Bulloo Shire Council Mayor John Ferguson reveals Native Title prevented levee construction at Thargomindah

The mayor of a Queensland town that has been inundated by floodwaters has hit out at Native Title, after a determination prevented the community from building an adequate levee to protect properties.

The mayor of a regional Queensland town that has been inundated by floodwaters has hit out at Native Title, after a determination prevented them from building an adequate levee to protect the town.

The outback town of Thargomindah, 1000km west of Brisbane, has experienced major flooding with the rising Bulloo River inundating streets and homes, forcing residents to evacuate to higher ground and other areas.

In the lead up to floodwaters arriving downstream from Quilpie, emergency levee banks were built in a bid to protect the township.

However, the emergency levee banks were unable to hold back the surge of water and broke, resulting in floodwaters inundating homes in low-lying areas of the town.

Thargomindah has been inundated with flood water after emergency levee banks broke.

Bulloo Shire Council Mayor John Ferguson has since revealed that plans were drawn up to build a levee to protect the town years ago, however it was prevented from being built due to a Native Title determination.

“A few years ago, we were going to put a levee up, we got the plans, we got everything ready to go,” Mayor Ferguson said.

“But there’s a fence around the town and virtually anything outside of that fence is Native Title.

“You just can’t go and move dirt.”

Cr Ferguson said the construction of a levee that would adequately protect the town would have needed a significant amount of material.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Nationals Leader David Littleproud meet with John Ferguson Bulloo Shire Mayor, centre, at Thargomindah. Photo: James Brickwood

“To build a decent levee around the town, we would have had to dig three big holes, as big as a football field,” he said.

“And then what were we going to do with that? We’d have a bigger mess in town, so we scrapped that.”

Cr Ferguson said that the emergency levee built to protect Thargomindah contained dirt from within the town limits.

“The dirt we’ve got to build this levee has been inside the town area,” he said.

Part of the emergency levee banks that were built to protect the town. Picture Facebook

“A lot of it was reclaimable dirt where we’ve been putting all new sewerage in, the dirt was dug out of that and it was stacked up in an area, and they used that.

“We were able to do that, but it was only a temporary measure and it held for a long time, but it let go and there was nothing we could do about that.”

Cr Ferguson hit out at the limitations of Native Title and called for a wider conversation

“The impact it had on us was that we just couldn’t build a levee,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous, something has got to happen with this Native Title.

“You just can’t keep saying that this can’t happen, that can’t happen.

“We’ve got to sit down and have a good conversation about it.”

Emergency levee banks surrounding Thargomindah on the Bulloo River. Photo – Bulloo Shire Council

The dirt holds firm, here at least. Credit: Bulloo Shire Council

Thargomindah and surrounding area was recognised as belonging to the Kullilli people, with the Federal Court making a consent determination on July 2, 2014.

The determination recognised the rights and interests of the Kullilli people over roughly 29,600sq km of land across the Bulloo, Paroo, and Quilpie Shires.