Like all rivers, the Burnett winds around the countryside, changing with each season and major weather event. Living beside the river for the past 13 years, we have experienced the devastation of drought, floods, and the filling of Paradise dam, of which all three had major impacts on the river we have come to love.
When we acquired the property (now known as Bungadoo Breeze), in 2008, the region was in the grips of a drought and the Global Financial Crisis. Compounded by the fact that Paradise dam had been built (completed 2005), and was now selfishly taking every drop of water runoff it could, our patch of riverfront had become a sea of waterweed. Not the good type- namely Hyacinth and Salvinia. The riparian zone was a mass of cats claw and rubber vine, choking and suffocating the native vegetation. There was little to see in the river – too dirty and oxygen-depleted for wildlife other than catfish to thrive in. We despaired over the health of the river as year after year, the Burnett was deprived of its normal flow, as Paradise dam continued to fill, and the waterweeds choked out creeks, dams and tributaries.
When we had the large rain events in 2011 and 2012, it set up the “Perfect Storm” that was to be remembered as the Bundaberg Australia Day Flood 2013. Paradise Dam was close to full by then, so over the top, it all went. The force of the water sent most of the hyacinth out to sea, toppling over the yachts moored at Bundaberg Port. It was a beautiful thing for the river, a tragic event for the economy. Nature showed no mercy that day, and for the months to follow. The water lay around, killing lawns, stinking up the ground, rotting everything. Whole trees had slid down the muddy banks to become new habitats underwater. Our large population of water dragons disappeared, either drowned or washed away. Bare trunks, barely rooted, became the riparian zone. As whole banks had slid into the water, and sand displaced, the river changed completely, no more evidenced than in the 350-meter patch we so enjoy.
So what about now? We are in the midst of drought again! Aside from a few good rains in 2008, there has been little rain for Central Qld, and the Wide Bay Burnett region since 2013. Yet again, an event that was an economic disaster, came to the rescue of the Burnett.
It hit the news in a big way! Paradise Dam is not safe! The dam wall will break! Bundaberg will be destroyed! All manner of studies determined that Paradise Dam had serious construction flaws and the cheapest solution was to lower the dam wall and keep the water capacity to 40%. This was achieved by giving the water to farmers, and letting out the water in a controlled way over several months from September 2019.
Here we are in 2021, and honestly, the Burnett River has never looked better to us. We see a healthy population of lungfish again, the water dragons have re-populated, we often spot platypus, and the turtles are numerous. The water is clear, the underwater weeds, feeding, hiding, and supporting a variety of river creatures. The hyacinth is only now starting to build up again in the creeks and tributaries.
Let’s pray for rain…