disaster

Between Wowan and Goovigen in Banana Shire, Central Queensland lies a distinctive landscape feature of the Fitzroy Basin. Three rivers—the Dee and Don Rivers and Callide Creek—converge, sometimes with dramatic consequences, on a three-pronged floodplain. The DeeDon-Callide floodplain is approximately 37 km long, up to five km wide, and about 16,000 ha in area. Complex patterns of water flow ensure that it is rich in wetland features: channels, waterholes, ponds and swamps. Major floods are a constant concern during the wet season at Calliungal and historically the station has experienced some huge losses of cattle. In 1928, about 2000 head of Calliungal cattle were drowned or lost: “The animals went down in hordes. On all sides along the course of the river the beasts were tossed and swirled, some being caught in the branches of trees and others going downstream to be drowned and thrown on the banks for miles down.” And “the sight of cattle suspended in trees 20 to 30 feet from the ground was sufficient evidence that the losses sustained by stock being swept away are very heavy.” 1 Mark Collins recalls that in one such flood, a dead bullock from Calliungal washed up in Rockhampton; Source: wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/resources/static/pdf/resources...

This cyclone was widely regarded as the worst to hit a populated area of Qld. The towns of Babinda, Innisfail, Cairns, Ingham & Cardwell were destroyed. The cyclone swept inland over the Bellenden-Ker Range & the Atherton Tableland. Contemporary reports list 37 dead at Innisfail, and 40-60 aborigines killed nearby. Innisfail (population 3,500) had only 12 houses left intact. At Bingil Bay a surge wave took the creek from the bridge 400 m upstream, and at the Bingil Bay Mission Beach area all structures were destroyed and debris reached a height of 7metres in the trees. It was reported that the cyclone continued for 4 days. Source: www.babindainfocentre.com.au/more-info/cyclones/1918-cycl...

In the early hours of Monday morning on January 21, 1918, a category 4 cyclone launched into Mackay carrying violent winds and a 3.6 meter storm surge. There were reports of 2 to 3-metre waves breaking in the main street of the town. Damage was widespread. Of the 1400 houses in Mackay at the time, 1300 were destroyed or significantly damaged. Thirty people lost their lives as a result of the cyclone, most of them in Mackay township. The massive cyclone that all but destroyed Innisfail a couple of months later is considered the worst cyclone ever to hit a populated area in Queensland. The category 5 storm crossed the coast on Sunday evening the 10th of March. Such was the devastation, that only 12 buildings are reported to have remained standing after the cyclone. In the nearby settlements of Mission Beach and Bingil Bay, every single structure was destroyed and massive storm surges and tidal waves were reported. The town of Babinda was also almost completely destroyed. At least 100 people were killed as a result of the cyclone, many of them Aboriginal residents at the Hull River Mission. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/deadly-cyclone-season-1918

Nice looking ship.