Since 1991 the fortnightly published Koori Mail, written and owned by Indigenous Australians, has been essential reading for Indigenous and non-indigenous folk across the country, but next week for the first time in 30 years Australia’s the Koori Mail will be unable to publish.
The Koori Mail is owned by a collective of five Traditional Owner groups from the Bundjalung Aboriginal communities of northern New South Wales and is produced in Lismore which is now awash.
General Manager Naomi Moran said staff had access to the building this yesterday, however, she has confirmed that two levels of the three-storey building next to the levee on Magellan St, was underwater.
‘We are down but we are not out.’
Difficult decision
Ms Moran said not publishing for the first time in 30 years was a difficult decision to make but we are all affected by this. ‘Our local Bundjalung communities have become our priority for now, they have all been affected by the devastating impacts of this flood.
‘We are extremely concerned for their welfare and have been working hard to support them in their hours of need.’
In a statement yesterday to the Koori Mail’s readers, supporters, and the many community members from around the nation who support the publication, Ms Moran said she didn’t know where to even begin to share just how devastated they are with the loss of the blackest building on the block. ‘Thankfully the top floor of our office was untouched by the water and our computers and other equipment necessary for us to go back into production in the coming weeks, have survived and our newly built podcast studio has survived.
It will take time
‘Some way, somehow, we will continue to be the voice of Indigenous Australia – but, it will take time.
‘We ask for your support in your patience, especially our subscribers and advertisers. We will navigate any credits or refunds at the request of any of our subscribers or advertisers, but again, this will take time.
‘In the coming weeks, we may need you all to keep holding our hand as we recover. We can only get back to doing what we do best, with the help of our mob from around the nation. We need our voice back up and running as soon as possible, so we can continue to share your voice.
‘We are accepting donations on behalf of our mob for temporary accommodation, medical supplies, baby supplies, food vouchers, drinking water, clothes and camp gear.’
A Go Fund Me page and bank details have been widely shared through the Koori Mail social media networks.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
