Learning from the floods : lessons for understanding community resilience in the town of Theodore

Much of the literature around engagement in Australia focuses on service learning and how this contributes towards student learning. To date, not much attention has been paid to community learning or to the benefits and challenges for community partners. This paper reflects on an engaged research journey aimed at better understanding how the community of Theodore responded to the recent floods of 2010-2011. It highlights the contribution made to learning from both a community and researchers’ perspective, and outlines the lessons taken from this project along the way. The paper demonstrates learning from both the community and researchers’ perspectives reflected each other in many ways. These include learning patience, social connectivity, mutuality and considering the research as part of community learning as a way of looking toward the future.