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Audio Script:

Cyclone Yasi hasn’t just wrought havoc on land in northern Queensland.

The destructive winds of the category five system have destroyed coral and marine life in the Great Barrier Reef and disturbed fish stocks.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is assessing the state of the reef, but reef line fishermen along the Queensland coast are already feeling the impact. They say the fish have vanished.

Nicky Redl reports from the Queensland town of Bowen.

NICKY REDL: The Bowen Marina between Mackay and Townsville is full of fishing boats. Nobody is heading to sea. The only work to be done is maintenance.

Reef line fishermen catch fish like coral trout by hand, and sell them alive to local and overseas markets. But since the cyclone, their usual catch is nowhere to be found.

On his last trip, Wayne Teakel didn’t even catch enough to cover fuel costs.

WAYNE TEAKEL: Our boat was one of the first boats to head out after the cyclone, and we’ve done two-and-a-half days for one coral trout, and 20 red throat emperor, and three stripies, which, we used 700 liters of diesel, outboard fuel, ice, bait, so you can tell we are definitely going backwards fast.

NICKY REDL: Further south has been less affected, but not everyone can travel the distance.

JAMIE LAIRD: This boat is too small to relocate. We haven’t got the fuel capacity to run out of Mackay some of the bigger boats. And the majority of the reef is damaged, basically from Cairns to Mackay, so we can’t really go anywhere.

All my savings, life savings, went into this boat so I could become a fisherman, and basically, the cyclone has taken it all away from us.

NICKY REDL: The state government has acknowledged fishermen have been affected, but says they don’t qualify for extra assistance. That means that fishermen like Jamie Laird can’t apply for loans or grants like banana or cane growers hit by cyclone Yasi, because fishermen aren’t classified as primary producers.

He says the wage subsidies they get from Centrelink are not enough to live on.

JAMIE LAIRD: You know, we are husband and wife with three children. They have offered us 400 dollars a fortnight to survive on. Like that, that wouldn’t pay your grocery bill.

I was the main money earner. My wife was at home looking after the kids. Now it’s had to change around, she’s had to go back to work, and I’m actually daddy daycare at the moment.

There is just no money coming in at all for anyone.

NICKY REDL: Seafood wholesaler Brett Bauer already had to close his business, because there is nothing to sell.

BRETT BOWER: We only sell local product, we don’t sell any imported stuff or anything, so with no catches with the boats, we’ve had nothing to do, I’ve had to lay off just about all my staff bar two people.

NICKY REDL: Some are lucky enough to have boats big enough to relocate further south, but that means a huge hike in fuel costs.

Boat owner Tanya Giles.

TANYA GILES: You know, we’ve got further distances to get to the reef, as well as the fact that we had to get down there in the first place.

You know, we’re lucky enough to have been quite welcomed by the Mackay community and the Mackay harbor, but it just means that the traveling distances for us compared to what we are used to are phenomenal. So our fuel bill has doubled.

NICKY REDL: And with all the extra boats heading south, the industry is worried that it’s only a matter of time until that area is overfished, while those who can’t relocate are left to wonder why they are being treated differently than other producers. Nicky Redl, ABC Rural, Bowen.

Backstory: I was working as an ABC Rural Reporter in Queensland when cyclone Yasi hit, and we only had audio recorders, not video cameras. I used my small automatic Canon camera with video function on a tripod for the footage, and recorded the audio separately on a Marantz recorder, later syncing audio and video in Premiere. I hadn’t been trained in Premier either at that point, so it was a long night in the studio. It was worth it, though, as the footage and audio were ultimately broadcast on state-wide and national radio and TV, and the plight of fishermen in the region received more widespread attention. The government subsequently offered fishermen the financial assistance it had previously denied them on the grounds that they were not primary producers.

Video broadcast on ABC national television channel News 24, and audio on ABC Radio National.

Online news story on the ABC website: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2011-03-02/one-month-on—still-no-catch/6189192

Audio version on ABC Rural: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-03-02/reef-line-fishermen-along-the-qld-coast-say-reef/6189204

Video Script:

NEWS24 PRESENTER JOE O’BRIEN: The floods have brought destruction from many communities across Queensland, but on the positive side, many water storages are full.

The Peter Faust Dam near Proserpine in North Queensland, has spilled for the first time since it was built in 1990. Water suppliers are saying there are now at least three to five years of guaranteed water supply for the Proserpine Valley.

This report from ABC Rural’s Mackay reporter Nicky Redl.

(sound of water)

NICKY REDL: Widespread flooding is causing massive destruction across Queensland, but it is also filling up the state’s dams. In Northern Queensland near Proserpine, the Peter Faust Dam with a capacity of nearly 490 gigaliters has spilled for the first time. Each day, nearly 800 megaliters are running over the spillway into the Proserpine river.

Colin Bendall from water supplier Sunwater says the dam has ten times as much water in it than three years ago.

It got down to 10 percent in 2007 and things got quite drastic for the community, so it’s fantastic to see it full now. It looks like we have at least three to five years of guaranteed water supply for the Proserpine Valley… (continues)

Backstory: As no professional video cameras were available to rural radio reporters at the time, I shot this video on my small Canon point-and-shoot (with video function) on a tripod, recorded the audio separately on a Marantz, and later synced the two in Premier.

Broadcast on ABC television channel News24 on January 3, 2011.

Story on ABC News: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2011-01-03/northern-queensland-dam-spills-after-heavy-rain/6192010

That’s the fate of people who share their property with flying foxes.

In northern Queensland, one community has finally convinced the flying mammals to find a new home, after seven years of putting up with thousands of them.

Houses close to the colony in North Eton, south west of Mackay, were covered in bat droppings, and children couldn’t play in the yards because the smelly feces were everywhere.

Each weekend, people wanting to use the nearby bowling club had to wipe the bowls clean, and the smell was unbearable.

But council didn’t allow residents to get rid of the bats, because flying foxes are protected.

It is illegal to kill or significantly disturb them.

Usual acceptable methods to deter them, like bright lights, noise or mist didn’t have any effect.

The bats were there to stay.

Finally, after a long struggle with their local council, resident Jack Long says they received permission to chop down the trees the bats were living in, while those were out feeding.

“These trees had to be cut down and lopped over night time, because if it was done in the day time it would put too much stress on the flying foxes and they might drop dead.”

Twice the bats tried to return, but finding their trees gone, they have now moved on permanently to a non-residential area.

Hungry flying foxes wipe out lychee crop

It’s not only residents who are having a hard time with bats, fruit growers have also had their share of trouble with them.

Flying foxes feed primarily on nectar, but the heavy rain this spring washed all nectar out of blossoms.

That’s why the hungry bats have been plundering fruit orchards instead.

Growers in the Mackay district estimate that more than 150 tonne of lychees have been eaten by flying foxes and parrots.

Tibby Dixon from Sarina south of Mackay says he lost he lost about 90 per cent of his crop.

“Most people in the Sarina district had a great crop, until the rain started in late October and with all the rain came the marauding flying foxes and parrots, and some orchards were totally wiped out.”

The Australian Lychee Growers Association says the Mackay, Townsville and Cairns regions usually produce between 30 and 40 per cent of Queensland’s lychees.

Tibby Dixon says there is going to be a shortage of lychees and they can’t export the fruit they had planned to.

“In a normal year we get about five to ten per cent damage, and this year it was about 90 per cent damage.”

He says he would prefer the government allowed farmers to protect their crop, instead of bats.

“Up until a few years ago we were allowed to get a mitigation permit and we were allowed to protect out crop by getting the scouts.

“And if you get the scouts you stop them from telling the others to come back and have a free feed.

‘But at the present we are not allowed to do that.”

And with less to harvest, it also affected the number of seasonal jobs the lychee harvest creates.

“The community loses out.

‘We’d normally have between 40 to 50 pickers a year, so there are 40 to 50 pickers that haven’t got a job.”

Story on ABC website: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2010-12-25/battling-bats/6192040

Longer related interview on ABC Rural: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-01-05/lychee-harvest-decimated-by-flying-foxes/6192056

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Audio Script:

JANE PATERSON: The resources sector says that the new tax will thwart investment in mining and drive investment overseas, but this morning, the man behind Waratah Coal, Clive Palmer, said he plans to go ahead with the thermal coal project north of Alpha, as planned.

Our reporter Nicky Redl went to a business breakfast in Mackay this morning, where the guest speaker was one of the head honchos at Waratah. G’Day Nicky, how are you?

NICKY REDL: Yeah, I’m well, Jane.

JANE PATERSON: Who was at this breakfast this morning?

NICKY REDL: The speaker at the breakfast was the managing director of Waratah Coal, Phil McNamara. And the room was actually quite full, so a good turnout for that breakfast.

JANE PATERSON: Did he provide any new details on the Waratah Coal project?

NICKY REDL: Look, I think most of the things he said we already knew. The only thing that was really different from what I saw on the website, the estimated cost was around $7.5 billion Australian dollars; he now estimated that at around over 8 billion US dollars.

But apart from that, the China First Project, as it will be called, will be based 50 kilometers north of Alpha in the Galilee Basin. They are planning to mine 50 million tons a year of thermal coal. They are also saying the quality of the coal is not the same as in the Bowen Basin, so it’s a mixed quality, but with some very good quality amongst it.

And the general resource they are quoting is nearly 4 billion tons of coal, but because of that varying quality of that, the target amount they are planning to mine is about 1.4 billion tons.

JANE PATERSON: So, where is the money going to come from for them to undertake the Waratah project?

NICKY REDL: They are working with several Chinese construction companies. They have Chinese customers and Chinese banks as well to come up with the money needed for this massive project. Seventy percent will come through debt funding and the remaining 30 percent they want to access through capital raising.

They say they also have a 30 million tons sale contract to export coal back into China for the next 20 years, but Mr. McNamara said those contracts will still be finalized over the next few weeks.

JANE PATERSON: So, who is their major partner in this project?

NICKY REDL: Their main partner is a Chinese engineering and construction company called China Metallurgical Group Corporation, MCC, but there are also three other Chinese companies, including Sinosteel.

JANE PATERSON: So did Mr. McNamara say anything about the infrastructure that will be needed for this project to get up and running?

NICKY REDL: Well, at the moment, there is no infrastructure at the Galilee Basin, so they will have to build a 490-kilometer railway and a port as well as the mines.

So they didn’t give any comment so far if they are planning to share any of that infrastructure, but they are planning to build accommodation for about 6,000 construction employees, 1,500 of those jobs will be permanent, so those facilities will stay at the site.

And a lot of those people will later be on a fly-in, fly-out basis. From what I understand, workers will mostly then be based in Brisbane, Mackay, and Rockhampton, and be flown in and flown out.

JANE PATERSON: Interesting if the main part of the funding for this project is coming from China, Nicky, what does that mean for employment of locals from Central Queensland itself?

NICKY REDL: Look, that was one of the questions asked, and he simply didn’t give a clear answer to that.

He was acknowledging that some of the engineering work, or quite a lot of the engineering work, would be done overseas and also quite a lot of the equipment would be coming from China, but he was also said, obviously, a lot of the maintenance and work on the mine won’t be possible without Australian engineers and also without Australian companies being involved.

But, he really didn’t give any clear figures, and he simply didn’t give a clear answer to that question.

JANE PATERSON: So it’s still a bit up in the air as to whether or not those 6,000 construction jobs that we talked about and the 1,500 permanent jobs would be filled by Australians?

NICKY REDL: Yeah, no, he certainly didn’t give a clear answer to that, no.

JANE PATERSON: Okay, so what’s the timeline then for the project to actually begin, because there is a lot of talk about it, but when is it actually, the first sod sod turned, if you like?

NICKY REDL: Well, he was saying they are planning to start construction at the end of this year, and they are hoping to get into production by late 2013.

JANE PATERSON: Alright, interesting, given all the talk from all the other major miners that they won’t be going ahead with projects with the new tax that the federal government has placed on them. Thanks for that Nicky.

NICKY REDL: Thank you.

JANE PATERSON: Reporter Nicky Redl from a business breakfast address by Phil McNamara, the managing director of Waratah Coal, that was held in Mackay this morning. Waratah is, of course, planning to build a brand new thermal coal mine near Alpha in central Queensland.

Broadcast on ABC Queensland’s Country Hour on May 7, 2010.

This report is no longer available online, as the previous ABC Rural website has been archived. Click here for the new ABC Rural site.

After Cyclone Ului felled an 80-foot tree onto his remote Eungella home, 72-year-old Guy Fletchere-Davies describes riding out the storm and its aftermath without access to power and running water.

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Audio Script:

How would you feel if a tree crashed into your house, leaving you trapped in there with no power, no running water, or even a mobile phone for a week? That’s exactly what happened to Guy Fletchere-Davies during cyclone Ului in Queensland’s north.

Nicky Redl trekked out to his remote property in the Eungella forest west of Mackay, armed with a recorder – and a loaf of bread.

(Sound of footsteps)

NICKY REDL: I’m just making my way over big puddles, fallen tree trunks, and all sorts of half-chopped-up branches.

Obviously, the SES has already been at work here, because you can see a lot of work half done, branches have been chopped, but they haven’t been removed yet. So they are all over the road, and it’s quite obvious why nobody would be able to get through here.

The creek right next to the road is very full, and it’s flowing quite fast. No, nobody could get out of here. There is just a really big tree trunk right across the pathway here. And, there is a house. Beautiful. I think I have nearly arrived.

Hello! Guy!

(Sound of dog barking)

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Ho, Jay!

NICKY REDL: How are you going?

(Barking)

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Lovely. I didn’t think you’d make it.

NICKY REDL: (laughs) I didn’t think I would make it either.

(Barking)

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Hey, Jay. He won’t hurt you, by the way. He’s only a little puppy.

NICKY REDL: I brought some bread.

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Thank you very much for that.

NICKY REDL: Oh gee, so that’s the tree that has nearly come into your house.

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Well, that’s the one that is towering over the top of the house. And as it comes down, it’s starting to bury the roof, as it sinks more into the roof. So they reckon there is somewhere between 8 and 10 tons over us, which is hanging out the other side of the house.

NICKY REDL: That’s reassuring, isn’t it.

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Very (laughs).

(cluttering of cups)

Okay. One sugar, one tea bag. Hot water coming up.

NICKY REDL: So you are here with no running water, you are still kind enough to offer me a cup of tea, when did the electricity run out and when did you stop having running water?

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: The electricity went down at eleven o’clock Saturday night, and the cyclone hit us just after one o’clock. The dog had disappeared with all the noise, frightened to death, came back and jumped into bed with me about ten minutes later, covered in leeches, would you believe.

We bled together through the night, listening to the thumping and banging of trees crashing around us  – there are over 50 trees on the driveway down.

Plus, this 80-foot giant leaning on my house, not to mention the fig tree, which is over 100 foot high and God knows how many tons it weighs, but it was actually a living garden. It’s full of bird nest fern, orchids; it’s now in three pieces on the ground, blocking the highway.

As you stand by it, it comes up virtually to shoulder height. And it’s sat there, and we are trapped behind it. I can’t get out.

The tree has come through the pump house,  it’s drained a 10,000-liter tank that’s on top of the hill there. So all the water is gone. Electricity only came back on yesterday, good old Ergo. Telstra was the day before.

NICKY REDL: You’ve also lost quite a few lovely trees around here that you planted?

GUY FLETCHERE-DAVIES: Oh, this place was just something else. And everybody who comes over, we’ve had the bird watching people up here … because this is the area for the Eungella honey eater. It only lives within 35 square kilometers in the world.

And I’ve had people up here from Sydney, and they’ve actually sat out there on the patio. I made them a cup of tea and toasted raisin bread. And they sat there, and they come through at 8 o’clock in the morning and about 4 o’clock at night, they were almost able to reach out and touch him, because the birds aren’t frightened here, you know, they don’t see anybody.

So yes, it’s shattering, actually. And all my rhododendrons are drowning up there with wet feet. I’m sort of living from day to day at the moment, and I don’t want to think about next week, because I don’t think I can handle it, you know.

I’m 72 now, for goodness sake. I’ve worked hard here for six years, and it was really starting to show.

And look, it might get back there. The Tropics are extraordinary; things grow very quickly here. But you’ve seen some of the holes it has knocked in the forest.

When you go back to the gate, if you can look back here, where the top of the forest continues up the hill, it’s like a giant has just reached out and grabbed a 30-meter circular section of the forest, here and there up the hillside, and just ripped the tops of the trees out.

They don’t twist, they just snap off. And you’ve got this 15- to 20-foot stump there, and the top of the tree is gone, dumped somewhere else.

MICHAEL MACKENZIE: That’s Guy Fletchere-Davies speaking to Nicky Redl inside his house in the Eungella forest west of Mackay after cyclone Ului just did the most extraordinary amount of damage not only to his premises but the forest around him.

And since that interview, Guy’s driveway has been cleared, and a local tree lopper has finally agreed to get that tree off his house.

What an amazing story of survival, and the dog and him in bed with leeches? They bled together. That was beautiful, wasn’t it?

Broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Bush Telegraph on March 31, 2010.

Online version on the ABC website: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2010-04-01/surviving-a-cyclone/6205668

Online audio on ABC website: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-01/surviving-a-cyclone-in-the-eungella-forest/6205686