The land of Christmas kindness

Twelve months ago, flash floods tore through the Cabonne district in central western NSW. Now, as they ready themselves for Christmas, locals are thankful for good neighbours, second chances and new beginnings.

- JESSICA HOWARD

Rozzi Smith potters around her backyard in the centre of Molong, drifting between sunny marigolds and petunias like purple stars – in pots because the ground’s akin to concrete after so much mud washed in from who knows where. Sound checks waft across the street from the pub, as a train whooshes past on tracks so close to the house it rustles the English oak she stands under.

It’s been 12 months since flash floods destroyed homes and businesses, and took two lives in the Cabonne district of central western NSW. Here in Molong, life is only just beginning to settle.

“We were away from home for three months,” Rozzi says, tucking her toy poodle, R2, under an arm. “We rented at the other end of town for a little while, but we were bored because it was too quiet.”

Now home is a temporary housing pod for Rozzi and her partner, Paul Mullins, next to what used to be home: A 150-year-old railway cottage that exists only as a battered shell until builders can start repairs.

Until recently, the pod was also where they produced The Molong Express, the local paper owned by Paul and edited by Rozzi.

“We only missed one edition,” Paul says proudly. An especially impressive feat considering the two strokes he suffered in the weeks following the flood that changed their lives. “Yeah, I dodged a bullet, but I’m not the same.”

Keeping the paper going was important to the couple and their 3000 readers. “It’s about maintaining positivity,” Rozzi says. “We see our role as helping to build the community. That’s what we’re here for.” Which might just be the motto of this town: Giving back even when you have so little left to give.

Water everywhere