It has been a little over a year since a violent storm smashed the small town of Mirboo North in Victoria’s Gippsland region, leaving homes damages, roads cut and businesses with no electricity for days. But the recovery was accelerated thanks to an innovative community fund which enabled locals to get the money they needed for repairs quickly. Now, the community has turned its mind to future-proof the town and they say the model should be available more widely.
00:00When Stacey Harridge walks around her property in Mirboo North, she can still see the scars caused by last year's storm, when strong winds, heavy rain and hail smashed into her home, terrifying her young family.
00:16We couldn't see out the windows, we couldn't hear anything except the loud roar.
00:21The once in a generation storm took locals completely by surprise, flattening trees and ripping homes apart.
00:30Little Archie was about ten weeks old at the time and he was asleep in his cot probably ten minutes before the storm came through.
00:38After the storm we went and inspected the damage and there was a shard of glass through the little sleeping bag that I'd not long taken him out of.
00:46Emerging through the debris, residents began the mammoth job of cleaning up, a job made easier by a unique community foundation that meant the resources they needed were already there.
00:59Established in 2010 following the sale of a $5 million community owned aged care facility, the foundation invested the proceeds and uses the earnings to improve and grow the town.
01:11It's like our community superannuation fund and it allows this community to dream its own dreams.
01:16It's helped build a number of world class facilities including a multi-million dollar medical clinic and a $500,000 refurbishment of the town's swimming pool.
01:26I've talked to other locals that aren't quite from Mirboo North and they don't really have anything like it, just their funding towards local businesses, school kids, scholarships, grant money, it's amazing.
01:38To do the strategic planning session pretty soon.
01:41After the storm it quickly became the town's emergency relief agency.
01:45Within a few days we had set up the Mirboo North Community Recovery Fund and we got donations from everywhere.
01:53We received $90,000 and we immediately started to put that back out in grants into the community.
01:59But it was the post storm power outage which saw Mirboo North go without essential services for days which helped locals realise the importance of future proofing the town.
02:12The foundation helped fund the installation of changeover boxes to ensure shops can keep the lights and fridges on during emergencies.
02:22And this new box will save everything, it'll actually keep you trading.
02:26It means you can really easily switch over from main grid power to generated backup.
02:31And with extreme weather events tipped to become more frequent, residents say every small town should have its own foundation.
02:39Community foundations are local, they're responsive.
02:42It's a really, really brilliant idea.
02:45A town proving that even the darkest clouds have a silver lining.
02:52What if your backpacker could talk about when the Spenberg's post-its are being damaged.
02:55What are the things that do to someone else have a silver lining, that are being damaged?
03:00What is your boat that seems to be able to see that?
03:03What's your boat that seems to be able to see that?
03:07What is the best work that you can do with the Spenberg's post-itels?
03:09What's your boat that you can do with the electricity?
03:11What's your boat that you can do with the Amplight?
