Retired detective Allan Sparkes and actor Samuel Johnson speak at Gunnedah resilience forum

“When it rains, it pours” would have been a good metaphor to start the Get Ready and Resilience Expo and Forum.

Luckily, while the drizzle was persistent Saturday morning, the pour held off for a few hours while people headed to Wolseley Park for the mid-day expo.

The expo was hosted by the Gunnedah Shire Council, Whitehaven, Primary Health Network and SES NSW.

Find gallery here: Get Ready and Resilience Expo 2024 | GALLERY – Gunnedah Times

Children were keen to have their faces painted, jump on the RFS fire hose and fill their bellies with a warm sausage sizzle courtesy of Rotary West and the Gunnedah Shire Council.

For everyone else, it was an opportunity to talk with a myriad of shire services to be better prepared for an emergency.

The rain may have halted the mascot race but it did not stop a dance-off between said emergency services representatives underneath the gazebo.

Allan Sparkes CV, OAM, VA FRSN, recent mascot dancing judge and retired detective, was at the expo to talk with service representatives.

Jo McKinnon conducts the Q and A time with SES Superintendent Matt Kirby, Allan Sparkes and Gunnedah Shire Council Local Emergency Management officer Wade Berryman.

“It has been so lovely for me to go around and speak to the people,” Mr Sparkes said.

“Particularly the volunteers that give up their time and [sometimes] their jobs to go out and help people who are in dire situations and just highlight the quality of these people who just give because they want to help people in crisis. It is absolutely fantastic.

“[It] is indicative of rural communities in themselves.

“It just shows how special the human beings we have here are. Not only here but who represent like organisations across our state.

“So, we need to be very, very grateful we have them.”

Allan Sparkes is one of the most decorated names in Australia.

It includes his Cross of Valour, Australia’s highest bravery and civil award. It was presented to him in 1998, after his role in rescuing a boy who was swept 600 metres down a flooded stormwater pipe in Coffs Harbour.

Gunnedah was fortunate to have him as one of the guest speakers at the forum at the town hall.

He spoke about the fall from peak mental health into crippling mental illness. A process that took only a few years, in his experience.

From practising deep breathing to understanding where someone is on the mental health continuum, he aims to educate people in being prepared not only physically but mentally to endure a crisis.

Fortunately for everyone else in the crowd, it was Gunnedah Shire Council’s Jo McKinnon who was asked to be a guinea pig to prove that even questions about the alphabet can get the heart racing and by concentrating on deep breathing, people are better set for pressured situations.

Fortunately for everyone else in the crowd, it was Gunnedah Shire Council’s Jo McKinnon who was asked to be a guinea pig to prove that even questions about the alphabet can get the heart racing and by concentrating on deep breathing, people are better set for pressured situations.

“What I am hoping to do is give people knowledge and information about how they can prevent their mental health from deteriorating or if it is not traveling too well, what they can do themselves to help get back to a state of good mental health,” Mr Sparkes said.

“That comes from my own lived experience of both suffering from mental illnesses when I was a police officer and what I have learned from working in the mental health sector.

“Part of the preparation for anything whether it be for a professional crisis, a personal crisis, whatever, I call it ‘operational readiness’.

“If you are not physically and psychologically ready and capable, then your risk of being affected adversely by the crisis can be magnified.

“Particularly in an area such as Gunnedah, which faces not only natural disasters such as floods but also drought.

“Drought can have such an ongoing period of crisis for people so while I respect the idea of being resilient, you also have to educate people on how to endure a crisis. That is equally if not more important.

“If you can endure it, then you are in a much better position to move forward after a situation.”

SES community capability officer Dave Rankine spoke first about how the organisation has furthered resources after speaking with the Gunnedah community last year at the flood forum.

SES community capability officer Dave Rankine.

The Q and A section of the evening included SES Superintendent Matt Kirby, Allan Sparkes and Gunnedah Shire Council Local Emergency Management officer Wade Berryman with Jo McKinnon conducting.

Mr Sparkes was not the only esteemed guest speaker with an incredible story.

Actor, philanthropist and self-described country boy Samuel Johnson OAM had the crowd laughing from start to finish, even through the heartbreaking moments of his story.

Readers may know him from the TV series The Secret Life of Us or from playing Molly Meldrum in the 2016 mini-series Molly but his work outside of acting has become increasingly recognised.

Those who had always wanted to hold a Logie Award were in luck as he casually pulled out the gold award and his 2019 Mirrorball Dancing with the Stars trophy.

The crowd passed around the awards while he discussed the tough moments in life and how he channelled those experiences into something positive when there was every opportunity to be lost in pessimism.

One of his most recent adversities was when he was a pedestrian and hit by a car in 2021 which resulted in a 15-month recovery. This accident redirected him into choosing healthier and more joyful practices each day.

Outside of the acting world, he is well recognised as the founder of the ‘Love your Sister’ foundation, in honour of his sister.

He initially raised $1.4 million for cancer research when he unicycled around Australia, breaking the world record for long‑distance unicycling 10 years ago, and now the charity is currently at $20 million raised.

This set him on the path to becoming named the 2018 Victorian Australian of the Year.

He spoke about scheduling the small, joyful things in life each day and after making a remark about his diabolo skills, Rebecca Ryan did not let him get away without a crowd demonstration.

Naturally, there was circus gear hidden somewhere inside the building.