The Dunoon and District Gazette

The pumice covered "Durour" at the former slipway near Karavia. The "Durour" was left stranded hundreds of meters inland from the new shoreline formed after the 1937 Vulcan eruption.

James Street, Dunoon, minutes after the tornado has passed. Photo by Tracey Rudd.

Friday 26th October 2007 is a day that Dunoon residents will never forget. At around 3.45pm a massive storm identified later as a “Twister” hit the tiny town. Residents were left either cowering in their homes or unable to reach them due to the damage the storm left in its wake.

Walking through Dunoon after the storm was like walking through a war zone, trees split in two and debris strewn across the road, shocked residents surveying damage, stunned by what had happened.

There were over 100 emergency personnel working in Dunoon. Photo by Frank Ford.

Friday, 26th

A severe weather warning had been issued for the Lismore area. It was less than 3 weeks after the hailstorm that devastated Lismore. The residents of the village of Dunoon (population 500) in the heart of the macadamia county 18kms north of Lismore, waited with anticipation as the storm approached from the south. No one could have predicted the events that were about to unfold.

What can I say? The pictures that dominated the media over the week following the storm have said it all for me. We lost the building that was referred to as St. Matthew’s Anglican Church. Those of us who are associated with the Church are still mourning the loss of our pretty little building for which we all worked tirelessly and of which we were all so proud. A Church, however, is more than bricks and mortar and, as such, the Church lives on. Our services are still being held every Sunday morning at 9.30am but, for the time being, they are being held in the Uniting Church building on the corner of Fraser Road and Dunoon Road.

Along with the rest of the village, we at Dunoon School were totally stunned by the force of the tornado and the subsequent damage.

Since Friday 26th, the children have been sharing accommodation in the only rooms available – the library and music room. It was very sad for teachers and students to lose the Year 2/3/4 and the Year 5/6 classrooms along with everything inside. However, we are hopeful that out of this catastrophe will come some good. Eventually we will have new, modern and well equipped classrooms and we look forward to those in 2008!

Community spirit is alive and well in Dunoon. The Dunoon Preschool had arranged a fundraising film night at Dunoon Hall for Friday the 2nd of November. The unexpected arrival of the tornado, a week earlier, brought together our film’s theme of The Power of Community with the power of the Dunoon community when faced with a natural disaster. The opportunity now presented itself to bring the theme of the film night into immediate reality. Ove Altman kindly showed his video of the tornado. He was right there as the scenario was being unfolded. The community supported the night, and the preschool, which had not been in the tornado’s path, donated the night’s takings to the school

Just like the iconic fig tree which for so long has shaded our beautiful Balzer Park, the sporting clubs that were housed in the oval amenities block will regenerate themselves and be regrown/rebuilt with the continued help and support of the community.

Speaking on behalf of the Soccer Club and Little Athletics I would like to thank everyone who helped with the clean up and who has put so much effort into sorting out the usual storm aftermath of rubbish and insurance details - apologies for not naming names but there are so many and we wouldn’t want to leave anyone out through error.

These photos show an early morning clean up crew stopping to wash off sticky fruit juices after breakfast of all you can eat custard apples

Damaged and blown from trees by recent storm events, if the fruit was left to rot, it would become a source of disease and insect infestation for future crops.

The Rainbow and Scaly Breasted lorikeets have flown in and been singing their heads off feasting on all the sweet abundant fruit the local farmers and gardeners have seen knocked from their trees.

The Hoochers

Last night I witnessed what determination and community spirit can achieve when it sets its mind to it or maybe it is the culmination of the community spirit I have witnessed since Dunoon experienced the devastating effects of last month’s tornado, that is people working together to help each other.