Community representatives have raised over $130,000 to buy fresh fruit and veggies for Wilcannia in far-west NSW, after the small, disadvantaged community faced a food crisis during lockdown.
The mostly Aboriginal town is currently grappling with a severe COVID outbreak. Last weekend, Wilcannia’s one and only supermarket was forced to close after it became an exposure site, and there aren’t really other options to get food.
Some residents who are isolating say they were told by authorities to simply order Uber Eats, despite the fact that the nearest takeaway joint is almost 200km away in Broken Hill.
“In Wilcannia, if you don’t cook for yourself, you’re going to go hungry, because everything in Wilcannia is closed by seven o’clock,” local resident and Barkindji woman Monica Kerwin-Whyman told NITV.
Wilcannia family told to ‘Go ring Uber Eats’ as COVID crisis worsens in the remote country town #COVID19 #covidnsw pic.twitter.com/8lVfMfPVKu
— NITV (@NITV) August 26, 2021
That’s when people from in and around Wilcannia swung into action when the government had so clearly failed.
In less than a week, a GoFundMe page has raised more than $130,000 to buy groceries and other essentials for people.
The page was set up by Wilyakali woman Taunoa Bugmy, who lives in Broken Hill but who attended a funeral that was recently held in Wilcannia before regional NSW was in lockdown.
“This is a community disaster, our people might be strong in spirituality but physically this will really test the strength and resilience of our people,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“Wilcannia also endures many other battles such as overcrowding, AOD addictions [alcohol and other drugs] and minimum wages. They are only just getting over issues such as water supply because the Barka/Darling River was dry.”
This money is going towards a grassroots effort coordinated by the Wilcannia Central School, Maari Ma Health, the Regional Enterprise Development Institute (REDI.E), the Central Darling Shire Council, Aboriginal Affairs NSW and the Local Emergency Management Committee.
A few of these organistaions are also directly taking additional donations, which aren’t included in the $130,000 figure.
So far, these volunteers have managed to distribute several hundred hampers of food and hygiene products around town in the absence of any real government support.
Wilcannia is one of the poorest towns in NSW. The average life expectancy in the area is around 40 years old and people are having to isolate in tents due to overcrowded housing.
“Wilcannia is a community that on every other day of the year feels marginalised and ignored, so the care and concern being felt in the community is deeply appreciated,” the volunteers behind the food drive wrote on Facebook.
“Please keep making noise.”
