Saturday, January 15, 2011

Brisbane Floods Volunteering and The Lighter Side

Watching TV this morning, I'm encouraged by the generosity and support we as Queenslanders are able to provide our community by volunteering our services to support the clean up effort. If you're in Brisbane, you can volunteer at several locations around Brisbane at:

  • Doomben Racecourse, Hampden St, Ascot – Main entrance Gate 5.
  • Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Melaleuca Drive, Boondall – follow signs to the main foyer.
  • Macgregor State High Assembly Hall, parking at Eight Mile Plains bus station or Upper Mt Gravatt park n ride
  • Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Auditorium, Mt Coot-tha Rd.

Hopefully I will see you there!

I don't discount that this event has significant tragedy, with loss of life, lifestyle and personal possessions. With this community spirit I am also reminded of the lighter side of this event. There have been elements of this spirit which help lift our moods, and here are some examples of both the sublime and the ironic from friends.


I've already shown some of the shots around Suncorp Stadium. Outside Suncorp, someone had given the statue of King Wally Lewis a little bit of extra equipment. Wally is a true Queensland icon and like his efforts on the Rugby League field, these are being replicated in heroic fashion across the state. Now he's got the equipment to cope too!

Another friend, Mark, has been out and about in the Fairfield area where he lives. On the lighter side, one of his mates shows how hanging onto a street sign. As Mark wrote, "Andrew's problem was not jumping onto the sign - it was getting off without getting wet. This was unavoidable but we all agreed the pics were worth it. A little light-heartedness in the midst of a disaster goes a long way. :)"


Finally, on the ironic side, Karina took this shot of the Dick Smith store reopening in the City, with this interesting piece of advertising. Phones that float? How appropriate!



The cleanup is well underway. Please, if you can, I urge you to donate to the Queensland Flood Relief on the Queensland government website.

Cheers, I Love Brisbane, Wes.

Images courtesy of Mark Cocquio and Karina Honey.

6 comments:

marilise said...

wishing you all the best , huggs from Greece

myWeddingHour said...

Brisbane really knows how to pull together as a city.

bikehirebrisbane said...

this was an amazing time for our city, it was great to see everybody pull together and help each other out. back to basics, helping those in our community, thats what it should be like floods or not. keep supporting local businesses as there are still many people that need assistance. a great way to see the brisbane city after the floods is by bike. its amazing to see just how much has been done

Holiday Apartments Gold Coast said...

A great article. I really enjoyed reading this.

brisbane car rental said...

We all should help each other.It was really good to see all other peoples to pull together in this situation.

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