An Incident of the Queensland Floods

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 107, 28 February 1893, Page 4

An Incident of the Queensland Floods

Capt. Vernor gives a dramatic account of the escape of himself and his family. He 6ays — We remained in the house getting things on to the ceiling until the water drove us out. Wo then went in a boat to the loft of the stable, but within half an hour were driven out of there also. We intended fastening on to a tree, but the current was bo strong that we did not manage it. As a forlorn hope we made for the main stream on the chance that we might reach the land on the other side, but we ran into the branches of a tree. The boat capsized, and we were all struggling in the fearful torrent My boy and one of the girls managed to get hold of the branches, and by the greatest miracle my wife and our other two daughters, my brother, and myself, got hold of the branches of a tree about thirty feet away. This branch was very soon under water, so my wife tore up her skirt, made a rope of it, and my brother add I managed to pull them through the water to another small branch. This was getting covered with water, so we managed after a hard struggle to pull the children on to the main branch, but the river was running at such an awful rate that we could not attempt to bring my wife. There was a small fork at the top of the limb she was on and with the help of my shoulders, she managed to scramble on this and there she remained in a most fearful position till we were rescued. It rained and a bitterly cold wind blew all the time. I then got to where my little girls were and held on to them. We were in this position for 23 hours, and whon it was getting near dark we gave up hope. The end must have come within an hour, when to our joy we saw two little fiat-bottomed punts coming to the rescue. There were two young men in each punt, and how they had managed to guide their frail crafts I cannot tell. Within ten minutes we were all aboard, and after we landed on the other side were received with the greatest enthusiasm by our friends. They cried, laughed hysterically, and geemod mad with joy, and in a vory short time wo were housed and in dry clothes. We managed to get across to the old home yesterday for an hour or two. The scene of devastation I cannot describe. First we found a dead horse and four big calves in the house. The ceiling where we had placed our valuables and clothes had fallen down, and everything was lying in a jumbled condition, covered with a foot of mud. The stench was fearful. The children are all right, but I do not think my wife will ever completely get over it. From Loward to Fern Vale only one house besides ours is left on the bank of the river.