Minyon Resilience Network
During Cyclone Alfred in early 2025 our community came together around the Repentance Creek Hall in a way that was supportive and cohesive.
Red Cross made a short video about that time as a snapshot reminder of what a healthy and resilient community looks like.
Portable Starlink dishes have been installed in Bangalow, Federal, Goonengerry, Mullumbimby, South Golden Beach, Upper Coopers Creek and Wilsons Creek. The backup infrastructure ensures people have access to essential communications when mobile and NBN networks fail. Systems are on loan for two years thanks to state and federal funding.
On 16 October, Andrew, Dave and Siddh worked with John Nolan to test the first repeater and identify the location for the second — which we think will go on Emersons. The network will give us excellent UHF radio range for Area Contacts across the MRN region: from the top of Upper Coopers Creek to the bottom near the RC Hall, and across to Emersons, Fox Road, Maso Road, and Rosebank. There will be a few unavoidable black spots, but coverage will be strong for the core of the network.
Simon and Andrew installed Starlink at the hall — thanks to Ian for equipment and prep work.
The Psychological First Aid program on 27 September went really well with 11 people attending — thanks to Jen for getting the training scheduled and to Jean from Plan C for delivering an excellent course. Lots of participants from Repentance Creek Rd and Emerson Rd, including Mary-Lou. A great turnout and a valuable skill for the community.
Andrew spoke at the Rosebank Primary School end-of-term performance, addressing all parents about the MRN and the need for Area Contacts in the Rosebank area. Flyers created by Mod were distributed on the night. Thanks also to Ian and Lisa for supporting the event. If you're in Rosebank and interested in becoming an Area Contact, please get in touch.
Sandy has come on board as our new Area Contact for Fox Road and has wasted no time — she's already started a WhatsApp group for her section of the road. Welcome Sandy, and thanks for stepping up!
First aid training completed — well done everyone who braved the cold. A defibrillator has been donated to MRN. New equipment purchased includes mobile Bluetti batteries, a generator, first aid kits, UHF 2-way radios, and 2 repeater stations — thanks Siddh and Simon.
Solar panels and battery storage will be installed at the hall before Christmas — plenty of good things happening as we head into the summer season. We'll be well set up for the months ahead.
Jean from Plan C is running a home readiness session on the morning of 22 November, 9am to noon. Please encourage people in your area to attend — the content is practical and genuinely valuable for household emergency preparedness.
Please put this in your diary — we need all area contacts present for this afternoon session on 22 November. We'll be going through our new emergency protocols and distributing radios and first aid kits to area contacts across the network. Thanks to Simon for working on the protocols.
The UHF repeater on Minyon Falls Rd has been installed — a significant step forward for our community communications coverage. Thanks to Siddh and Dave for getting this done.
Funding was secured to host a location test for a UHF repeater tower — finding where it would (and importantly, wouldn't) reach. Area Contacts drove their respective zones, testing signal at various locations and marking each as Clear / Scratchy / Blackspot on a worksheet. Locations were also mapped using What3Words — an ingenious location system that's worth knowing about. The data from this test informed our grant application to fund and install the repeater and provide dedicated handsets to Area Contacts across the network.