Australia is in the seventh year of the worst drought in the country's history. Since the start of this year the federal government has allocated over $2.3 billion in drought assistance funding for farmers in areas declared to be experiencing "Exceptional Circumstances" of drought. Since that time, state and federal service officers, social workers and other representatives have been traveling to EC declared areas all over Australia on a series of drought buses, to advise farmers of the financial and emotional assistance available to them.
In January 2007 and once again last week, the drought bus visited Biggenden, Queensland. Biggenden, population 800, is a cattle area that's been EC declared since October 2006. Global Public Media correspondent Andi Hazelwood currently makes her home in Biggenden Shire. In this exclusive Global Public Media feature, Biggenden farmers and business people, and drought bus workers, tell Andi their stories of drought. Choose any of the links at the end of the page to listen to the interviews in three separate parts or as a complete feature.
Noel Brown, cattle grazier: "I'm 76 year old and it's the worst drought in my history, that I've ever known. No water, no grass. And it doesn't seem much relief is down the track... over the period of years you manage to put a little bit away, and you just use your savings up. And when it runs out, well I suppose that's end of story."
Jeff McColl, rural services officer: "When you see huge properties that are running 3000 head of cattle and not a blade of grass to be seen on them, it's pretty tragic. But farmers are very, very resilient people."
Dellise Heit, social worker: "There's a recognition that there's a social impact of the drought as well, not just the financial impacts that happen. So there's lots of issues around depression, suicide, family breakdowns, things like domestic violence as well can become an issue when families are under stress."
Damien OSullivan, DPI&F Extension officer: "When you get a prolonged dry period like this it does take a long time for people to recover... there are still a lot of people getting off farm work, that sort of thing, to make ends meet."
Judy Harvey, Biggenden Small Engines: "In fifteen years we've had two really good seasons, so you have to say that drought is normal for here. It's great when we get rain, but we're not going to have the rain that we had back in the '50s - it just doesn't happen any more. So we actually have to plan for drought."
David Mitchell, Centrelink Customer Service: "It's becoming increasingly common that farmers due to the slowdown in income are needing to put off their farmhands to the point where they're undertaking the running of their farm singlehandedly..."
"I spoke to a farmer's wife yesterday... and she was telling me about his average day- he's up at 5am, he's needing to work off farm to supplement things and put food on the table... gets home at 9, 10 o'clock in the evening and he has to go out in the paddock to irrigate, he's got a big farm, that'd take him through to 11pm, perhaps midnight, to get up again at 5am and do it again the next day... he's had one day off in the last month, she told me, and he spent that flat on his back."
Darryl Ruprecht, Publican, Commercial Hotel: "During the last twelve months, with farmers having to spend a lot more money on food and water for their cattle, they've certainly had a lot less money to spend in establishments like hotels... Everything's brown, everyone's doing it hard, and the excess money in people's pockets just isn't there."
Megan Gerrish, Mobile Drought Assistance Coordinator: "One of the stories we've heard a lot of, that the rain that will come, it's going to take a lot of consistent rain to actually get the land back to viable again."
"A lot of the local farmers are having to head out of town to get other work, usually in the mines, and it's leaving the town with not a lot of men to do the odd jobs around town. So a lot of the women are needing to do the fencing or maintenance jobs. As a city slicker, you don't realize the cyclical effect, and that its starting to affect so badly."
"The government assitance can get people through just on the bare necessities but how are we going to, as communities and farmers, rebuild once there is some rain? Is there going to hopefully be enough infrastructure to make sure those farms become viable again?"
