Remembering the Brisbane floods, 40 years on

We were living in a caravan at Manly West at the time. A young married couple with a toddler who had great plans to travel around Australia before we settled down. We were doing the reverse of the grey nomads. We were more like the “crazy nomads”.

It started to rain which at the time as I remember it, it was hot and humid. You know those really hot January and February months that seem to drag on forever. All I was worried about was if I could get my son’s nappies dry (those were the days of cloth nappies). But, the rain didn’t stop and eventually creeks and low lying areas started to flood.

The caravan park we were staying at was next to a flood plain but as we were high up on a hill we were quite safe. By the Monday of the last weekend, Brisbane was in trouble. Flash flooding was every where around the cit and in the suburbs. Added to the problem was the king tides which we have every year at this time.

My husband worked at the ship yard and he couldn’t get to work for over a week. You may remember the Robert Miller the last ship built at Evans Deakins ship yard broke its mooring and was floating down the river and was going to hit the Story Bridge and if it stuck under it, it would act as a dam. They managed just in time to halt the ship and tow it back to its mooring… Luckily.

Meanwhile, back in my caravan the water was rising up the hill to where we lived. The water wasn’t the only thing creeping up the hill. All the wild life was before it and we had a number of small animals trying to hide in our annex but the worst one was a snake. To this day I don’t know if the snake was more scared of me or I of it. I rushed out of the annex with my son tucked under my arm yelling at the top of my voice. The gentleman across the way came to my rescue and removed it with a broom. For ages after the water receded I won’t go down in the annex for love or money.

Lives were lost in the flood but something magical happened too as well. People fell over themselves to help each other, which begs the question why does it take a disaster for people to help one other?

We never got to go around Australia then but we have lived a happy life in Inala for over 37 years with our two dogs and a cat and our pet chicken who’s called Charlie but that’s another story…

Were you living in Brisbane during the 1974 floods? What is your most distinct memories about the time?