“I’d still be in the old caravan with mud in it”

Published: 

3 March 2023 12:54PM

If he wasn’t living in the Gympie Recovery Accommodation Park, Garry knows exactly where he’d be.

“I’d still be out in the old caravan with mud in it.  This place has been a blessing because my health has been pretty bad.”

Garry had been living in a caravan out bush last February when Gympie’s worst flood in more than 100 years engulfed the town.

“My friends woke me up and said ‘you better get out – look…’ and there was water racing underneath the van,” Garry said.

The Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy established the Gympie Recovery Accommodation Park to provide short and medium term housing and support for Gympie residents displaced by the devastating floods of 2022.

When he was first offered flood assistance, Garry politely declined.

“I said no – there’s people worse off than what I am.  So I dried out the caravan and got as much mud out of it as I could, and I was living in that.”

But as his health worsened, Garry accepted a cabin at GRAP, where he found much more than a roof over his head.

“I’ve had so much help here.  It’ll be a sad day when I move, but I’ll still drop in and say hello to everybody because they’ve just been so good to me.”

The Queensland Government’s Housing Service Centres are here if you or someone you know needs housing help. Call 13 QGOV for your nearest centre or call the Homeless Hotline on 1800 474 753.