Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

[westholme]

Dusted off my issue of 'Winds of Change' (published in 1979), the wonderful book about the Shire, which was not Cooloola Shire then, but Widgee Shire and I started reading the Chapter called Mary, Mary Quite Contrary which is all about the Mary in flood.

There are some interesting parts that I hadn't meant anything until now, and I thought to get your minds off the EIS submission phase, I'd type some of the Chapter out here.

Firstly I'd like to start with a paragraph or two from pages 106 and 107.
Now the reason I found this part interesting, is because quite a few of us have had concerns about the walls of water that can come down such catchment streams as the one's around Imbil, for example, and what will happen when they hit the dam water if it is at full supply level.

"The worst flood for two decades hit in January 1890. Glastonbury was first to feel the fury. Over 30inches of rain in little more than a day produced great landslides on Widgee Mountain and sent a mighty torrent down Glastonbury Creek. The creek rose so fast that a family camped opposite the hotel was swept away. A Mrs Coomber and three children drowned. They are buried in an unmarked grave near the corner of Diggings Road at Glastonbury.

The Glastonbury torrent joined the Mary with such force that two well known men of the day, Mr F. I. Power and Mr Justin McDonnell, thought their eyes were playing tricks when they saw the Mary River flowing backwards. In fact, the volume of water gushing from the creek was so great that the river could not cope and the overflow was forced back towards Gympie.

Two days after the tragedy the whole of the Mary River was in flood."

Page 108

"While the 1893 flood is generally regarded as the highest in the Mary River as far as Gympie is concerned, the river peaked three feet higher at Kenilworth five years later. Mr Duncan Beattie, manager of Kenilworth reported at the time: "We have lost all our crops with the flood. It was three feet higher than in 1893 and was running at a terrible speed. At other times the maize was left standing, but this time it is all down and covered with the soil washed down. In all there is about 140 acres of maize detstroyed just around here."
Kenilworth had been made the early warning system for settlers along the Mary River after the 1893 flood. A system had been devised under which Kenilworth would telephone other centres to warn of approaching floods in time for precautions to be taken."

"Wolvi and Cedar Pocket had their worst flood on Christmas Day 1909. According to local residents upper Deep Creek rose at least 20 feet in two hours, completely ruining standing crops and washing away tons of soil.
Tinana Creek reached it's highest ever level and nearly swept away a family of nine settlers who were camped on it's banks. The water rose so quickly that they lost evrything including their five tents and had to wade 300 yards to reach high ground where they were helped by a local resident."

page 109

"By far the worst flood in the memory of most Shire residents occurred on March 28, 1955 when the Mary River peaked at 70 feet 4 inches in Gympie. It was a disaster on a grand scale.
Lowlying areas of Gympie suffered badly. Mary Street was flooded for 250 yards. Drinkers stood knee deep at the bar of the Empire Hotel. Only the awnings and rooftops of shops were visible further down the street.
Electricity and telephone services to Imbil and the South Side were disrupted as poles carrying wires across the Mary were knocked askew by the force of the torrent. Imbil's only Road communication was via the Bollier and Tuchekoi Bridge.
Tin Can bay was cut off from Gympie for a day as Coondoo Creek reached it's highest ever level in memory. However, the following day Mr Duncan Polley was able to get a bus service through to Tin Can Bay by transferring passengers across the creek by boat to other transport.
The full extent of the damage was not revealed until the floodwaters began to recede. They left a grim picture of disaster. The Normanby Bridge, Gympie's main road link with the Mary Valley for more than 40 years, was gone. Only piers and crossbeams remained. Gone with the decking was a 10inch water main which spanned the river from the reservoir.
Bells's Bridge presented an equally desolate picture. Although the bridge-the important connecting link between Gympie and the South Burnett-was still standing, the road for about 300 yards on the Gympie side was completely obliterated. in it's place were holes 50 feet deep and 50 yards long.
Shire engineer Jack Channer made an inspection flight over the Mary Valley in the Navy helicopter, landing at Amamoor, Kandanga and Imbil. he returned with a depressing report.
Two bridges over Yabba Creek-the bridge leading into Imbil township and the Yabba Vale Bridge on the Kandanga-Bollier Road side-were destroyed. Their replacement was estimated at 18000 pounds. The super structure of the Yabba Vale Bridge, a Mains Road department responsibility, had been pushed down the creek. the Imbil bridge, a Widgee Shire concern, had vanished from it's piles.
A bridge at Moy Pocket was destroyed, one span of Townsend bridge at Amamoor was demolished and approaches to the new bridge over Kandanga Creek at Kandanga were badly washed out.
As communications were restored, the reports of damage flowed in.

Dagun, one place to suffer crop damage, reported that flood backwaters had come to within seven feet of the record 1893 flood. Bollier reported th same.
Kandanga Creek broke it's banks at the sawmill end of the township, flooding out Wilson Hart's Mill and sending three feet of water rushing through the Post Office store of Arnold and Sons, damaging farm produce and other goods.
At Traveston Crossing electricity poles ready for installation of irrigation were riped out and sent swirling down river. At Calico Creek there were extensive landslips and two houses on pineapple farmer Mr F. C. Bourke's property were blown off their stumps by high winds.
Memories of the big 55 came flooding back again in 1973 and again in 1974, though neither of these floods reached the height of their predecessor. Nor was their the damage anywhere near as severe though crops, as usual;, were the main victim."
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CESARE LOMBROSO "The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand"