Qld border: Stranded residents in makeshift northern NSW camp
More than a dozen stranded Queenslanders have formed a makeshift “refugee camp” just over the border as they beg to be allowed home.
QLD News
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Queenslanders stranded over the border have formed a makeshift refugee camp out of dilapidated caravans, tarps and tents as they beg to return home.
At least 15 trapped residents are in limbo at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds, 30km south of the Coolangatta-Tweed border, caught out by travel restrictions imposed following the New South Wales Covid outbreak.
They are among hundreds of locked-out residents who claim they are unable to travel by air and into hotel quarantine, which is currently the only avenue for returning and relocating Queenslanders.
Paying rents in Queensland while forking out for campground accommodation, many are left with little to their name as volunteers supply fresh vegetables and food vouchers to help them get by.
After weeks of sleeping in cars, tents, and run-down caravans, the stranded residents claim they have been told to not bother applying, as their requests to drive across the border will certainly be knocked back.
For others, the experience has meant surrendering animals or saying goodbye to their Queensland lives altogether. While the northern NSW community rallies around them, many are losing hope fast.
Together, the self-proclaimed “band of gypsies” are asking for hope and an end to the exhausting and seemingly indefinite wait.
THE HEROES
Every morning Murwillumbah Showground caretakers Mel and Greg Fallon see the displaced Queenslanders making their grounds a home and wonder how the border town has come to this.
The pair are just one of many campground caretakers across northern NSW border zones accommodating residents trying to relocate or get home.
While the showgrounds are usually for short-term stays, Ms Fallon said they soon realised displaced residents may need an extension.
The pair say some residents have been camping there now for six weeks.
The Good Samaritans say they are simply working to “make life easier” for those who camp there, whether it be by handing out food or subsidising their rent with handyman jobs.
Ms Fallon said compared to other places, the Murwillumbah camp was a small one. Holding back tears, she urged “something to change”.
“They’re all paying rent and board over there (in Queensland) and they can’t get home,” she said.
“It’s criminal what they’re doing.
“That people can be treated like this in their own country when they’ve done nothing wrong.”
THE LOCAL
Separated from her 90-year-old parents in Queensland, Tweed resident Meredith Llewelyn is acutely aware of how border closures and changing restrictions affect people’s health, emotions, and finances.
Mrs Llewelyn and husband David became aware of the distressing scenes in Murwillumbah after reading desperate cries for help from stranded Queenslanders in several groups on social media.
The Llewelyns banded with friends and their Murwillumbah Presbyterian Church congregation to donate vital supplies to stranded families who urgently needed their help and compassion.
Trolley loads of food and nappies, as well as fuel, vouchers, bills paid and accommodation fees covered are just some examples of support they have provided to more than 30 families – and not just those stuck at the Tweed border.
Mrs Llewelyn reached out to a 21-year-old single mother separated from her Queensland family during Melbourne’s lockdown and connected the young mum with a local church which provides continued refuge and financial support.
The married couple also advocate on behalf of overwhelmed and confused families throughout their border pass and exemption applications, making daily phone calls to authorities.
They keep a meticulous record of everything donated to make sure the greatest needs are met and have also helped facilitate “pizza drops” where others donate large numbers of pizza to help feed and lift the spirits of the dejected families.
‘I CRIED FOR A MONTH’
Wendy Riddoch is used to supporting the homeless but she never thought she would be the one in their shoes.
The 50-year-old lost two Canberra jobs due to the pandemic earlier this year and could no longer afford to live in the ACT.
She packed her bags, hopeful to move into a friend’s Townsville house in September.
Ms Riddoch sold off a lifetime of belongings to dash to Queensland before borders closed but she still couldn’t make it through.
Instead, she was forced into a dilapidated, leaking caravan and left sleeping on a threadbare mattress behind a construction site without showers prior to coming to the showgrounds.
“I sat there for a month crying,” she said.
Ms Riddoch suffers from back pain and severe depression only exacerbated by the wait.
She said her support dog, Teddy, is going blind and can’t go into care even if Ms Riddoch had the money for hotel quarantine.
“I have to keep saying I’m on an adventure, because if I don’t the reality is too hard for me,” she said.
“I understand Covid has destroyed a lot of people and a lot of things but I just need to go to my new home.”
She had applied for an exemption this month but remained doubtful.
“I feel like we’re not even classed as Australians anymore,” she said.
“I’ve been in the Middle East and been through some hellish places but this situation has broken me.”
THE ‘UNWANTED STEPKID’
Born and bred Gold Coaster Leah Gilleland is able to see her former hometown over the Tweed Heads blockade but she still can’t enter.
The Eagleby resident has been living at the showgrounds since mid-September after being turned away at the border.
With no other option an emotionally “wrecked” Ms Gilleland, who suffers from crippling arthritis, was forced to live out of her car. At nights, she slept with a cricket bat and feared for her life.
“Some mornings I couldn’t roll out of bed but I had to move on,” she said. “I’ve been broken into twice while sleeping in the car.”
At the showgrounds, she was able to find a permanent place but is still financially crippled every day she is unable to return home.
“I had reached the bottom, the end of my rope, I had nothing to live for,” she said.
“If I hadn’t come here I wouldn’t be here.”
Without proper consultation from her doctor she was also hesitant to get the jab, something she fears may hinder her chances of heading home even more. She is begging the government to allow her to head home and self-isolate without flying to Sydney.
“I feel like the unwanted stepkid,” she said.
“My whole life has just changed without my control. All our stories are tragic and sad but our one unifying thread is we just want to go home.”
‘I'M BEING HELD TO RANSOM’
At 71, central Queensland pensioner John - who wishes to only be identified by his first name - never expected to be living in a car.
The fully vaccinated Queenslander was visiting his daughter and grandchildren in the Yarra Valley while borders were still open.
While the Victorian region had no cases, the state was plunged into lockdown and John barely escaped to NSW.
He arrived in NSW on September 9 hoping restrictions may change and he would be allowed home.
But almost a month later, he remains deserted, living out of the back of his car with only a tarp-covered table to call his own.
John is still paying rent in Queensland and said he had no means to afford hotel quarantine.
“I had to borrow $800 from my pension just so I could get ropes, cutlery, cups, because I had nothing,” he said.
“My rent is virtually half my pension, and then I’m paying for places like this and it’s a real struggle but they couldn’t care less.”
UK-born John said he had lived in Queensland for over 40 years and had never expected to be treated like this by his beloved home state.
“I agree with the border closing but not to residents,” he said.
“I’ve loved Queensland but it’s really gut-wrenching when you see all these people that have got money have no problem getting in.
“It’s like they’re holding people to ransom.”
HOPES DASHED
Robert King has become like a brother to others at the campground, providing food and care, all while he awaits his own anxious border tribulation.
Mr King sold his property in the Tweed region in September this year, just before the second wave of the pandemic began.
His hopes were to join his Mount Tamborine girlfriend, make a start on some Beaudesert land and begin a new life.
However, the dream was abruptly interrupted when borders locked him out.
While Mr King applied for an exemption, difficulties with his partner’s property meant he was left with no place to isolate and no way in.
Tired of waiting, Mr King said his partner was now retiring prematurely and moving to NSW.
He said neither would try to enter again under the current restrictions.
“It’s now become so hard for her, particularly because you start to feel the strain of it all,” he said.
Fully vaccinated and taking Covid-19 tests regularly, Mr King asked the government to provide a more commonsense plan for others like him.
“It’s ripping the heart and soul out of all of us,” he said.
“The fact that we can look, we’re only a matter of kilometres from it.
“I‘ve got a clean record of negative results and yet they just seem to think that it’s just not good enough to come across the border.
“There’s got to be a better process for people.”
THE FAMILY
Sunshine Coast parents Liam Mander and Leanne Reid, with four-year-old Levi, have been left homeless for two months now.
The family lives out of a dirt-trodden tent beside the busy highway with their dogs and bird.
Ms Reid said she is worried her son is not getting proper nutrition from the esky the family uses in lieu of a fridge.
She said, in tears, that since becoming homeless,Levi has started wetting himself.
“It’s heartbreaking, I don’t know what it’s doing to him,” she said. “He tells me has bad dreams, he cries in the middle of the night, he isn’t sleeping.
“We don’t get much sleep.”
Ms Reid, who suffers severe PTSD, said the situation had only aggravated her own anxiety and depression.
“I feel really guilty as a mum and a person at my age that we’re doing this,” she said.
“It’s not something I ever thought we’d be doing.”
Ms Reid said she and Levi were visiting Mr Mander who was working as a builder in Canberra when one Covid-19 case shut them out of their home. The family are unable to afford hotel quarantine costs on his sole wage and due to her mental health concerns.
“We don’t have the money to sustain this,” she said.
“Our life now, because we wanted to be together as a family, is all over the shop.”
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Originally published as Qld border: Stranded residents in makeshift northern NSW camp
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