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 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 ...