Tirranna Springs Roadhouse owners hope for strong outback Queensland tourist season during flood recovery

The roadhouse was surrounded by flooding last year. (Supplied: Jil Wilson)

The stench of mud and dead animal carcasses, water as far as the eye can see, and thick layers of deep-fryer oil and silt coating the interior of a once-bustling outback business.

That’s how Jil Wilson recalls the impact that three floods in 11 months have had on her family’s property in north-west Queensland.

“This has all been absolutely devastating,” she said.

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Ms Wilson, her husband Tim and their two young children have called the Tirranna Springs Roadhouse home since 2018.

They were looking for a fresh start and the place was in desperate need of renovations.

“It had been closed for two years by that point,” Ms Wilson said.

“We poured ourselves into the place and did extensive work to get it open in 2019.”

But after more than five years the repair work on the property, about 400 kilometres north of Mount Isa, has not stopped.

Unprecedented monsoonal event

Damage was first caused in March 2023 when catastrophic flooding hit parts of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Ms Wilson said the total cost of the repairs would be “in the millions”.

“We came up with a rough list of what happened, what is damaged and what needs to be replaced and it was a roughly $3-million saga,” she said.

The Wilson family felt the full brunt of the flooding when the nearby Nicholson River swelled to three metres and swept through their property, leaving them homeless for months.

“The water was so fierce and swept everything away,” Ms Wilson said.

“We lost so much infrastructure, all power and water.”

Ms Wilson hatched a plan to rebuild weeks later, when the water had receded.

“Everyone said to us this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and that we’d never see it again, but I just wasn’t so sure,” she said.

“So, we lifted everything by three metres — the roadhouse, the motel, our home.

“We were better prepared, but it’s still amazing how much you can’t prepare for.”

Blow after blow

Less than 12 months later, in February 2024, disaster struck again as heavy rain fell on already saturated river systems.

A 1.6-metre flood swept across plains that had finally begun to grow again. Two weeks later, a third 1.2-metre flood followed.

With almost $1 million already spent, Ms Wilson wondered if there was any point in trying to repair their property.

“All the gravel we’d put on the roads was washed onto the non-existent lawn areas. There was so much cleaning up to do all over again,” she said.

“It’s like repotting the same plant again and again and again and then losing half of it.”

She said the greatest blow had come from the lack of financial support on all fronts.

“All the insurances [for our home and business] pulled out, they deemed it a flood event and not an insurable rain event,” she said.

“After the first flood [in 2023] there was some help available through the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) … a $250,000 loan that we had to start paying back straightaway.

“With a closed business that is incredibly difficult to do. Before you can earn an income, you need to spend a fortune to get operational and repay the loans.”

A Queensland Reconstruction Authority spokesperson said a range of help was activated for Burke Shire region residents after ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily in early 2024.

It included emergency hardship assistance grants of $180 a person for eligible residents and structural assistance grants up to $50,000 for uninsured income-tested owner-occupiers towards the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged dwellings.

But Ms Wilson said the nature of being a remote business meant most operators in the region would not be eligible for most of the packages.

“If you’re self-employed, or own a business or a cattle property, you don’t stand a chance with the income test,” she said.

“I don’t believe these grants are designed to help people in remote areas, it’s for employed people and families in the city.”

Call for tourists

The doors to the roadhouse have been closed since December 2022 when staff packed up in preparation for the wet season.

Despite a delayed start to this year’s outback tourist season – following months of isolation due to flooding and road closures – the Wilson family have worked day and night to prepare to reopen to tourists for food and fuel next month.

Ms Wilson said she hoped that with the lights back on, and plenty of visitors through the door, all of the hard work would be worth it.

“My first message to tourists is to please drive carefully, and my second message is to please drive,” she said.

“Come and support the local community, we desperately need it.

“It’s amazing to see the country after such wet years, in places that didn’t drown like at home. Everything that could possibly grow is growing.”