Australians may love their sunburnt country with its droughts and flooding rains, but ‘the beauty and terror’ that Dorothea Mackellar wrote of in her iconic poem have been there for all to see in the last month or so.
The scale of the flooding that has hit parts of Outback Queensland is simply mind boggling. It has affected an area four times the size of the state of Victoria. Some places have seen two years’ worth of rain in three days.
And while the major weather event began in earnest around March 23, the inland flood waters are still moving downstream into SA, towards Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.
The devastation in some of the small communities that many grey nomads love to visit – places like Eulo, Thargomindah, Eromanga, Quilpie, Adavale, and Jundah – can hardly be underestimated.
Flooding in Thargomindah, and other Outback towns, was devastating PIC: Balloo Shire Council
Thargomindah, for example, was completely flooded, with virtually all buildings under water. The town saw a flood level that exceeded the previous 1974 record by around 900mm. With many people in the town unable to afford flood insurance, it’s is going to be a long hard road back and, eventually, tourism will have its part to play.
The town’s Explorers Caravan Park is currently being used for temporary housing for flood-affected residents who are staying in caravans that were specially brought in.
Danielle Tuite, the Tourism & Marketing Coordinator for Bulloo Shire Council said the park would remain closed to visitors for the next five weeks and ‘hopefully after this time, we will be able to start welcoming visitors back.’
She said the council would need to go through and assess the safety all of the Thargomindah infrastructure first, although she said Noccundra and Cameron Corner were accessible and open for business.
“Once we are open for travellers to re-visit the area it will be extremely important for our local businesses that would have already missed out on the start of our tourism season,” said Ms Tuite. “This is a huge hit to these businesses and most of them had bookings starting from the beginning of this month.”
And when grey nomads and other travellers do begin to get back to the area, they can expect it to be pretty special.
“The countryside is looking stunning already with the green grass already poking its head through,” said Ms Tuite. “Our spring will be absolutely spectacular, wildflowers will be abundant, rivers full, wildlife and birds in their thousands.”
Tara Hogg, the Tourism & Communications Manager, for South Australia’s Regional Development Australia Far North, agrees.
“As previous flooding events have shown, visitor numbers do increase during these periods as it is rare for Lake Eyre to have a substantial amount of water in it which brings native plants and wildlife in abundance,” she said. “And it won’t be just Lake Eyre which will see the birdlife and wildlife, it will be majority of the Channel Country!”
