Understanding our environmental history

For some of us living in the Northern Rivers region, floods are the natural hazard we know best. But how well we understand and prepare for them is changing. Communities and governments are looking beyond recovery, towards preparedness — which means looking closely at the histories of people and place.

A talk by local historian, exploring the south side

Historian Jo Kijas will take us from the broad weather patterns shaping life along the east coast down to the banks of the Tweed River at South Murwillumbah. Flooding has always been part of life here, but how communities understand and remember it has shifted across generations. European settlement of the South Side grew in the early twentieth century and again from the 1990s, shaped partly by periods of fewer extreme events.

Taking an historical lens to community flood preparation, broadly across the region as well as locally, contributes to how we plan for the future.

Thursday 7 May 2026
11am—12.00pm

Murwillumbah Library
10 Tumbulgum Road
Murwillumbah 2484

Light lunch provided.

__

Free. All welcome.
Places are limited and registration is essential.

Book tickets now.

Contact us if you have any accessibility requirements — livinglabnr@scu.edu.au or 02 6626 9188.

Dr Jo Kijas is a consultant historian and Adjunct Fellow at Southern Cross University, specialising in environmental and community history. She has published widely, including nine commissioned histories and two Tweed Regional Museum publications.

This talk is part of an ongoing project Living Memory South Murwillumbah.

Locals hold the stories. Please get in touch if you have memories and images of South Murwillumbah to share.

____

Living Memory South Murwillumbah is funded by the NSW Reconstruction Authority on behalf of the Australian Government.

Banner image: Men in boats rescuing bikes outside Holden dealers, c1954. Image courtesy of Tweed Regional Museum.