Ron Greening recalls 1956 floods long legacy in Mannum

There are still tell tale signs along the length of the Murray from “the big one”. And it left its mark on the people who lived through it too.

Ron Greening still remembers the huge roar when the waters finally broke the banks of the River Murray at Mannum during the historic 1956 flood.

Then 16 years old and living an idyllic Boy’s Own life on the banks of the river – swimming, rowing, fishing and getting up to whatever mischief presented itself – Mr Greening says there was an element of adventure to the time that saw the town inundated for months.

“At 16, we were having a ball!” the now 82-year-old says.

“We used to walk along the floodbank with the water both sides, shooting rabbits. The rabbits were everywhere because they had nowhere else to go. And there were plenty of snakes as well.”

One report from the time speaks of a farmer near Meningie killing more than 1000 tiger snakes that had been driven on to his farms as their swamp habitat flooded.

And he remembers the local rowing teams using the main street as a makeshift practice lane.

“At the time I wasn’t rowing, but I got into it soon after and I know all the guys who were training up and down the main street,” he says.

In pictures: How the 1956 floods inundated SA

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But that roaring sound of the water first breaking his banks has stayed with him over the decades.

“It was a huge effort in trying to get the banks to hold, and they were remarkably successful in places,” Mr Greening says.

“But in the irrigation area opposite Mannum, that bank broke during the night. Most people in the town woke up to the sound of it.

“At that time I was living on the opposite side of the river … it was just amazing. Just a roar.

“My wife was quite young at the time and she and her family lived in a high point of town. During the night her family pulled her out of bed to listen to it and watch it.”

The floods of 1956 were the biggest recorded since settlement, with an astounding peak of 341GL a day coming down the Murray.

To this day the markers on the powerlines and in the majestic river red gums – markers painted at almost unbelievable heights – tell the story of “the big one”.

Driven, like the current situation, by a multi-year La Nina event that saw an incredible amount of rainfall in the eastern states the floods saw unprecedented scenes along the river. The river peaked at 10.2m in Renmark and 12.3m at Morgan, with reports of areas up to 100km from the Murray being flooded.

The Murray joined with Lake Bonney, formed an inland sea that went from Barmera to Moorook, and “crash gangs” of fit blokes, many only a few years back from the war, were mobilised in an attempt to shore up banks and position sandbags.

Incredibly nobody was killed but the damage to property and farmland, the disruption to business and the loss of crops cost our river towns untold millions of pounds.

Lessons were learned, but Mr Greening wonders if they are now being forgotten.

“I now live overlooking Mannum Waters, and there are 140 boats in there,” he says. “They’re looking at serious problems, and too many of them are still in denial.”