I am lucky to call the Blue Mountains in NSW home. I’ve lived here for more than 20 years, and it’s a neighbourhood like no other, built along the ridge of a dramatic sandstone landscape shaped by erosion, bushfires, and wild storms.
Our 26 towns sit within the country of the Dharug and Gundungurra, and the wider area has many places of deep cultural significance to Indigenous Australians. The Mountains are also home to many rare species of birds, animals and plants, supported by a network of creeks, streams and rivers. And let’s not forget the famous blue haze that coined the name, courtesy of the dense eucalyptus forests that emit oil into the atmosphere and refract the light.
I think you’re getting the picture – the Blue Mountains is one of the most unusual and beautiful wilderness areas in the world, and not too shabby a backdrop for Zoom calls when you’re working from home!
After decades of working all over Australia as a journalist, editor and corporate communications specialist, I’m excited to finally be working in my own backyard with resilience experts corporate2community as a Stakeholder Engagement Consultant.
We know all about resilience in the Blue Mountains – bushfires and severe weather regularly test our community and we have always bounced back, but the exceptionally devastating 2019-20 fires were quickly followed by a newer, broader challenge in Covid-19. These two events together have dramatically changed the way we live and do business.
This is why I’m part of a team working to create a central online and offline space for Blue Mountains’ business leaders, owners and operators to connect and collaborate with each other, as part of our Blue Mountains Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund project.
Creating and nurturing strong personal and professional networks is critical in building resilience and wellbeing in our Mountains community.
Businesses form the backbone of our townships. By helping our local business people become more resilient, we can help them stay in business, and in turn make our wider community more resilient.
As we bring together our Blue Mountains business community, we’ll also be better placed to promote ourselves as a single voice when it comes to joining in on those important local and regional conversations that impact where we live and work.
That’s why I can really see the value in the work we’re doing to ensure our Blue Mountains businesses are ready for anything – that is, prepared and sustainable for any future disasters that come along.
What am I most looking forward to? Working with local business and community leaders to set up platforms and tools to support business recovery, and create a more connected, resilient Blue Mountains.
If you are a business owner in the Blue Mountains, I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, so please reach out and say hello.
Get in touch with me
Find out more about the Blue Mountains Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund project and you can contact me directly at [email protected].
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