Hinchinbrook floods 2025: Truckie legend Elaine Steley second disaster death

An elderly woman with a ‘heart of gold’ who tragically perished in the Hinchinbrook flood disaster has been identified as a pioneering Australian truck driver.

Pioneering North Queensland truck driver Elaine Steley tragically drowned near her home in Bemerside north of Ingham during the Hinchinbrook flood disaster in early February, 2025. The late Ms Steley is pictured behind the bar at the St Patrick's Hotel in Charters Towers in 2004. Picture: Supplied

An elderly woman who tragically perished in the Hinchinbrook flood disaster has been identified as a pioneering Australian truck driver.

A close friend confirmed the woman was Elaine Steley, 82, whose body was found in a cane paddock in Bemerside north of Ingham on February 4.

The exact circumstances surrounding her tragic passing are unclear, but neighbours reported seeing her alive in her two-storey home the previous evening.

Liz Hall, a former CEO of the National Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs, said Ms Steley was a true-blue Australian character who grew up in North Queensland wanting to emulate her father driving trucks and tractors.

She said that in addition to driving, the twice-married truckie later worked in the mines and then as a publican running the Hotel St Patricks in Charters Towers before her retirement.

Pioneering Australian truck driver Elaine Steley with her son. Picture: Supplied

Ms Hall, who went to boarding school in Charters Towers, “instantly clicked” with Ms Steley when she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 2005.

“We’ve got one in Port Pirie now, it’s called the Legends Hall of Fame and Elaine’s on that too.”

Ms Hall, an admin of the social-media group Stories from the Road Museum Australia that has 116,000 followers, said Elaine’s father was involved in transportation and the timber industry.

“That’s where she got her first introduction to trucks, she was basically her father’s little helper, she did everything,” she said.

“As you know, in those days, it was a bit harder and if you’re of the farm or on a property you helped with everything whether you were a boy or a girl.”

Pioneering Australian truck driver Elaine Steley tragically drowned near her home in Bemerside north of Ingham during the Hinchinbrook flood disaster in early February, 2025. Picture: Supplied

Pioneering Australian truck driver Elaine Steley tragically drowned near her home in Bemerside north of Ingham during the Hinchinbrook flood disaster in early February, 2025. Picture: Supplied

Ms Hall said her mate was a “hero in the trucking industry long before women were heroes in the trucking industry”.

“They all make a big deal out of it now but women like Elaine were there 50 years earlier,” she said.

“She was a true pioneer in the industry full stop, not just because she was a woman.”

Ms Hall said Ms Steley enjoyed a low profile.

“She didn’t think she had done anything too spectacular but the true pioneers are like that; they don’t realise their own worth.”

She said her friend loved the bush and birds.

“She just had a heart of gold, she always jumped in and helped anybody but she never wanted any accolades for it,” she said.

“When I went through some hard times, she was always the first one on the phone to make sure I was doing okay and she was never a sook about it, it was always, ‘how the bloody hell are you Liz … don’t give me any bullshit now’.

“She was straight to the point and a character with it but her heart always shone through her rough exterior, she was a diamond in the rough.”

Ms Hall was the second of two Hinchinbrook women to perish in the flood disaster.

Originally published as Hinchinbrook floods 2025: Truckie legend Elaine Steley second disaster death