Open paddocks in residential areas of Lismore

Tonight, my niece showed me a photograph I’d never seen before, captured by one of her neighbours during the height of the 2022 flood.

“This is when we were still in the roof,” she told me softly. Looking at the image, you’d never guess that theirs was a two-storey house, raised two metres off the ground with enough space underneath to park cars. The sheer height of the water still defies belief. She has recently moved to a new house in a higher part of South Lismore, and she has placed this image on a canvas as a reminder.

This is my first time back in Lismore since Christmas. Between an overseas trip and a month working up in Darwin, I haven’t been home much lately. But being back for these two weeks, the lasting impact of the flood on the town’s landscape is jarring. The sheer number of homes that have either been demolished or completely removed leaves an eerie emptiness.

I took a video earlier tonight along Union Street in South Lismore. Watching it back, it’s hard to reconcile the empty spaces with the vibrant street that used to be here, lined with family homes. The few houses currently standing behind temporary fencing are also marked for removal; when it’s all over, pretty much only one house will remain.

Eventually, this entire strip will transform into open parkland. In some ways, it feels like the right path forward. The street backs onto the local wetland known as “the duck pond,” and you can also see the Wilson’s River, so beyond keeping residents out of harm’s way, it’s giving the land back to nature and opening up green space.

My niece mentioned that wildlife is already starting to return to these cleared areas. Seeing nature quietly reclaim these spaces brings a strange, quiet hope amidst the loss.