Life on George St, Bundaberg’s most dangerous suburban street

Young families, retirees, long-term residents and students inhabit the homes and units that line one of Queensland’s most dangerous streets with locals telling of terrifying encounters with home invaders.

With police data showing 283 offences are committed every month in Bundaberg, with an alarming increase in recent months, crime is an ever-present issue for the Rum City.

Any local could guess the major crime hot spots - Bourbong St has the highest concentration of crime with 212 offences reported in the past six months, followed by Hinkler Central (145) and Sugarland Plaza (77).

But they may be harder pressed to name the city’s most dangerous suburban street.

Unlike many other Queensland cities and towns, Bundaberg does not have a standout suburb or street notorious for high levels of criminal activity, according to police station officer-in-charge Matthew Swan.

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“A lot of other places that I’ve previously worked around the state, they can have suburbs that are really bad or worse than others,” Acting Senior Sergeant Swan said.

“Whereas here when it comes to property offences, break-ins, unlawful use of motor vehicles, crime is spread between Bargara to the major suburbs around Bundaberg.”

Yet analysis of the police data reveals certain suburban streets are more likely to be the target of crime than others.

The QPS Online Crime Map show clusters of crime at Greenwood St, Kepnock, with 10 offences in the past six months, followed by Thomas Thomsen Drive, Thabeban (7), San Vito Court, Norville (7) and Megan Crescent, Qunaba (6).

But the dubious title of the suburban street most likely to experience criminal activity goes to George Street in Bundaberg West.

Police recorded 19 offences in a two-block stretch of George Street, bounded by Burrum and Branyan Streets, in the past six months.

Police recorded 19 offences in a two-block stretch of George Street, bounded by Burrum and Branyan Streets, in the past six months.

The most common offences were assault and other property damage at four offences each, followed by unlawful use of motor vehicle (2), unlawful entry (2) and drug offences (2).

Walking along George St on a sunny July afternoon, the street feels like any other quiet suburban street in Bundaberg or indeed most Queensland regional towns.

But get talking to the residents of the homes and many blocks of units that line it and an alarming picture emerges of the experience underlying the data.

Dieter Gorges has been living on George Street for nearly 40 years, and said he sees police units on the street “all the time”.

A long-time resident of George St, Dieter Gorges confronted a thief who invaded his home.

Mr Gorges used to regularly go walking at night, but stopped because it was worrying his wife.

“She said, ‘one of these days you’re going to go out at night, and I’ll have to go and search in the hospital’,” he said.

Mr Gorges, a 68 year-old retiree, recently had security cameras installed after an alarming incident when he disturbed a thief inside his home.

“The dog started barking, and I noticed the light was on downstairs,” he said.

“So I raced downstairs and came face-to-face with somebody.”

The intruder made the shape of a gun with his fingers and pointed it at Mr Gorges’ head.

“So I grabbed his arm and said, ‘what are you doing here?’,” Mr Gorges said.

“And he just turned around and went out the back - didn’t say a word.”

In a unit block 100m from Mr Gorges’ home, Joseph Auxilian and his wife often catch people trying to open the front door of the unit where they have lived since their first child was born two years ago.

Joseph Auxilian sometimes receives flyers from Bundaberg police informing of a nearby break and enters.

A thief broke into a unit in the block behind Mr Auxilian’s on Monday night, with police and police dogs chasing the thief through the neighbourhood.

Mr Auxilian, a part-time IT student at TAFE Bundaberg, was studying late at night recently when he heard someone trying to enter the unit through the back door.

“I quickly turned on the light, and he realised someone was home and left,” Mr Auxilian said.

While he generally feels safe walking the streets, Mr Auxilian feels on edge when he sees people in the street that he doesn’t recognise.

“I feel safe with my neighbours,” he said.

“But you know when something’s off, like someone’s not from the neighbourhood.”

Mr Auxilian sometimes receives flyers from Bundaberg police informing of a nearby break and enters and advising of simple precautions.

He welcomed the police communications, saying they keep him aware of the criminal activity in the neighbourhood.

“I feel safe, but when this (crime) is going on I remember don’t be too complacent,” he said.

A neighbour and friend of Mr Auxilian, Johann, said he saw police active in George St “a lot”.

Johann, who lives with his parents in a George St unit, told of an alarming incident when armed thieves tried to stop his parents from entering the driveway of the unit block.

A man armed with a knife or machete tried to stop Johann's parents from entering their home.

“A guy was holding a knife or a machete,” he said.

“My dad just drove around them and he called the cops when he got inside. That’s pretty much it - you kind of get used to it.”

Jeffrey Modrow, 55, has lived in Bundaberg all his life and is aware of George Street’s reputation as a crime hotspot.

Jeffrey Modrow has lived in Bundaberg all his life and is aware of George Street’s reputation as a crime hotspot.

“George Street’s always had a bad name, all the way through from South Bundy,” he said.

‘There’s a few fights. I’ve lived in Bundy all my life, I know what it’s all about.”

Mr Modrow said the street was “pretty quiet” on the whole, and he was only aware of opportunistic thieves stealing objects left unsecured overnight.

“Just a few things have gone missing,” he said.

“Pushbikes, pairs of shoes if you leave them out the front - the occasional ashtray goes missing. Otherwise it’s pretty quiet, everyone keeps an eye on each other.”