Living Memory: Stories and portraits celebrating North Lismore
Project
Many residential properties in North Lismore are part of the buyback stream of the Resilient Homes Program, the largest residential buyback program in Australian history. As the suburb transitions from a vibrant residential neighbourhood to a new future, many local stories, it’s history and the deep understanding of place will move with the residents.
Living Memory is a community project exploring the stories, history and memories of North Lismore. At the heart of this work is the desire to creatively support a community experiencing a massive transformation — to tell their stories in their own words.
With North Lismore residents, we will create a series of reflections and portraits, and a collection of historical materials and artefacts, celebrating the people and a suburb now rapidly changing.
Background
Under the Resilient Homes Program, NSW Reconstruction Authority is prioritising homes for removal or demolition in areas facing the greatest flood risk. This relocation and transformation brings significant change.
As part of this transition it's essential to value and acknowledge the deep connection communities have to place and each other, and how this has shaped our region. There is a window of opportunity which exists now, to capture these stories, materials and knowledge and make them publicly available as a resource into the future. And this process is best designed with community.
North Lismore has the largest number and proportion of houses in the buyback program, so we've started here. We're using diverse methods — co-design workshops, oral histories, archival research, pop-up portrait studios, documenting artefacts — to build a picture of North Lismore and its history as it faces an uncertain future. While focusing deeply on North Lismore, we're developing a methodology applicable to any community experiencing such rapid change.
Community members lining up for a group portrait with photographer Elise Derwin. Image by Kate Holmes.
Co-design workshop
In October 2024, current and recent residents of North Lismore came together to learn more about this project and share their local knowledge to enable it to be designed with the interests of locals in mind.
Participants shared that North Lismore has always been – and remains – a vibrant and resilient community, defined by its diversity, deep bonds, and working class pride. It’s a place rich in social and cultural connections, where people feel rooted in nature and close to one another.
“Once a Northie, always a Northie.”
The range and depth of the stories shared encouraged the team to expand the project. In addition to longer oral history interviews, the project now includes shorter stories in written or audio form. Posters, menus, and other memorabilia are also being collected, inspired by memories of live gigs, cafes, and local haunts.
Images by Elise Derwin.
Pop-up photobooths
Photographic artist Cherine Fahd believes photography can bring people and communities together, and creatively address moments of significant social change.
In November 2024, North Lismore’s community was invited to be centre stage. Current and recent residents of North Lismore brought themselves, their families, friends, housemates and pets to Galaxy Underground and the old general store in Bridge St, North Lismore to share the experience of group portraiture with others. They shared memorabilia and personal stories and created lasting memories that have been recorded as part of this project.
Images by Kate Holmes.
Cherine Fahd
"The simple act of making portraits creates a thread between people, a reminder of our presence in this moment, or resilience, of being held in each other's sight so that we know we were here in North Lismore together."
Oral histories
We're interviewing North Lismore residents to create a series of oral stories. The collection of stories will explore the theme of home, community and locality in the words of locals from the areas where homes are being bought back. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch with Living Lab Northern Rivers at livinglabnr@scu.edu.au.
A digital archive
Living Memory will showcase the final series of oral histories and portraits, as well as a collection of historical materials and artefacts, ensuring they are accessible for long-term future reference. Together they will form a record of a North Lismore, it’s place and people, at a particular time.
Project collaborators
Read more about the team working on Living Memory, below.
Adele Wessell
Adele has been living in the Northern Rivers for 30 years and teaching history at Southern Cross University over that time. She is a founding member of Richmond Riverkeeper and currently working on a history of the Richmond River. Adele is a member of Richmond River Historical Society and has completed a number of projects on local history, including the development of the Richmond River Open Access Repository.
Cherine Fahd
Cherine is one of Australia's leading photographic artists. For twenty years, she has exhibited, written and curated photography and video performance works. Her projects often incorporate members of the public, family, friends and artistic community.
Cherine explores how photography brings people together and how we use photography to perform, connect and tell stories.
Her work has been commissioned by Sydney Opera House, Carriageworks, Performance Space and Art Gallery of New South Wales, among others. She holds a PhD from Monash University and is an Associate Professor at UTS.
Elise Derwin
Elise is an award-winning photographer based on Bundjalung Country in Lismore, NSW, specialising in documentary and editorial photography.
Her images have featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, The Australian and other major newspapers. Elise has worked extensively across Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory, and completed assignments in the United States, Timor-Leste and Indonesia.
Fuelled by genuine connection to people and places, Elise aims to capture whole stories, not just moments. By taking time to know her subjects, she tells important, often personal stories through images filled with humanity and compassion.
Jeanti St Clair
Jeanti St Clair (she/her/hers) tells stories through audio documentaries and walks. Based in Northern Rivers, NSW, she's lectured in media and journalism at Southern Cross University since 2009. Her recent projects document flood impacts, including Lismore Flood Stories, Rescue (with photographer Raimond de Weerdt), and Dear River (with Rose Turtle Ertler). A PhD candidate at University of Wollongong, she's also an associate producer with Soundtrails, creating works like Nimbin Soundtrail.
Elise Derwin
"There are so many memories and stories attached to place that are often kept only in our minds. For me, this project is a way to capture and share the stories of the people of North Lismore. These memories will become a record many will turn to in years to come."
