The resilience of a few of the traders along Gympie’s Mary Street was the focus of a news report by the national broadcaster recently.
An ABC reporter spoke with the owner of Twiga Books and Gympie Toyworld, Lorraine Broadley and the owners of the relatively new business, Dolly and Oates, who are all conducting business in the notorious lower section of Mary Street, which has been known to flood at least once a decade.
Kikka Watt and Mick Nichols, who own Dolly and Oats are not concerned that it will flood again, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t prepared.
“It doesn’t really deter us that it floods,“ said Ms Watt.
“And everybody, when we opened, they’re like, ’You’ve got to be crazy opening up a new business in Mary Street?’“ she said.
Ms Watt said they’ve made sure they can move all their eclectic furniture and decor out of their bar and she is confident there will be plenty of volunteers keen to help them move out when the need arises.
Mick Nicholls echoed her thoughts.
“It’s been happening (the floods) since Gympie became the Gold Town that saved Queensland, really.
“I mean, they’ve always dealt with floods and they keep dealing with them,“ he said.
Lorraine Broadley said there was always talk of shifting the main street after each major flood, but she doesn’t agree with moving it.
“Mary Street is the core of the Cooloola Shire,“ she said.
“It’s been here since 1867.
“This is something we need to protect.
“There’s too much infrastructure here to just say, ’let’s move it’. Where?“ she said.
