Our property lies on the floodplain at Swan Bay. Over 30 hectares (75 acres) of trees were planted in July last year. This was a WWF and Carbon Friendly project with some of the planted species being for koala habitat.
There are still some cardboard tree guards around some dead trees but mostly you see dead vegetation.
The recent flood was about 2m deep which was a lot less that the 5m depth of 2022. Unfortunately, when the rain stopped the sun came out and it was hot. It rained again and then it got hot again. Thearles Drain, which cuts through the property went from black to green and then back to black.
The property is a depressing grey from the dead vegetation. As this decomposed, the water around it went black. This meant it not only had no oxygen, the rotting material caused oxygen demand so that when the water reached the river it sucked out the oxygen there as well.
Ballina saw what this means with its mass fish kills.
Dead trees
Inside the cardboard boxes, which have now been underwater three times, are trees that were planted eight months ago. It looks like most are dead, but we don’t know for sure. Some might just come back, up to a year later.
The dead grass and black water can be seen around this sad-looking tree which was doing so well.
This is very sad but not as devastating for us as the poor farmer next door. He just purchased the property and was trying to get some cash back. That’s gone.
This water, this dead, black, oxygen consuming water will keep flowing down to Ballina until it is all gone. What hope for fish? Devastated farmers, devastated fishers. We must reinstate the wetlands and compensate the farmers.
The time has come. Enough is enough.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
