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 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.

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Thursday 7 May 2026

11am—12.00pm (followed by a light lunch)

Murwillumbah Library

10 Tumbulgum Road, Murwillumbah 2484

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.

Free. All welcome.
Places are limited and registration is essential.
Light lunch provided.

Contact us if you have any accessibility requirements — livinglabnr@scu.edu.au or 02 6626 9188.
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Learn more:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/living-memory-south-murwillumbah

Contact the host of South Murwillumbah Matters

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