20 Mar 2011

As with the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009, Queensland’s devastating January floods not only provided a further reminder of the sheer power of nature’s fury but also managed to galvanise a genuine, and distinctly Australian, spirit of solidarity amongst us all. Right across the country people donated money, goods and their own skills and services in order to help their northern brothers and sisters recover from what was an almost indescribable disaster. Although thousands lost their homes, and tragically 35 people lost their lives, somehow the great state of Queensland weathered the storm and came out even stronger than it had been before.

Prior to the tragic mid-January floods of Southeast Queensland, three quarters of the state had been declared a disaster zone due to unprecedented December rainfalls and surging rivers that were carrying huge volumes of water around key regional centres. 2010 was the state’s wettest year on record and as the downpours continued into the New Year many in the community, including golf clubs, were starting to feel the pinch. On the Sunshine Coast, for example, the Tewantin Noosa Golf Club suffered a six-figure loss as more than 1140mm of rain in December and early January closed the course and hit green fee, gaming and dining revenues. Still, in the context of what happened next, the Tewantin Noosa Golf Club got off lightly.

As many no doubt can recall, the serious floods that destroyed portions of southeast Queensland began on January 10, when a sudden and ferocious downpour outside Toowoomba created a virtual inland tsunami and swept a violent wall of water right through the city’s CBD and across the Lockyer Valley. The speed and severity of the flooding was truly frightening, as was the realisation that this enormous body of water was headed for the Brisbane catchments and eventually into the already bursting Brisbane and Bremer Rivers. Residents and businesses along these rivers were told to brace for a once-in-a-generation flood event.

The first golfing victim of these southeast floods was the City Golf Club of Toowoomba, which had no warning at all of impending trouble and was caught as a raging torrent cut right through the centre of town. As General Manager Peter Constance explains, ‘being 2,200 feet above sea level you just don’t expect such extraordinary water flows in a place like this.’ Constance recalls seeing the flow ‘pick up and carry a car through our creek and smack into one of our pedestrian bridges.’ This trapped car together with the surging waters eventually destroyed the bridge, which then took out another one further down stream. The irrigation system at the City GC was also damaged as were numerous paths and bunkers, but as Constance is quick to point out the club was lucky compared to those in Brisbane because its insurance company ‘has deemed this to be storm damage so we are fortunately covered. Plus we were able to get back golfing relatively quickly thanks to a wonderful team of volunteers who helped clean bunkers and greens.’

Remarkably, members here were back golfing on a full 18-hole course within a couple of weeks, and by late February the layout had recovered sufficiently to enable the 2011 Queensland PGA Championship to proceed as planned at the club.

While the City Golf Club and its maintenance crew were cleaning up after the storm, clubs down the river were frantically preparing for what was headed their way. When the Brisbane River peaked on January 13, a number of suburban golf courses were swamped and essentially reclaimed into the river system. Those familiar with the Indooroopilly Golf Club will recall seeing helicopter vision of its riverside West Course disappearing beneath the rising tide of water. Other courses in the city were also inundated, among the worst hit were the nearby Brisbane Golf Club and the municipal St Lucia course as well as Jindalee, Oxley, McLeod and Wolston Park further to the west.

The Wolston Park Golf Club, located between the city and Ipswich, was one of the first Brisbane golf courses under water. Club President Malcolm Chisholm was part of an evacuation team that spent much of January 12 moving equipment, carts, computers and club records to higher ground whilst watching the water seep onto the site and start rising. When the river eventually reached its peaked (around 15 metres above ordinary levels), 13 holes were under water as was much of a clubhouse that members had believed to be flood proof. As with other clubs affected by the flooding, recovery at Wolston Park was aided by dozens of volunteers who descended onto the site in the aftermath to help clean sludge and gunk from the playing surfaces. Chisholm estimates they had 60 volunteers on the Saturday alone, and these were members, friends of members and others he never identified. Many brought their own shovels and wheelbarrows, and by the end of the weekend they had managed to clear every single green and 16 of the tees, which enabled them to recover much quicker than otherwise would have been possible. Despite a damage bill exceeding $350,000, the club had 9 holes back in play within two weeks and the full 18 reopened by the end of February.

Among the stock lost at Wolston Park was a fully loaded soft drink fridge, which crashed through a clubhouse window and disappeared into the Brisbane River never to be seen again. This fridge likely floated right past the McLeod Golf Club at Mount Ommaney as well as the small nine-hole Jindalee Golf Club, which also suffered significant inundation. Each of Jindalee’s holes was completely underwater on January 13, while the pro shop and clubhouse were also damaged in the flooding and its fleet of motorised carts destroyed. At McLeod the devastation was equally significant, course superintendent Peter Daly describing the aftermath as ‘like a disaster zone.’ As at Jindalee and elsewhere, McLeod was able to quickly bounce back thanks to the tireless efforts of its greenkeepers as well as its member volunteers, who numbered more than 70 and helped clean up the site and enable the reopening of 10 holes shortly after the flood.

Further along the river and closer to the CBD, other golf courses severely impacted by these floods included Indooroopilly West and the Brisbane Golf Club, which between them suffered losses likely to topple the $1 million mark. At the peak of the crisis Brisbane President David Price inspected his course and reported to the membership that the place was a mess and resembled an inland sea, ‘not a lake but a sea with no indication there was even a golf course under all the water.’ Along its western boundary the 12th green was apparently more than a dozen metres under water.

Once the floods receded the fears were that it could take months to clean up the site and get the golf course back in a playable condition. Course superintendent Ben Cavanagh and his team did it in three weeks, thanks again to the help of a Dad’s army of member volunteers who helped with the massive cleanup operation. 160 volunteered the first weekend after the flood, and in subsequent weeks dozens more pitched in to help. A number of members even brought rotary mowers from home to hand cut the roughs. Cavanagh certainly had some dark days in mid-January, but he believes many positives have come from the floods. ‘This disaster has changed the nature of this club,’ he says, ‘it’s brought us closer and given committee members and others a greater understanding of what is involved in looking after the course.’

Even with the golf holes back in play, Brisbane’s recovery efforts continue and there remains extensive damage to its irrigation system as well as some critical machinery and stock to replace. As Cavanagh notes, ‘we’ve done a great job with the recovery to this point, but we’ll still be cleaning up the mess at Christmas.’

Despite the hardships faced at Brisbane, Ben Cavanagh nominates colleague Charlie Giffard at Indooroopilly Golf Club as having suffered the most at the hands of the floods. Indooroopilly’s famous West Course was almost completely submerged during January’s peak, and several holes on the more elevated East Course were also badly damaged. Giffard did manage to save much of his machinery, but his maintenance shed and pump station were flooded and his greens lost under as much as eight inches of silt.

Like at other Queensland clubs caught up in January’s flood, Indooroopilly owes its recovery to both the tireless efforts of its staff, as well as the willingness of the members to take ownership of the property and help clean it up. In the days after the waters receded, as many as 300 member volunteers were helping Giffard and his crew with the recovery operation. Using shovels and wheelbarrows, their primary task was to remove the mud and silt off the putting surfaces, and then wash and squeegee them clean. Thanks to the hard work of these volunteers the greens at Indooroopilly were completely cleaned within a week, which helped save the plant from further stress and, incredibly, enabled Giffard to have all 36 holes back in operation within seven weeks.

Aside from highlighting the futility of attempts to contain Mother Nature, these freak weather events further reinforced the resilience of the Australian spirit and proved yet again that rallying around each other is our automatic reaction to disasters on such a scale. Community organisations and sporting clubs are an integral part of every community in this country, and it was a great relief to contact clubs affected by the floods and learn that they were not only doing well, but as Malcolm Chisholm (Wolston Park) defiantly put it, ‘definitely not throwing in the towel.’

There is still much flood recovery work to do across the Queensland golfing industry with debris to remove and machinery, irrigation, fixtures and stock to replace. There was also considerable damage caused to some smaller regional clubs by Tropical Cyclone Yasi in early February. Golfers can help by donating to the various Queensland appeals setup after these natural disasters – or better yet, by grabbing their clubs and a few close friends and heading north on a winter expedition to that golfing paradise we all fondly remember as the Sunshine State.

Darius Oliver, Architecture Editor

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