Floods bring Bunbartha community closer together

By Monique Preston

Nov 1, 2022

Feed time: David Stephens, 84, feeds wrapped hay to cows he has agisted on his Bunbartha property. The cows had to be moved from another part of the farm after floodwater covered a huge chunk of the property. Photo by Holly Daniel

John Stephens spent days filling sandbags at the local community centre in the lead-up to Bunbartha being inundated with floodwater.

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So much so, that he didn’t head home to prepare his own property until Tuesday, October 18, not long before floodwater hit the property he farms with his 84-year-old father David Stephens.

“We had to make a call to move the cows … as the lake started to fill,” John Stephens said.

“It was an interesting four days.”

At least 30 per cent of the canola and wheat crops at the Stephens’s Bunbartha property went under water, and losses could be higher if the ground does not dry out fast enough for them to get harvesting equipment onto the rest at harvest time.

They also had 100 Holstein cows on agistment that had to be moved to a paddock up closer to one of the houses.

While the floods are bad, Mr Stephens said they had also brought the community together at Bunbartha and he met others in the district he had never met before.

“Hopefully this brings the community closer together,” he said.

“I’ve got everyone’s phone numbers now.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, but there was a lot I didn’t know.”

Another in the Bunbartha community to receive help from others, but also to spend some of her own time helping her neighbours, was Kirsty Ramadan from Bohollow Wildlife Shelter.

The shelter is less than one kilometre from Loch Garry and everything on the property was under water except her house and backyard.

Ms Ramadan had to move some of the animals and birds into her house with her, while constantly moving birds to different enclosures to try and escape the water as best they could.

In the lead-up to the floods, people helped sandbag at Ms Ramadan’s property, while others had brought wildlife food to the community centre, which she later transferred to the shelter.

“The community spirit is amazing. We couldn’t have done what we did without help,” Ms Ramadan said.

Since the flood, Ms Ramadan has been busy helping her friends and neighbours as well, including kayaking food to her neighbour’s chooks that had been put up on a verandah when they evacuated.

She has also been flat out helping to rescue wildlife throughout the region that has been displaced by floodwater or injured.