Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) Foundation volunteers visited Gympie in Queensland during National Volunteer Week.
The volunteers aimed to restore the community hubs in Gympie and boost its resilience after taking a hit from the recent natural disasters.
The major project, dubbed the “Mary River Sands Muster,” revolved around the revegetation of The Sands along the River to Rail Trail, where the RACQ volunteers planted 3,000 specially selected trees and shrubs on the riverbank to improve flood resilience and protect against future erosion.
“This is RACQ Foundation’s 19th community assistance project, and it was great to support the Gympie region after what we know has been a challenging time since the devastating floods ripped through this town last year,” said Josh Cooney, general manager advocacy, RACQ.
“Restoring community hubs after a natural disaster is important for the livelihoods of locals, but building them back stronger, to ensure they can withstand future natural disasters, was our special mission.”
The RACQ volunteers undertook the three-day initiative in collaboration with the Minderoo Foundation’s Australian Resilience Corps, which was established in 2021 with founding partner NRMA Insurance, and with the support of the Gympie Regional Council and Gympie & District Landcare Group. University of Sunshine Coast students and Gympie residents also joined the initiative.
Cooney said: “It was fantastic to work alongside other organisations like the Australian Resilience Corps, and we really look forward to future projects where we can collaborate to help better protect at-risk Queensland communities against natural disasters in the future.”
Clare Alexander, Minderoo Foundation’s muster officer for its Australian Resilience Corps, commended the volunteers who helped restore The Sands.
“The floods may have caused severe damage, but together, we have been able to bring it back to life,” Alexander said. “We can support communities to be more resilient to disasters through risk reduction activities like these and by maintaining crucial spaces where communities can come together to stay connected.
“Minderoo Foundation looks forward to working with RACQ Foundation to help at risk communities across Queensland build resilience to future potential disasters such as those experienced here in 2022.”
Mayor of Gympie Regional Council Glen Hartwig commented: “The 2022 floods were something that we’ve never seen before in Gympie; it was horrendous and never seemed to end. The rain just seemed to keep coming.
“Without the tree planting and the other work being done, it might be 15 or 20 years before it looks like what it was, but with the work being done by the volunteers, it’ll probably be back in a third of that time, which means that it’ll handle flooding in the future much better.”
Last month, RACQ implemented a program for Indigenous students seeking to practice their driving skills and gain car safety knowledge.
