Bushfire Recovery Shoalhaven

Experience a FREE Holiday Break Camp at NSW Sport and Recreation Campus at Berry.

Holiday Break is a series of free camps for young people across regional NSW communities who have been impacted by COVID-19 border restrictions, bushfires and drought and offers a much-needed break these school holidays. Come for a day, or stay for a few.

This series of camps is for young people aged between 12-15.

The following camp dates are available:

• Wednesday 5 January
• Thursday 6 January
• Friday 7 January
• Monday 10 January
• Tuesday 11 January

Don’t miss out! To find out more and make a booking visit the Sport NSW website or call 13 13 02.

Many communities lost access to power and communications during the 2019-20 bushfires, leaving them unable to connect with emergency services and stay informed to make safety decisions.

From this experience, the Shoalhaven City Council identified an opportunity to provide trusted and authoritative information from the Shoalhaven Integrated Emergency Management Centre (IEMC) to isolated communities to improve public safety during future emergencies.

The experience has highlighted shortcomings that needed to be addressed. There needs to be better communication with communities during a crisis, especially a community where the population can increase significantly during the tourism seasons.

With support from the Local Economic Recovery grants, funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments, Council is delivering critical infrastructure so that in future disasters, if power and communications are lost, community members can access important emergency information via their Local Information Hub.

The hubs will provide communications and energy technology at 19 Council-owned halls and community centres across the Shoalhaven, displaying accurate and up to date emergency information. Additionally, four Holiday Haven holiday parks will have information dashboards installed.

The dashboards are linked to the IEMC via satellite internet connection and powered via backup power from solar panels and batteries. This will ensure the Hubs are not reliant on mobile phone towers or the power grid.

In the Shoalhaven, the biggest cause of power disruption isn’t fire, it’s not flood, it’s wind taking out power lines. Whatever we could do to provide access to timely information had to be around a system that did not rely on mobile phone technology and did not rely around the grid.

This project is unique in that it provides uninterruptable power, but also uninterruptable communications, and they go hand in hand. It’s really revolutionary in being adaptable to this environment that we live in.

Using the talent, services and infrastructure from within the region, the project makes use of commercially available technology, fitted and installed by local providers.

Callala Bay Community Hall has been the pilot site for the communications and power upgrade, with installation of a Voice over IP satellite phone connection, live screen with satellite connection, communications rack, satellite modem, solar panels, battery pack and new power board.

It has been a true collaboration with the local Callala Bay community, thanks to direct representative involvement, providing advice and preferences on installation and operation.

Callala Community Centre President James Morris has enjoyed setting his community up for success, highlighting that it was an exercise of cooperation between the Council, local business and providers, all contributing ideas , to work together to come up with an outcome.

In preparing the Callala community for future disasters, in future, decisions will now be made on knowledge, rather than on guess work.

The local information hubs are part of a broader Recovery into Resilience Project (RRP) that will provide a coordinated approach to improving the resilience of the Shoalhaven Community, via three programs which involve short and long-term approaches, as detailed below.

Although we can’t stop the future happening, we can certainly be more prepared to meet it.

The recovery journey is a complex one with many challenges. We have seen and continue to see extraordinary efforts within our communities to support each other and we continue to see compassion and kindness.

Do you:

• Still have tough days and feel the impact from the 2019/2020 bushfires?
• Experience anxiety, feel overwhelmed and struggle to plan ahead?
• Find the rebuilding process difficult to navigate and would like some support?
• Need general practical support?

Council’s Recovery Outreach Team are here to listen, help and provide that practical advice together with referrals.

If referrals are needed, we can draw on a strong network of support from Federal, State Governments, Not for Profit Organisations, and agencies/providers.

Please call 1300 293 111 or email communityconnections@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au

This Recovery Newsletter - 11 November 2021 will help guide you through the recovery process, whether it be bushfire, flood, or COVID-19. Learn about the support available and how we can work together towards recovery.

Our Recovery Helpline is here to assist Monday – Friday 9am-5pm on 4429 5888.

Previous Recovery Newsletter issues are published in the 'Document Library' on this web page.

The Australian Government's 'Preparing Australian Communities - Local Stream Program' provides locally identified, and locally led projects, with up to $10 million in funding to improve the resilience of communities against natural hazards.

Grants of $20,000 to $10 million to cover eligible project costs.

Opening date: 10 Dec 2021 9am

Closing date: 6 Jan 2022 5pm

The program is open to Australia-wide applicants. It will prioritise projects in locations where there is a greater risk of natural hazards, including bushfires, floods and tropical cyclones.

For more information, visit the business.com.au website.

This Recovery Newsletter - 28 October 2021 will help guide you through the recovery process, whether it be bushfire, flood, or COVID-19. Learn about the support available and how we can work together towards recovery.

Our Recovery Helpline is here to assist Monday – Friday 9am-5pm on 4429 5888.

Previous Recovery Newsletter issues are published in the 'Document Library' on this web page.

All community members, service providers, volunteers, business operators and professionals are invited to attend free online workshops below.

This series of very popular online free workshops are now open for registration.

Accidental Counsellor
Dates: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Thursday, 18 November 2021
Monday, 22 November 2021
Time: 9.30am to 4.30pm
Register Online

Managing Conflict and Difficult Conversations
Date: Tuesday, 23 November 2021
Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Time: 9:30am ti 4:30pm
Register Online

Self-Care
Date: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Time: 9:30am to 4:30pm
Register Online

These workshops fill very quickly. If you are interested, please register as soon as possible.

For more information about the courses, visit the ACWA website.

Shoalhaven Recovery HUB, at the Ulladulla Civic Centre, 81B Princes Highway, will reopen at 10.30am on Thursday 28 October 2021.

Our Recovery Outreach Team, together with supporting agencies, are looking forward to welcoming our community back to the HUB. We can’t wait to see you face to face to catch up over a cuppa!

Then HUB will resume normal hours, Thursday and Friday 10.30 am to 4.00pm, with programs and activities as COVID restrictions continue to ease.

For more details our Recovery Team is always here to listen and help. Please call on 4429 5888 (Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm)

Please note: COVID safe measures remain in place, visitors must be able to provide proof that they fully vaccinated, wear a mask indoors and check in using the Service NSW App or sign in with full details.

Follow the instructions on the Service NSW website to update your Service NSW app to and add your proof of vaccination to the NSW COVID Safe Check-in.

For some in our community access to online services are not an option.

You are able to obtain a printed certificate of your immunisation history from:

• your vaccine provider
• by calling the Australian Immunisation Register on 1800 653 809 (8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) and ask for your statement or certificate to be mailed to you.

This Recovery Newsletter - 14 October 2021 will help guide you through the recovery process, whether it be bushfire, flood, or COVID-19. Learn about the support available and how we can work together towards recovery.

Our Recovery Helpline is here to assist Monday – Friday 9am-5pm on 4429 5888.

Previous Recovery Newsletter issues are published in the 'Document Library' on this web page.

This Recovery Newsletter - 30 September 2021 will help guide you through the recovery process, whether it be bushfire, flood, or COVID-19. Learn about the support available and how we can work together towards recovery.

Our Recovery Helpline is here to assist Monday – Friday 9am-5pm on 4429 5888.

Previous Recovery Newsletter issues are published in the 'Document Library' on this web page.