[PLEASE DO NOT DONATE TO THIS PAGE. This is not  a fundraiser and donations made go to directly to Change.org to promote the fundraiser which does not significantly increase signatures in proportion to the funds] This morning, the Reconstruction Authority had my dad, Jimmy Willing, evicted from the home where he has lived for almost 2 years. Under the Minn’s government, the RA have repeatedly harmed the very community they were appointed to strengthen and repair after the 2022 floods. The RA’s idea of a coup de grâce on their destruction of our town is to have 6 armed police throw a 63 year old grandfather who paints birds and plants flowers out of his home and workspace. The backwards logic of the dystopian, authoritarian bureaucracy that has become the RA says that my dad is safer from floods living in a tent. 

Not only is my dad now homeless, he has also lost his studio where he makes his living. My dad  earns his income entirely from his art. I have spent the last 9 hours packing my dad’s livelihood up into boxes. 

The house my dad has been occupying is on Lake Street in North Lismore, where my sister and I were largely raised. After my dad’s studio was destroyed in the 2022 flood, he moved into the house next door with the permission of the owners, who had accepted a buy back. The family who owned the house had been our neighbours since I very little and were very happy to have my dad mowing the lawns and planting gardens in the home they had loved so much for decades and decades.

My dad also hosted art exhibitions that brought together hundreds of community members and celebrated and showcased hundreds of local artists. My dad creating events which connect our community is nothing new. My dad has worked tirelessly for Lismore, organising art and entertainment for decades year after year at our towns mainstay events such as the Lismore Show and the Lantern Parade to name a few. 

It is a sad day indeed when our government try to force a grandfather out of the neighbourhood where he raised his children, fence off the gardens he so carefully tended to grow food for himself and his daughters, strip away his livelihood and leave him to live in a tent.

If you would like to help but don’t know how, next time you are cooking a meal, you could consider boxing up a portion and delivering to my dad and letting him know you support him and want him to stay. My dad also needs help taming the abandoned paddock where he is staying so if you are up for mowing, slashing or gardening he would be very glad to hear from you. 

 You can also make signs of support to attach to the chain link fence around the house, provided you do not interfere with the fence in anyway. Please don’t  tamper with the fences, enter the property or block workers access to the property, however we have been advised by police and security that signs on the nature strip are a-okay. 

Many thanks for your support of my beloved dad 

Sally Willing