Kath Hastings, Artist, Writer - Australia

Starless, Starless Night If this reminds you of Van Gogh's "Starry, Starry Night"...or the song describing one of his paintings...you are right. Eight of the inhabitants were left to spend that cold and wet night of the 10th January on the roofs of their houses, awaiting rescue by helicopter the next day. The sounds of the swirling water blocked out all other sounds. So they communicated with each other to show they were still there by the light of their torches.The colours occured to me after seeing pictures of a planet. I saw parallels in Van Gogh's representation of the sky at night with the eddies of the rushing waters and the torch light. I am glad they all survived to tell their tales.

January 10, 2011 I have tried to encapsulate all of the themes I have referred to in my Grantham series...The white Kelpie stampeding down the range, bringing with it the deluge that was to destroy Murphy's Creek and Grantham, the black bull that died and became stuck in Grantham railway bridge, as well as the cow that travelled 95 kilometers down the Brisbane river to be pulled to safety at Pimpanbah , the helicopter trying to rescue as many inhabitants as possible, the bombardment of rain, the black crow of the "one for sorrow" adage carrying the twig as Noah's dove did indicating that the flood was to end, the family trapped on the hood of their van, the Queensland houses being swept away not only at Grantham but also in other parts of Queensland, the black dog representing both depression as well as the two black chihuahas that survived and the two black dogs that also survived and returned to sit helplessly at the stumps remaining of their deceased owners' ...

Grantham Bridge, Jan 10, 2011 There were so many tales of bravery, shock and horror on that day, but a lot of them involved some of the community escaping to the higher ground of Grantahm via the Railway Bridge. By late that afternoon debris had piled up and over the bridge with dozens of cars and every aspect of human habitation, we3dged beneath. The bridge had a clearance of 3.7 metres. Cows are unable to swim. Picasso's black Bull of Geurnica fame, was wedged, deceased, on top of the bridge. Another cow, used its ability to swell and bloat in order to eventually land at the mouth of the Brisbane riever some 95 kilometres away.

Grantham, January 10, 2011. (1 ) I was in stuck in Toowoomba, impossible to get to Brisbane. I watched the TV coverage and read the news as to what had happend in the Lockyer Valley, at Murhphy's Creek and Grantham in particular. The stories that emerged from those small communities were epic in proportion. In my mind, I saw the link between the myths and legends of other times and places as people of other ages tried to understand what had happened that defied belief. In Scottish myth, the Kelpie was a beautiful mythical horse that lured its victims to water and drowned them. I saw the unexpected and violent white horses stampeding down the escarpment entrapping all and everything before them and unfortunately, also drowning some.

January 10, 2011, I was in Toowoomba doing an art course in South's Rugby Club house at the top of the Toowoomba range. It had reained solidly all week. The teeming torential rain was eroding the muddy tracks from the club house to the road; so, to avoid getting bogged, I decided to go home at 2 0'clock. Unbeknown to me, I had left it too late!! The roads were covered feet deep in rich muddy water. Red water spurted up from the drains unable to cope with the mass of water. Streets were impassable. Worse still, there was no way I could cross what literally looked like a tsunami surge rushing through the middle of Toowoomba city. Flood watching was a delight in my childhood in Maryborough. There I grew up with floods, frequent floods. Floods came up slowly. You watched the waters slowly creep up the river banks and over the road. Slowly, as interesting things floated down the river in its wake and snakes and centipedes took refuge at your feet. On January 10, people stood around ...