Quilpie family reveals toll of lost livestock as dead beasts wash up near home

An Outback Queensland grazier still unable to leave her property after 500mm of rain over two weeks has revealed the reality of cleaning up after record-breaking rain.

A dead kangaroo picked up in a wheelbarrow after historic flooding in Queensland's Outback.

Quilpie grazier Louise Hoch, 43, and her family of six are still unable to leave their property after 500mm of rain was dumped on it over the past two weeks.

While the rain has stopped, the ground is starting to dry out and the water is now receding, dozens of dead wildlife have washed up just 100m from their home.

The stench of death is in the air, and the only way to stop it is to painstakingly relocate the deceased animals to another part of their property.

For graziers like Mrs Hoch, this is just the start of years of pain her family will experience.

“The water just came up so high. Nothing in its place stood a chance, fences, livestock, everything was just taken,” she said.

“The rain started, and we had an inch, that was great. We had a hot and dry summer, so when it started raining, it was really exciting.

“The rain didn’t stop for five days. The water kept rising, we couldn’t move, and we couldn’t get out.”

A sheep in floodwater in Queensland's Outback.

She anticipates they have lost thousands of livestock, but due to flooding they are unable to get an accurate estimate.

“My husband had a quick look around the boundary and saw dead goats, fences still flattened. We just won’t know,” she said.

“85 per cent of our property went completely underwater. The fences are ruined, some of them are nowhere in sight and washed away.

“The water came faster and higher than anyone had expected. Quilpie itself was quite lucky, but the graziers have been devastated. Further south to Thargomindah, the town is pretty much gone. This flood has just caused mass destruction out here.”

The damage bill for Mrs Loch will likely be at least $400,000.

“This will set us back years,” she said.

“Our six-foot-high fencing is $15,000 per kilometre. So much damage, it takes time, it takes manpower, it takes machinery, it’s not going to be a quick fix.

“All the fencing is only five years old. The livestock we’ve lost … it’s taken us a while to breed up to those numbers. Not weeks but years.”

She’s said the support given on the ground from the State Government has been “excellent” but she hopes the Federal Government will provide more grants in the near future to help the region recover.

“These are graziers that have been annihilated. They produce food and fibre for our country, shouldn’t we be number one priority? I’d like to think the Federal Government will help out more,” she said.

“The recovery is going to go on for a long time.”

Originally published as Quilpie family reveals toll of lost livestock as dead beasts wash up near home