Plans unveiled to rebuild Gympie netball courts after 2022 flood

The tenacious Gympie Netball has lodged plans to rebuild at its old home in Hyne Street, where almost 4m of muddy flood water destroyed everything in 2022, and left the sport homeless for more than two years.

Hundreds of Gympie netballers left without a home base or their own playing courts since the 2022 floods have light at the end of the tunnel, with plans officially lodged with the Gympie Regional Council for a multimillion-dollar rebuild in Hyne Street.

Hundreds of Gympie netballers left without a home base or their own playing courts since the 2022 floods have light at the end of the tunnel, with plans officially lodged with the Gympie Regional Council for a multimillion-dollar rebuild in Hyne Street.

The club has been forced to beg and borrow courts from highschool across Gympie to continue its competition since the historic 22.96m Gympie flood destroyed the courts, clubhouse and facilities more than two years ago.

The courts were left cracked after being inundated in more than 3m of muddy water from the Mary River for three days, and 5cm of mud for two days after the waters receded.

The existing ruined courts will be demolished to make way for the new development.

The clubhouse and courts were destroyed by the near-record floodwaters in 2022 which reached a height of 22.96m.

The new clubhouse will include six courts, first aid, stores, a canteen, social room, an office, change room and toilets.

The federal and state governments will jointly fund the $2.34 million repair and betterment works under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, which will be administered by the Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport.

It will deliver a full-site rebuild, providing an expected minimum 20-year lifespan on the facilities which are located in a flood-prone area beside the Mary River.

Gympie Netball president Colleen Miller said it was “wonderful to finally see some movement” after first making its emergency arrangements.

The loss of a venue to call home had caused severe financial hardship, leaving it unable to host carnivals and even forcing its members to scramble for new locations to hold meetings.

After the 2022 floodwaters receded, the Gympie netball courts were under a layer of mud about 5cm thick.

“It’s been a huge drain on our volunteers and committee,” Mrs Miller said.

The Gympie Times helped support the club in its fundraising efforts to rebuild, donating $20,000 as part of News Corp’s flood assistance campaign.

Returning to Hyee Street, which practically sits on the bank of the Mary River was “not ideal” and “we’d hate to go through this again”, but the plans were for the new courts to be resistant to future disasters, Mrs Miller said.

“We had to turn away quite a few players this year because we were at capacity for the venues. Never like having to do that.”

She hoped the redevelopment was only the start of good things for the growth of netball in the region, as calls from multiple community and sporting groups for an indoor sports stadium continue to ring out.

If a much-demanded complex was built, it should offer a mixture of indoor and outdoor courts to help the sport which had maintained its player-base despite the massive two-year upheaval, and was expected to grow significantly when it once again had courts to call home.

The application says the redevelopment is being jointly funded by the federal and state governments

Originally published as Plans unveiled to rebuild Gympie netball courts after 2022 flood