All we wanted for Christmas this year … is this
Graziers across the country will celebrate Christmas a little more easily this year thanks to drought-breaking rain.
Out at Bunginderry Station, 1000km west of Brisbane, the rain has brought a gift for Christmas this year: a family can celebrate together with the worries and woes of the past few years left behind with the dust.
After a near decade-long drought, a full dam behind the homestead means the Tully family can revive its summer ritual of a cool-down swim followed by barbecued lamb chops over a fire.
Three good seasons have helped to rebuild the sheep, goat and cattle numbers on the family’s property near Quilpie in western Queensland.
But this year was something special, with more than 500mm of rain – 200mm more than average – falling over their paddocks and officially ending the nine-year drought in the shire.
The rain revived the small streams and gullies that give the Channel Country its name and make it, when times are good, some of the best livestock-fattening country in Australia. And the times are now particularly good for the Tully family.
Christmas on the 78,000ha station is a rare occasion when the five Tully children are home from boarding school or work in the city.
Sitting beside the water as her three youngest children – Hugo, Harriet and Eve – splashed about on an old catamaran hull, Annabel Tully said there were times she thought the dam, which ran empty twice since 2013, would be dry forever.
“It’s been dry three times since the 1960s, but it’s had water in it for the past 18 months, which seemed impossible at some stage during the drought,” Ms Tully said.
Two more Tully children, Lachlan and Sophia, will drive 11 hours from Brisbane to be there for Christmas on Sunday.
The family plans to spend the day with some of father Stephen’s nine siblings, who live in the district.
The La Nina-induced rain that eased Bunginderry’s drought woes brought joy to much of Queensland, where 20 shires have had their drought status lifted this year.
Thirteen shires, covering 38 per cent of the state, remain drought declared, down from 65 per cent last December.
When The Australian last visited Bunginderry in late 2015, the dam was just a small muddy puddle amid dusty, grassless paddocks.
Less than a month later, 64mm of rain fell, filling the dam. But it was only a short reprieve.
The dam emptied again and the paddocks baked in the hot sun while the family adapted.
For the station, it was a balance of selling stock to reduce the impact on what little feed grew in the paddocks, while retaining the necessary breeding numbers to allow for the rebuild when the rain eventually came.
For Ms Tully, an artist, it prompted a new career as a nurse at the Quilpie hospital to help bring in a steady income. At its lowest, when fewer than 150mm of rain fell in a year, the Bunginderry sheep flock was reduced to just 600 animals.
Now, 11,000 merino sheep, 10,000 goats and 400 Droughtmaster and Brahman cattle graze the Mitchell grass paddocks.
“It’s where we want to be,” Mr Tully said.
“We have more than enough grass for them but we want the country to come back and recover from the drought and we know there will be another drought.
“It’s fantastic to see the country come back.”
Where dead trees covered “as far as you could see”, many have come back with the rain, along with the wildlife.
The family has been busy improving the property, putting in new dog-proof fences, piping and recently a 1080m-deep artesian bore.
“It’s just a matter of getting everything ready for the next drought,” Mr Tully said. “That’s one of the reasons we are running goats, because they are a more drought-resilient animal.”
The next challenge will be recruiting a shearing team in April amid a worker-shortage crisis across most industries.
“If it’s difficult to get someone to serve coffee in Sydney, we’re going to really struggle here,” Mr Tully said.
“That’s one of our big challenges at the moment.”
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