right, I would 

have a treasure map showing the 

location of a rich haul of meteorites. 

If I got them wrong, I would end up 

sending my team to wander around in 

the desert for two weeks for nothing. 

The search 

I gave what I hoped was an accurate 

treasure map to my colleague Andy 

Tomkins from Monash University. In 

September this year, he happened 

to be driving past the site on his 

way back from an expedition in the 

Nullarbor. 

Thankfully, Andy found the first 

meteorite within 10 minutes of 

looking. In the following two hours, his 

team found nine more. 

The technique of finding meteorites 

with weather radars was pioneered 

by my colleague Marc Fries in the US. 

However, this is the first time it has 

been done outside the US NEXRAD 

radar network. (When it comes to 

monitoring airspace, the US has more 

powerful and more densely packed 

tech than anyone else.) 

This first search confirmed there were 

lots of meteorites on the ground. But 

how were we going to find them all? 

That’s where the drones come in. 

We used a method developed by 

my colleague Seamus Anderson to 

automatically detect meteorites from 

drone images. 

In the end we collected 44 meteorites, 

weighing a bit over 4kg in total. 

Together they form what we call a 

“strewn field”. 

Strewn fields tell us a lot about how an 

asteroid fragments in our atmosphere. 

That’s quite important to know, 

because the energy of these 

things is comparable to that of 

nuclear weapons. For example, the 

17-metre asteroid that exploded 

over Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 

produced an explosion 30 times 

the size of the bomb dropped on 

Hiroshima in 1945. 

So when the next big one is about 

to hit, it may be useful to predict 

how it will deposit its energy in our 

atmosphere. 

With new telescopes and better 

technology, we are starting to see 

some asteroids before they hit Earth. 

We will see even more when projects 

such as the Vera Rubin Observatory 

and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact 

Last Alert System (ATLAS) are up and 

running. 

The Woomera weather radar station captured reflections from the falling meteorites. 

Curtin University, Author provided 

These systems might give us as much 

as a few days’ notice that an asteroid 

is heading for Earth. This would be too 

late to make any effort to deflect it – 

29 


A field team from Monash University searched for meteorites in the strewn field. Monash University, Author provided 

but plenty of time for preparation and 

damage control on the ground. 

The value of open data 

This find was only made possible by 

the free availability of crucial data – 

and the people who made it available. 

The US satellites that detected the 

fireball are presumably there to detect 

missile and rocket launches. However, 

somebody (I don’t know who) must 

have figured out how to publish 

some of the satellite data without 

giving away too much about their 

capabilities, and then lobbied hard to 

get the data released. 

Likewise, the find would not have 

happened without the work of Joshua 

Soderholm at Australia’s Bureau of 

Meteorology, who worked to make 

low-level weather radar data openly 

accessible for other uses. Soderholm 

went to the trouble to make the radar 

data readily available and easy to use, 

which goes well beyond the vague 

formulations you can read at the 

bottom of scientific papers like “data 

available upon reasonable request”. 

There is no shortage of fireballs to 

track down. Right now, we’re on the 

hunt for a meteorite that was spotted 

in space last weekend before blazing 

through the sky over Ontario, Canada. 



Clashing laws need to be fixed if we want 

to live in bushfire-prone areas

It’s almost bushfire season. Yes, 

even though floods are still racing 

through parts of eastern Australia. Fire 

conditions are above average including 

in inland New South Wales and 

Queensland. 

When we switch back to a neutral or El 

Niño climate cycle, our fire risk will likely 

intensify, given the huge vegetation 

growth during these rainy years. 

As we prepare for the next major fire 

season, it’s vital we take a close look at 

our laws. Why? Because these laws can 

clash in ways that make it harder for us 

to prepare. 

Governments have always struggled 

to balance laws protecting nature with 

laws protecting us from bushfire. 

In recent years, planning laws have 

been changed to make it easier to fell 

trees and clear vegetation to keep our 

homes safe. Some of these came out 

of the review of Victoria’s catastrophic 

2009 Black Saturday fires, where 

many houses nestled in bush burned. 

But these changes to the rules about 

clearing native vegetation can also 

make it harder for us to preserve 

habitat – and can give us a false sense 

of security, encouraging us to settle 

deeper and deeper into the fire-prone 

bush. 

Why do laws matter for bushfire 

preparation? 

My colleagues and I recently mapped 

out Australia’s legal “anatomy” for fire. 

By anatomy, we mean all the different 

parts of the legal framework, including 

those that affect fire preparation. 

Why? To optimise our system of laws to 

be ready for the ever-more-intense fires 

expected as the world heats up. 

Here’s what a clash looks like. It’s now 

common to undertake prescribed 

burns and burn vegetation to reduce 

fuel loads and reduce the chances of a 

major bushfire. 

But prescribed fires cause smoke. Fire 

agencies must comply with smoke 

pollution laws designed to keep 

vulnerable people safe. These two 

different risks – bushfire, and smokerelated 

illness – are managed under 

two different areas of law. Finding the 

balance is really hard. 

We already know our environmental 

laws are failing to adequately protect 

nature. 

Bushfires add to this as a serious and 

growing threat to our distinctive wildlife 

and ecosystems. The Black Summer 

megafires of 2019–20 killed huge 

numbers of animals and pushed many 

species closer to extinction, including 

mountain pygmy possums, native bees 

and rare frogs. 

As fire seasons worsen and get longer 

over coming decades, fire agencies 

and local governments will be called 

on to clear and manage fuel loads – 

essentially, trees, plants and leaf litter – 

close to communities in the bush. 

You can see the issue. Bushfire fuel 

is also habitat. Our international 

and domestic obligations to protect 

threatened species and habitats will 

come into increasing conflict with the 

need to preserve our settlements and 

farms. 

Better, clearer laws would help balance 

these issues. Last year, the Victorian 

government announced plans to make 

bushfire planning provisions clearer 

and more understandable. Reviews 

like this should clarify where homes 

can and can’t be safely built, as well as 

preventing development in sensitive 

habitat. 

Laws around fire need to be 

considered separately 

Emergency planners often group floods, 

storms and bushfires under the blanket 

term “all hazards”. This is done to help 

emergency services to plan efficient and 

coordinated responses to all kinds of 

extreme events. 

We believe laws about fire also 

deserve specific attention, particularly 

in Australia, where many of our 

ecosystems have evolved alongside fire. 

Not all fire is equal and not all fires are 

emergencies. 

In fact, laws governing protected areas 

in some states actually require parks 

agencies to use fire as a conservation 

tool. Using fire carefully is front and 

centre in the new plan to look after 

Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage 

Area. 

Not only that, but some areas need 

small fires lit in a mosaic pattern. Why? 

To encourage moorland plants to put 

out the flowers and seeds the critically 

endangered orange-bellied parrot relies 

on. 

Or take the growing importance 

33 


of cultural fire management and 

traditional land management. Victoria’s 

cultural fire strategy describes cultural 

burning as a “responsibility” and an 

example of “living knowledge”, but not 

as an emergency. 

Some laws, like arson, only apply to fire. 

There’s no equivalent crime for floods. 

Improving arson prevention could 

help cut the estimated A$1.6 billion in 

damages annually from fires being lit 

deliberately. 

While arson is not as common as it 

used to be, cutting arson further will 

reduce the number of fires Australian 

firefighters have to respond to. 

We have to make laws intersect better 

In the wake of destructive and lethal 

fires come the reviews and inquiries, 

which often recommend changes to 

emergency management laws. 

But if we look across the whole range of 

laws governing or touching on fire, we 

might find new ways to help us adapt. 

Over the last century, Australian 

governments have launched hundreds 

of inquiries and commissions after 

major bushfires. 

We don’t need to wait for the next 

fire and inquiry. We can find ways of 

optimising our web of intersecting laws 

right now – and prepare ourselves and 

nature for what is to come. 

AUTHOR 

Phillipa McCormack 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 

University of Adelaide 


These post-disaster inquiries also often 

recommend streamlining rules around 

native vegetation, to let landholders 

clear more trees and shrubs around 

their houses. That’s understandable, 

because these inquiries are intended to 

find lessons. 

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Suicide risk is high for military and emergency 

workers – but support for their families and 

peers is missing 

Suicide is a complex issue 

that impacts 425,000 

Australians every year. 

That’s because up to 135 

people are directly or 

indirectly impacted by 

each suicide death. 

Military and emergency 

services personnel 

(such as those in the 

police force, fire and 

rescue services, and 

paramedics), have higher 

rates of suicidal thoughts, 

attempts, and deaths than 

the general Australian 

public. This may be 

because they experience 

repeated traumatic 

events and are at risk of 

workplace harassment 

and bullying. 

Between January 2001 

and December 2016, 

there were a recorded 197 

suicide deaths of current 

or former emergency 

services personnel – an 

average of one emergency 

services personnel 

member dying every 

month. 

Meanwhile, there were 

1,600 deaths by suicide 

among veterans in 

Australia between 1997 

and 2020. This equates 

to an average of more 

than one veteran dying 

by suicide every single 

week. Yet there is little 

understanding and limited 

support for their families. 

The ripple effect 

Children who have a 

parent who die by suicide 

are three times more 

likely to die by suicide 

than their peers. 

Similarly, adults bereaved 

by suicide, even outside 

of their family, are more 

likely to attempt suicide 

themselves.

Author: 

Henry Bowen 

Senior Research Officer, 

University of South Australia

However, providing resources and 

support to those impacted by a 

suicide death can lower the risks. 

The families and coworkers of military 

and emergency service personnel 

who die by suicide represent a 

unique group with specific needs. The 

loss of their loved one which may not 

be addressed by generic or civilian 

resources and services. 

For example, families and peers are 

often left feeling conflicted about how 

they talk about their loved one’s job. 

How do they acknowledge the great 

work their loved one has done in 

their career, while also knowing that 

career contributed to their death? 

Another issue is access to adequate 

social support, which can decrease 

grief difficulties, depression 

symptoms, and suicidal thoughts 

after a suicide. Service families may 

have moved a long way – interstate 

or even internationally – as part of 

supporting the personnel member’s 

role. This means families may have 

limited social support available to 

them, and little to no systems in place 

for family care. 

With such a high level of impact and 

risk, you might assume there are 

policies, safeguards, and systems in 

place to support families and peers 

in the event of a serving personnel 

member dying by suicide. But this is 

not the case. 

The interim report from the 

Royal Commission into Veterans 

Suicide acknowledged a lack of 

understanding of the impact of 

deaths by suicide on families and 

colleagues, and that the availability 

and accessibility of the support was 

too limited. 

There is a need to better understand 

and support families and peers of 

both military and emergency service 

workers when a service member dies 

by suicide. 

A starting point 

Military and Emergency Services 

Health Australia have begun the 

process of developing a national 

framework for supporting the 

bereaved families and coworkers 

of defence and emergency services 

personnel who have died by suicide, 

informed by lived experience. 

We mapped all available grief and 

bereavement services who may offer 

support after suicide or offer support 

to defence or emergency services 

personnel and their families. We 

wanted to find out who, if anyone, 

was supporting families or coworkers 

in Australia when a current or former 

serving military member or first 

responder dies by suicide. 

We identified 16 service providers 

supporting people after suicide for 

the general public. StandBy Support 

After Suicide helps individuals, 

families, friends and witnesses and 

is the most accessible provider. 

Six providers were identified as 

supporting service personnel even 

though they didn’t have specific 

suicide bereavement services. Only 

one service – Open Arms, a defence 

force-affiliated organisation – offers 

specific support for the families and 

peers of military personnel when 

someone dies by suicide. 

For first responders as there is no 

service within Australia offering 

specific assistance to families or 

peers in the event of a worker’s 

suicide. The closest service available 

is offered by Fortem Australia, who 

provide first responder counselling 

services, though these are not 

specific to suicide bereavement. 

Building connections 

Despite this lack of specific services, 

the civilian services currently available 

were open learning how they could 

offer better support. For some, this 

was about finding cultural training for 

staff. For others, like StandBy Suicide 

Support, it could mean modifying 

existing resources to be for military 

and first responder workers and their 

family. 

Every community-based organisation 

we made contact with expressed 

interest in offering this support. 

MESHA will be working with the 

families, peers and co-workers 

of services personnel who have 

died by suicide, alongside a needs 

assessment of the service providers 

who offer grief and bereavement 

support after suicide, to better 

understand the specific requirements 

for this population. 

However, despite the encouraging 

responses from service providers, 

conscious efforts by federal and 

state governments will be needed to 

supply funding to these services. 

If this article has raised issues for you, 

or if you’re concerned about someone 

you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. If 

you are the family member of a current 

or former serving defence or emergency 

services member, and you are 

concerned about their well-being, a list 

of services available to support yourself 

and them can be found here. 


37 


A MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE 

DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE SOFT. 

IT MEANS YOU’RE HUMAN. 

Put your hand up for help. 

The sooner you do, the sooner you get better. 

PO LICE ASS O CIAT 

IO N 

O F 

S O U TH 

I A 

AUST RA L

IN THE SPOTLIGHT 

Flashback 

In each edition of the Australian Emergency Services Magazine we feature a profile on a 

person, team, partnership, squad or unit to showcase their unique contribution to the 

emergency services industry. If you would like to be featured or know someone who deserves 

some recognition get in touch with our team. 

the company enabling access 

to emergency services in 

australia’s most isolated 

communities 

Communications are a necessity for emergency and non-emergency support 

services alike. Residents of isolated indigenous communities are some of the 

most disadvantaged in receiving adequate access to emergency and government 

services. APN’s Community-wide communications services are enabling indigenous 

communities to get support like never before.

Indigenous communities in isolated, 

remote parts of Australia find 

themselves in a unique position. 

Disconnected from metropolitan and 

regional emergency, government 

and public health services, increased 

reliance is placed on local community 

support to take the place of traditional 

emergency services such as police, fire 

and ambulance. 

In addition, the transition of government 

services towards an entirely digital model 

necessitates community members have 

reliable internet to access government 

platforms and assistance. 

APN’s solar-powered WiFi and Phone Units provide Emergency Comms, Lighting & Navigational Aids at RFDS landing strips 

The absence of telecommunications 

infrastructure in these communities, the 

lack of fixed phone or internet services 

coupled with poor or non-existent 

mobile coverage, is a significant barrier 

to engaging both local community-based 

and national support services. 

Australian Private Networks (APN) is 

an Australian owned-and-operated 

specialist in regional and remote 

communications who has been at the 

forefront of new advances in remote 

community communications for nearly 

20 years. Working with local councils and 

community stakeholders, APN is often 

engaged to design projects which can 

secure funding through state and federal 

grant programs. 

For over a decade, APN has been 

developing solutions for connecting 

remote indigenous communities. In 

2008, the Department of Prime Minister 

& Cabinet commissioned APN to design, 

develop, install and maintain Remote 

Community Telecommunications (RCT) 

for Indigenous Communities (formerly 

Indigenous Communications Program or 

ICP Telephone solutions). 

APN designed, constructed, and 

installed 301 WiFi telephones in remote 

Indigenous Communities across Australia 

in 2009, 2010, and 2011. These were 

designed and built by APN using its 

own engineers and technicians at its 

Melbourne facility. They have enabled 

communities to access emergency 

services like ‘000’ through year-round 

WiFi and phone services often for the 

first time. 

More recently, APN has supplied a similar 

solution to the Royal Flying Doctor 

Service, which provides remote landing 

strips with WiFi and phone services, in 

addition to weather information and 

external airstrip lighting to assist RFDS 

aeromedical staff. 

Indoor WiFi receivers installed in homes 

and community buildings provide indoor 

WiFi coverage, while external WiFi Mesh 

repeaters in specially chosen locations 

ensure ubiquitous WiFi coverage 

outdoors across the Community. 

Able to be powered by mains or solar 

power, these solutions can be installed 

in places without a continuous mains 

power supply. 

Each indoor WiFi receiver includes a 

telephone that allows for extension-toextension 

calls within the Community 

and calls to external landlines and mobile 

phones free of charge. 

These phones allow residents instant 

access to local police and other 

community-based support networks 

without physically travelling to the 

services’ headquarters to get assistance. 

They often include distinct features for 

indigenous community requirements, 

including access to government websites 

(.gov.au) without purchasing data and 

content filtering maintained by local 

elders. 

Community WiFi networks can also be set 

up to provide free access to local content 

servers, so indigenous Communities can 

digitise their photos, videos and stories, 

to preserve and pass on their tribe’s 

history to future generations. 

APN provides ongoing training in digital 

literacy and service support to these 

communities and maintenance and 

servicing of their hardware to ensure the 

Community can take full advantage of 

the solution into the future. 

This versatile solution is modular and 

scalable, with additional APN backhaul 

services able to be added to support 

greater bandwidth requirements, 

and more repeaters to support new 

residences or extend the outdoor WiFi 

coverage further. 

Organisations can also configure the 

community-wide service for other 

uses, such as Public Emergency 

Communications over large distances 

or as a method of providing 

communications in case of emergency 

to isolated places of interest or road 

accident blackspots, where mobile 

reception is unavailable. 

APN offers a range of solutions to 

support emergency services, including 

portable services that provide WiFi 

connectivity through a satellite 

connection anywhere in Australia. 

Easily set up using a ground-mount 

or fixed to a trailer or vehicle, APN’s 

portable service offers remote 

connectivity that is transportable 

anywhere you need it. 

Learn more about APN’s remote 

communications solutions on their 

website or by contacting their Corporate 

Solutions team on (03) 8566 8312 or 

emailing corporatesales@apn.net.au. 

APN has also been designing, installing 

and maintaining Community-wide 

WiFi and phone services, including 

recent projects jointly funded by State 

and Federal Governments through 

the Australian Government’s Regional 

Connectivity Program (RCP Program). 

External repeaters offer outdoor WiFi coverage across the entire community (left), while indoor units provide WiFi service 

as well as a fixed telephone service and USB power outlet (right)

TRAVEL 

EMERGENCY 

Breaks 

Words: Brooke Turnbull 

This month we’re heading somewhere where 

the vibes are good and the surf is nearly 

always up. Byron Bay is one of the most 

popular and original surfing holiday spots in 

Australia and for good reason. Even big name 

celebrities like Chris Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky 

and Zac Efron flock to the Northern Rivers of 

New South Wales. With its pristine beaches, 

hinterland wonders and hive of activity, Byron 

Bay and its surrounds stay popular while still 

remaining true to the core of the values and 

beliefs of its original residents. So stay cool 

and hang ten while we take you on a far out 

journey to our most loveable hippy town.

Location: 

Byron Bay is located in the Northern 

Rivers of New South Wales, about 2 hours 

south of Brisbane, just across the border. 

You can fly into the Gold Coast airport 

and hire a car to get yourself down there, 

or you can fly directly in Ballina regional 

airport from all major capital cities. This 

will bring you closer to Byron, but you’ll 

still have to hire a car to get from the 

Ballina airport to Byron as it’s about a 30 

minute drive. 

If you live in New South Wales, and you 

have the time and inclination, a road trip 

to Byron Bay is one of the best ways to 

get there as you can drive through the 

sprawling greenery of Central New South 

Wales to get there, visiting all the major 

tourist attractions along the way (we’re 

looking at you, Big Banana). Either way, 

we definitely recommend having a car 

in Byron, because you’ll want to explore 

other places around the location like 

Brunswick Heads or Bangalow for their 

famous markets, and you’ll find it much 

easier with four wheels underneath you. 

Places to Stay: 

Byron has absolutely zero shortage 

of places to stay. From camping to 

ultimate luxury, you’ll find every type 

of accommodation you can think of 

in between. We, of course, have kept 

to our three major options. Budget, 

intermediate and luxury for some great 

recommendations. But, if you’re looking 

for something outside the box, Byron has 

some excellent accommodation so get 

googling and find that special place to 

stay. 

First up for us is the Arts Factory Lodge. 

This place is an absolute Byron Bay 

institution and, if you’re on a budget, (or 

even if you’re not) the Arts Factory is the 

place to be. 

While it definitely caters more to the 

backpacker market, there are a variety 

of different accommodation types within 

the Arts Factory. So if you’re a couple 

looking for an intimate double you can 

get this here while still experiencing the 

fun and atmosphere that the Arts Factory 

provides. 

Set on 5 acres, there’s pools, lakes, an 

outdoor cinema and the Buddha Day Spa. 

Accommodation options include mixed 

dorms, teepees and private double rooms 

and start from about $50 per person per 

night.

The best part about the Arts Factory, however, is the 

community feeling. Given that it originally started as a 

commune/art collective, this element hasn’t really changed 

over the years and guests can still take Didgeridoo 

making, yoga classes, sunrise rainforest tours, fire-twirling 

performances and live music. An onsite brewery offers 

guests a place to kick back, interact and listen to some 

tunes after a hard day of exploring the area. 100% a must 

see, even if you’re not staying, as the Arts Factory is open to 

visitors during the day. 

Option number two, for those on an intermediate budget, 

look no further than the Byron Bay Hotel and Apartments. 

4.5 stars. Right in the centre of town and pet friendly, this 

place is perfect for a family as the apartments are fully selfcontained. 

The Arts Factory Lodge - the original Byron destination. Image credit:www.byronbay.com 

The apartments have been fully renovated to include all the 

modern conveniences that you need to ensure that this 

feels like a home away from home, while still being nice and 

close to the buzzing action of Byron Bay’s centre. 

A two minute walk to the main beach means that it’s a 

great place to stay if you’re planning on taking advantage of 

Byron’s famous surfing beaches. With a variety of 1, 2 and 

3 bedroom apartments to choose from and starting from 

$300 per night in low season, there’s options for everyone. 

So pack a bag, pack the kids, heck even pack Grandma, and 

get yourselves booked in for your next Summer getaway. 

Our final option is one you may have previously heard of. 

It’s quite popular on Instagram because, well…it’s super 

instagrammable. And while you may have to fight an 

influencer or two for the perfect selfie spot, this place is 

the ultimate in Byron luxury. If you guessed we were talking 

about Elements of Byron then you are right on the money. 

Byron Bay Hotel and Apartments, great for all the family. Image www. 

byronbayhotelapartments.com.au 

Elements is so incredible that it even has it’s own magazine, 

so if you don’t want to take our word for it, you can take 

theirs. Elements has won awards like Best Pool in Australia, 

Best Hotel Design and Highest Ranking Wine List to name 

but a few, so you know you’re going to be treated with the 

utmost care and attention from the moment you check 

in. With an adults only pool, Elements is perfect for both 

families and couples because one never has to interact 

with the other if you so choose. 

With facilities like a fire pit, beach lounge, playground and 

tennis court, it’ll be hard to even leave the grounds of the 

resort itself. Which is fine, because you also have access to 

activities like horse riding, forest trails and the Osprey Day 

Spa, so there’s plenty of things to do. However, if you do 

decide to venture into Byron Bay, you have direct access 

to the solar train that will run you into the heart of town 

for a fun adventure, no matter your age or circumstance. 

Villa accommodation at Elements starts at around $550 per 

night in low season. 

Things to Do: 

Just like there are plenty of places to stay in Byron Bay, 

you’re also not going to find a shortage of things to do 

around the region. We’ve collated a selection of activities 

that you’ll love when touring the Northern Rivers region of 

New South Wales. 

The beauty of Elements of Byron. Image: www.elementsofbyron.com.au 

Byron Bay, and the surrounding area, is a hot bed of tasty 

43 


delights. The food and wine from the region is so good, 

it’s got its own annual festival! Caper is a four day festival 

in Byron Bay in November that is a justifiable celebration 

of the regions local produce, wine and beer. Anything 

from cooking classes, to tasting sessions, to pairing 

recommendations, as well as special dining and shows, the 

festival is every foodie’s joyous dream. If this sounds like 

you, then definitely plan your stay for November. 

If you’re keen to get amongst the local produce but can’t 

make it for the festival, never fear. You can plan your own 

mini trailblazing tour solo! Experience farm to table food 

at The Farm (along with some very instagrammable pigs), 

brewery tours at Stone and Wood and the Cape Byron 

Distillery and sumptuous dining options like Trattoria 

Basiloco and The Balcony Bay & Oyster Co (also, amazing 

cocktails). If you’re heading to the region for other things, 

then at the very least, don’t miss out on some seriously 

amazing nights out with whoever it is you’re holidaying with. 

If you’re heading to the Northern Rivers to surf, then we 

don’t need to tell you where to go. You already know, and 

if you don’t…ask a local. If you’re not going to surf, but still 

want to get in some sun time then check out Tallow Beach, 

Wategos and Belongil Beach. Or, simply head to Cape 

Byron, lay out a picnic rug and have some down time on 

the grass. 

An Aerial view of Wategoes beach in Byron Bay 

Local artists in Byron are legendary, so make sure you get 

in a visit to the Thomgallery, the Lone Goat Gallery and the 

Byron Bay Gallery. The Byron Markets are also great for 

local talent and for grabbing some souvenirs to take back 

home with you. 

We do try to give recommendations of things you may not 

have thought of before. We don’t want to toot our own 

horn, but this one is a doozy. The Byron Bay Gyrocopters 

is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience life as 

a pilot, as well as take in some of the most breathtaking 

beaches and other marine sites in the world from a birds 

eye view. You can fly over the sea, the Byron lighthouse, 

or even the waterfalls in the national parks that make up 

the hinterland. Whatever your preferred view, experience 

it from the cockpit of one of the world’s safest aircraft. 

The comprehensive training program that is given by the 

friendly team means that you’ll feel confident and able 

when you lift up up and away with one of their trained and 

seasoned pilots to glide in the clouds. Experiences like 

these don’t come up very often, and why not try something 

a bit different while you’re on your next getaway. The flights 

with the Pilot For A Day program start at $495 per person. 

If you’re not into the responsibility of flying but still want 

the view, they have a great range of simple flights to take 

advantage of, with their minimum flight time being 30 

minutes. A 30 minute flight with Byron Bay Gyrocopters will 

set you back $179, but the memories will last forever. 

We’ve given you only a small selection of information on a 

place that could be returned to year after year and you’ll 

still discover more about it than you ever knew. So, if you’re 

looking for a little more help there are plenty of resources 

online. Or, you could wing it, wait until you get there and go 

and have a chat to the friendly staff at the Visit Byron Bay 

tourist centre at the Old Stationmasters Cottage. They’re 

local, they’re knowledgeable and they’re ready to show you 

the best of their area. Safe travels! 

The Farm is an incredible paddock to plate destination. Image www.thefarm.com.au 

Byron Bay Gyrocopters for the ultimate holiday thrillride. www.flygyro.com.au 


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AESM Vol 31, ISSUE 4 2022

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