Living Lab Northern Rivers

Worth a listen. Associate Professor Berto Pandolfo (UTS) and our Engagement Director Dan Etheridge were on ABC Radio National's Life Matters, talking through the Circular Timber pilot — the recommendations, the circumstances that made the project possible, and what would need to change for this approach to work at a larger scale.

Listen here:
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/how-to-give-building-materials-a-second-life-/106791370

Learn more about the pilot:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/circular-timber

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Image 1: Investigating timber species onsite at the selective deconstruction pilot at 125 Tweed Street North Lismore. Image by Kurt Petersen
Image 2: Inside the house at 125 Tweed Street, a buyback house as part of the Resilient Homes Program and made available for the pilot project by NSW Reconstruction Authority.
Image 3: Timber from the dwelling collected and separated for storage. Image by Megan Louis.
Image 4: A final prototype using the salvaged timber — ‘Reclaimed bedside 2’ made by David Steven included in the exhibition ‘Circular Timber: From Salvage to Showcase’. Image by Elise Derwin

UTS Business
UTS: University of Technology Sydney
UTS Faculty of Design and Society
Southern Cross University

While we await the Federal Budget and what it may offer in support of housing supply or ownership, our Academic Director Elizabeth Mossop has some thoughts on how to get more people into housing.

Read her Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece below:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-know-how-to-get-more-people-into-houses-here-are-some-solutions-20260501-p5zszt.html

or on our website:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/morepeopleintohousing

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Images: Goonellabah Houses by Northern Rivers architect Sara Pearson. The single storey houses fit two homes onto one block in an established regional neighbourhood without compromising privacy or amenity. They also demonstrate thoughtful compact planning on a sloping site.
Photos by Andy McPherson.

Elizabeth Mossop
UTS Business
Southern Cross University

Landcom Places
Business NSW - Northern Rivers

When floods don't come for a while, our understanding of them starts to fade. New people move in. Not everyone knows how to enact the flood plan. Children grow up without hearing the stories.

But this forgetting has consequences. Across the Northern Rivers, communities and governments are shifting focus — turning to long-term preparation rather than focusing solely on recovery. Part of this means understanding our local flood history.

Historian Jo Kijas brings that history to life in her upcoming talk 'South Murwillumbah Matters'. She'll explore how flooding has shaped life on the South Side of the Tweed River, and why what we remember matters for how we plan ahead. She's also found some stories that have quietly become local legend.

Please join us — free, all welcome.

Thursday 7 May
11am–12pm
Murwillumbah Library

Places are limited — registration essential.
Book today: https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/south-murwillumbah-matters
The talk will be followed by a light lunch.

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Images courtesy of Tweed Regional Museum.

Image 1: Men in boats rescuing bikes outside Holden dealers, c1954.
Image 2: Two circus elephants walking back to the railway station c1932.
Image 3: Great flood of 1954.
Image 4: Family on the Tweed River, 1899.
Image 5: A muddy Prospero Street, looking towards the new bridge c1905.
Image 6: Prospero Street and houses, 1954.

Southern Cross University
Richmond Tweed Regional Library
Murwillumbah Historical Society
Richmond River Historical Society Inc.

Bangalow Museum


This talk is part of Living Memory South Murwillumbah, which is funded by the NSW Reconstruction Authority on behalf of the Australian Government. Learn more here:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/living-memory-south-murwillumbah

If you've been nurturing an idea to create a community or personal history but didn't know where to start— this glorious guide is for you.

Newly published and available to download, our Living Memory Toolkit is a 70+page guide for creating community histories.

It draws on the experience of the project team working alongside North Lismore residents throughout Living Memory: Stories and Portraits of North Lismore, what they learned from their own experience and from participants.

It provides guidance — or at least a practical starting point (!) — for communities navigating significant change who want to preserve their stories, knowledge and connections.

Big thanks to Adele Wessell, Johanna Kijas and Maxine Darnell for compiling such an excellent resource.

Download the toolkit:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/living-memory-stories-and-portraits-celebrating-north-lismore

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Southern Cross University
Richmond Tweed Regional Library
Murwillumbah Historical Society
Richmond River Historical Society Inc.
Mullumbimby Museum
Bangalow Museum

‘Everything was as smooth as we had planned. Our planning was great. We’d done our shop within five hours, in and gone.’

Elton Cummings, General Manager of the Cummings Appliances, Furniture and Bedding, reflects on losing everything in the floods and rebuilding from the ground up — redesigning his Lismore business with removable fittings, flood-ready materials and elevated services so future floods can be cleaned up quickly, reducing damage and downtime.

His short film is one of four (Not) Business As Usual case studies. Together they share how businesses in Lismore's floodplain business district are adapting in new and innovative ways.

Watch his interview:
https://vimeo.com/1091970323

Learn more about the (Not) Business As Usual project:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/not-business-as-usual

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Cummings Bi Rite, Lismore
NSW SES Lismore City Unit
Business Lismore
Resilient Lismore
Southern Cross University

When floods force communities to retreat, we lose more than homes.

'Let floodplains be floodplains' has emerged as a principle in contemporary flood management. But what becomes of the human stories—and the irreplaceable knowledge they carry—when we retreat from these landscapes?

In her opinion piece, Associate Professor Adele Wessell explores what North Lismore reveals about climate adaptation. Beyond physical innovations locals developed to live with floods lies something more powerful: the social networks and place-based knowledge that sustained this community through generations of flooding.

As climate-impacted relocations increase globally, Adele argues these narratives deserve preservation not just as historical records, but as essential knowledge about living with rather than against natural systems.

Read Adele's full piece > https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/living-memory-oped

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Image 1: Fawcett Bridge, Lismore 1954. Winsome Hotel in background. Courtesy of Richmond River Historical Society.
Image 2: North Lismore locals Nea Knapman (left) and Barbara Worthington (right) share personal photos and memorabilia with project lead Adele Wessell (centre). Image by
Image 3: Locals study a family photo during the pop-up photobooth session in Bridge Street, North Lismore.
Image by
Image 4: Lismore Parish Map (1931). Historical Land Records Viewer, NSW Land Registry Services.
Image 5: Pritchard Park opening 1960. Courtesy of Nea Knapman collection.


Southern Cross University
UTS Business

If you've never done it before, the task of raising your house can feel daunting.

We created the 'A Guide to Houseraising' handbook, and an accompanying video, to assist anyone considering raising their home.

The 2022 floods were a turning point for many communities in the Northern Rivers — a reminder that adapting to where and how we live is part of our future. House raising emerged as one practical response, allowing families to stay connected to their communities while reducing the risk of future flood damage.

This handbook and video bring together the essential considerations for anyone embarking on that process— from navigating council approvals to deciding how high to go, and what to do with the remarkable space a raised home creates beneath it.

Watch the video and download the handbook:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/house-raising

Applications for house-raising grants through the Resilient Homes Program close on 31 March 2026 for residents of the Northern Rivers, while residents of the Central West are encouraged to apply by this date.

Learn more: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/nsw-reconstruction-authority/our-work/resilient-homes-program/resilient-measures

We acknowledge this option may not be available to everyone.

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Images 1-3: Marcie's home in Mullumbimby — before, during and after house raising. His home is featured in the video.

Resilient Lismore
Southern Cross University
Byron Shire Council
Lismore City Council
Tweed Shire Council
Ballina Shire Council
Clarence Valley Council
Cabonne Council
Forbes Shire Council

"We can't eliminate the risk, but we can minimise the impact."

Bruce Parry, Community and Sustainability Manager at Summerland Bank, explains why the bank chose to stay on Molesworth Street and rebuild differently — redesigning its Lismore branch with waterproof materials, removable fixtures and adaptive systems so it can withstand future floods while continuing to serve the community safely and reliably.

His short film is one of four (Not) Business As Usual case studies. Together they share how businesses in Lismore's floodplain business district are adapting in new and innovative ways.

Watch his interview:
https://vimeo.com/1091970418

Learn more about the (Not) Business As Usual project:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/not-business-as-usual

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Photo by Elise Derwin
Summerland Bank
Business Lismore
Resilient Lismore
Southern Cross University
NSW SES Lismore City Unit

"We felt it was important that the Conservatorium show its faith in Lismore... it’s very much a place for people to belong.”

Anita Bellman, Executive Director of the Northern Rivers Conservatorium, reflects on the role of music in bringing the community together and the decision to stay and rebuild in Lismore — adapting a much-loved heritage building with waterproof materials, resilient design and new systems to protect instruments and ensure the Conservatorium can continue to serve the community through future floods.

Her short film is one of four (Not) Business As Usual case studies. Together they share how businesses in Lismore's floodplain business district are adapting in new and innovative ways.

Watch her interview:
https://vimeo.com/1091970120

Learn more about the (Not) Business As Usual project:
https://llnr.com.au/what-we-do/not-business-as-usual

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Northern Rivers Conservatorium
Business Lismore
Resilient Lismore
Southern Cross University
NSW SES Lismore City Unit

📣📣 Here’s a story from our ‘South Murwillumbah Matters’ series.

Historian Jo Kijas is researching the environmental history of South Murwillumbah, bringing together stories of people, place and the river for our project Living Memory South Murwillumbah.

We’re sharing stories from this project through local Murwillumbah page It Takes a Town, throughout March and April.

But her research depends on more than archival material — it also needs to include knowledge held by locals themselves. Do you have connections to South Murwillumbah? Stories, memories or photos to share?

South Murwillumbah Matters: The River was the Road

Well into the nineteenth century, Europeans travelling into Tweed Bundjalung Country came winding up the river. The dense forest landscape that impeded their access was described by surveyor, John Uniacke, who rowed a few kilometres upriver with John Oxley in 1823. ‘The scenery here exceeded anything I have previously seen in Australia – extending miles along a deep rich valley clothed with magnificent trees, the beautiful uniformity of which was only interrupted by the turns and winding of the river…’ Oxley named it after the River Tweed in Scotland.

Bundjalung people and their visitors travelled across their country on the more sparsely covered ridges. They drank from the springs rather than the river, usually camping beyond its banks and above the mosquito and snakey resource-rich swamps.

A few cedar getters set up their first camp in 1844 at Terranora, moving further inland around Murwillumbah by the mid-1850s. Samuel Gray and his brother-in-law Joshua Bray took up pastoral leases in the early 1860s, and farmland slowly became available in the valley from 1866, carved out of the forests on the high banks of the river.

Murwillumbah was slow to develop, gazetted in 1879. The coming of the railway to South Murwillumbah in 1894 brought on housing and businesses, and a bridge across the river was opened in 1901, replacing the punt. Cane and dairying replaced the forests.

By 1901 Bray, who had recorded language and culture of the numerous First Nations people around Murwillumbah, stated that ‘the blacks have almost died out’. The ‘Great Australian Silence’ had started to descend on Bundjalung people of the Tweed Valley beyond the coast.

Changes made to the landscape and waterways by the newcomers, and in turn nature’s impact back onto settlement, will be explored in future posts.
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This post is part of a series about the interwoven history of people and place in South Murwillumbah. We're seeking your stories, images and memories—from last week and last century—about South Murwillumbah and your relationships with the river.

We'd love you to read, respond, share—and help us build this story of place. Direct message if you have a story to share, and we’ll be in touch. All references will be included in the final environmental history.

Learn more:
llnr.com.au/what-we-do/living-memory-south-murwillumbah