Popular water play area damaged in flood reopens

21 November 2022

Bob Gamble Park water play area and picnic areas have reopened in time for warmer weather after they were damaged during flooding in February and May this year.

Local Disaster Management Group Chair Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said council continues to work hard to get local infrastructure back up and running after sustaining major damage in the floods.

“The flooding and rain earlier in the year left a trail of destruction across the city, displaced hundreds of residents and forced many of our parks and reserves to close,” Mayor Harding said.

“Bob Gamble Park on the bank of the Bremer River was inundated by the flood water. The parks pumping machinery as well as the park itself required extensive work to repair and replace the damaged equipment.

“While the park had a significant amount of water through it, the resilient design minimised the damage to the park structures. I am very pleased to see this popular park in the River Heart Parklands reopen again in time for the warm weather.”

Local Disaster Management Group Deputy Chairperson Councillor Kate Kunzelmann said the status of flood recovery projects can be seen on council’s interactive online Flood Recovery Projects map.

“River Heart Parklands wraps around the Bremer River on the edge of Ipswich Central and sections of it have been closed since the flooding including Bob Gamble Park,” Cr Kunzelmann said.

“Council has installed temporary solar lights in the River Heart Parklands carpark after the power supply infrastructure to the regular lights was damaged in the rain events.

“While we are working on a solution to move the power supply to higher ground, these new solar lights will help to maintain public safety.

“Council recognises that residents are attached to our parks and take pride in the amenities.”

Local Disaster Management Group Deputy Chairperson Councillor Russell Milligan said as council moves through repairs, it is also looking at how to improve resilience.

“With both the Bob Gamble Park reopening and the temporary solar lights being installed, we are finding ways to replace and repair infrastructure in a more resilient way so we can be as prepared as possible for future flooding events,” Cr Milligan said.

Division 3 Councillor Marnie Doyle said it was great to see the 1.5 hectare River Heart Parklands have more sections now able to reopen to residents with some sections still closed for public safety.

“These parklands are very popular with families and with summer on the way, we are glad to be able to reopen the zero-depth water play and picnic area to welcome back the fun,” Cr Doyle said.

Division 3 Councillor Andrew Fechner said council continues to focus on flood recovery while improving resilience measures.

“While Bob Gamble Park has a resilient design that allowed us to clean up quickly, the water jet operating equipment could not be saved and with this now replaced we are delighted the community can again visit and enjoy one of their favourite Ipswich Central parks,” Cr Fechner said.

The works are jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. All works and stages can be seen on the map at FLOOD RECOVERY MAP (ipswich.qld.gov.au)