Bega Pioneers' Museum has countless files on people and places. One is the history of Bega floods, 1851-1978, written by Bernice E Smith. As the story now is becoming more contemporary, if anyone has personal stories of these floods, the Museum would really like to add to its record.
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IN THE 1971 flood, Tathra was without power for almost a week. Milk had to be thrown out as milk tankers could not get through to the farms, most of which were without power.
One of the worst features was the destruction of cultivation land by the piling up of many feet of sand and debris. Homes, too, were in a bad way, but volunteers went to work with scrubbing brushes and paint after the Bega Fire Brigade had hosed away most of the rubbish. So many helped it would be impossible to name them all, but the 1971 flood can go down in history as not only the highest recorded in Bega, but also one that brought members of the community together in a spirit of Christian charity.
Grants for flood relief were made available to farmers and householders and also to the shires for the restoration of roads and bridges. A team of Army engineers came down to erect a Bailey bridge over the river at Bimbaya, but many bridges in the district are still unusable. Household goods and carpets were piled up in the Bega Show Pavilion, where they were dried out and cleaned. Many hands helped to get them back to the homes and to re-lay the carpets.
The Bega Racecourse was very badly damaged so it was many months before it could be used again. Working bees were held when possible.
As the Bega Bowling Club’s greens were badly washed out, a boat was taken in to collect record books and other valuable equipment.
Many bridges could not be repaired for months, owing to the serious washouts around them and the huge amount of work that had to be done on the roads by the Shires and Bega Municipal Council. Temporary crossings were first put in to get the milk tankers running again. However it will be a long time before Bega will recover from all the damage done to farmlands, roads and bridges.
1972 was a better year. A total of 21 inches 27 points allowed the paddocks to dry out, although in fact it was almost too dry in many places to get crops in.
1973 again brought heavy rain resulting in some flooding in March and April - 32 inches fell and the winter was a good one.
1974 saw the rainfall measured for the first time in millimetres.
