How Biloela is honouring 21yo Joel Weeks a year on from his fatal crash
A year on from the shocking crash which claimed a “cheeky”, fishing-loving labourer, we visit the still-grieving hometown where touching memorials and his brave parents are ensuring “his honour lives on”. VIDEO, PHOTOS.
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His loved ones can still hear his famous slang saying “what doing” in the back of their minds.
Joel Robert Weeks’ words and memory are also forever immortalised in memorials across his hometown of Biloela, including via a tree at the site where the 21-year-old’s life was tragically cut short after a car crash near Callide Dam a year ago on September 11, 2023.
Born in Biloela on December 4, 2001, Joel was the younger brother to Jarrett, 33, and Wade, 32.
He grew up in the country town, attending Biloela State School and Biloela State High School.
His first job was as an apprentice butcher at Biloela Quality Meats before he got a job with his dad in the plumbing division at Banana Shire Council where he took a liking to the vacuum trucks.
About six weeks before his death, Joel had started a new job at Callide Plumbing Services.
It was a job that he “absolutely loved” and one year on, the plumbing business continued to pay respects to their fallen worker and mate, closing at 1pm on Wednesday to remember him.
Speaking to the Morning Bulletin at Biloela, Matthew Weeks, 52, said his son was a “colourful kid” who wore odd socks and whose favourite colours were pink and purple.
“He was a cheeky little bugger,” he said.
“Full of cheek but well loved.
“Everyone loved him.”
Some of Joel’s hobbies included riding his moped, four-wheel driving, hunting and fishing.
“He was just an active kid,” Matthew said.
“Lived life to the fullest.
“Just enjoyed every minute of his life.”
Matthew recalled when he would take Joel out to the adventure playground of Fraser Island (now K’gari).
“He was five when we first went,” he said.
“We used to go over for a week at a time every year and he just loved it because he loved fishing.”
One of the highlights in Joel’s life was purchasing his Toyota HiLux.
“He really loved that car,” he said.
Tragically, about 6pm on September 11, 2023, it was that HiLux which rolled along Lake Callide Dr at Valentine Plains.
Emergency services rushed Joel to Biloela Hospital but it was too late.
Two young women in the vehicle aged 17 and 18 suffered minor injuries.
After Joel’s passing his parents learned of how their son was a Good Samaritan, helping people in the town and putting others before himself.
“We would never have known, he kept it all a secret,” Matthew said.
“He just went and did things, helped people and bought things for people.
“They came first before him.
“On the day of the accident he was going to help a mate.
“One of his mates from work got stuck (bogged).
“Unfortunately, an accident happened and he lost his life.
“We can’t change that, and it is never going to bring him back, but we can do things in the future in his memory to keep what he wanted alive.”
TREE, TIMBER CHAIRS, ODD SOCKS & RUM: TOUCHING WAYS JOEL IS REMEMBERED
In the month following Joel’s passing, friends turned the site where he died into a memorial.
Around a tree, flowers and bottles and cans of alcohol, including rum and beer honour a young country bloke who “liked to drink”.
His socks, hats, a shirt from his first job at Biloela Quality Meats and another with the words “Rest in Peace mate”, “Not the same without you” and “Forever 21” honour his memory.
And his famous “What doing?” saying has also been written on the tree.
Nearby, is a wooden seat installed by Matthew, who goes out twice a week to sit around the tree.
“It’s been tough,” he said.
“Real tough and it doesn’t feel like a year either.
“It feels like yesterday.
“But we have some good friends that help a lot. We get together most Friday nights at the bowls club.
“Little things like that count but it will never be the same.”
That sentiment is shared by Joel’s mum Lynette Weeks, 53.
“But you gotta to keep going forward because you are still breathing,” she said.
“We just take each day as it comes.”
Matthew, whose birthday was only the day before the crash, said this was always the toughest end of the year.
“We lost him now, then you’ve got his birthday and then Christmas,” he said.
“He loved Christmas.
“He loved giving presents to the family and seeing the enjoyment on their faces.
“He has two nieces and he loved them.
“It meant a lot to him family. It’s just one of those things you take for granted.
“You need to spend as much time as you can with loved ones because you never know when it is going to be taken away from you.”
‘HIS MEMORY IS THERE NOW – YOU CAN’T TAKE IT AWAY’
Incredibly, the small community of Biloela, which has a population of just under 5700 people, rallied together for a local charity day in Joel’s memory, raising more than $65,000 for the Biloela Local Ambulance Committee (LAC), of which Matthew and Lynette are now members.
The Joel Weeks Memorial Charity Bowls Day was held at the Biloela Bowls Club on Saturday, August 3.
Matthew, who is president of the Biloela Bowls Club, said within 48 hours of the charity day being advertised 48 teams were full.
He said it was “very overwhelming” to see the response so quickly.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” he said.
“At its peak it would have been 400–500 people for the day.
“The things the young fellas did and his mates for myself and Lyn … words can’t describe what it meant to us.
“We got a wonderful drawing done by one of the sons of an LAC member, the boy’s got his senior jersey from school and got that all framed.
“Joel was always wanting to help people and touched so many lives in this town and we wanted to do something so his memory would live on.”
He said the ultimate goal of the charity day was to raise money for four automated external defibrillators in the community.
“He wanted to help people and we hope they never have to be used but if they do get to save one life then Joel’s still doing what he wanted to do,” he said.
“We knew roughly what that would cost and we were hoping to raise the $16,000 and the day just went kaboom and just exploded.
“We raised $65,829.
“We had no celebrities there, we just had prizes.
“There’s no words that can describe that day. It is just mind blowing.
“It was just great to see the town pull together.
“It was a day I will never forget.”
Among the 15 prizes from local businesses that went to auction at the charity day was a fridge donated by Callide Plumbing Services wrapped with pictures of Joel by friends of Matthew and Lynette that sold under the hammer for $20,000.
Officer in charge of Biloela Ambulance Station Terry Zillmann said the fridge, which was worth about $1500, was bought by about 40 of Joel’s friends.
“The hammer dropped at $20,000,” he said.
“They then donated it to Matt and Lyn.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the clubhouse.
“It was an amazing sign of the respect everyone had for Joel, the love that everyone has got for Matt and Lyn and the family and the generosity of a community that is consistently so generous.”
Matthew said he hadn’t turned the fridge on yet.
“I just look at it every morning and every night before I go to bed,” he said.
“I don’t have the heart to turn it on but I am going to turn it on for his birthday and put a few drinks in it and go to the cemetery with his mates.”
A memorial seat for Joel was also unveiled at the Biloela Bowls Club with his quote “What doing?” and a sticker of Joel covers the window above the seat with the words “forever 21”.
Matthew said the sticker of Joel was based on a picture someone took of him out the window of the bowls club.
“I sit on it every Friday night when I go to the club,” he said.
“It’s really nice and it’s there forever.
“To me his memory is there now. You can’t take it away.”
‘THEY DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO KEEP HIM ALIVE’
Mr Zillmann said the $65,000 cheque was presented at the Biloela Local Ambulance Committee annual general meeting last Wednesday.
“We will work now with the local community to get those automated external defibrillators in place,” he said.
“Our concept is to try and get public access defibrillators out to the community and into those communities that are more than 10 minutes away.
“The Biloela Local Ambulance Committee appreciates so much the donation, the money will remain local to support the ambulance service delivery to our community.
“We have an approved purchase list the Local Ambulance Committee is going to go through and that’s being reviewed at the moment at a state level.”
In lieu of flowers, donations from Joel’s funeral at the Biloela Civic Centre on September 29, 2023, also raised enough funds to purchase an automated external defibrillator which is mounted outside the ambulance station in Biloela, along with a plaque that reads “In memory of ‘Joeley’ forever 21”.
Matthew and Lynette said the Joel Weeks Memorial Charity Bowls Day would be an annual event to raise money for the Local Ambulance Committee.
“What Terry did for us that night of the accident, at the hospital, the next day and still to now, I figured ‘well why not became a member and give back to a team of people that did everything they could that night to keep him alive’,” Matthew said.
“He is a very valued person in this community.”
Matthew wanted to say a “huge thank you” to the community.
“To rally together like they have and donate these wonderful prizes, it wouldn’t have been such a success without their generosity,” he said.
“They didn’t have to do what they did. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
“His honour lives on.”
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