While the past couple of wet years have seen drought become a memory - for the moment - the threat of an extended dry period is never far from the consciousness of those of us living in the Western Plains.

It truly was a drought like no other, at one stage 100 per cent of the state was drought declared. NSW recorded the warmest temperatures and lowest rainfall on record.

Recollections and photographs of Australians affected have been gathered in a new book called My Drought Story.



Funded under a Drought Resilience Leaders Development Program, project lead Katie Arndell, said the idea was to encourage people to take the time to reflect on past challenges and stress and provide an opportunity to heal.

Filled with amazing photos, taken by those affected, Ms Arndell said resilience, kindness and strength was seen in the hardest of times.

“Revisiting difficult experiences can be distressing, but also therapeutic. This book would not have been possible without the overwhelming number of contributions submitted by regional Australians who were willing to look at some of their most painful memories.” 

Contributors came from across the Western Plains area and also further afield.

Living in Cobar, 'Bronte' said the drought period felt like "an eternity" but that his family realised how resilient they were when leaning on each other.

PHOTO: Bronte's family property in Cobar, NSW before the drought. (Source: Bronte Lee, Cobar)

'Jason' from Narromine also contributed to the book.

"The misery and devastation the drought caused to our rural area was overwhelming to myself and my wife," he said. "It was during a road trip from Townsville to Narromine in 2019 that the enormity of the situation for farming families really hit home. To see the livestock in the paddocks with no feed and no water was awful and the starving wildlife and carpet of dead roos for mile and miles was horrific."

So affected was Jason and his wife, they founded a children's charity call "Doin it for Rural Aussie kids", which has since assisted 1600 rural children. Every year, Jason takes a road trip to visit remote schools and also drops off Santa sacks.

"We have been very privileged to meet some strong, resilient farming families going through the toughest of times," he said.

PHOTO: Bronte Lee's family property after the drought. (Source: Bronte Lee, Cobar)

 My Drought Story will be distributed to regional libraries and Councils in NSW as a resource for people to use during future adversity, like drought. 

 “Having a visual reference to illustrate how truly different our landscape and lives were during drought, how people managed to get through it and rebounded is a truly powerful message about resilience in times of overwhelming adversity,” Ms Arndell said.

"We want to remind rural commnities how important it is to reach out for help and to continue to reduce the stigma that can still exist around talking about mental health."

Resilience shines in the words of Cherie from Gilgandra. "Just when it felt like it would never end, we had the mother of all dust storms and soon after it rained, then it rained again, then all of a sudden we had feed up to our knees and we were back in the game."

The electronic version of the book can be seen at https://www.ramhp.com.au/news/my-drought-story-2/