How can a community respond to a crisis by turning to its own strengths? The story of the small town of Kulin in Australia is an inspiring example of building local resilience by identifying, nurturing and mobilizing what is already there.
Read the excerpt below of the full story:
Thirty years ago, Kulin was staring down the barrel of obscurity.
Residents of the town, 300 kilometres south-east of Perth and home to 350 people, watched on as the populations of surrounding towns dwindled.
In 1994, concerned that their town would meet the same fate, the shire council held a meeting with the aim to raise the town’s profile, settling on the town’s annual races as a jumping-off point.
Graeme Robertson could see the town needed a lifeline and became the first president of the Kulin Bush Races Committee.
“About ’94, all country towns started to lose business, kids were going away to school and not coming home … the bush races was born because we needed to raise the profile of Kulin,” he said.
Twenty-nine years later and the Kulin Bush Races have more than raised the profile of the town; they have made Kulin an event destination, with tickets for the races selling out in just over a minute last year.
This year, tickets to the event sold out in 38 seconds.
This article was originally published on https://www.abc.net.au.
