Lismore — Flood Adaptation
New South Wales, 2025

In the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, flooding has always been part of life. But in February 2022, the town of Lismore was devastated by the worst floods in its history. Water rose to 14.4 metres, breaching the levee, and setting a record by more than two metres.

During my time photographing and speaking with residents and businesses, no one questioned the risk of more frequent or severe weather events. They spoke instead about how to adapt.

These images were captured in March and April 2025 as waters receded from the largest flood since 2022. They depict ingenuity, personal resilience, and community collaboration – solutions relevant to any community that needs to reshape its future in the face of rising waters.

Lismore NSW. Flood prone houses bought back by the NSW Government.

The Leaving

Three years on from the floods – eighty homes, eighty departures. Each house pictured belonged to a family in Lismore who accepted a government buyout to leave the floodplain permanently. Empty and silent, the buildings remain as placeholders of lives already in motion — photographs of an absence. The image explores the scale and quiet emotion of managed retreat in the face of climate impacts. Together, these homes become a single portrait of a town in transition, where the past still stands while the future is rebuilt elsewhere.

HEAD ON EXPOSURE AWARDS 2025
AUSTRALIAN RUNNER UP

CAPTURE AWARDS 2025
TOP 15

A suburban neighborhood with several white houses featuring blue and gray roofs, a green grassy foreground, and a cloudy sky overhead.

First Lismore homes lifted and shifted to higher ground in Goonellabah.

Father and son in front of their old home in Lismore NSW which was bought back by the NSW Government due to flood risk.

Dan and Mose are pictured in front of their old home which was bought back by the NSW Government due to flood risk.

Lismore artist Kate Stroud with flood affected brushes.

Artist Kate Stroud who located to higher ground to share a studio after the trauma of the 2002 floods, with her flood affected brushes — “I couldn’t throw them away… they’ve gone through it all.”

A broken orange traffic cone lying on the ground amidst green grass and brown dried grass.

Flood debris on a roadside in Lismore.

A woman with short dark hair and hoop earrings standing in front of architectural drawings displayed on a white wall.

As CEO of the Northern Rivers Conservatorium, Anita Bellan oversees construction of a 2.1m wide lift - wide enough for a grand piano - to raise musical instruments above the path of flood waters. In the 2022 floods most of the musical instruments were destroyed.

Multitask Lismore flood level monitoring

Tracking the height of flood waters to know when to evacuate the Multitask Disability Care Centre.

Empty outdoor basketball court with two basketball hoops, surrounded by a metal fence, and tall trees in the background under a cloudy sky.

A Lismore school now closed due to flood risk, basketball courts now fenced off as the facility degrades, while cows graze on the lush grass.