By Tyler Wright
The Hills Creative Alliance has joined forces with Olinda Community House to hold a weekly storytelling event as part of the Dandenong Ranges’ June 2021 storm recovery.
Liz Millman, Secretary of the Hills Creative Alliance, lost her Sassafras home in the disaster, and has been inspired to learn more about the weather event and people’s stories ever since.
“I wanted to find an opportunity to meet with other people. And also to understand just what happened in the time of the storm, and find out about what services did to help and support us – and other organizations,” Liz said.
The people who join the weekly Friday morning event will have the chance to chat to other community members, but won’t be pressured to share their stories in a public forum.
“That process of telling your story again and again does help you – and I can I can vouch for this – it does help you to process what’s happened to move forward,” Liz said.
“We want to invite somebody to explain, say, from a meteorologists point of view; what actually happen[ed] that night?
“From the point of view of geologists, what is the geology of the Dandenong Ranges? Because we now face having to address land slippage and issues which you needed an understanding of.”
The process of recovery is a long one, but telling stories could be part of the healing journey.
The meetings will be held on Friday during the school term between 10:30am and 12:00pm at Olinda Community House, 79-81 Olinda-Monbulk Rd, Olinda VIC 3788.
