I can hear (him) for miles and miles and miles ....

The bird that's probably my most recognizable sound for my sub tropical area is the Koel (or Stormbird, or Cooee bird...)

He's got a distinctive two part call which can be heard for miles ... its something like the common name of "Koo Eeee"

Like any good singer he really knows how to put his entire body into it ... and projects that sound well

 

He's really grown fond of that Lilli Pilli right beside my place. Now that summer is on the way he's arrived to find a mate, and together lay eggs in someone elses nest (yes, he's a cuckoo). He likes to start calling with first light ... guess I won't need my alarm for a while now, now that I have this new Cuckoo Alarm Clock.

I wonder where the chainsaw is...

The Great Delvin

Growing up in Australia, I listened to my Grandmothers Irish accent with a mixture of amusement and confusion (just what was it she said then?). When I was young my Grandmothers sister Hannah visited us, I don't recall the exact date, but it was sometime about 1977 IIRC.

Grandma left home young, so naturally when she left she lost touch with the family back in Ireland. I understand there was no correspondence between her and home for many decades, so it was almost as if she had died.

Then through the massive changes of modern communications she got in touch with her sisters and her sister Hannah came to visit us. It must have been such a great thing that today we can barely imagine it.

Hannah brought with her a copy of her book "The Great Delvin" (which I have still). I grew up seeing this book as a treasure of the family and I was occasionally allowed to handle it (my Grandmother treasured it). Most memorable to me were the images of the historical buildings of significance in the township: St Marys and the Delvin Castle.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Delvin where Grandma grew up, to walk the streets and see the places she knew.

In Hannah Fitzsimons's book the images were in gritty black and white, clearly (to my eye as a photographer today) taken with 35mm and processed into book form in ways which showed why larger formats were preferred in the day.  So in a nod to that style allow me to share the images of my "home coming" back to Delvin.

The Castle (and right beside it St Marys Church) it seems come from some time around 1184. I read that it was burned down because Cromwell had intended to occupy it after sacking Trim. It was instantly recognizable to me as I turned the corner into the villiage.

Walking up the hill towards it was somehow like walking into a novel, that such novel was actually an historical account of my family made it all the more powerful.

Walking past the Castle one can see its back (or is it front?) and some (I assume) much more recent structures built onto it.

and some degradation of the stone walls. Its remarkable that such things can stand for almost a thousand years.

Walking past the castle I approached St Marys. At first, I walked around the outside grounds (which were locked) and decided to walk into the pub for information. The keeper told me that the Newsagent had the key and so I went to him to ask and started chatting. It seems my Great Aunt is well known in Delvin. He gave me the key and I opened the steel gates to enter the grounds.

I didn't photograph from the front of St Marys, I guess because I was too preoccupied with the many thoughts which were in my mind at the time. But after I pushed open the steel gates leading into the church and sat my pack down I gathered my thoughts and took out my camera to document what I had just seen.

The gate I walked through is clear in the middle left, and seeing the steeple from inside was a reminder of images I'd seen in my Great Aunts book, clearly this is where that photographer was standing.

A doorway into the steeple seemed to have been blocked off and broken though, so I thought I'd have a look inside.

The walls were covered in moss and some of the rock wall plastering was falling off. There was a small stair case leading part way up to the top, but it was blocked. Perhaps there was also long ago a wooden structure inside for access, as there were rocks visible to support such a structure.

Standing at the base of the tower (on the road side of the church) some of the exterior walls remain remarkably well preserved.

However since it has had its roof removed (and also it seems, been de-consecrated) the plants have had a better time at eroding the sunny side of the interior.

The sunny side (the graveyard side) of the wall (with the steeple base just visible on the LHS top)

I understand that St Marys was in use up until it was "de-consecrated" in the 1970's which would put it at right about the time Hannah visited us. The Parish currently uses this much more modern building.

Reviewing my thoughts from the day, and seeing things differently now that it is not the first time, it emerges there are things I wish to revisit there. I am sure I will have to go back there again.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour too.

:-)

the old mill

I thought I'd go out and see what was to be seen with the camera today (despite -10°C and quite a wind chill from a strong wind coming from the iced over lake) and have some reason to play with a RAW file in the evening. I took about 5 shots (and nearly froze my hands) and I liked this shot the most.

Despite the 'blinking blown highlight' warning on the JPG (which is what you'd get if you weren't using RAW) I ended up processing this with a few clicks from the RAW file.

I think I'll have to drag the Large Format camera out here ... (*when there's less wind that is ;-) as there is some good material to be had.

A shot from before winter.

*the astute may spot a white horizontal fleck in the lower portion of the rusty saw mill from today, that's some "horizontal traveling snow", and this was 500th of a sec exposure 

Australian Bees

Blue banded bees Amegilla cingulata is one of the Australian native bees.

very cute, and perhaps often called "bumblebees" when they aren't

We often get a few of these little fellas hanging around the back yard. Unsurprisingly they have a brightly banded blue abdomen. My wife (who likes bees) reckons that despite the number of good images on the WEB for these little fellas there isn't much really showing off their colour.

They have really shinny eyes ...

There is a more dedicated website here for the interested. But like they say:

Unlike honey bees, blue-banded bees are capable of hovering, which one would assume makes them easier to photograph. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and taking a clear photograph of a blue banded bee in flight is reason for celebration.

 took a bit of time to get even these shots with my FD300mm on my Panasonic GH1

:-)

living in my letter box

Part of living near tropical areas is that much more lives around your house.

sometimes things take advantage of small sheltered spaces ... like letter boxes



with all the wet we've been having it seems that a Green Tree Frog has adopted my letterbox as a new home



he's so cute, and he comes out to hunt at night

broken nest

I noticed this morning that the bird wasn't on the nest. So I thought I'd pop down quickly and get a quick shot of the nest

Looking at the picture I noticed what seemed to be the first signs of the egg breaking. I though that this was a little early and could mean a problem.

Sure enough a closer look with a longer lens reveals the egg has been pecked.



I'm expecting this to be the currawongs. These are vastly increased in number around here due to local 'goody-2-shoes' dopes who have migrated here from Sydney or Melbourne to retire. Not knowing a currawong from a crow from a wren think its nice to have a bunch of birds around their house and feed the bloody things.

So now we only have large black birds which after the kitty cats these people move in with do their best at destroying the local small bird population.

a conversation about magpies

A discussion on 612 ABC's facebook page contained a great comment

"Angela Cartwright: I have a great idea, kill all the sharks, kill all the bats, kill all the swooping birds, kill all the snakes, kill all the possums, kill all the bush turkeys! What a lovely city/country we would have then. When did we stop loving our land?" When did Australians (othre than aboriginals) love their land? All the plans were weeds for the first settlers and animals weird freaks of nature. Cut it down and bring in proper plants from the old world! Build houses and more houses to replace the last koala habitats! Build artificial islands and sandbanks to make the beaches and harbours more functional!..

I wonder the same myself, as I blogged a while ago about Koalas.

No one seems to want to alter the nature of urban development, despite general agreement that its both costly and increasingly difficult to provide infrastructure to these sprawling urban areas.
So while roads are not allowed to threaten the Koala population that relentless urban development is. So areas just around where I live which were once like this:



are bull dozed over and turned into this:




There are certainly other models of development than this, which if we are to live in the area and not destroy the very reasons we find it beautiful need to be explored.

This will require planning and community involvement. I hope that this can happen so that we don't have to say good bye to both the Koalas and the natural beauty of the region.

Relaxing before the clamor

Just the other day I noticed a spotted dove building a nest outside my kitchen window.



This morning I see the new soon to be mum and dad resting and relaxing in the beautiful spring morning.



Soaking up the sun and taking it easy. Perhaps they know that soon it will be chirping hungry mouths and not a spare moment.

Spotted Dove

I notice this morning looking out the window that our local spotted dove has chosen to make a nest just outside the window.



sorry about the scruffy shot, but while she's setting up the nest I don't want to disturb her ... which also means we'll be putting off the fence construction for a bit

Coombabah conservation area

The Gold Coast is perhaps one of the prime examples in modern time of the pressures of urban development and the need to set aside well considered conservation areas.

The Gold Coast City Council has done exactly this in the Coombabah area with the Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area.

As you can see on the map below the area has been heavily urbanised in the last 20 years.


View Larger Map

and the population growth in the region has been very high, going from around 30,000 when I was born (here) to over half a million and doubling during holiday seasons



So its more or less essential to preserve this area (as much as it can be all things considered) to provide some sort of remnant habitat for some species. Its actually working (as we'll see in a tic)

A quick peek around the general area of the wetland can be had in this video.



We went there on this occasion as there was a Gold Coast City Council (GCCC) guided walk to introduce locals to what may be there (and perhaps get them more interested in their local real area). So we joined a group to take a walk around the wetland.


As you can see above there is also a nice boardwalk there making it possible to get out into the wetland area more and see it from a vantage which would normally require a boat (or getting wet). This certainly helps reduce the impact.

The area does act to keep some of the local fauna living there (remember, they were there all along, we just encroached on their space) with some Wallabys:



and the less shy grey Kangaroo population never disappoints and one can often see one in the area. Basking in the sun after a morning feed


where there's one there's two, and if there's two there's more



Droppings are also an important indicator of what's hanging around the region


and shows us evidence of Koalas (this is Koala droppings below)



The use of movement sensor triggered video cameras also helps with park management understand what moves around both day and night ...



after all you need to know what you've got to manage it right?
As it turns out lots of animals are killed in the region by animal attack (as well as cars) and well meaning (strongly opinionated self ordained expert yet drastically ignorant) local residents think its all "just natural" ... its natural that dogs hunt and kill. True, but then in a natural system there would not be such a large population of dogs living in the area because they'd starve ... because they couldn't go home to a bowl of dog food. Looking at the urbanisation rate in the above satellite image its pretty clear. Often they just kill their prey for fun (better food is had at home).

Local feral dogs and cats are a source of strong predation on the local wildlife. The managers try to understand what is done by domestic dogs and by Dingos.



Australia has lots of reptiles and Carpet snakes also live (and hunt) in the area. These lovely guys help keep our rat population in check, but it would seem in this case it was a ringtail possum (but hart to tell after digestion)



So as we wind up our tour of the wetland area one of the local butcher birds keeps an eye on us as we depart:
So the GCCC has helped make this area that little better to live in amid the influx of population in the region by keeping some of the natural areas. This means its more likely I'll see fellas like these



in my back yard (or my dads)

Its by providing a good balance of natural areas in the midst of human communities that makes Australia nicer to live in than big cities tend to be.

NOTE for the photographically inclined: all these images come from my Panasonic GH1 using a mixture of the standard zoom lens as well as some old Canon FD series lenses which I use via an adaptor ... very handy

the Big Wet continues: Toowoomba gets flogged

And the people of Toowoomba cop a flogging it seems. The whole thing is dreadful, and its moving down the Lockyer and hitting Brisbane. So while the residents of Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley are picking up the pieces those of Brisbane are preparing for their turn.

Right now the engineers in SEQ Water will be making their best possible moves on preparing Lake Wivenhoe to receive as much flood water as it can while trying to protect those down stream from them as much as they can.

It will be a balancing act; made harder by the fact that capacity of Wivenhoe leading up to this has been held high. Not so long ago people were screaming to have more water in their dams and to keep it full. However its real design criteria was as a flood mitigation device rather than a water storage device.

Anyway, back in October I blogged about the big wet and back then I wrote; it does raise a more significant question:

what happens if we get the sort of rain we're having now in the strengths we've had in our peak wet seasons?

Well folks I think that the answer to that is "stock up on sand bags if you live in a low lying area" and "don't drive your car across flooded roads".

Well it seems we did get a continuation into December and now January.

Yesterday and into last night Toowoomba had rainfall which led to flash flooding ... major stuff as this fella captured on camera.



all one can say to that is "holy shit batman"

Toowoomba is on top of a range and at an elevation of between 600 and 700 meters above sea level, so (reasonably enough) it would appear to be the least likely area to cop a flood. Having lived in this area most of my life (or around 40 years) as well as traveled both intensively (doing delivery driving) and extensively I'm reasonably familiar with the area and have covered a few seasons of what happens here.

So naturally I was interested in just where this area is ... a bit of google searching (god bless them) and I am quite sure that it was here at west creek:


Moving onto that bridge there you can see that this is a drain channel ...

So its hardly surprising to see a torrent of water raging down it. The design and shape of it can only mean that the town planners expected to get some amount of water through here ... I'm betting however they didn't expect that much ... or they'd have dug it deeper. Its at the end of Herries St.

Data from the BOM indicates that it got quite substantial rainfall in the previous two days is pretty heavy, especially for them.

From the BOM site:



So on top of the background of drizzle since October they've had 206mm of rain in the last two days; delivered in 83mm first to prime the area then 123mm to just run off. As it happens (to make it perfect for flash flooding) they had most of their 123mm between 1:00pm and 2:00pm where nearly 70mm fell in one hour.

To put this into perspective, the rainfall stats for Toowoomba since 1887 are below. Its worth mentioning that few places in Australia have such extensive records as Toowoomba.



As you can see that's about the "normal" rainfall for Toowoomba to get in all of January. Looking at the stats however it seems that the highest ever (for January) is still some amount away at 520mm. Something which stands out here (to me) is that the highest record for February is still much higher at 736mm ... oh my god ... seven hundred and thirty six millimeters.

So, can it get worse ... well it sure looks that way to me.

More interesting in the data is that the highest record was 1893, with 1974 being the peak for January the peak rainfall was not even in that year. I don't know the details for that month, perhaps it was averaged better ... perhaps it was 24mm every day for the month, but perhaps they had some days with much more than 12omm of rain in there.

In the past I've certainly seen stuff flood in Toowoomba myself ... and it seems that as recently as the 16th of December some flooding occurred there too.



which is in itself a little bit of a mystery ... as BOM records show very little rain at the Toowoomba station for the 16th ... perhaps it was the result of localized intense showers?? shrug

So what is my point here?

Well my point is two fold:

1. while not common this sort of rainfall has precedent, in fact much worse rainfall would appear to be on record.
   
2. failure to adequately anticipate and plan for this has made it worse
   

Lets go back to that drain again ... its marked at A on the diagram below. Now while Toowoomba is perched atop a ridge (at around 600 meters above sea level) and is mostly flat, it does have topography. In fact it is almost divided around a gully that runs down the middle of it



... so the water starts up there near Kearneys Spring and has an almost straight unimpeded run down a funnel channel (I've marked in red) right to where the first video shows the wild flooding.

No wonder it was raging there ...

Making it worse you can see another drainage area there to the left off to where Darling Heights is. Now, lets look at the aerial photography..



Its amazingly solidly built up there in the middle isn't it. Something you may not know about is a concept in urban water planning called "the hardening of the urban surface". For example from this source:

In the future, most new developments will be built at densities higher than have occurred in the past. This will imply a greater concentration of terraced properties and flats. There will inevitably be a “hardening” of the urban landscape, potentially 70 dwellings per hectare, and hence a greater need to control run-off from rainfall events and the attendant increasing localized risk of flooding.

Essentially nearly 90% of water runs off urban areas and straight into storm water drains. Nearly none is soaked up in the ground and our concrete drainage systems increase the velocity with which it runs off (as you can see in the video) ... in fact if you take a toddle over to Wikipedia you can learn more about Urban Runoff here and perhaps apply that to your area.

So its not new stuff

Now, back in 1975 the population of Toowoomba was a mere 60,000 or so; while today it has grown to over double that. I'm sure back in Feb of 1983 there were far fewer living there, and in all probability those people would never have approved building where that big mass. Heck they'd probably shake their heads and call you "fool" for doing it.

So without a degree in Urban planning it seems as if the previous years of drought added to the notion that "everything is OK" and the ship is sailing fine.

Well looking around it doesn't seem to be to me.

So, what about the Future?

Well its hard to predict, but looking at the stats, the La Nina we are in and the weather satellite it would seem that we're in for more.

I've arranged the historical data (normally Jan to Dec) into a layout where the December of one year flows naturally into the January of the next (as it does naturally). This is the data from 1887 to the present ... so its quite a clump



Its a bit of a mess in there but its pretty clear Dec, Jan and Feb are stand out months for high rainfall.

We've been breaking records so far ... perhaps we'll break some more? who knows

What I do know is we need to get away from the media hysterical view of this and start taking an analytical view. I'm sure planners already do, but increasingly the general public is making heavy demands on politcal parties to steer things the way they want them.

The public seems to be increasingly mis-trustful of "the experts", so as far as I can see the only way to go forward and avoid disaster and loss of life is to get the same people who are vocal about telling "we need more [insert dams | highways | cheaper houses]" to actually grasp what it may be they actually need and what it will cost.

I'm willing to bet its not more of the same "business as usual" in terms of development, land approvals and infrastructure.

stay safe, and don't cross flooded roads ... please

---

PS
The next day I came across this article in the Australian, written by a Toowoomba based journalist. Some of the comments are well worth reading. Some show education and insight while others show the same follow the leader head in the sand stuff which assists propaganda and stupidity to reign strong:

• Rhys Posted at 1:04 AM January 12, 2011

  While this doesnt help the residents of flooded areas right this second, I can only hope that as a result of this that the QLD Govt will review its planning - and I am afraid that this would really need to start NOW. How hard this could be, if achievable at all, is mind bending. But the fact remains that this lesson should be learnt now, not in another 40 years. I have lost 2 friends already, and I dont think its fair to risk anymore. My thoughts are with all QLDers, and please know Australia's thoughts are with you too. In true form, we will be here when you need us.

  Comment 1 of 48

• Phil of Brisbane Posted at 1:12 AM January 12, 2011

  Heather. Who exactly are you saying is at fault here? Until this unbelievable freak of nature is explained, I dont think that anyone can be blamed. Leave it alone, for now. We have to hook in and get through the physical and mental repair work that is by far the most important issue at the moment. I do catch your drift, but lets wait.

  Comment 2 of 48

• Aaron Martin of Gold Coast Posted at 2:06 AM January 12, 2011

  Heather, your experience as a journalist is very clear here. Your message is spot on and well written. Why does it take a natural disaster of this magnitude to get people to listen?

  Comment 3 of 48

• Jenny Stirling Posted at 2:32 AM January 12, 2011

  Heather you are exactly right and up and down the coast of Queensland the same tragedy has been repeated. Councils are building on flood plains from Cairns to Brisbane. Here in Townsville we have an accident waiting to happen with the Bohle Pains housing development. Sure they have installed wide drains that lead to the sea but these fill with rubbish and are not maintained and cleaned. We have to learn to live with this country and not against it. And engineered solutions are not always the way to go because they rely too heavily on the agendas of those who are building the 'solutions'- as the engineer in Toowoomba testifies.

  Comment 4 of 48

• David W of North Carolina, Us ex Sydney, NSW Posted at 3:23 AM January 12, 2011

  Heather should write a book. The prose is very moving, what a great gift you have, something to touch the heart of our nation and our dreams and follies. We can afford to learn again.

  Comment 5 of 48

• Tim Posted at 3:29 AM January 12, 2011

  It's a similar story with most new housing developments - all of them low houses built on slabs. They will be indundated to the roofline, while many Queenslander houses will survive with water below the floorboards. But the designs originate from down south and are aimed at mass production.

  Comment 6 of 48

• PaxUs of Brisbane Posted at 3:48 AM January 12, 2011

  It isn't just Toowoomba Council that's to blame, it's the same story across board. No knowledge! No experience! Our historical culture and traditions, that embed in song, story and custom, lessons on how to survive, in this land of rugged, random hardship, have been all but decimated. Try reading the lyric to our National Anthem. The 'empty temples' of self worship & greed, between our 'leaders and planners' ears, no longer contain the sacred bible of knowledge, that is our historical heritage. They have forgotten that Australia is the land of the wild and untamed. Live here at your own peril. Drilling huge holes all over the State, filled with toxic chemicals, and their present 'mingling of waters', into our underground water and river systems, is another bonus, courtesy of our Corporate Government. 'We' didn't ignore anything, our Governments, Councils, Media, Economists, Developers, Mining Corporations and their Advisers did.

  Comment 7 of 48

• Martin of WA Posted at 4:27 AM January 12, 2011

  This is pessimistic. If you build cities and towns on flood plains you will experience flood. Pray for the dead. These great cities and towns will rebuild themselves.

  Comment 8 of 48

• janama Posted at 5:33 AM January 12, 2011

  Thank you Heather for not mentioning climate change :)

  Comment 9 of 48

• Sad. of Toongabbie Posted at 5:39 AM January 12, 2011

  Congratulations Heather. Your article made more sense than any other I have read on this disaster. You struck straight to the bone, peeling off all the meat that others have laboured to write about. Possible 30 million has been spent on a little creek near where I live. I hope the planners have got it right.

  Comment 10 of 48

• S of NT of Darwin Posted at 5:46 AM January 12, 2011

  well said..

  Comment 11 of 48

• Rosemary of Queensland Posted at 6:09 AM January 12, 2011

  I am a Queenslander born and bred and like many others of my generation, experienced the '74 floods. I've seen many new houses built on land that should never been built on, including low-set houses flat on concrete slabs. Queensland houses were built high on stumps for good reasons - for airflow, for catching cooling breezes, and to help mitigate flood damage. Of course if the flood is epic, then even these will eventually go under, but at least you have a fighting chance the rest of the time. Hard lessons should be learnt from this event - of building more dams, of looking for ways to build and relocate roads, rail and bridges so that during an old fashioned wet-season transport doesn't grind to a halt - and of stricter building codes in areas that are known for flooding, or are near creeks and rivers. Above all, lessons should be learnt by Governments at all levels - about the priority of where taxpayer money should be spent. Not on vague, popularist thought bubbles like the NBN or ceiling insulation, but on hard, prosaic, pragmatic infrastructure that might not win votes, but would help Australia survive the more extremes of this drought and flooding-rains country of ours.

  Comment 12 of 48

• John Good Posted at 6:25 AM January 12, 2011

  Yes Yes Yes !! We are surrounded by fools who won't listen because "they went to university and are fully qualified", it is the same with the bushfire debate and fuel reduction. Those that know and have seen the awesome force of nature live with the fact every day that at some point what they have warned people about will come true and sadly so many times it does.

  Comment 13 of 48

• phill Parsons of bilgola Posted at 6:29 AM January 12, 2011

  Expecting urban planning lessons to be learnt and implemented between rare events to take into account those events is a big ask. However, an event like this one should get a lesson learnt until the community forgets, which it usually does. Canberra apparently learnt as did the Victoria. I hope Queensland will follow suit as much as it can given the huge cost of rebuilding will inhibit replacemnt of inadequate infrastructure, if there is an adequate system for such an event. My sympathies to the victimns.

  Comment 14 of 48

• Mike McMullen Posted at 6:50 AM January 12, 2011

  I hope the Engineer mentioned has the luxury of feeling vindicated despite being pushed out of his job as a result of his commitment to standards as opposed to guilt about death and destruction as a result of backing down from them. I do not envy him in either case.

  Comment 15 of 48

• King O'Malley of Castle Cove Posted at 6:50 AM January 12, 2011

  The day when we put architects, consultants and town planners whims ahead of the advice of engineers and hydrologists is akin to putting children in charge of the playground. Like global warming hysteria, we need to grow up, apply some common sense and put the adults back in charge again.

  Comment 16 of 48

• NevilleW Posted at 6:51 AM January 12, 2011

  Thank you Heather, sitting down here in a safe high ground in Victoria, I wondered how the torrent of water could be unexpected and so catching people unawares when the water from the north had to go somewhere, you may have put a piece of the puzzle in place for me.

  Comment 17 of 48

• Jimboh of NTH Qld Posted at 7:14 AM January 12, 2011

  Onya Heather, The mind boggles sometimes when the so called expert professionals don't listen, when all it takes sometimes is to listen to the ordinary people who occasionally come up with good idea's. I wonder if the Pollies would take this on board

  Comment 18 of 48

• Wal of Winton Posted at 7:18 AM January 12, 2011

  OK, Heather, you were smart. I spent seven years at boarding school in Toowoomba in the fifties (very wet years you may remember) and there was nothing of the magnitude of this. Those two little creeks that run through the centre of Toowoomba seldom had enough water in them to wet your socks. The message really is that you cannot plan for extreme weather events and that cities and heavy rain don't mix.

  Comment 19 of 48

• Markus of New Farm Posted at 7:21 AM January 12, 2011

  How would larger pipes have helped mitigate the disaster we saw in Toowoomba?Why don't we wiat for the considererd expert findings post this disaster instead of airing the opinions of a journalist during this time of sorrow for so many people.

  Comment 20 of 48

• Stephen Morgan of Runcorn Posted at 7:25 AM January 12, 2011

  Exactly - and we did all this illogical building because we think we're above nature. The damage in Brisbane will be exacerbated because we thought that the dam would prevent 1974-style flooding...and we've built acordingly. Dams won't stop floods, that's clear. All they seem to do is stop people thinking about floods, which in some ways makes them more of a danger than a blessing. But let's not blame the dams nor praise them - they didn't make the decisions...we did!

  Comment 21 of 48

• Judi of Adelaide Posted at 7:30 AM January 12, 2011

  And Toowoomba isn't the only place that has done that. I know Adelaide doesn't always get heavy downpours, but every time it does, I know I (& a lot of others) curse the planners who use small gutters & pipes & allow building on floodplains. I'm "lucky" in that I live on the gentle slope of a hill - not at the bottom where it floods, & not enough of a slope for there to be a real danger of things like mudlsides, but I watch the water build up at the bottom of the street & through nearby streets & see people's houses get inundated. And during summer I look at all those houses with no eaves or verandahs, with huge aircons running full blast 24/7 & wonder what idiot decided that the Australian landscape could do with European designed buildings around the place. Our town planners, designers, developers, etc need to start taking our landscape into account. As QLD is currently proving, beautiful one day doesn't necessarily mean safe & beautiful tomorrow. It's going to take a lot of work to clean QLD up, but unfortunately I don't think that means lessons will be learnt, by QLD or by anywhere else in Australia. My thoughts are with you all.

  Comment 22 of 48

• jack Posted at 7:34 AM January 12, 2011

  Absolutely spot on.We are doing the same thing in the south. Building houses thatbear no relationship to the climate. No energy considerations and no demands from Councils or Governments that these be taken into consideration.As with Queensland, their wonderful architecture ignored. Lets hope this is altered now.

  Comment 23 of 48

• Jack Horton of Cunnamulla Posted at 8:04 AM January 12, 2011

  Sad but true; all town-planners should have a framed copy of the poem 'My Country' to remind them of the sudden contrasts nature can inflict on 'the wide brown land' - likewise should the many farmers who may not have come to terms with the land they farm - likewise the coastal communities & occupants of riverside mansions - these moods of nature are not new to us; we frequently incur cyclones, droughts, bushfires & floods - we may not ever know all the answers but we can certainly improve; despite all this, the Qld Govt, the BCC, the ICC, the RCC, the police, SES, army, navy, Red Cross, Salvos & ordinary volunteers demonstrate great fortitude in the face of the current adversity - they are to be recognised & applauded and rewarded by better town-planning & engineering as an integral outcome of this unfolding disaster.

  Comment 24 of 48

• lmwd of Qld Posted at 8:13 AM January 12, 2011

  Great article, along with the article looking at the history of Australian weather events. This is where we went wrong. By not understanding history, we are doomed for a repeat of disasters. Each event should be a learning â?? where to build and where not to and how to prepare for inevitable climate events. People seem to have this delusion that this event is something unprecedented, never happened before. Yes, this event may be the worst in our living memory, but the archives are full of information predicting such events. Take the BOM report written after the 74 flood. It compared that event to the 1893 flood, which saw peaks in Brisbane of over 9m and they warned that such a big event could happen again. It is why Wivenhoe Dam was built. If we want to know our future, we only need to look at our past, and that should be guiding our decisions. Instead our money and attention has been directed towards chasing hypothetical futures and this has left us ill-prepared for the return to the past.

  Comment 25 of 48

• Gemini of brisbane Posted at 8:39 AM January 12, 2011

  dear heather,i enjoyed reading your article. a refreshing style, and you have a good gift of writing. i am an engineer and sadly agree with your summation. because of the green movement, they will not build any dams, and as for re-cycled water, they dare not ask the engineers; they asked the scientists for an opinion and answers, who are busting to try anything and who don't have to stare down the threat of litigation everyday.

  Comment 26 of 48

• Brian of Longreach, Qld. Posted at 8:44 AM January 12, 2011

  I'm no engineering genius but I take note of all the old-timers when they criticise the works around the west proposed by city-based engineers and public servants.I've seen weirs washed away after they have been hit by the first fresh down the river, a highway which acted as a dam and flooded parts of the town that had never been flooded before.The old-timers said it would happen but the city experts said there would never be a problem.Thank you, Heather, for pointing it out.

  Comment 27 of 48

• Dr B S Goh of Australian in Asia Posted at 8:46 AM January 12, 2011

  It is a poignant article. May the souls of all who lost their lives rest in peace. Let us as Australians do better in managing our cities.

  Comment 28 of 48

• Ben of Sydney Posted at 8:51 AM January 12, 2011

  One again, "those who do not take heed to the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it's mistakes"...

  Comment 29 of 48

• denniscav of U.S.A. Posted at 8:53 AM January 12, 2011

  A major lesson we should learn from this disaster in Australia, is that nature is still in charge, and it is we who must learn, and change our habits and behaviors, which include, modifying our arrogant attitudes aimed at, or resulting in, conquering or subduing natural forces.

  Comment 30 of 48

• Stephen Jones of Byron Bay Posted at 8:56 AM January 12, 2011

  The arrogance of mankind plays out in scenes small and large as the world's weather systems assert their eminence simultaneously in Australia, Europe and the USA...

  Comment 31 of 48

• Paul Curson Posted at 9:00 AM January 12, 2011

  And global warming means these occasional extreme events will get worse.

  Comment 32 of 48

• Mark of Melbourne Posted at 9:22 AM January 12, 2011

  I would hope that after these problems that a detailed flood plain map is drawn up for all Australians, with clear labels such as DO NOT BUILD HERE / HIGH RISK / MEDIUM RISK It may be that river systems have to be given the flood plain respect and that many towns and cities are reshaped to suit. I would think that ANY insurance company would force these changes by not providing insurance or making it very expensive for properties rebuilt in these areas.

  Comment 33 of 48

• Mark of Melbourne Posted at 9:23 AM January 12, 2011

  Personally I dont expect the Labor government to sort out these issues with land owners and developers and councils who provide building approvals and make up the rules. Perhaps councils who have given approvals to build in these areas should be held personally responsible and it might prevent some of the greed in the system. I hope that those affected will carry on in good heart but realise that the system needs radical change otherwise it will happen again and again. THe only time it is likely to change is directly after a tradegy when the politicains cannot avoid the issue as it is fresh and raw in eveyones mind. Pity Labor is technically in charge though as progress or lasting results are words I would use to describe that particular party, expect lots of words and gestures but no real action and then vote accordingly, as happened in Victoria recently.

  Comment 34 of 48

• Milly Molly Posted at 9:27 AM January 12, 2011

  Best explanation of this terrible event in Toowoomba I have read so far.Had me puzzled as the water looked as if it came from a broken dam or catchment. However building recreation areas near the river with not enough drainage to allow the water to run off quickly would also have caused such a problem. Appreciate the article.Sadly I also think that Queensland's cycle of long years of drought broken by massive flooding events (which are documented from the 1890s onwards) seems to have been dismissed as unimportant in our planning for towns and water management. Just because there is a long time lapse between such events doesn't mean they won't happen again...they will.

  Comment 35 of 48

• peter hindrup of bondi junction Posted at 9:36 AM January 12, 2011

  A thoughtful observation by person who absorbed the reality of the unrestrained and unrestrainable power of the elements. City born people do no know and cannot know the immensity of the event which from time to time we will be confronted and some who have had the chance to observe, choose to forget.People are comforted by the 'once in a hundred years' tag placed upon many natural events. We are being reminded that such tags are meaningless, meaningless and offer false comfort.With more extreme weather occurring more often being predicted the rational approach is to begin a reappraisal of past practices and to begin the changes needed to manage the new reality, but there is not a chance that it will happen.( I grew up in Gisborne, NZ, which flooded regularly before the massive flood mitigation works were carried out.)

  Comment 36 of 48

• Jane in Brisbane of Brisbane Posted at 9:39 AM January 12, 2011

  Beautifully written - and very accurate.

  Comment 37 of 48

• Manorina of Queensland Posted at 9:43 AM January 12, 2011

  The type of cloudburst event which occurred on Monday in Toowoomba is rare but when they hit urban areas they are particularly destructive.This is because all rain that falls on a hardened surface like roofs and roads runs off and overwhelms storm water drainage.Apart from removing existing habitations and preventing further building near drainage lines there is not much that can be done.It is inevitable that streets will become drainage lines in extreme scenarios.Given the past record of local,state and federal governments in allowing developer greed to hold sway I don't give much chance for even the prohibition of future flood plain development let alone a managed retreat from these areas.

  Comment 38 of 48

• Andrew of Ipswich Posted at 9:54 AM January 12, 2011

  Heads should roll that good engineering advice has cost many lives and damaged so much property. Form should follow function. There is no point in having a pretty landscape if it can't deal with the reasonably predictable flood flows

  Comment 39 of 48

• Sylvia M. Murray of Perth Posted at 2:49 PM January 12, 2011

  I wonder about the cutting down of forests in the history of "the flooding plains" of Dorothy McKeller. What has been established about flooding rivers prior to white settlement? Sylvia Murray

  Comment 40 of 48

• Sunnysandgroper of WA Posted at 3:11 PM January 12, 2011

  Good luck over there.As with all things where good advice was overlooked for bad I hope that some of the votes received, promotions given and contracts awarded are closely scrutinised now. Perhaps redress by reversing the promotion for the planner promoting low height developments in low lying areas and giving a gee up to the hydrologist/engineer sitting in the back-office? Fat-chance, this is Australia in 2011, the dollar rules as do the ruling majorities. The rest of us can go suck eggs.

  Comment 41 of 48

• Engineer in the maze Posted at 3:42 PM January 12, 2011

  Welcome to the world of 'Modern Engineering'....attempting to satisfy the beanies and somehow maintain engineering integrity. It gets worse when the rate/tax payers money is spent by politicians on 'community projects' this normally means vote buying or believing the results from a survey of 100 people. Somehow I do not think this game is going to change...imagine if your local councillers were not allowed to override an engineering judgement, engineering would then also become political.

  Comment 42 of 48

• Cyclophile of Sunny Melbourne Posted at 3:48 PM January 12, 2011

  Excellent article, although it is yet to be established whether the 18-footers would have prevented, or mitigated, the disaster. But I do like the general thesis, that more regard should be had to environmental factors and to expert (in this case, engineering) advice, and less to the whims of developers and architects. Very much a Green perspective!

  Comment 43 of 48

• skydrake3 of Toowoomba Posted at 3:51 PM January 12, 2011

  Very true! We came to live in Twmba 6 years ago, following a couple of visits to this pleasant town. When you drive out of Twmba to the West, North and South you mostly see tree denuded of trees, leaving only naked earth; in dry season covered by dead grass, now green. It is a smooth land, with no places for water to accumulate, stay and sink in. The Kearney springs are still within the city perimeter and I understand that only some 15 years ago there was still a spring, bringing out fresh water...Now all is levelled out, leaving a few shallow scenic ponds...but these are not meant as buffer to hold water and prevent flooding somewhere further down, and in fact the city smart hydro engineers have created smoothly betoned out: a real highways for the water to run through. The pleasant lunch-break basin between the library and Grand Central is shallow and fills fast with the deposited soil and it does not serve water in any way, only our -foolish- aesthetics. No wonder that the accelerated water has created major havoc particularly here and at the end of that concrete highway in Russell str. Not far from the railway stationâ?¦The Eastern creek has been put into a straight jacket too...

  Comment 44 of 48

• Rodger of Scarborough, Qld Posted at 3:54 PM January 12, 2011

  Heather's article is a well written and honest observation, so it seems from reading it, and I would agree, too much of our constructions in this country ignore the fact that this is Australia, I extend this to the whole of the nation as I have only minutes ago seen Flood pictures from another part of our country Photo's taken this morning, while the Floods down in Victoria are not to the scale we are seeing in here in Queensland, it does along with the Bush Fires in WA highlight the fact that this Country of ours is a Beautiful, Heartless and Deadly landscape, housing not only many of the most poisonous spiders and Snakes, but a harsh and unforgiving weather system, when will we learn that we cannot recreate European and Chinese architecture or make Modern Art designs out of towns, without placing ourselves and our children at great risk? we have the knowledge and technology to limit the damage of Australia harsh environment, we just refuse to use it

  Comment 45 of 48

• Bec Posted at 3:55 PM January 12, 2011

  The paddocks surrounding my old highschool used to flood considerably every couple of years, as did the school grounds themselves - there are now 2 new, large satellite downs on those same grounds. How many of those people - whose houses will inevitably flood - knew of this? I would say none of them - unless they had local knowledge of the area. It's sad how money overtakes human safety.

  Comment 46 of 48

• Bill Posted at 3:59 PM January 12, 2011

  A city which rejected re-cycled water; a city which rejected good engineering.Stick to good planning and good science.

  Comment 47 of 48

• John W Jenks of Brisbane Posted at 4:04 PM January 12, 2011

  Very well written. It is a pity that these things happen which they do every 20 to 30 years and that may be the reasons we forget these things do happen. The really sad part is that although we may not know what the results would have been if these developments had not been done, developers do things to make money and often greed and dare I say coruption occurs to get the end results that also result in inocent people suffering. We build unsuitable buildings in flood prone and bushfire prone areas and we don't seem to learn by the dissasters that occur.

  Comment 48 of 48

  
  

Queensland Floods: much of the damage is our own fault

I have been wanting to post something about this, but so far have kept my nose out because I didn't think anyone out there would get the point of what I'm trying to say.

However today I see that someone else has mentioned it publicly so at least I'm not out on my own here.

You see, I feel that the floods are no worse than what we've had in the past, and certainly nothing unexpected in terms of a 100 year event. However because we've been building in places we previously didn't and building places unsuited to the location we've now copped lot of damage.

I've been looking at the "flooding" here on the Gold Coast and felt that most of it was in areas which older locals would never have built in and in styles we didn't traditionally build in. Strangely its only recently (at the end of some decades of drought) that these areas have been "re-zoned" to be available for development.

Caution has taken a back seat to greed and the desire to move a population here.

I had been doing a little research on this and had come across an PhD by Allison Godber who identified that people buying into property

"do not understand the risks of flooding represented by the standards formally adopted by local government and as a result misinterpret their levels of flood risk exposure"

in lay speak this means people build in areas which may wipe them out when (not if) it floods.

She is not the only one suggesting this, as today I also found this:

Central Queensland University researcher John Rolfe said Emerald's decisive moment came in the early 1990s when the council made the decision to release land for subdivision along the flats beside the Nogoa River rather than on the high land near the airport to the east of the river.

"When you look at the aerial pictures from the floods, you'll see that Old Emerald is largely untouched; it's the new areas which have gone underwater" Rolfe said

"Back in the 1990s when mining was really taking off, most of the planning decisions were made at that stage to release the land along the river.

Its sort of funny, but quite tragic in reality that we fail to heed the opinions of those who have experience in the area and instead favor what ever advice fits with doing what we want to.

Queensland is one of the fastest growing states, which means we are getting thousands of people with no experience of the region move in and settle every month. This can only mean people without a clue about what its like here.

If you look around you see all the older houses look rather like this:



unless they're built in areas which are on tops of hills ... but even then they are often still on shorter posts.

The reason for this should be clear to people now, but just in case it isn't here is why:



So while it may be annoying to have a meter of water under your house...

Its much better than having a meter of water through your house.

Even in the devastating 1974 floods heaps of people were spared having their houses and property ruined by simply building according to the conditions.

I'm at a loss why we seem to forget this, but I can only put it down to people being ignorant, developers being too greedy, and fashion dictating how we build our homes.

I've been reading how cockamamie ideas are circulating about now "flood proofing" Queensland.

For gods sake, when will we learn that for every action there is a reaction, we can't "tame nature" and we do well to learn to live within its means.

Many towns are build around farming and many farming areas are built around fertile soil and water. Unsurprisingly these are often in areas called "flood plains" (just in case you don't remember your Grade 10 geography classes). For these ecosystems (and ones modified into productive farmlands) soil fertility is benefited by flooding. Rather like this:



Our grandparents seemed to understand this and work with it, so perhaps its time to get a little sence back into our system again??