107.4 mmls

On the 10th of December, Cleve received 107.4 mmls of rain in two days. The local weir overflowed for the first time in 30 years and the creek that we frequent on my husband's family farm began to run.

Living in a small town that is situated inland in South Australia, you quickly learn that the amount of rain means everything to the farmers that generate the main import, wheat, for the region.

The town has been living through consecutive drought's which has damaged not only the soil and livestock numbers but devastated the town's economy.

Come December 2023 and everything changed. We received a steady downpour of 107.4 millimetres. The kind of soaking rain that we all had hoped for and the local weir which holds 164 million gallons overflowed for the first time in 30 years.

The creek that we frequent as a family has been a place of solace and calm, an escape from reality, finally began to run. My husband remembers swimming in it when he was 5 and at now 35 found it quietly thrilling to swim in it again with his three children.

To document this event as a mother was stirring but to document it as a wife as well was captivating. A once or maybe twice in a lifetime event that my children may get to experience again, but will get to relive again through this memory.