File:Fitzroy Bridge, Rockhampton, c 1894.jpg

English: Great entry by Sharlene Harrison AND Eliza Pati for the 1 Million and Counting competition!

Courtesy of Queensland Historical Atlas

"In the days before roads and railway to Brisbane, the Fitzroy River provided all transport and communications for much of Central Queensland through the port of Rockhampton. But its location towards the mouth of one of Australia largest river basins also left the town vulnerable to flooding. Since first white settlement in 1856, there have been many floods on the Fitzroy, three of which reached record heights: in 1918 (10.11m), 1954 (9.3m) and 1991 (9.3m). The first of these, the highest, longest and most destructive, has passed into local memory as ‘the great flood’. According to Aboriginal stories, there had been ‘big feller water’ many times before whites arrived, and to far greater heights, but most Europeans dismissed those as mere myth. The 1918 flood unfolded as a contest of strength and endurance between people and the landscape in an era devoid of modern technology and emergency services. It revealed both cooperation and conflict within in a community under great stress.

For five days from 20 January 1918, cyclonic rain fell continuously in and around Rockhampton and throughout the Fitzroy Basin. Downpours in the headwaters a fortnight earlier meant the river was already swollen. With the latest falls, the river broke its banks, despite desperate sandbagging, and left elevated parts of the town marooned as an island in a vast sea of brown swirling waters. The smaller, separate municipality of North Rockhampton lay further isolated across the raging river. With hundreds of homes inundated, Police Inspector McGrath and Mayor Kingel coordinated the task of evacuating people in dinghies and the few motorboats then available. Some 1380 people alone were rescued from the ‘swamp’ or Depot Hill area and, in other areas, many more escaped by foot. In the days that followed, eight people drowned in the floodwaters—seven men and one woman."

Queensland State Archives Image ID 2257