Flood flight: Grantham moved town, but what for Lismore?

Massive questions confront Lismore in the wake of back-to-back floods. When the small town of Grantham was inundated, the decision was made to relocate. See how moving an entire town panned out.

When the small Queensland town of Grantham was devastated by floods – which some locals described as an “inland tsunami” - it presented a challenge which is now being faced at Lismore.

The inundation at Grantham occurred in 2011 and shell-shocked residents decided to rebuild the town - but not where it was. Instead, they upped and moved a short distance to a hill.

It’s a piece of recent history now more than relevant to this side of the border.

As Lismore begins to consider what's next for a town with more questions than answers, it could do well to reflect on the Grantham experience.

After the waters roared through Grantham - destroying most homes and buildings – their local council together with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority devised a plan.

The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) and Lockyer Valley Regional Council worked to formulate the Rebuilding Grantham project. Picture: QRA

A 935-acre site situated on a hill overlooking the destroyed town was identified, and bought by the council to provide landholders with a voluntary swap of equivalent-sized blocks.

The Qld state government came to the party too - allowing the ‘new town’ to bypass the normal development approval process. It ended up costing $30 million to build Grantham 2.0.

Amanda Gearing interviewed hundreds of flood survivors, including Frank King in Grantham. His story appears in her book ‘The Torrent: A True Story of Heroism and Survival’. Picture: contributed

The formula followed by residents saw them swap land from the old town to the new. They then used insurance payouts to build afresh, topped with cash from the Premier’s Flood Appeal.

Amanda Gearing who wrote the book ‘The Torrent: A True Story of Heroism and Survival’, said moving the town put people under great financial pressure.

“The insurance money they got wasn’t enough to build, because they needed new foundations,” she said.

There are now fears many Lismore residents could find themselves in the same boat - unable to afford a rebuild.

Although Grantham 2.0 included a site for the Lockyer Valley Showgrounds – Dr Gearing said local businesses were locked out of the new town plan.

“Businesses were not included in this plan. If Lismore is going to move, they must take its economic base up the hill,” she said.

“Most businesses simply left Grantham.”

The township of Grantham was devastated by the 2011 floods. Picture: supplied

Dr Gearing said the economic sector must act as a “leading player” in any relocation to preserve community and local spirit.

“We still have no pub – the beating heart of Grantham died,” she said.

Today only 50 people of the original 300 remain in Grantham. The ‘remainers’ were affected again by flood, just in March.

Some though argue the decision to move the town was the right one.

D&F Gardening business owner Andrew Farr said relocating up the hill was a “fantastic move”.

“If Lismore is in a floodplain, stick it up on the hill!”

Lismore CBD remains a ghost town with boarded up businesses, gutted shops, all with a film of flood water dust - an eerie reminder of the town’s devastation. Picture: Cath Piltz

While it’s a work in progress, Mr Farr highlighted the importance of highway access – at this stage semi-trailers can’t access “new Grantham”.

On the whole though, Mr Farr said the decision to shift had been a good one.

“Now their (the residents) feet stay dry because they’re up high,” he said.

Another Grantham resident reckoned the relocation had “killed” the town.

“There’s no pub, there used to be nine fruit and veg shops and people from Brisbane would come every week to shop here,” he said.

Food for thought as Lismore - hit twice by giant floods in the space of weeks - faces that very same question of whether to stay or go.