Dead Red Centre now lively green after persistent rains
Persistent rains over the past six months have given the saltbush-studded red earth in a once-in-a-generation horizon-to-horizon green hue.
The outback, fabled as the dead Red Centre of Australia, is now the nation’s living green heart.
Persistent rains over the past six months have given the saltbush-studded red earth a once-in-a-generation horizon-to-horizon green hue.
In places such as southwest Queensland’s Channel Country, the greens are verdant and vibrant.
The outback rains, a product of an unusual three consecutive La Nina years, are a pastoralists’ bonanza. “It’s environmentally fantastic,” says Trevor Wright, owner of the William Creek township 50km west of South Australia’s Lake Eyre/Kati Thanda.
“The place is getting a good soaking. The rivers and creeks are running, the dams are full and they reckon there’s enough cattle feed for three years. Given the current high prices for beef, it’s a bonanza.
“But don’t forget, up here it’s either feast or famine. Before this, we’ve had years of drought.”
Mr Wright, who owns the William Creek Hotel and the Wrightsair fleet of 15 aircraft used to take tourists on scenic flights over Lake Eyre, has lived in South Australia’s far north for 30 years.
Last week, I visited William Creek on an assignment that involved hours of flying over the lake and its environs. During storms that dumped up to 30mm over parts of adjoining Anna Creek station, we were grounded for 24 hours. The Oodnadatta Track – a 620km dirt road from Maree to Marla which passes through William Creek – was impassable and closed for two days.
“It’s been like this for most of the year,” Mr Wright says. “Every few days the rains come through … it’s patchy; you’ll get 40km of dry road, then it’s muddy and impassable for the next 20km. We’ve had more rain since last week and expect more this weekend. It’s disrupted supplies to everyone. Our latest truck came from Coober Pedy and it got here by a fraction of a second before the roads closed.”
Also grounded at William Creek was Andrew Kube, owner of specialist outback air tour operator Andrew Kube Aviation, of Horsham, Victoria. He was on a 5000km round trip in his vintage Cessna 210 from Hamilton, Victoria to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria, then south via Mt Isa, Birdsville, William Creek and Lake Gairdner. “Southwest Queensland is looking incredible,” he said. “Where you expect to see red dirt and saltbush you now have emerald greens … it is utterly spectacular, with parts of the Channel Country 80km wide.
“The water is flowing and the country is primed. If we get a couple of cyclones this summer there’s a chance water from the Diamantina and Cooper Creek will flow into Lake Eyre.
“Whether it will fill is another question. The lake generally has water in it two or three times in a decade, but it fills only two or three times a century.”
Mr Kube photographed the Channel Country using a GoPro camera attached to his aircraft wing while flying over Durham Downs station near Ballera. Durham Downs manager Nathan Keogh told The Weekend Australian: “It’s looking a picture at the moment. We couldn’t ask for anything better. We’re getting good rains at the right time. The stars couldn’t have aligned more perfectly. The cattle are fat and the pastures couldn’t be better.
“It lifts everybody’s spirits. It can he hard out here in drought times, but this is a game changer. It’s a lot easier when it’s green.”
Which proves the old bushman’s recipe for a prosperous Australia – just add water.
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