MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
The 4676 meeting of the Brisbane City Council, held at City Hall, Brisbane
on Tuesday 22 March 2022 at 1pm
COUNCILLOR HUTTON:
Mr Chair, I rise to speak about my community and their phenomenal efforts during the recent floods. This last month has been intense and emotional, with the loss and devastation of losing homes and businesses. The last month has been a wild ride. We have all seen extreme devastation across our city and despite the pain and damage, the silver lining to this situation has been witnessing the strength, compassion and resilience of our locals. While the kerbside may be clear, we have a long journey ahead. I want to put on the record my gratitude to some of the exceptional humans who have gone above and beyond, when our community needed it most.
I want to take you back to Saturday 26th February, when we began to realise the rain was continuing to fall at a dramatic rate, with homes and community facilities at risk of being engulfed by the rising creek and river.
We rushed down to the Centenary Rowing Club and Springfield Dragon Boat Club who were working on lifting their boats and valuables to higher ground, using an army of volunteers. Thank you to the respective committees for your swift response. While the flooding hit the second level of the rowing club, I want to shout out to the Centenary tavern for securely holding the ergo and bikes, which will ensure the rowers can continue their critical training.
We then visited the Jindalee Bowls Club – which is the home of Centenary Meals on Wheels and the Centenary RSL Sub Branch. The nearby creek was sneaking closer and closer, we made the decisions to move the RSL and Meals on Wheels which was located underneath the bowls club to the second level. I want to thank all of the volunteers who assisted and responded to the calls for help on Facebook like Bob who spent hours, alongside Matt Bourke and Nat Hutton trying to keep the ground floor dry with pumps and sandbags. After an enormous effort, collectively we agreed to return at 4am before the proposed peak at 7am.
Sadly, when we arrived back at 4am, the water was lapping at the second level and we had now lost everything. It was the first loss of many to come…. Particularly tough for the RSL who had lost precious souvenirs and collectables, many irreplaceable. I want to thank George Le Fevre, president of the RSL, Paul Kennedy President of the Bowls Club and Ruth Malloyon, for their tireless leadership during this time.
Again on Sunday, we saw continued rainfall…. And we became very nervous this may impact residents in a similar way to 2011. We made the decision to door knock the streets impacted previously. I want to acknowledge the efforts of Senior Constable Ben Harm, Constable Brendan Croxford, Matt Bourke, Yianni Pallourios and Marty Gillies who in the pouring rain, walked the streets to ensure locals were aware of the rapidly changing situation.
On the same day, John Robertson from Riverlife Baptist Church reached out to ask how they may be able to assist. I am sure he wasn’t quite ready to be asked if he would consider opening an evacuation centre but I wasn’t afraid to ask. Within a few hours, John who was trapped in Moggill, worked with his team, Scotty Wilson and Aimee Cowan, to bring this request to fruition. I want to thank the entire team for being open-minded to my request and establishing a temporary home for 70 people and their array of pets, over the proceeding 5 days. I say “home” quite intentionally, as they made their facility as comfortable and accommodating as possible for humans and pets alike. At one point, we had a small menagerie of animals which included a range of cats and dogs, a nursing baby wallaby and turtle.
At such an emotional time for many locals, the warm and welcoming vibe of the Riverlife staff and volunteers, was exactly what they needed to get some respite and plan the way forward. To Riverlife, your community’s generosity has been inspiring and I thank you so much for responding to my call. I want to particularly acknowledge Aimee Cowan and Scotty Wilson. Two exceptional humans who went above and beyond during this time. Your support will never be forgotten.
This support flowed throughout our community, with 297 locals register to help their neighbours, either on a broom as part of the clean-up efforts or volunteering to man our two recharge stations at either Jindalee and Oxley.
Our Jindalee Recharge station was setup with the support of Helen Saba from NGU Real Estate. I want to say thank you to Helen for opening her office to enable locals to enable this to happen I also want to thank the many businesses who gave support when it was established, like Total Tools Richlands who donated a gurney and Middle Park Bakery who donated bakery goods including hot pies with hearts on top so locals suffering knew, they were being thought of. To the many businesses who gave when our community needed it most, thank you.
I want to acknowledge Jo from 4Voices who visited our recharge stations on a number of occasions to help locals apply for grants and receive support. Your support was incredible and I know many locals appreciated the connection made with yourself and your volunteers at Jindalee and Oxley.
Our other recharge station was at the Uniting Church at Oxley. Rev Dave was kind enough to open his facility to allow locals to charge their phone and grab a bite to eat. It soon became a hive of activity, like Indooroopilly shopping town on Christmas Eve, bustling with people, food and support. To Rev Dave and your entire community, thank you for not only opening your doors to the community, but supporting our locals in such a practical way. I am so appreciative of your tireless support and the many hours you have devoted to our community. Thank you so much.
I would like to acknowledge a particular volunteer, who was there every step of the way at the Oxley recharge station. Amy, from a neighbouring suburb, who would spend all day volunteering at the church to then go home and scroll through local Facebook pages to help anyone who has expressed a need. Thank you Amy. You have such a big and generous heart.
Some other exceptional locals who shone during this flood were Shelby and Kylie Robinson. Sadly, flood clean-ups are far too familiar to this pair and during 2011 they spent six months helping local families rebuild. Shelby owns a landscaping business and he was quick to work with our team to figure out a plan of attack and use all his resources to help. Thank you Shelby and Kylie, I want to put on the record today, my sincere thanks for your efforts. #legendsofoxley.
One of our fabulous volunteers Tamara Foong connected – connected me with Fazal Deen who as a member of Archerfield Rotary was keen to provide 4 gurneys for the clean-up effort. He casually mentioned, that his family would be very interested to helping Oxley, his local area. Well, the Deens know how to help. The following morning, they arrived with 6 trucks, and escalator and a bob cat and we began the clean-up of Oxley Station road. I was beyond excited. With hundreds of volunteers working together, alongside the mud army, we were making progress. After an enormous day, the Deen family then proceeded to supply the most incredible curry for dinner. The amazing effort was replicated again the following day. To the entire Dean family, but in particular to George, Happy, Fazil, Jock, Yazmeen, thank you for going above and beyond. Your efforts were exceptional.
In the midst of all of the clean-up, we also had some incredible police to manage the road network. Many of whom volunteers and worked enormous hours during this time. To Senior Constable Ben Harm, Acting Sargent Andrew Percell, Senior Constable Matthew Scott, Senior Constable Aaron Bobberman. You are champions of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I would also like to the thank Gina, Fay and Simon from the LDCC. Thank you for your tireless efforts in navigating the many requests, including a fuel truck. Who would have thought that could have happened, but dreams can come true!
Finally, I want to acknowledge my team and friends whom have been on this journey with me. To Nat Hutton Marty Gilles, Ben Kozij, Belinda Messer, Matt Bourke, Yianni Pallourios, Lisa Baillie, Grant Baillie, Poppy Eugeniou and Marc Breen. I couldn’t have supported our community in this way without you. You are the legends of our community.
Together we have solved problems, gathered resources and navigated a way forward. Amidst the pain, we have laughed, danced with joy and had moments of elation. We have connected many people with support for the long road ahead and seen the heart and generosity of our community. Every cloud has a silver lining. Recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. Our community has a long way to go but together, we’ve got this.
