Beyond ‘tinny heroes’ and ‘mud armies’: how caring communities tackle shared responsibility

Community efforts to prepare for, respond to and recover from climate disasters are as diverse as the individual communities themselves. Yet the models of disaster response portrayed in major media concentrate on made-for-TV ‘tinny heroes’ who take great personal risks to rescue people, animals, and property, as well as the ‘mud armies’ performing physical ‘boots and shovels’ clean-ups. This coverage implies a single model for shared responsibility roles in communities,recognising and valuing heroic rescue efforts but not the care work essential for communities to heal.

While stories of physical bravery and clean-up contributions are important, there is an equivalent need to recognise the ‘invisible work’ in community responses that are vital to fostering a sense of safety and to making memories that can help reduce individual and collective trauma. This overlooked and undervalued behind-the-scenes work, often undertaken by community Elders, women and retirees, may involve preparing food, minding children, doing laundry, caring for culturally significant possessions and practices, and deploying ‘soft skills’ such as active listening. Such activities complement and even transcend the ‘build back better’ focus of physical reconstruction.

This qualitative research project involves documenting the invisible work in community preparation for, responses to, and resilience around climate disasters. Growing out of a series of engagements with neighbourhood centres and community groups, and initially concentrating on the 2022 South-East Queensland flood event, the project aims to capture stories of community frustration, resilience and flourishing.

Being delivered through the QUT Centre for Justice, this project uses case studies and creative non-fiction storytelling practices. These will be based on information gathered through a literature review, observation, and interviews with community partners from local neighbourhood and grassroots organisations from the South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales areas.