Paroo Shire no longer in drought for first time since 2013

After nearly a decade battling one of the worst droughts in living memory, a western Queensland shire will be out of officially out of drought after a wetter than average start to the year. Here’s what this means for residents.

After spending 17 of the past 20 years in drought, one of the last local government areas in Queensland is set to be officially declared drought-free.

Paroo Shire will be officially out of drought from December 1, for the first time since 2013, bringing the area of Queensland still drought declared down to 38.1 per cent.

Paroo Shire Mayor Suzette Beresford welcomed the Queensland Government’s decision, stating it was a long time coming.

“We had some regular rain this calendar year, I was certainly expecting the government to make this decision,” she said.

Paroo Shire Mayor Councillor Suzette Beresford.

“We’ve had a good season this year and a little bit last year, so for most people it won’t probably make much difference for them. It’s mainly a formality.

“Out of the last 20 years we’ve been drought declared for 17 of those.

“We only had a three year gap in between the two droughts during the floods around 2010, 2011 and 2012.”

Ms Beresford said the region had experienced some tough times over the past two decades and hoped for a longer break between now and the next drought.

“Towards the end of drought is always the worst because people have probably de-stocked and have very little or no income from their properties,” she said.

“The latter part of this drought was very, very difficult, especially coming on after another big drought, 2019 and 2020 might have been the worst years.

“Droughts affect the whole shire. It primarily affects graziers because they have to decide whether to keep stock and feed them for a while, or sell them and have next to no income.

“This affects the local economy of the towns in shire, because less people are employed so less people are going into town, there’s no maintenance on properties due to lack of income. It has a flow-on effect.”

Western Queensland Grazier Will Roberts walks a paddock with one of his poddy lambs on his property east of Charleville. Mr Roberts takes a positive and proactive approach to surviving the drought, cutting his stock back to a high quality core as well as making sure his 80,000 acre property is prepared to make the most of every drop of rain that comes. Photo: Lachie Millard

Charleville grazier Will Roberts said he was pleased for farmers in the Paroo Shire and that he could relate to how they were feeling after his own region, Murweh Shire, was declared drought-free only six months ago.

“You’ve got to understand, drought is a natural process,” he said.

“It’s one of those things that should happen, but it’ll go away and you’ll have a pretty reasonable run.

“The biggest problem is feed and water to keep the livestock alive. You’ve got to juggle your numbers so you can do that.

“The biggest problem in a drought is reproduction and keeping numbers at a level to survive drought and hopefully make some money.

Mr Roberts said the key to surviving a drought was knowing how to manage your time.

“Do as much as you can when it’s dry, so when we do get rain we make good use of it,” he said.

“The more work you can do when it’s dry, the better off you are.

“We’ve been fortunate this year and had very good rain without it being record rain.

Murweh Shire Mayor Councillor Shaun ‘Zoro Radnedge.

However, Murweh Shire Mayor Shaun ‘Zoro’ Radnedge reminded residents not to get “too carried away”.

“It’s very pleasing to hear that Paroo Shire is finally out of drought,” he said.

“We’ve had six good seasons and some pretty sporadic events, but we’ve had nine years in drought and we were only declared drought-free six months ago.

“When we are in a good season, the town is better off.

“I would rather be in a shire that has good ground coverage and feed, because agriculture is our biggest industry. Drought drains our economy.

“When our agriculture industry struggles, our towns struggle because all those graziers spend money in our towns.”