Filling the Gaps

[00:00:03] Speaker A: It is an honour and privilege to welcome you to country. My name is Bre Morgan. I'm from this land and place and from a deep bloodline of people who have walked, fought and cared for this land for over thousands of years. I pay my respect to our mother, Mountain Gulagar, and the cultural significance she holds. We take pride in country. We feel and embrace it. It is our identity. It is who we are and where we come from. I want to start by recognizing that we're the oldest living culture there is, the first and continuous custodians of this land. I am on my great grandmother's country, Yuin Country. My great grandmother was born at Tilbar and raised in Wallagar. She was a Thomas who met my great grandfather, a Morgan. He was from Kamaraganja which is down near the Victorian border where he grew up there on the reserve. They married and five kids later were living in Cobargo as the first aboriginal family to move off the Wolligalag mission into y society. With that being said, I go forward with respect by acknowledging the Jiringj people of the Yuin Nation as the original inhabitants of this land, waterways and airspace on which we gather upon. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Welcome to Stepping Up, a four part podcast series about community leadership in the face of disruption. This is episode two, Filling the gaps. [00:01:29] Speaker C: One thing that the Council have done recently that is really good is sharing information and that has actually been amazing and also through different programs where organization gets to meet each other and network. Everyone's so busy, everyone works so hard, so it's hard to actually get together and organize things. But if there's an organization that organize stuff, it's amazing. [00:01:50] Speaker B: I'm Leah Santo. I've lived and worked in the beautiful beaker Valley for 15 years. Almost 80% of the beaker Valley shire is either national park or State forest, which together with our stunning coastline and rivers, cultivates a unique connection between people and nature. It can also present specific geographic, demographic and resourcing challenges. Our region is home to some amazing people who care for community and strive to find ways to make it stronger. In the next episode we'll hone in on the strengths of the Beaker Valley community and not for profit sector. But in this episode we're going to take stock of some key challenges that our rural community leaders can face and some of the ways they respond to them from three unique perspectives. In this episode we'll hear a lot about troubleshooting and filling in the gaps, embracing the spirit of doing the best you can with what you have we'll hear from Anna Lindstrand from Potoroo Palace, Jackie Philby from Police Citizens Youth Clubs New South Wales and Angela George from Eden Killer Whale Museum. [00:03:17] Speaker C: My name is Anna Lindstrand. I am one of the directors of Pottery Palace. I am from Sweden. I have worked here for eight years. We are focusing on community conservation and education. So we work a lot with animals, we rescue animals, rehabilitate animals and we educate about them in the community and we also work with the community, so we have a lot of volunteers here. [00:03:55] Speaker D: My name is Jackie Philby and I'm the club manager for PCYC Far South Coast. So Police Citizens Youth Clubs of New South Wales. Our mission is to empower young people to reach their full potential through police and community partnerships. We work with at risk youth to break the cycle of disadvantage through crime prevention and we do that through mainstream sport, vocational education, youth capacity building, social responsibility programs, recreation education, leadership and cultural programs. [00:04:33] Speaker E: I'm Angela George and I'm the collections manager here at the Eden Killer Whale Museum. [00:04:39] Speaker B: The Eden Killer Whale Museum is a self funded community museum that holds over an astounding 30,000 items and includes a research library, theatre and galleries. Angela works with dedicated volunteers. The initial inspiration for the museum and one of the museum's most significant storylines remains the unique symbiotic relationship between humans and orcas, also known as killer whales. From the collaboration of people and orcas for fishing, including during the days of whaling, to the celebration of whales in local art and culture, we're seeing greater respect for first nations people's knowledge and their unique spiritual connection to whales and a growing awareness of whales. Critical ecological role. Whale watching is not only a popular pastime for locals, but also attracts visitors from far and wide, bringing important tourism dollars to the local economy. [00:05:28] Speaker E: But back to Angela, I mean, cultural heritage management and interpretation is about the stories. If you take the stories away, they don't mean anything. We don't bring something into the collection unless it has a story that relates to the local area. If I say to the museums in the area, treat your storage areas like prime real estate and don't clutter your storage space up with things that are meaningless. I'm also involved with a lot of the other museums and heritage organisations throughout the shire as well, even up into Yerra Vidala. [00:06:08] Speaker C: The non for profit aspect of it all means Podru palace belongs to the community. There's no owners, there's a board of directors that get elected. At agm, everyone can feel ownership. It's literally everyone's and no one's. So all the money and all their knowledge and all the skills that get developed here goes straight back to the community. And when people come here and develop those skills and connect with animal and nature, it also creates a sense of place and belonging. So I think it creates a stronger sense of togetherness and we work together and if we can do it in the good times, we can do it in the bad times. [00:06:54] Speaker D: Fostering collaboration is central to our mission. We partner closely with local non for profit organisations, government agencies, schools. Our collaborative approach with police and local councils and various community organisations ensure that our programs are accessible, but also fosters unity and connection across the broader community. And those social responsibility programs create opportunities to break the cycle and achieve better life outcomes for themselves. [00:07:41] Speaker B: Whenever we talk to community leaders about what they currently do and what they'd like to achieve, challenges and barriers naturally come up. We heard about this in episode one and we'll touch on it again in future episodes. But now let's take a moment for a deep dive to gain a unique picture of the multiple, cascading and sometimes overwhelming challenges that a community leader can confront. Angela gives us a stock take of the challenges she faces. While each organisation in the Beaker Valley is unique, this deep dive from Angela is illustrative of the complex, intertwined and evolving nature of challenges that community leaders are navigating. [00:08:24] Speaker E: Leadership in the museum sector is in a bit of a flux at the moment. It's facing lots of huge challenges. The Killerwell Museum is the only one of the 10 museums in the shire that has paid professional staff. All the others rely purely on volunteers. The standard age of the volunteers in the local museums is anywhere between 70 and 80 years of age. Covid put the kibosh on a lot of the volunteer numbers for the museums because them being older, they're particularly threatened by health issues and that sort of thing. So a lot of them left during COVID and just did not come back. We also have the added issues of geographic isolation, almost non existent public transport, disastrous roads. A lot of the time, telecommunication, that doesn't necessarily work reliably. And I mean, Bega Valley is not Robinson Crusoe. It's something that all museums in rural and regional Australia are facing. I've been talking with colleagues from the Shoalhaven and Giribidala and the Riverina, trying to identify ways that they've approached the situation, but, you know, I don't know what the answer is. It's something that we need to tackle very, very soon. [00:09:59] Speaker B: Next we hear Jackie talk Through resourcing struggles that PCYC has face, how their organisation pivoted in response and the advantages and challenges of what this means for PCYC today. [00:10:13] Speaker D: We have undergone significant changes recently, especially following the expiration of our major grant funding, leaving us in a position where we need to adapt quickly. We transitioned from being heavily grant reliant to more of a fee for service model. And look, since the transition it has mainly been up to me to manage the day to day operations which presents challenges of its own. Given the limited access to resources, we have managed to keep quite a few of our activities. We've got four activities running thanks to dedication of volunteers and some contractors we're using as well. So at the same time we're still committed to our core mission which is crucial to our efforts in crime prevention and youth support. So we do seek and gain smaller funding to support those programs. And the shift to a fee for service model means that while we relied on, we do still rely, as I said, on funding for certain mission based activities, but we also generate revenue through other services that we do provide. And this approach helps us maintain a sustainable operation which is one of our goals and many non for profits. Obviously we need to make sure that we keep sustainable for the community so it allows us to continue making a positive impact in the community even with fewer resources. So it's a delicate balance but you know, one that we are managing and as we continue to adapt and grow with these changes, you know, we're moving forward, we're planning out for the future and that's part of this shift. [00:11:55] Speaker E: Leadership has changed because once upon a time you had like a constant rotation of people coming through and the older volunteers that were passing on their skills and abilities to the younger volunteers who had the energy and the time and the ideas to continue carrying the organisations on. But now we're not getting that younger link to carry the institutions on. That sort of comes back to the next age group down. They're leaving for education and employment. So the future leaders are removed from the spectrum. It puts a lot of pressure on the volunteers themselves in terms of the governance side of things, you know, and I mean these volunteers will, they'll undertake training and go to workshops and travel to Sydney to attend traineeships and that sort of thing. So that's, you know, it's a big commitment and they're really not getting the support that they need. From a government leadership point of view, the museum sector is pretty short changed. I mean here in the Bega Valley, the museums we've got 10 museums in the shire, nine museums and an archive. And they contribute around three quarters of a million dollars worth of labor every year in addition to around a quarter of a million that they bring into the economy of the shire. And they get a museum advisor for 20 days a year across the lot of them. That's the support that they get from local government and not much from state. It's a very, very underfunded and under supported sector considering what they actually give back to the community. [00:13:57] Speaker C: Yeah, so with all volunteers we work towards people's skills. So people come here and they get to use their skills or they get to develop new ones. We have had painters, we have had managers, we have had gardeners, carpenters, anything, nurses. So yeah, we just tried to use their skills with the corrective services. It means people who have committed a crime but they're not so serious. So people end up in jail. They get community hours here and it depends on the crime, but it's between 100 and 250 hours and it's just, it's usually first offenders. So they, they're getting a second chance. [00:14:48] Speaker D: I see non for profits and businesses sharing these things as a powerful way to develop productive relationships. When NFPs and businesses collaborate, they bring together diverse perspectives and strengths. Resources, technology, sponsorship, market driven approaches. While NFPs have a deep community connection, specialized knowledge and focus on social outcomes. So by sharing these assets, both sectors can innovate ways that address community needs more effectively. For regional towns where the community is closely knit and deeply interconnected, working together is not just beneficial, it's essential. [00:15:39] Speaker E: We have in the Bega Valley and snowy Monaro and some of the Yerba della Form segi, which is a Southeast history group incorporated, which is, it's like a network, if you like, a volunteer museum network. And I've been toying with the idea of actually trying to call a SEGI meeting to brainstorm and have a look at what the challenges are and how it can, how we can possibly confront these challenges together. But you know, whether it's passing exhibition material around so that once the Killer Whale Museum is finished with it, for example, it can be passed on to Marimbula Museum or Bega Museum or Bateman's Bay Museum or you know, they're quite easily transportable so you use them to tell the stories in various different areas because there's a lot of narratives that are very common across that entire area. Whether we can come up with some ideas of how we can support each other, you know, to move forward. Because you know, something's got to give basically here. [00:16:48] Speaker B: Angela acknowledges that pointing out all the problems and challenges can be a necessary step to overcoming them. While this can sound negative, it's actually done in the spirit that solutions do exist and can be found. [00:17:01] Speaker E: I sound really negative and I'm not because I'm determined to. Not to let it all fall in, you know, a heap. But I'm just one brain. I need people to bounce ideas off. So, look, there has to be solutions. It's just it takes more than one mind to come up with those solutions. That's the big sticking point with all of the issues that are facing the museum. The museums are having the capacity to build up a succession plan. And as I said, I don't have the answers, but, you know, I'm sure they're out there. [00:17:45] Speaker B: Critically. Anna outlines in Potoroo Palace's experience of the pain and struggle of multiple evacuations how their expertise in responding to these challenges can provide learnings for other sanctuaries and improve disaster response more broadly. [00:18:01] Speaker C: Because we work with so much personal development with people and also networking and always it gives a lot of meaning to help the animals and educate about them. If we can be an organization that are seen as a leader in doing bringing community together, I think we are on our way to some kind of preparedness for the future, whatever is coming. Every week there's a conversation I think, like, about our experience. What is it, five years? And how we look at the future. What happened? Like, what did you have to do? We are licensed under dpi, that's the. [00:18:39] Speaker B: Department of Primary Industries. [00:18:41] Speaker C: And recently we had to do an emergency evacuation, emergency management plan. It's a new thing we have to do. And we already had an evacuation plan and they've never seen anything like it. And the only reason we have it and why it looks like that is because we have had to do it three times. Like, we have had to evacuate all animals and all people three times. And I don't think there's many other sanctuaries that have had to do it, but yeah, and that's what you get when you have a sanctuary in the bush. But I just think that's have been really useful that we have that practical skills. And I think hopefully that plan can be used in other sanctuaries because we have that strong bond with the community. We also have a lot of support. So for us to evacuate and to come back again after fires and Covid, it was. It's been really hard. I'm not saying it's been Easy, but we felt supported. Like all of a sudden there was triage everywhere. We were like people were giving us money to buy animal food so we were just distributing animal food all over the valley. And it was pretty amazing how it just all of a sudden it was just there and it was pretty interesting now when the fires were going near Cobargo and we sort of wanted, everyone wanted to start that kind of movement again but it got stopped because now they wanted to control it a bit and it was pretty interesting to see how quickly government can come in. And I don't know what they did, but they didn't want any help so they. Yeah, and we weren't allowed to do anything and it was a bit sad, but it was also cool that they were there. [00:20:31] Speaker B: The Regenerate Beaker Valley Leadership program included workshops, skillshare and networking. Rural leaders often strike us with their incredible resilience, capability and vision. However, they often want to grow, learn and harness the wisdom of others. It's also important for them to be connected to a supportive community network who can empathise with the weight of responsibility. They often feel this can share the load and help guard against burnout. I can also say that having so many community leaders in one room is absolutely electric. Finally, we hear Anna, Angela and Jackie reflect on the power of connection of the critical role that this can play in supporting and sustaining community leaders and not for profits. To start. Jacqui speaks to the importance of creating bridges, particularly between the not for profit and business sectors. Angela then reflects on the powerful possibilities of growing peer to peer connections among like minded organizations. Lastly, Anna focuses on community building, drawing on individuals strengths, skills, goodwill and the power of second chances. [00:21:42] Speaker D: When I talk about businesses and NFPs coming together, we like to make sure that all of those connections involve the community as much as possible. So for example, PCYC Far south coast has made partnerships with Big Valley Council, with local schools in the area, with other businesses we're reaching out to that are local as well and we can help support each other in whatever resources and skills that we have. You know. Such collaborations lead to the development of community programs, social enterprises and other initiatives that contribute to like long term economic growth and cultural enrichment. [00:22:34] Speaker E: Being in a group and having the chance, the opportunity to raise issues and raise suggestions and raise ideas and having people that are like minded to throw them around with and get feedback. Sometimes the suggestions from one or two other people can bring together an entirely left of centre idea that may not have cropped up without that discussion and that conversation and I think it's really important to have those, the opportunity to have those group and networking kind of talks and brainstorming and that sort of thing. So yeah, I think it was really important to have the opportunity to talk and get ideas and that sort of thing. Yeah. [00:23:30] Speaker C: I've feel non for profits and community are the same thing. I don't think there's a division because there wouldn't be like that. It's literally a community to work for the greater good for everyone. Without a couple of, you know, some shareholders getting rich, instead we all get richer. So I think, yeah, and I find it hard to divide them, but of course. And I do feel that non for profit organizations, they're from the community. They're not just popping up and going to community, they're sort of coming from community. I'm in a couple of boards for non for profits organization. There is a desire to work together to support each other. And you know that you're not an island. Like together everyone's stronger. So one thing that the council have done recently that is really good is sharing information and that has actually been amazing. And also through different programs where organization gets to meet each other and network. Everyone's so busy, everyone works so hard, so it's hard to actually get together and organize things. But if there's an organization that organize stuff, it's amazing. And you actually get to just go and meet people or join a program. The actual program gave me tools to know when I'm on the right track. It gave me tools to know myself and know where my strengths are and to use them. It gave me tools to have hard conversations, to be courageous and to know the importance of working with community and the network with the other participants have. It's like having this family that you can rely on. Like we talk weekly, we, we meet up, we encourage each other, we make each other brave and support each other. So it's. Yeah, it's been amazing. And to share that program, to share that knowledge and to keep each other on track to what we want to do, it's. Yeah, it's. It's amazing. It's pretty cool. When you are in such a inspiring situation and you get the tools to go forward and to believe in yourself and to be brave and you have a group of people, a network that can cheer you on, you know, I can't believe what the people from that program are doing. Like they're running for council, they are developing program for young people, they're building sustainable energy sources, they are leading marches for you know, like it's big things that people are doing for the greater good of everyone. And I and I think the program has a big part of that, to create that sort of sense of bravery. And I can do it because I'm supported. We know that in the end we only have each other and we have to look after each other. You never know who's going to have the bad luck and you don't know who will be the heroes. And in the recovery we just have to be strong for each other, but also rely on when we can't be strong, that there's others that pick up where we can't. And I think that's been so beautiful to see that in the end it all comes together even though there's no plan or you can't see how things gonna work out, but they just do. And that's been amazing. Like you can trust community when it really matters and everyone I talk to and everyone I've worked with have proven that over and over again and it's truly amazing. [00:27:23] Speaker B: Thank you so much for listening to Stepping Up, a Bega Valley Shire Council Podcast production. Stay tuned for our next episode, Many People, Many Hands, where we explore the ways everyday people step up, help out and lead in every way. It doesn't always take a crisis to bring out our community leaders. You can find us wherever you find your podcasts. A huge thanks to Anna Lindstrand, Jackie Philby and Angela Georgia. [00:28:00] Speaker F: This podcast is part of the Beaker Valley Investing in Rural Community Futures Program, a partnership between Beaker Valley Shire Council, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. The partnership highlights the importance of networking and collaboration and it supports the capability of not for Profits in the Bega Valley to recover and thrive in the face of disruption. A full list of links and resources can be found in our show. Notes the music you heard was as We Make We Mend by Dean Gray and Anna Martin Scrace from the Willumla School of Music. We'd also like to thank Bre Morgan for her beautiful welcome to country project Lead Leah Santo, Shona Hawks Principal Recording, Audio Production and Editing and sound design by Craig Garrett. The IRCF is a place based capacity building initiative for charitable not for profit organisations in rural, regional and remote Australia. It's delivered by the FRRR with the support of trust based Donor Partnerships. The IRCF program provides flexible, longer term support, funding and investment in people to build more confident, collaborative, resilient and sustainable communities. This project received grant funding from the Australian Federal Government. [00:29:40] Speaker G: SA.