A book showcasing the positives to shine through drought was officially launched on Monday.
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The book, That's the Spirit, was born from the adversity of drought, but book editor Jen Cowley said it's not about drought.
"One of the things we realised very early on in the piece was all the negativity about drought was becoming a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy and it was becoming a mental health challenge in itself, just that constant negative," Ms Cowley said.
"The tsunami of that [negativity], overrode all the positive stuff that's done in communities, and has been done for generations, and will be for generations after drought. "
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The project began in 2018 by NALAG who wanted to inject positivity during an overwhelmingly negative time. The aim was to share stories to remind people in rural communities of the positive things they do have, and the work being done keeping small communities strong and alive.
Ms Cowley travelled to a number of Western NSW communities to meet with people across many demographics, age groups and industries who all contribute to keeping their community spirit burning.
"I could have gone on for years, and if I could win the lottery, I would go on and on," she said.
She described the variety of characters she met such Coonabarabran's Faye Chapman who has been running an aqua aerobics class for 25 years bringing people together, to Christoper McHughes, a young Indigenous man from Brewarrina who started up an Indigenous program run through the Rural Fire Service.
"Then you have Rotarians, Lions, the CWA, the sorts of people you expect to find in those communities, but you don't expect to continue to fly that flag and have that passion burning so brightly when things are so dire," Ms Cowley said.
"It's an extraordinary mixing pot of the kinds of things that need to come together to make our region strong and united."
That's the Spirit hardcover book features a selection of excerpts from the stories gathered over the past two years. However the full interviews have been shared on the NALAG website.
With the onset of COVID-19, Ms Cowley said the book is now just as valuable to highlight resilience.
"The feedback that we've had is that these stories have just struck the right note, at the right time," Ms Cowley said.
"It's reminded people that 'yes we can keep going', and 'if they're doing that in their community, we can be doing it in our community', or 'if that person is doing that I could do that'.
"We're hoping people use those stories to draw inspiration and to draw strength to keep going."
Ms Cowley said the book is now in the hands of the community to keep the spirit alive.
"One of the participants, Lee O'Connor, from Coonamble who runs the Coonamble Times and is also a born and bred local, said to me, 'community spirit is a relay not a marathon and you need people coming through to hand on the baton'," Ms Cowley said.
"That's kind of what we're hoping this book will do."
That's the Spirit is available at any local NALAG centre or through their website.