G'day, it's Rodney here.
Bingara sits proudly on the Gwydir River, and we've always called ourselves the "Gem of the New England" — but that same river that gives our town its beauty has, more than once, shown its teeth. One of the wildest stories in my book Bingara Our Town, Our People Vol 2 comes from the terrible flood of 1949, and it's a story I still can't quite believe actually happened.
When the Gwydir rose that year, it came with a rush. A family of eleven — six children, three women and two men — found themselves marooned on a small patch of high ground known as Honeymoon Island, about six miles out of Bingara. With the water closing in fast, they did the only thing they could: they climbed a huge old apple gum tree, rigged up a rough balcony in its limbs, and stretched a tarpaulin over the top to keep the worst of the rain off. Below them, their truck — tied to another tree for safekeeping — slowly disappeared under the rising flood.
The Sydney Sunday Telegraph, on 5 September 1949, reported it like this: "A family is stranded on the limbs of a huge apple-gum tree 12 feet above swirling flood waters, six miles from Bingara." They were stranded some 300 yards across raging floodwater, with no way out except by boat or on foot over the mountains.
That's where local stockman Eddy Lochart comes into it. The call went out for Eddy, well known and well trusted around Bingara, to guide police over the ranges and down to the river, since that overland route was the only way anyone could reach the island at all. Whether he got there in time, and what the family found waiting for them when the water finally dropped, is a story in itself.
Bingara Our Town Our People Volume 2 | Local History by Rodney King – Rodney's Relics
Meanwhile, back closer to town, Len Payne had tried to punch his old utility — he called her "Old Liz" — across the river, and got caught out by the rapidly rising water for his trouble. It was his dog Snoop who wouldn't leave his side — but how a dog managed to help save a man and his ute from a flooded river is something you'll have to read for yourself.
It's the kind of story that reminds you what Bingara people are made of, and it's just one of 40 true, first-hand Bingara stories waiting for you in Vol 2.
We gift wrap, post Australia-wide, and you're always welcome to click & collect at Bingara Newsagency, 60 Maitland Street, Bingara. Give us a call on 0428 241 500 if you've got any questions — and as always, everything's backed by my satisfaction guarantee.
Bingara Our Town Our People Volume 2 | Local History by Rodney King – Rodney's Relics
Rodney