Far North Queensland experiences cyclones on a regular basis. My time on the Cassowary Coast taught me that these far north Queensland towns are accustomed to preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disaster. On the whole these men and women are resourceful and independent. They welcomed me warmly, in spite of my declared support […]

It continues to be a deeply satisfying and humbling experience to conduct interviews with community members who have experienced something as frightening and life changing as a natural disaster, in this case a Category 5 cyclone.  Cyclone Yasi bore down on Cardwell, Tully and the surrounding areas, making landfall on 3 February 2011.  A Category […]

It is very satisfying listening to the audio recordings of interviews with 34 residents of Coonabrabran.  Once again residents have been frank and trusting, and have considered my questions with care and thought.  I am grateful to so many people for their willingness to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences with me.   Grateful also […]

I have just left Dunalley and surrounding townships and bays, after almost 3 weeks living in Hobart in order to conduct this next stage of fieldwork. I have conducted over 20 interviews with a diverse set of residents who each agreed to participate in my research. I am very grateful to those who formally participated and to others who met […]

This morning I was interviewed by Jo Spargo on ABC Radio Hobart.  It is interesting to be asked to answer questions in a 6 minute time slot – and yet within that limit to try to capture the essence of my research and share it with the listeners.  I think that I did justice to […]

I have just left the Lockyer Valley after almost 3 weeks living in the valley and meeting residents.  I have conducted almost 30 interviews with residents who agreed to participate in my research.  I am grateful to those who formally participated and to others who met with me informally – these residents shared their experience, their […]

After a long wait, designing and planning behind the scenes, I am now finalising logistics and travel plans to visit four separate communities during the coming 4-6 months.  I will spend most of March in the Lockyer Valley (Qld), most of April in Dunalley (Tas), and then parts of May and June in Coonabarabran (NSW) […]

I am beginning to design the fieldwork component of my research.  I have visited the Lockyer Valley in Queensland, and now the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania.  Both areas devastated by disasters, both with communities trying to recover, rebuild, re-establish themselves.  Interestingly both communities have established Facebook pages as part of their recovery processes.  

Every now and then I feel swamped by the literature that must be read and analysed for this research to be credible.  I begin to feel overwhelmed by the task of sorting through it all and making sense of what has been written about natural disaster over many decades and by many researchers.

Then I find […]

What a title (‘Stitch and Bitch’) and what a fabulous group of women these women from are – the Material Girls of Kancoona – something that women all over Australia can do and enjoy, to support one another.  Watch this video and enjoy the support these women give to one […]