ABSTRACT
New South Wales, in the southeastern sector of Australia, has been hard hit by a drought that began in 2002–2003 and is characterized by both low rainfall and higher-than-average temperatures. The economic impacts have been enormous, but so too have been the social effects of what Prime Minister John Howard (2002) described as “one of the most severe droughts in the last 100 years.” A study by the Centre for Rural Social Research (Alston and Kent 2004:xiii) found that the social impacts “include erosion of income for farmers and small business, increased rural poverty, increased work loads . . ., the need [for farmers] to seek alternative income, health (including mental health) and welfare issues, problematic service access, overload of service providers, [and] declining education.” The lived experience for farmers is dramatically expressed in their comments to researchers (Alston and Kent 2004:51):
“One drought too many . . . . One more bit of hopelessness.”
“You’ve lost a bit of your heart . . . . You’ve lost a bit of yourself. It will never be quite the same. It will never be quite as good again.”
“It certainly makes you more cynical. It’s harder to get up in the morning.”
“It just sends you mad.”
