LOCKDOWN VS THE GREAT AUSSIE SPIRIT

Australia’s various lockdowns have been difficult and stressful – but with values such as resilience, kindness and humour shining through, there has still been some light.

“DURING THE MONTHS OF LOCKDOWN THERE WAS A KIND OF ‘TEAM’ ENERGY.”

DANIELLE COLLEY

Australia, March 2020. The headlines were grim. With confirmed cases of COVID-19 climbing at an exponential rate, it appeared that Australia could be on the cusp of a devastating health crisis. The horrific death tolls in China, Italy and Spain were indicative of what could happen. We watched the news with dread.

Panic buying saw police officers stationed inside Australian supermarkets; the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, intervened, urging the public to stop hoarding. “That is not who we are as a people,” he told the nation via a live broadcast.

But even in the darkest of times, there were cracks of light. The Australian psyche, often characterised by our ‘can-do’ resilience, came out in force. And just like the messages of hope, scrawled in chalk across our pavements, time in lockdown inspired us to step up, pull together and care for each other.

COMMUNITY

As schools closed, marking the beginning of Australia’s nationwide lockdown, the country’s communities started to galvanise – sometimes informally via community Facebook groups, and sometimes as part of organised campaigns.

In Ballarat, Victoria, the Be Kind Australia initiative urged locals to band together to care for vulnerable members of the community and support local business.

“Our residents have always demonstrated a great community spirit and compassion for one another, and COVID-19 gave us the opportunity to unify and give a name to these efforts – which is how Be Kind Ballarat was created,” said Ben Taylor, the mayor of Ballarat, back in April. Acts of kindness included small gestures such as ‘paying it forward’ with a cup of coffee or donating face masks to vulnerable people, to bigger acts such as putting gift boxes together for local health workers. “Every small act works towards a stronger, united community,” said Taylor.

Online, Facebook group The Kindness Pandemic encouraged members to post their acts of kindness in order to inspire others, such as sharing rolls of toilet paper with strangers, buying biscuits for supermarket staff and organising grocery shopping for elderly neighbours. In March, founder

Catherine Barrett told MiNDFOOD that while kindness wouldn’t make COVID-19 go away, it could make our lives more bearable. “The kindness on the part of group members has been heartwarming,” she said.

In Melbourne, Sammy Swayn, a mindfulness and meditation teacher, launched ‘United Neighbours’, a letterbox drop campaign offering support to the elderly and those with health conditions that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19.

“I battled with mental health and was aware of the pressure I was feeling due to the crisis so I posted a [Facebook] status asking for my friends to check in on their own mental health and families during this difficult time,” said Swayn.

The post led to a bigger conversation about the best way to check in with neighbours. “We knew that the elderly were most at risk and not online, so we decided to hit the streets handing out 35,000 flyers with volunteers’ names on the back of them in each suburb,” says Swayn.

The results were heartening. “We’ve had a lot of calls and messages of thanks for the offer of assistance, a lot of people expressing their gratitude towards knowing that somebody is there if they need it.”

A similar campaign in the inner west of Sydney, led by the founders of Inner West Mums and championed by Mayor Darcy Byrne, encouraged people to download a ‘Dear Neighbour’ form that they could fill in and deliver to letterboxes in their street. “Inner Westies are determined to offer a helping hand and look after each other through this crisis,” Byrne said at the time.

These campaigns seemed to have an infectious effect on communities. Dr Lynne Reeder, Adjunct Research Fellow at Federation University in Victoria, notes that giving to others has also been proven to make us feel better. “When we give, we don’t only help the receiver of our kindness – we also create a ripple effect of generosity through our community,” she says.

Dr Reeder also says that the human brain is actually wired for cooperation and giving.

“There is now considerable evidence that becoming more mindful of our emotions, motives and behaviours and making compassionate choices enhances wellbeing not only of ourselves but also for those around us,” she tells MiNDFOOD.

On top of all this, acts of kindness promote a sense of trust and cooperation that strengthens our ties to others. “Research has shown that having positive social interactions is central to good mental and physical health,” says Dr Reeder.

Life coach and neurolinguistic programming practitioner Danielle Colley echoes this when she says that during a collective crisis we can all draw strength from each other. “During the months of lockdown there was a kind of ‘team’ energy from seeing how others were responding – it created a community momentum,” she says.

RESILIENCE

It wasn’t just individuals that needed to respond and bounce back from the shock of going into lockdown. As more restrictions came into force, thousands of small business owners found themselves scrambling to pivot their business in order to stay afloat.

For gyms, personal trainers and other fitness-based business there was a fairly easy solution: Zoom. Peaches Pilates in Sydney are a good example; they made a swift transition to online classes and even delivered complimentary equipment (such as balls and resistance bands) to their members. Choosing to focus on the positives, co-founder Tori Clapham said that while things had been “tough” there was a silver lining.

“Lockdown has given us a lot of time to review our online program,” she said at the time.

While pivoting online made sense for a lot of businesses, others had to think outside the box to create a digital offering. The Melbourne Travel Project did this when they launched a virtual reality travel experience using Google Cardboard (a fold-out cardboard viewer that is connected to a smartphone.) “We wanted people to still experience some of the freedom

that travel brings and remind them of what is possible when they decide to plan their next holiday,” said Matt Coyle, owner of the Melbourne Travel Project. Travel experiences include cruising the streets of Cuba in a vintage convertible, skydiving over Dubai and riding on a Las Vegas roller-coaster.

Another unlikely online success was boozy art class party business, Cork and Canvas. “Many of our bookings are normally private events, be it birthdays, hen’s parties or corporate events, so we wanted to bring the events online,” said founder Melinda Janiszewski. “We were thrilled that we were able to adapt our business to an entirely digital model.”

As well as hosting the event online, Janiszewski and her team organised for kits of paints, canvases and brushes to be delivered to the homes of participants so they had everything they needed for the virtual art class.

Business pivots didn’t just mean going online. Brunswick Aces, a boutique distillery producing gin as well as non-alcoholic spirits, recognised the demand for hand sanitiser and quickly started manufacturing small bottles to sell alongside their usual range. As well as being made available to the public, hand sanitiser was supplied to local medical professionals.

For others, the lockdown proved to be an opportunity. When freelance journalist Alex Carlton found her work slowing down to a standstill, she decided to take the plunge and start a new business with her husband, Charlie Gosselin.

“Charlie has always been a builder, a tinkerer and a chef – which is pretty much the exact qualifications you need to teach yourself to build barbecues,” Carlton told MiNDFOOD.

Although Carlton and Gosselin knew that there was a market for handmade barbecues, Carlton says that they were always too nervous and time poor to do anything about it. Then came the lockdown.

“I thought, let’s just do it. Before Charlie knew what was happening I had come up with a name, set up a website and social media, got a mate to take some pictures, and we were on! Suddenly we were figuring out the intricacies of ordering steel, figuring our branding and committing to posting content every day. It was a learning curve but it felt like the right thing to do at the right time.”

Starting a new business in the middle of a global pandemic might seem like a risky move, but for Carlton it has proved to be an enormously positive experience.

She adds: “People have been hugely interested in our barbecues and really encouraging, especially on Instagram (@pigandpilgram). It takes time to get involved with established groups but isolation gave us the time to slow down, seek out new people and connect.”

SENSE OF HUMOUR

Another very Australian response to the lockdown has been keeping our sense of humour. The lockdown inspired a lot of comedy, particularly on social media, where videos of parody COVID-19 ballads went viral and Gen Z took over the popular video app TikTok.

Was humour important in terms of coping with life in lockdown? Psychologist Dr Jo Lukins thinks so. “Humour has always had a role to play in our lives through hard times. It’s a form of escape and momentarily forgetting our troubles and laughing can be a stress relief for many.” There can also be physiological benefits.

“Laughter increases intake of oxygen, stimulates your organs, increases endorphins, and results in a good feeling as your heart rate and blood pressure decreases, offering pain relief for some,” says Dr Lukins.

As well as sharing memes and videos from comedians with each other, we also started to take part in live comedy.

Several viral videos showed neighbours dancing together in the street – socially distancing, of course. We also saw people dressing up to take out their bins – a hilarious acting out of the simple truth that during lockdown the bins went out more than we did.

Dr Lukins says that focusing on humour was a positive way to deal with isolation. Laughter does beat crying, after all. Humour also brings communities closer together. “Humour can bring about a feeling of connection and community. It certainly can help in times of tension.”