Adavale residents determined to keep town alive after major flooding

Australia Broadcast Center

27-04-2025

They call it the Mulga Lands — part of Australia's vast outback.
Amid the arid country broken up by ancient river systems sits Adavale, a Queensland town that sits closer to the South Australian border than Brisbane.
Zoey and Kiya Cowley also call it home.
Adavale used to be a thriving town in the Quilpie Shire.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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The inseparable sisters hang off what remains of their trampoline, a skeleton in their boneyard of a back garden.
The girls used to have a trampoline and pool in their yard.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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Kiya, 4, sifts through a box of soggy belongings.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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A month ago,
Despite the mess, they giggle and scream in delight as they dodge thick mud and mangled machinery.
They venture into their animal pen and their eyes fill with tears.
The girls used to have their own backyard petting zoo.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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The water rose so quickly and without warning that the
The Cowley family woke early in the morning to rising water.
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Supplied: Heidi Cowley
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From the air, they watched the floodwater swallowed the landscape and rose around their helpless animals.
"Goats, chooks, sheep, cows … Gypsy was my favourite cow, I don't know where she is," Zoey said.
What to do with an outback town?
Zoey's mum, Heidi Cowley, has experienced a myriad of emotions in the two weeks since the family has returned home.
Ms Cowley says she has done huge amounts of washing in the clean up.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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She said she had been mulling over her family's next steps as she cleaned thousands of dollars' worth of rotten, stinking food from chest freezers and hosed layers of mud and silt out of her husband's sheds.
The dirt line shows where the water got to in the Cowley's downstairs toilet.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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The whole town is contemplating its future.
Adavale was once the hub of the Quilpie Shire and one of the most important towns in western Queensland.
But its era of prosperity petered out when a planned rail line ended in neighbouring Quilpie.
The force of floodwater carved out massive holes in the ground.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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The town was unfortunately built on one of the many flood plains within Mulga Country, and none can afford insurance.
Talk about moving the town to higher ground has been ongoing since the 1960s.
Historical newspaper articles from 1963 describe the town being torn apart by flooding.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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Now, the latest flood surpassing the level of all that came before, will force some residents to leave the town they love behind.
The local council has contracted an external company to assess the town's future, whether houses could be raised or if relocating everything is even viable.
The streets are lined with piles of furniture.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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These are big questions for landholders, the shire and politicians.
But there is at least one resident who does not want to go anywhere.
Salvageable belongings have been sorted into piles but still need to be cleaned.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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History and home
A couple of houses down from Cowleys, the girls' grandmother Narelle Mandrusiak gingerly pulls broken picture frames and mud-soaked newspaper clippings from a container.
Narelle Mandrusiak sifts through ruined historical documents and photographs.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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The box used to hold important pieces of Adavale's history safely within it.
But floodwater has ruined most.
The 69-year-old was born and raised in Adavale and returned to live in the town with her husband after a stint in Brisbane 18 years ago.
Ms Mandrusiak's picture wall was spared in the floods.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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Here she feels she is back where she belongs.
Each day, she listens out for the sound of her granddaughters sprinting down the road, bursting through her front door for a hug and to beg their grandpa for lollies.
Mud and dirt coat the inside of her caravan, cars, yard and shed.
She has an endless to-do list but she is not going anywhere.
Ms Mandrusiak and her husband had planned on going caravanning in May.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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"We're not moving, here it's family," Ms Mandrusiak said.
The Cowley girls spend lots of time at their grandma's place.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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'Don't want this town to die'
On the other side of the two-street town, Adavale's pub operates as a post office, general store and unofficial therapy clinic.
The pub is able to serve cold drinks after a fridge was donated.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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Its coin-filled till sits on top of the pub's pool table alongside a mini trumpet, commemorative stubby coolers and warm, dusty tinnies.
Some of publican Koss Siewert's prized possessions are still being found kilometres down the creek.
A collection of found items.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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Dirt marks the height that floodwater reached on the pub's walls.
Mr Siewert said the thick, filthy mud that was left behind took multiple rounds of hosing and sweeping out to get rid of.
Houses have been stripped of their insides as cleaning continues.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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Even though there's still a lot of cleaning up to do, he is adamant the establishment is open for business.
"I don't want this town to die, it's too important," he said.
Zoey and Kiya love their life in Adavale.
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ABC Western Qld: Hannah Walsh
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