Voices ResourcesA website for the worldwide community around the journal Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy

2011 began tragically for the residents of South-East Queensland, Australia, with some of the worst flooding on record. On Monday, the 10th of January, storms caused massive water surges to flash flood the inland city of Toowoomba (127 kilometres west of Brisbane). South-East Queensland had experienced an unprecedented wet summer, and the already soaked ground could not take any more water. The ‘inland tsunami’ as it was called crushed everything in its path, ran over the side of the Toowoomba range and wiped out entire country towns that lay in its path. Sadly, many lives were lost including babies and children, and billions of dollars worth of property was destroyed.

The residents of Ipswich (30 kms west of Brisbane) and Brisbane watched along with the rest of the nation in horror. But a surreal silence fell over the city of Brisbane, our home town and the third largest in Australia, as the realisation set in that all of this water was moving down stream towards us, on its way to the sea.

In 1974 Brisbane experienced some of the worst flooding on record, resulting in loss of life, housing and major damage to city infrastructure. In the aftermath a dam was built to the west of the city to offer some protection from future flooding. Residents were told the 1974 floods would never happen again. This dam – the Wivenhoe – also acts as a catchment for drinking water.

The irony of all the rain in 2010 was that it ended a 10-year drought, one in which the dams nearly emptied and the city was on the verge of running out of drinking water. Residents endured hot summers on the highest level of water restrictions. 2010 saw a La Nina weather pattern set in and with it – rain, rain, rain. By the time the typical wet season began (December- the start of our summer) and our first cyclone for the season, Cyclone Tasha, hit the area, the ground was already soaked. Brisbane experienced torrential rainfall during this month and into January.

2011 began wet, with the dams full – in fact they were over capacity. This meant when the inland tsunami washed down, the already full dams, wet ground and swollen river had no capacity to hold the water.

The city woke to the realisation that it was indeed going to flood, and this time worse than 1974. Our government and local council were highly prepared and set up relief centres and immediately began to evacuate residents from the central business district (CBD) and low lying areas. Now all we could do as a city was wait for the water to arrive. Thankfully, it stopped raining, but the water still came. On a beautiful Brisbane summer day, with bright blue skies and hot temperatures, the river broke its banks and flooded many of the western, southern and inner city suburbs. The western city of Ipswich was already under water by this time. The usually meandering river which is the centre of Brisbane’s central business district became a raging torrent destroying everything in its path, ripping restaurants off piers and taking with it pylons, boats and boardwalks as it rushed on to Moreton Bay. The only good news was that the stopping of the rain meant that the river did not peak as high as originally forecast which saved many homes from going under water. But for the 20,000 people whose homes were flooded, this was cold comfort.

This event affected the citizens of our city in different ways. People who were directly affected had to deal with the trauma and stress of loss – loss of homes, properties, photos, and in some very sad cases, loss of life. Other people, dealt with feelings of horror, watching family and friends affected; but relief, and then guilt, that they did not live in a flood affected area. One thing everyone shared was a sense of resilience, and an inner strength to not give in - people wanted to help – the whole city banded together to start the immediate clean-up and the inevitable rebuilding process. Over 60,000 residents volunteered with to participate in these massive jobs.

The process of rebuilding one’s life though can be slow and painstaking, especially when insurance companies are involved. Many people stayed at the evacuation centres while they waited for the flood waters to recede. Once receded, homes in affected areas were inhabitable and large areas of the city had no electricity. People stayed with family or friends, some found rental accommodations, many had no option but to stay at the centres.

Some people had no homes to go to; some people had no homes of their own from which they came. Many homeless people found their usual haunts washed out and several of the support accommodation services were located in low lying areas of the city. Everyone in the centres was equally homeless now, one way or another.

Early Childhood Australia, working with the charity Save the Children, put out a call (through email networks) for early childhood professionals to volunteer some of their time and skill to work with the children who now found themselves in evacuation centres. Registered Music Therapists (RMT) Vicky Abad & Kate Williams both responded on different sides of the city, and following a first visit and day working, sent out an email to all Queensland RMTs seeking further volunteers for other centres they could not get to due to flooded roads. Monica Zidar, RMT responded and drove from the Gold Coast to Ipswich (not a simple feat given the floods) to work there. Quick contact was made with Victorian RMT Kate Teggelove who had worked extensively in schools following the devastating 2009 Victorian bushfires. She was able to give us a quick briefing and moral support on the post-traumatic work we were undertaking. This was shared with all Queensland RMTs who would likely encounter this kind of work at some point in 2011, given the extent of the state-wide flooding and Cyclone Yasi which was yet to come.

Initially the intervention was totally distraction-based, for both parents and children. Being sometimes silly with music seemed to be a welcome relief for both parents and younger children and some good giggles were had. The “littlies” (the young children) were encouraged to exert some energy as their play space was limited, however a sense of structure was also used to support containment of frayed emotions of which fear was the most prevalent. Positive coping skills were modelled for parents and we used the unstoppable energy of the children to carry ourselves through the often confronting flood stories being told around the centres.

A few days after this initial work, Monica went to work with some older children in Ipswich. Her main goal was to allow the children as many opportunities for choice and mastery of their environment as possible, and this was achieved through letting the children explore and play with all of her equipment in a flexible way. Throughout the course of the day, she set up a band, took requests (with the help of her ‘smartphone’) and sang many popular songs. She also worked on some lyric substitution with the group who decided to call over the policemen present in the evacuation centre to be their audience!  In a circle, each person took a turn to put a line in the song, if they wanted to, and all of them did. When Monica asked the group if they would like the song to be about something, a theme, it was only a few seconds before someone suggested the floods.

In the song, the children began by describing their surroundings, making reference to each other and the Greyhound racing that was going on just next to where we were. It wasn’t until about the third time around the circle that anyone mentioned the word ‘flood,’ but when they did the children recalled such things as ‘swimming to safety’, saving pets and feelings of sadness “’cause my house was gone”. One of the evacuation centre workers commented on how he felt as though he could cry listening to the kids express themselves like this.

The 2011 floods have left thousands of people without homes and livelihoods, and much of this beautiful city’s infrastructure is severely damaged, as we face a reconstruction effort of post-war proportions. Sadly, it has seen an estimated $30 billion dollars in loss and an estimated reduction in the state’s gross domestic product (GDP). Tragically, it has seen at least 35 people die with many more missing. The impact in one word is - devastating. But in other words, provided by our Premier, Ms Anna Bligh: "As we weep for what we have lost, and as we grieve for family and friends and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are: We are Queenslanders. We are the people they breed tough north of the border. We are the ones that they knock down, and we get up again”. And get back up we have, rebuild we are, confront the challenges we do, support each other we will.

Vicky’s reflection

The work that I conducted was immediate and in response to the tragic flooding. Most of the flood affected areas were still under water when I made my way through flooded and closed roads to the central evacuation centre. A distance of 7 kilometres from my house, but a whole world away.

Because of the central location of this relief centre, it catered to people who had lost homes and people who had no home to lose, but had lost the place they called home. The music that was made with these children was fast and furious, angry and loud – it reminded me of the flood water I had watched on the TV and seen in our local parks. Children of all ages played their instruments so hard that several were broken. But still a sense of containment was longed for and achieved through drumming games, stop / start / leadership style games. Opportunities for expression and mastery, for fun and fury.

I often wonder what the families are doing now and how the children are recovering. I wonder if the families have returned to their homes, or if the families who had no home to return to have found somewhere safe to live. I wonder how the children have processed their experience.

Two weeks after the flood I walked into my daughter’s playroom to see she had placed all her farm animals and little people on the top level of her doll house. I asked her if they were having a party. “No” she said “they are getting up high because the floods are coming”. My daughter is 4 years old. I wanted to cry. I hugged her and reminded her that we were safe from the water (we live on a hill) and that even if the water came we would be together and that was the most important thing. I sat down and joined in her game, grateful that she had found a medium through her play to process the experience.

I hope that we, in some small way, have provided a similar opportunity for the children affected by the floods to process some of the emotions associated with their experience through the music therapy sessions that we provided.

Kate’s reflection

In the Brisbane South evacuation centre, most of the families I worked with were recent (within the last five years) refugees from African nations. I soon realised that this was because, whilst many Brisbane families who were evacuated were socially connected enough to land on the doorstep of families and friends, it was not so for these families. For the smaller communities of refugees who lived in the lower lying suburbs, they generally only had each other – they were not connected to others on higher land – and they arrived in a large group to the evacuation centre with babies on their backs, toddlers by the hand and a plastic shopping bag with a few clothes. These were families who lost everything in the floods ......and as refugees I wondered whether this was the second, third, or fourth time they had experienced this kind of dislocation and how resilient can the human spirit be time and time again? 

The withdrawal I saw in some of the infants and toddlers was concerning, but in most cases, the power of music drew some furtive glances, a hit of the drum here and there and often a smile. A particularly enthusiastic participant was a four year old boy, an African refugee, with severe cerebral palsy, and now a flood victim. His joy whilst under the parachute was something to behold. Again, I wondered, does resilience have any limits? 

It was hard work, but a privilege working in the evacuation centre for a few days in the immediate aftermath of the flood. I maintain deep concern for the ongoing mental health of the Brisbane and Queensland community due to the signs of vicarious trauma I have seen and heard around the place. For my own ‘recovery,’ switching off the media and dancing to favourite tunes with my two young children was my own ‘music therapy.’ No doubt music and music therapy will have an ongoing role to play in the recovery for all Australians, and I’m sure there are many more music therapists than are mentioned here who are doing wonderful work in this area.  

My concerns, however, are somewhat tempered by the incredible resilience and compassion I’ve witnessed in this wonderful place to live – perhaps there are no bounds to the strength of the human spirit.

Monica’s reflection

Cooking dinner. Glass of wine. Legos everywhere. Children playing together (for the most part). Little did I know how the next few minutes would impact my world. The news came on the TV, another flood update; this time they showed footage of all these children, in what seemed to be a giant playpen at the Brisbane North Evacuation Centre. I immediately stopped what I was doing and looked at my own sons and was moved to tears, these poor children had potentially lost everything, had been uprooted into a completely unfamiliar environment and would be looking to their parents, who I can only imagine would be in a state of fear and panic themselves, for comfort and reassurance. This was happening only 100 kilometres from my home and I was cooking dinner, drinking wine! I had to help the only way I knew how, so I immediately registered with the volunteer’s website and began waiting for a call. It was only a day or two before I saw the Australian Music Therapy Association broadcast email and was really glad to hear that Vicky and Kate had been working with the families in Brisbane. Before I knew it, I was shipping my own kids off to grandma and grandad’s home, and settling in for a good night’s sleep in preparation for an early departure for the Ipswich Evacuation Centre the next morning.

What a day.......On his departure from the music therapy group I ran at the centre, a young boy thanked me for coming and commented on how much fun he had had that day. The same boy had expressed how lucky he felt that his family knew the water was coming and that they had a little time to prepare and get out. Lucky. His family of five was one of the families to lose everything. 

I stayed for a little while, just reflecting on what had taken place that day. I left feeling profoundly affected and humbled by the spirit of the children who suddenly felt lucky just to have each other. No dinner cooking, no Legos, not even a bedroom to go to sleep in, just the people they loved.

How Can You Help - Instruments & Resources Swept Away

Milpera State High School is a state secondary school in Brisbane’s inner west which provides English language and settlement services to prepare newly arrived immigrant and refugee students for participation in secondary schools around the Brisbane area. Milpera was inundated in the floods, with many attending families also severely affected. The students have proven how very resilient they have become, already having lost at least once everything they had due to their unfortunate circumstances that forced them to leave their countries and come to Australia hoping for a better life. They seemed to have adjusted to the challenges, losses and changes very quickly.

However, all of the music and art therapy resources used to support these students in their process of settlement into Australia were sadly lost and these departments have had to start virtually from scratch.

Milpera’s music therapist Tania Balil says “all the music therapy literature collection (articles, journals, some books) to do with the refugee population, multicultural issues, music therapy in schools, trauma, grief and loss, etc was lost in the flood”. Following a broadcast email requesting assistance, Queensland music therapists have already donated some instruments to support rebuilding the department. “It is sincerely touching to see how people are responding so generously in so many ways” comments Tania. However, much more is needed, and all contributions will be greatly appreciated. Please contact Tania on taniabalil@optusnet.com.au if you might be able to help out in any way. 

National Music Therapy Conference – Brisbane September 2011

This year’s national Australian music therapy conference, to be held in Brisbane, will be a celebration on many fronts. A celebration of the national and international family of music therapists who have extended thoughts, warmth, skill and time in the wake of natural disasters in many places. A celebration of the resilience of our clients and ourselves as therapists in these uncertain times. A celebration of the Australian way – incredible beauty and horror, drought and flood, humour and compassion. Come and join us – support Australian music therapy and the Australian tourism industry. Please email Convenor Kate Williams on musictherapy@optusnet.com.au to register your interest.

One Last Word

Less than a month after the floods, Tropical Cyclone Yasi made landfall in northern Queensland in the early hours of the morning. It was a Category 5 cyclone, one of the worst ever to hit the Australian coastline. Due to the enormity of the cyclone 30,000 people in Cairns and the surrounding areas were evacuated. Thankfully the cyclone did not cross at Cairns as earlier predicted, but rather at the small township of Mission Beach. Winds were recorded up to 300 kms per hour and anything in the path of the cyclone was destroyed or severely damaged. The banana and sugar cane crops were destroyed, placing even greater pressure on an already suffering economy. Damage is expected to amount into the billions again. Thankfully, due to excellent planning by government authorities, no one died as a direct result from the cyclone, though one person sadly died from carbon monoxide poisoning from their generator. A large area of the north coast from Cairns to Townsville and inland were without power for days.

The people of Queensland have had a harrowing summer, and are looking forward to a quiet winter this year!

How to cite this page

Vicky Abad, Williams, Kate & Zidar, Monica (2011). Australia: Brisbane floods January 2011 Australia: Brisbane Floods January 2011. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 09, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=country-of-the-month/2011-australia-brisbane-floods-january-2011