Residents from a small Indigenous community in northern New South Wales say they will fight a state government decision not to rebuild their homes after last year’s catastrophic floods.
Key points:
- Residents of the Cabbage Tree Island Aboriginal community are protesting a decision not to rebuild their homes after severe flooding last year
- The NSW government has deemed the risk of future floods too high to rebuild residential properties
- Residents say some families have been on the island for many generations and will fight the decision
The NSW Aboriginal Housing Office said investigations by the Department of Planning had found future flood threats to Cabbage Tree Island, in the Richmond River south of Ballina, were deemed too high-risk to rebuild.
On Saturday about 80 Cabbage Tree Island locals broke through a locked gate on the only bridge to the island from the mainland to protest the decision.
For some it was the first time they had seen their houses since the floods 18 months ago.
Aunty Susan Anderson is spearheading community efforts to overturn the decision not to rebuild.
She said her grandfather had originally bought the island.
“This is five generations here and they want to come back home,” she said.
“Before he died my grandfather told me … ‘Look after your family and look after the island’.”
Aunty Susan marched with residents down the main street and discussed the next steps to reverse the decision not to rebuild.
She said residents had also been given very little notice, after a prolonged wait for a decision.
“We just came up to do a protest and see the island one more time before we start fighting,” she said.
The Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council and the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office have resolved to build 26 residential homes in the nearby village of Wardell.
The community has been living in temporary pod accommodation in the village since the floods.
But Cabbage Tree Island residents such as Delia Rhodes do not want to relocate permanently to Wardell.
“We want to go home and get back to some normality like we had before the floods. It’s just devastating news,” she said.
“They keep telling us it’s a safety issue; I can’t see the reasons behind that.
“We’ve been through floods before, and we have always gone home.”
‘A real risk to human life’
Aboriginal Housing Office chief executive Famey Williams said the decision not to rebuild had been made after consultants found that a return to the island presented “an unacceptably high risk of exposure to future flooding events and a real risk to human life”.
“We cannot in good faith financially support a rebuild of the island for residential purposes,” Ms Williams said.
“I understand [the residents’] feelings … but the risks are high, the risk to human life is high and we have formed the opinion that we can’t proceed because of those risks.”
Ms Williams recognised the delay in making the decision not to rebuild on the island.
“We would have liked to have been at this position a lot earlier,” she said.
“It’s a complicated process. We have been working with the community to this point.”
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Principals’ Association president Dyonne Anderson is worried about the uncertain future of the local public school, which she said was a pillar of the community.
“Everyone in some way or other has a connection to our school, it helps everyone in our community feel supported in a culturally safe place, and feel connected,” she said.
For some, time for a new start
The community has been living in temporary pod accommodation at the Bath St location in Wardell where the new homes will be built.
Alwyn Roberts is a fourth-generation Cabbage Tree Island resident and said he was “just shattered” by the decision, but accepted it was time to embrace a new life.
“It’s a really tough call I’d say but at the end of the day for the safety of our elders and kids and families, I guess you’ve got to make the right decision,” he said.
“If we get another big flood, it could do worse damage, so if we have to move to higher ground, it is what it is.
“For me it’s just to get a roof over my head for me and my kids and make new memories in a new house and move forward.
“We can’t go back I guess.”
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