"THE hard part is the unknowing."
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Those words by Murrurundi farmer Peter Frith sum up the underlying concern - and let's face it, the fear - felt by so many in communities across Australia as the long drought that has gripped parts of the country reaches historic levels.
We can't control the weather. We can only plan. But as this drought has shown, planning has its limits when the drought has no appreciable end in sight. How do you plan for something when it might end in three months - although forecasts say it won't - but it might continue until 2020, or longer? The trouble is no-one can say with any surety.
How do you farm when your dams are dry, your stock was sold several years ago, your land is parched, your costs are reduced but remain considerable and you don't know when things are going to change? How do you cope with the emotional impact of feeling powerless for so long, while knowing that many Australians hugging the coast are oblivious to how much your day to day life, and the lives of your friends and neighbours, is a struggle?
We can look to the past to see how deep and long previous droughts have run, but that can only help so much when this drought is coupled with historically high temperatures in summer, and hot seasons that start earlier and last longer.
For a long time climate change deniers have argued Australia has always had droughts and high temperatures, but it's traditionally conservative farmers who are breaking away from the deniers to say what we've experienced over the past few years is extraordinary.
The focus of this big drought has been on the Murray Darling. Fish kills are a shocking reminder of how fragile and vulnerable so many living things are in this most challenging of landscapes.
But as Newcastle Herald journalist Matthew Kelly and photographer Max Mason-Hubers show in a series starting today, Upper Hunter communities are coping with a drought many long-time residents say is the most serious they have experienced.
We cannot make it rain. But what we can do is not turn away from the difficulties facing so many Australians. We can let governments know drought at historic levels is not just a concern for those most directly affected. We can make clear it's time they know they are not alone.
Issue: 39,361.