One hundred years ago to the day, yesterday, January 13, Johannes Bjelke-Petersen was born in Dannevirk, New Zealand.

Spooky, eh what, with the flood peak of what, if Antiseptic is right, was a one-in-a-hundred-year rain event similar to that of 1893, being a metre lower than that resulting from the significantly smaller rain event of 1974, occurring one hundred years to the day later. Due largely, it seems, to the Wivenhoe Dam his one-man-band government pushed through working to some extent exactly as his departmental hydrological and engineering advice had said it would.

I feel it necessary to clarify the last sentence of my first post to this thread.

I wasn't meaning to imply that those charged with the operation of the Wivenhoe Dam in the present day did anything other than the best that was possible in managing its discharge in the circumstances that currently exist. Those circumstances are ones in which, due to the ill-advised 1990 cancellation of the Wolfdene Dam storage component of the overall Brisbane water supply and flood mitigation capability, the operators of the Wivenhoe Dam were effectively not free to release water because the government was counting on that water for Brisbane's supply.

Not only did the Goss government elected in 1989 immediately cancel the Wolfdene Dam part of this visionary project, but they fired the top two government hydrologists as well! It was these decisions that robbed the Wivenhoe Dam operators of the ability to be better prepared for flood mitigation in 2011.

The Lord Mayor of Brisbane has, understandably, called for an inquiry into the SEQ flood disaster. See: http://bit.ly/ijsUY3 , which said, inter alia:

"Senior engineering and hydrological sources,
not authorised to comment on the record, told
The Australian that investigations need to be
conducted into the operations of Wivenhoe Dam,
which had been forced to release massive
volumes of water to reduce the risk of a
catastrophic collapse."

How much even lower may this flood have been if Joh's foresight had been acknowledged in 1989?

Or higher if Wivenhoe had collapsed?

Interesting stuff Forrest.

Wonder if the fellow who worked as the Goss politico-gopher had anything to do with the decision?

What's his name again?

The one who so proudly took credit for creating the school chaplaincy plan in Qld.

Belly, unlike you, I'm not especially party-politically aligned. I've voted Labor all my life, but I doubt I'll ever vote for the Party again. The record of mismanagement at every level is the only thing impressive about them.

During this flood the only public figure I've had any confidence in has been Campbell Newman. Gillard and Bligh have been all about managing perceptions, while Newman has been about finding solutions.

No, he's not Labor.

As for Joh Bjelke-Peterson, I tend to agree with sonofgloin but I don't really care much, since he's dead and buried unlike the people running the State into the ground today.

Forrest, I could not agree more. During the early phases of the build up to this event the managers of Wivenhoe were releasing very little. I recall taking the kids to see just one floodgate open only about 2 weeks ago.

I'm not known for having much time for bureaucrats, but I do have some sympathy for those running this dam.

What are their instructions from their political masters? Perhaps it's time that their instructions were published, & open to scrutiny by all.

Then they have the problem that at even moderately large releases, some flooding occurs, preventing road access for some. I'm sure they get loud complaints these people, & the politicians when this happens.

No matter how much they release, some will reckon it's too much, others too little.

Then there is no "right" amount to release, so even the operators can't know if they got it near to right at any particular time. It really is a job that even I could get wrong.

As you all know and most don't understand, I am a born again Christian, born of the will of God of the incoruptable seed of the Word of God through faith in Jesus who is called Christ.
50 years ago my Grandmother said to me, as I was going to vote for the first time, " Don't vote labor as they have no imagination, vote liberal."
My dad a rusted on socialist had always taught us kids that the libs were the enemy of the working class, so I asked him "why did your mother tell me to vote liberal" and this was his answer "Son your grandmother is a woman and all women love Bob Menzies because of child support".
31 years ago through a personal cricis I found Jesus and followed him and found that I had no imagination.
50 years after the word from my Grandmother the penny droped and I now understand perfectly what she meant.
Jesus came to save our soul of which our imagination is part and I now have a very fertile imagination, essential for faith which is the substance of things hoped for so you can spend the rest of your days arguing over good and evil or live to the full. The choice is yours.

complements of the season Regards Richie10

Bjelke-Petersen

Was undoubtedly corrupt

And a Christian