Bedourie levee holds fast during floods

“For the rain never falls on the dusty Diamantina.” 

So sang Australian bush balladeers Redgum in their immortal 1984 classic ‘The Diamantina Drover’.

But as the 150 residents of Bedourie, who have endured five major floods in the past six years can tell you, that’s not exactly true.

Sitting on the banks of the usually dry Eyre Creek in Western Queensland’s channel country, Bedourie is one of Queensland’s most remote towns lying about 1600 kilometres west of Brisbane.

When the nearby Georgina River floods, the little town, with an elevation of only 91 metres above sea level, can become isolated for weeks or even months at a time.

But thanks to forward thinking from the Diamantina Shire Council, a structurally sound levee bank protects Bedourie from floodwaters entering the town and causing more damage.

Originally constructed in 1996, the earthen levee provides a substantial line of defence from surging floodwaters that spread out across the surrounding channel country.

When viewed from the air during times of flood, Bedourie sits comfortably like an island on an inland sea.

Council regularly inspects the levee and carries out maintenance works ahead of approaching floods to raise and reinforce identified low areas ensuring the highest possible level of protection for residents.

While a breach of the Bedourie levee bank is considered unlikely, Council has clear contingency plans in place.

If evacuations ever do become necessary, residents know to gather at the designated evacuation point of the Bedourie Airport where they can be airlifted to safety.

The levee was made possible with funding from the Australian and Queensland governments’ Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (forerunner to the current Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements which is administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA)).

The levee is a great example of how adapting resilient disaster responses to unique local conditions can provide long term and ongoing benefits for communities.

It illustrates QRA’s one-size-doesn’t-fit-all approach to resilience, which recognises that what works for one part of the state, may not be the most effective approach in other areas with different risk profiles.

Earthen levees may not be feasible around larger towns and cities with different topography, but for the residents of Bedourie it works a treat.