"....During summer holidays, as school boys, we had regularly swum and fished in the creek. Small boys dare not venture into Oxley Creek today. Its waters are grossly polluted and in part it would be possible to walk across it, and quite impossible to swim, or fish....." (Harry Pugsley, 14 Aug 1977)

Keith Shand remembers in 1935 when he first went to the creek at Nosworthy Park, Corinda:
" It was always muddy but not as bad as it is today. I have seen the creek clear. One time I went down there, to the jetty off Nosworthy Park and walked down off this I looked down and I could actually see the bottom of the creek. But I only saw that once, I don't know if that was after a flood or what it was."

Harry Woodings:
"It was clear only when there was no rain, no rain. That the effluent from the bacon factory (Foggitt Jones at Oxley) never ever got that far (Nosworthy) down the creek, never. It would come so far and by that time the water was pushing it back up again."
"Memories of Oxley Creek", Audio tape

St Matthews CoE, Sherwood, February 1893 floods

1974 flood

"The Oxley Creek catchment by its nature has considerable low lying land. Floods are part of the lives of people in these areas. Local flooding can occur during the wet season. This would have been avoided when the land was untouched and vegetation coverage would have been sufficient to slow down and absorb much of the run off.
The natural water courses that have since been filled in or put into drains would also have minimised flooding. Most people remember the major floods of 1893, 1931 and 1974. But only the latter could be open to criticism as concentrated development really did not start until after World War 2."
(Commentary on "Memories of Oxley Creek" written by Jocelyn Clarkson)

'The Queenslander' 11 Feb 1893 reported:
"...From the summit of Mt Coot-tha the valley of the river was marked by an immense body of water, extending right from the Bay to apparently beyond Goodna. From Indooroopilly there was a huge lake reaching, as far as could be judged, far beyond Rocklea to the eastward, right across Indooroopilly Pocket and below Oxley Creek to the north, and to Sherwood Station on the south.
It was evident that the whole of the farms of Oxley Creek were submerged, as well as most of the farmers' houses ......."

1926 Floods, Ipswich railway line

Keith Shand (Donaldson family) tells of his grandmother:
"...Large family living on a farm where the sewage treatment plant is now on the Ipswich Road side of Oxley Creek (Donaldson Road). She used to live there when she was a child and she used to tell me about the picnics that they had down at Oxley Creek, fishing and catching crabs.
She also used to talk a lot about the flood, I think in 1893 they had the big flood. Getting the piano from downstairs to the top storey of the house to get it out of the flood water.
Another story she used to tell: there used to be a man making coffins and he used to use one of the coffins as a boat to get around during the flood period."
"Memories of Oxley Creek", Audio tape

Alexander Francis, wrote concerning the 1893 floods:
"At this time my brother Dick, who was a master at the Grammar School, was living with his wife at Corinda, in the old home which my father had built.
... The district for miles around Oxley was under water, and many people were marooned in their houses, which were in danger of being washed away. "

He also reminisces
My brother, who had a small boat, worked for three days and nights without ceasing, the greater part of the time in wet clothes, rescuing people and carting food. He got a chill, developed pneumonia, and died on the 24th of February, 1893.
He and my father were the two most upright, generous and unselfish men I have ever known.
A memorial tablet has been placed on the screens of Balliol College, Oxford, commemorating Dick's unselfish heroism in giving his life for the sufferers during the floods......"
(Libby Wager)

Floods 1931, Oxley Road

1926 Floods, Ipswich Rd

Hugh Lunn, in 1974, stated:
"Between 1840 and 1900 three floods much bigger than the present one (1974) hit Brisbane and another three equaling this one gushed through the city......
.. In the (1893) flood, the present site of Queensland University was under water and a steamer took a short cut across the grounds to Oxley. The two bridges across the river, the Indooroopilly railway bridge and the old Victoria Bridge, were washed away
.. Four separate cyclones about the same size as Wanda (1974) inundated the Brisbane area over a month. In the 24 hours.
.. Brisbane received an unbelievable Australian record (still standing) rainfall of 35 inches 71 points
.. In three days 72 inches fell. On February the Brisbane River reached its highest-ever level of 31 ft 2 in - 10 feet above this (1974) flood - and, though it was then a very small city, 10,000 families were given assistance. A fortnight later the fourth in the cyclone series lifted the river level on February 19 to 30 ft 4 in - two floods which, if they occurred today, would cause inestimable damage."

References:
Harry Pugsley, in the Courier Mail Color Supplement on 14 Aug 1977
Hugh Lunn, in the Brisbane Courier Mail in 1974
Interview by Ron Tooth with George Sirett, February 1998
Interview by Jocelyn Clarkson with Harry Woodings and Keith Shand, "Memories of Oxley Creek" March 1997 (Audio tape) and commentary
Alexander Francis, in "Then and Now" (London: Chapman & Hall)
'The Queenslander' 11 Feb 1893
Libby Wager, Wagers Ageless Series

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