October 27, 2025
Tansey Bowls Club’s nightmare start to 2022 – and the generosity of the community to help it get back on its feet – were recalled at a small celebration on Saturday morning.
On January 8 that year, a metre of water and mud from the flooded Boonara Creek rushed through the clubhouse, upturning furniture and destroying the kitchen.
It wasn’t the first time the club had been inundated but the damage this time, so soon after the 2013 floods which had also damaged the building, was heartbreaking.
Amazingly, players were back out on the greens within 10 days, with the club making do with a barbecue in place of a kitchen.
(Fortunately, the cold room survived intact!)
And help came flooding in almost as soon as the floodwaters subsided.
Tansey Ladies Club secretary/treasurer Robyn Barsby said about 60 people turned up to help in the first few days.
The Murgon Services Club – which regularly sponsored some bowls days – made a generous cash donation.
Support also came from Andrew Holden, owner of Nedloh Rural at Goomeri; local Lions clubs and Stanwell.
But the most unusual support probably came from Brisbane resident David Rakowski who organised a “Country Support Tour” and an associated GoFundMe page, “Buy A Bushie A Beer”.
David brought a busload of volunteers from Brisbane, stopping for drinks at various pubs along the way.
This pub crawl with a difference raised more than $15,500 for community groups in Tansey.
Saturday’s morning tea was an opportunity to bring some of these donors back together.
“We just wanted to thank everyone who helped,” Robyn said.
Local councillor Warren McEwan joined the club members in thanking the supporters for their assistance.
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Tropical Cyclone Seth began life as a low in the eastern Timor Sea, north of Darwin, on December 23, 2021.
It then moved south, passing west of the Tiwi Islands on Christmas Day before crossing the Northern Territory coastline south-west of Darwin early on Boxing Day.
The low then tracked slowly eastwards, crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria on December 29 and then moving across Cape York Peninsula into the Coral Sea.
Once over the warmer water, the low intensified into a Tropical Cyclone on December 31, moving slowly southwards as a sub-tropical system, parallel to the coast, before crossing on to land near Hervey Bay on January 7.
As it moved inland, the system was accompanied by heavy rainfall and flooding, including falls of between 400-450mm on January 8 in the Tansey area.
- Related article: Donations Flood In For Tansey Groups
