Kurilpa Flood Library
The Kurilpa Flood Library is a tool for learning about floods in our growing neighbourhood and city.
Kurilpa is located on the most developed floodplain in Australia. A changing climate and urban landscape means future floods may be different and hard to predict.
Explore insights from local stories and studies in over 170 knowledge cards to understand the impacts and possibilities for life on our floodplain.
The stories and images in the Kurilpa Flood Library depict impacts and damage from past floods, which some viewers may find distressing. Free support is available at Change Futures and Metro South Health (3089 4156).
Download and print the Kurilpa Flood Library Card Deck to learn and plan for floods in your home or classroom.
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The Kurilpa Flood Library is designed to support local community to assess realities and actions for adapting to floods.
Learn and plan for future floods by exploring the online knowledge cards, or by downloading and printing the Kurilpa Flood Library Card Deck.
Use the cards to support planning in workshops and dialogues, service design and delivery, climate adaptation and resilience programs, emergency and mitigation planning.
The online Kurilpa Flood Library is free for all to read.
The Kurilpa Flood Library Card Deck is free for community, First Nations owned or non-profit organisations to use under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License. Indigenous cultural and intellectual property is owned by each story teller and author.
Business and government agencies seeking to inform strategies for flood education may reference and link to the online Kurilpa Flood Library or contact Resilient Kurilpa for more information.
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The Kurilpa Flood Library draws on over 100 reputable sources of local, cultural, and historical knowledge.
Many authors are Kurilpa residents with lived experience of the 1974, 2011 and 2022 floods.
It holds key insights from stories and studies, including past community consultations, flood research, news articles, and government agencies.
Many cards reference insights from our growing collection of resources.
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Did you learn a valuable lesson in the last flood? Do you have a story about floods impacts that could help our community respond better in future? Is there a report or publication that might be missing from our Library?
Help us grow the Kurilpa Flood Library by submitting your story or sharing a resource by emailing us.
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The Kurilpa Flood Library is a research initiative led by design researcher and PhD candidate Paula Hardie (Griffith University) in partnership with co-researchers Uncle Willie Prince and Resilient Kurilpa. The project is funded by CommunityPlus+. Illustrations were created by Maeve Lejeune.
Explore library categories
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Vital services delivered by governments and businesses can become vulnerable during climate disasters. Learn about services exchanged within the community, between neighbours, families and volunteers.
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![Care]()
Climate events have ripple effects on our health and wellbeing. Learn ways to care and help different community members deal with climate impacts.
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![Experiences]()
Lived experiences provide rich and accurate detail of how floods affect our community. These stories capture what we’ve learnt and help new community members to prepare for floods.
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![Country]()
First Nations peoples have an enduring connection to Country. Indigenous Knowledge helps us learn, listen and care for Country, so Country will care for us.
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Our view of the world is shaped by culture, knowledge, beliefs, and values. This means we all think about floods in different ways. Learn how your worldview shapes the way you 'see' floods.
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Many historical events have shaped the way we live today. Learn from historical stories to see where we've been and debunk myths about our river city home.
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![Futures]()
A changing climate means extreme events are certain to arrive. Increasing development in Kurilpa is exposing more people to flood risks and challenging our support systems. Prepare for the future by learning what it holds.
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![Home]()
Kurilpa is known for its tin and timber houses, however the growing majority of our community live in apartments. This creates different challenges for keeping residents and residences safe during floods.
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The Kurilpa floodplain is home to a growing inner-city population. Learn how floods impact our urban infrastructure and strategies for adapting to a climate changing.
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Floods disrupt the everyday mobility of individuals. Impacts like power outages and road blocks can disproportionately impact people's mobility. Learn about the different ways people and floodwaters move.
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Inspiring approaches to climate adaptation are emerging in places near and far. From city-wide projects to grassroots community leadership. Learn from other places to see options for our own home.
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