How do you cope?

“Water has been a big theme in my life. When I was 14, I spent 2 years migrating on a 50-foot sailing boat from the Channel Islands to Australia with seven others onboard, including my brother, father, and mother. I helped manage the boat, climbing the masts and took my time at the tiller. It was full on. But if we had stayed in Guernsey, we would’ve been under the German domination or had to withstand the depression years in England. We arrived in Australia in 1939. My late husband and I moved to our riverside unit in 1972. Since then, I have lived through three floods. In 2022 we saw the river rising again. When things like this happen, you’ve got to get on with it. You’ve got to cope somehow.”

Anne, Kurilpa resident since 1972

Image: Avebury Street, West End, 1974. Credit: Anne Collins.