Living with extreme weather in Babinda – Australia’s Wettest Town

The Babinda District Community Association Inc received grant funding from the Queensland Governments Q150 Grants Program. This program was designed to give Queenslanders the opportunity to celebrate and commemorate Queensland’s 150th birthday. Grants were available for activities and projects that reflect the unique culture, heritage and aspirations of our diverse communities.

Babinda is Australia’s wettest town (Bureau of Meteorology) and records an average annual rainfall in excess of 4 metres. While much of Australia battles drought, Babinda people face other challenges that involve torrential rain, mosquitoes, inhospitable wildlife and floods.

Our project was to record oral histories of the 4 significant weather events that have shaped our community. These weather events came in the form of Tropical Cyclones being 1918 (unnamed), 1956 (Agnes), 1986 (Winifred), 2006 (Larry)  and 2011 (Yasi).