Grazier's 'heartbreaking' assessment after flood washes away stock, fences (2025)

A western Queensland sheep grazier whose property was inundated by floodwaters estimates that the disaster has wiped $1 million from his family business.

Steven Hall had mustered 4,000 head of sheep to a river-frontage paddock, ready to be sheared when he heard that rain was on the way.

At first, he was relieved after a dry summer had left his property with little feed.

But when river levels reached 7.41 metres in nearby Quilpie, alarm bells sounded.

"We're 10 kilometres back from the river but we could hear it roaring all night," Mr Hall said.

"We knew it was a disaster, we stood no chance, that's just unheard of."

In late March, parts of western Queensland recorded two years' worth of rain leading to record-breaking floods.

Mr Hall said he still had not been able to assess large parts of his property but expected that he had lost most of his stock.

"I've got 23 [sheep counted so far] out of 4,000 … it's heartbreaking," he said.

"Where it's really going to hit us is in the bank account, because we've lost our sheep, we've lost our wool clip, that's 12 months' work."

About 19 kilometres of Mr Hall's exclusion fencing had been "wiped out", which he estimated would cost him $190,000 to re-fence.

After shearing was due to be completed, Mr Hall had planned to sell off a third of his flock to fund the following season's operations.

Those plans have been destroyed.

"You've got $120,000 worth of sheep there and then your wool on top of that," he said.

"It's a lot of money, I'd reckon you'd be getting up to $1 million easy enough."

Mr Hall estimated that it would take "at least" four years to get his property back to where it was before the floods.

He said the biggest challenge would be getting materials out west, which could take "a couple of months".

"There's so much fencing gone in south-west Queensland, securing materials is going to be the big thing," Mr Hall said.

His family has lived in the area for five generations and despite the devastation he is stoic about his property's future.

"We'll get by, we'll rebuild and have another go," he said.

"There's going to be a lot of people with a lot of hurt, the people of Thargomindah and Adavale I feel really sorry for."

Adavale washed away

John "Clayto" Clayton first fell in love with the tiny outback community of Adavale more than 30 years ago.

Each Easter, he and a group of friends would travel to the town to go pig hunting.

In the late 1990s, he decided to settle on a block of land in Adavale.

"I enjoy the sense of peace, we didn't have any worries," Mr Clayton said.

"Now we've got a few."

A fortnight ago, a torrent of floodwater disturbed that peace, it inundated most residents' homes and up-ended the town with a trail of mud.

The 79-year-old was watching television when he noticed floodwaters rapidly rising up the front steps of his home.

He was watching his belongings get swept away when he was rescued by boat and then flown by helicopter out of Adavale.

"Six cartons of beer came out of my shed [and floated past], that was a bummer," Mr Clayton said.

Mr Clayton had been stranded in the nearby town of Quilpie and had been pondering what Adavale's future looked like.

"It's just so depressing to see everything washed away, just devastating to see it," he said.

Some residents have told him that they were too old to rebuild their homes, but Mr Clayton said he wanted to spend his final years in the community he loved.

On Sunday morning, Mr Clayton returned to the community to some good news.

Someone had unearthed one of his six cartons of beer from the mud.