Residents of north-east of Victoria are keeping a close eye on predictions of a wet spring.
Key points:
The Bureau of Meteorology says a wetter August to October is likely for most of the country
A local caravan park owner says a quarter of the park was flooded on Saturday
Residents are warned to be vigilant to any weather changes
The Bureau of Meteorology recently said a wetter August to October was likely for most of the country, including more than double the normal chance of unusually high rainfall for most areas in the eastern-two thirds of the mainland.
North-east Victoria has already recorded good rainfall, hail, as well as a number of flood alerts and minor flood events just a week into August.
Walwa Riverside Caravan Park owner and manager Heidi Conway said the Murray River had peaked about five meters at the park late on Friday and into Saturday morning.
“The Murray River broke the bank and came into our park so we’ve probably got a quarter of the park underwater at the moment,” she said.
“Our cabins are elevated up so it hasn’t affected those at all, but it looks like it’s going down now.”
‘You can’t stop nature’
Ms Conway said her business was not feeling too many impacts from the latest flooding event given it was quiet over winter.
She said Saturday’s flooding was similar to the last flooding event they saw at the park in September 2021
She said the latest event had arrived earlier than usual.
Ms Conway says it’s not great to have to deal with flooding concerns.(Supplied: Heidi Conway)
“Normally we would look at maybe flooding towards September but due to seasonal changes we’ve copped it now as well,” she said.
“We have heard that we will have a wet year so that will impact the amount of people that we have in the park.
“After COVID and everything it’s not a great thing to happen but you can’t stop nature so we just have to look to all the things that we can do to deal with that.”
Ms Conway said despite the latest weather challenges she still expected to have a busy period leading up to, and during, Christmas.
Eyes on the sky
Victoria State Emergency Service north-east duty officer Dan Walton said the heaviest of the weekend’s rain had come and gone.
He said his organization was expecting steadier conditions early next week.
But he said it was important for community members to remain vigilant to any weather changes.
“This is not going to go away.” he said.
“We’re going to have the next several months of wet, warmer than average temperatures, more than average rainfall.
“This is going to continue until probably, at least, through November.”
Affected people, the opposition and Greens only learned about it when contacted by The Sunday Age.
“While the Victorian government is not considering making ex gratia payments for those Victorians who were unable to travel home during this period, it does acknowledge the distress and disruption that the border restrictions generally created,” the government said in response to the ombudsman.
“It also acknowledges the frustration and challenges that people experienced when attempting to obtain an exemption.”
The government did not directly respond to questions from The Sunday Age. A spokesman said the border closure was necessary because of the ferociousness of the Delta outbreak in NSW, the risk of incursion, and low vaccination rates at the time. The government had also warned against traveling to NSW.
“We did everything we could at the time to remind Victorians of the risk we were facing… but we also acknowledge that it was a very difficult time for many Victorians interstate.”
Cars line up at the Victorian border.Credit:Jason Robbins
Garcia’s application to enter Victoria was repeatedly rejected, or expired, with nobody to contact for proper guidance.
Residents applying for a permit had to specify the date they planned to cross the border. The date often passed before the application was processed, nullifying it.
“What would make me happy is if they said: ‘We got it wrong, the processes need to be improved, we acknowledge there was no empathy shown to people, and in future this will never happen again’,” Garcia said.
“That’s all, I’m not putting my hand up for money. I don’t want compensation.”
He has not received an apology from the government, although some others have by email.
The ombudsman is still considering the government’s response.
Once it is finalized, as part of a two-year review into the government’s progress on recommendations in all her reports, it will be tabled in parliament. Glass declined to comment until then.
In her report last year, Glass said discretion under the blunt system was unnecessarily narrow. Staff had 30 to 60 seconds to deal with applications, most of which did not even make it to a decision-maker, with only 8 per cent of exemptions approved.
The government gave people only 12 hours to cross the border before it closed on July 20, a restriction that remained in place even once Victoria’s infection rate eclipsed NSW’s.
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The opposition has long criticized the government during the pandemic. Labor has since changed its tactics with the more infectious new strains of COVID-19 and high two-dose vaccination rates, acknowledging in the lead-up to the November state election that public acceptance of mandates has waned.
Shadow health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier on Saturday saidthe border closure was the “most cruel and inept of many kneejerk decisions” and had caused unnecessary suffering.
Greens spokesman for health Dr Tim Read said residents did not need to be kept out of Victoria once the virus was spreading in the state.
“An apology and compensation, particularly for those on low incomes who were paying rent in two states, would be the least the government could do.”
Melbourne father Clint Fisher ended up living in a caravan park, away from work, for six weeks in Scotts Head, on the NSW mid-north coast, after his car broke down when the Delta variant first cut loose.
He applied to return home – which everyone described as a confusing process – when his car was fixed, but his application repeatedly expired before it was seen to.
“I was lucky enough to be in a beautiful spot and surfing and stuff. I was probably one of the lucky ones and I still found it incredibly frustrating and distressing because I didn’t know when I’d see my family again.”
Fisher did not participate in the ombudsman’s investigation and did not receive an apology – which he was satisfied with, accepting the need to close the border.
Melbourne woman Jo Howard, who was on a working holiday in northern NSW when the state was cut off, has received an apology from the government.
She waited for a permit for weeks at the border in a cheap studio cottage. Double-vaccinated, and with a negative PCR result every two days, Howard was frustrated she couldn’t drive home with no stops to quarantine alone.
“The problematic thing was the bureaucracy,” Howard said. “The difficulty for everyone was just not knowing… Not knowing where it’s going to end, I think that’s what started to get to me, at the end.”
Howard, who did not participate in the ombudsman investigation, has left those feelings behind her. She said she did not expect more than the apology email she received.
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Peta Weeks is one of the 3.6 million Australians living with chronic pain.
She was seriously injured when she crashed her motorcycle in 2019 and about 18 months later, her arm was amputated.
“I ended up with five nerves avulsed from the spine, fractured pelvis, coccyx, rib,” Ms Weeks said.
She said since the amputation, the pain has overtaken her life.
“Sometimes it’s overbearing; I can’t handle it,” Ms Weeks said.
“It’ll start in my hand that’s not there, my phantom hand, and go up to the elbow.
“It’s really hard when I’m around friends, they see me cringe and I’ll put my head down and just try to hide it. I try not to show it.”
Ms Weeks has appointments with physio Darren Doherty to help her cope with chronic pain.(ABC News: Heidi Sheehan)
Ms Weeks has frequent appointments at a specialized pain management clinic on the Gold Coast, where she now practices mindfulness and mind mapping to help cope with the pain.
“I’ve tried a lot of medications; no medications work, they just make your mind foggy,” she said.
“But doing the mindfulness, mind mapping, all the natural things, does actually help. It’s like trying to calm the mind down.”
Specialist pain physio
Ms Weeks’s arm was amputated about 18 months after her motorcycle accident.(Supplied: Peta Weeks)
Darren Doherty is a pain physio specialist at the Gold Coast Interdisciplinary Persistent Pain Centre, where a team of pain specialists, psychiatrists, allied health workers and nurses help Ms Weeks and other chronic pain sufferers.
Mr Doherty is Queensland’s first specialist pain physio and one of five in Australia.
He said their aim is to improve the quality of life for people living with chronic pain, despite the pain.
“Quite often our patients have been on that journey to try and find the fix and that hasn’t occurred,” Mr Doherty said.
“By continuing to go on that journey of that ‘fix’ for their pain, sometimes it can actually hinder more than help.
“So, we refocus — how can we manage pain better, how can we achieve goals so they can engage living again?”
He said a big part of his role was helping patients understand their pain.
“From a physio perspective, we look at helping to educate patients about their pain and giving them a reason behind the symptoms that are occurring for them,” he said.
“We know from the research, when you’re more educated about pain, it can help with the pain.”
Mr Doherty is a specialist pain physiotherapist on the Gold Coast. (ABC News: Heidi Sheehan)
Removing stigma and improving accessibility
Mr Doherty highlighted the importance of the Australian College of Physiotherapists adding a pain specialisation.
Chronic Pain Australia vice president Nicolette Ellis said the not-for-profit organization has welcomed specialty and said she would like to see the same in other health professions.
“We see a strong stigmatization from not only health professionals but also the community,” Ms Ellis said.
“I think that’s just really a lack of awareness and understanding of what the condition is.”
Ms Ellis said knowledge and education were key for people living with chronic pain.
“Many people who live with chronic pain are sometimes led to believe it comes from their head,” she said.
“It is a chronic disease and is a condition of the nervous system and immune system.”
She said treatment could be different for all patients and could include medication, topical cream, complementary therapies and supplements.
Fans across Australia and around the world have paid tribute to The Seekers lead singer Judith Durham, remembering her as an ‘Australian icon’ with the ‘voice of an angel’ after her death on Friday, aged 79.
Her Seekers’ bandmates, Athol Guy, Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger, said their lives had been changed forever by losing “our treasured lifelong friend and shining star.”
“Her struggle was intense and heroic, never complaining of her destiny and fully accepting its conclusion. Her magnificent musical legacy Keith, Bruce and I are so blessed to share,” Athol Guy said in a statement.
Best known for their unique blend of harmonies and Durham’s angelic voice, The Seekers were unlike anything of their time.
They were the trailblazers of Australian music in the 1960s, knocking heavy hitters such as the Beatles off the top of the charts in the UK and taking the US by storm.
From Melbourne cafes to the world stage
In 1962, an 18-year-old Durham met Athol Guy. He convinced her to sing acoustic folk music in a Melbourne cafe with Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley. They became The Seekers.
After two years playing in pubs, the band was offered a summer season in the UK — it was “the last thing we expected to happen.”
“I had to shock mum and dad and say, ‘I’m not actually going to come back’,” she said.
The group headed to England, assuming it would be a quick trip.
“Little did we know that our first record, six months later, was going to go to number one all around the world,” she said.
“We weren’t aiming at being a pop star act, we were a folk group…so that was our niche.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
The Seekers give an interview in 1965, discussing their move to the UK.
Outselling the Beatles, Rolling Stones
The next few years brought worldwide acclaim for The Seekers, with more albums and tours, and a string of hits at a time when they were competing with the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
“The true perspective that the Seekers were outselling the Beatles, outselling the Rolling Stones… I didn’t understand the enormity of that. Now I do,” she said in 2016.
The Seekers were the first Australian band to reach number one in the US and the UK, with songs Georgy Girl and I’ll Never Find Another You.
Georgy Girl was even nominated for an Academy Award for best original song.
They sold more than 50 million records worldwide and had six top-10 hits during 1965 and 1966.
Durham said she was very self-conscious at the time of the band’s greatest success.
“People thought I was hip and cool and people used to emulate my style of dressing, but I used to do it to disguise my weight,” she said.
“I didn’t realize there were lots and lots of other women going through the same thing. I thought I was the only one.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
The Seekers perform Georgy Girl while on tour in the 1960s.
Despite that success, the band broke up in 1968, having agreed that if anyone wanted to leave, they had to give six months’ notice.
Durham wanted to spread her wings and try her hand at opera.
She admitted being nervous about embarking on a solo career, but went on to perform to standing ovations as an international solo artist.
Durham’s life after The Seekers
Personal tragedy was never too far away from Judith Durham.
In 1990, she and her husband Ron Edgeworth were in a car accident — the driver of the other vehicle died at the scene.
Four years later, Edgeworth died of motor neuron disease and Duhram spent many years after raising awareness about the disease.
“I wanted to see if there was a way [to] raise awareness [which] would not only help achieve greater donations, because people would realize this is catastrophic, but of course in the hope of finding a cure,” she said.
Durham was also once stalked by a woman who sent her dozens of doormats through the post.
Her work on behalf of charitable groups was recognized in 2015, when she was named Victorian of the Year for her work with a number of women’s, Indigenous and disability support groups and as patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Australia.
The Seekers were also individually honored as Officers of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of June 2014.
In 2013, Judith Durham reunited with The Seekers for a 50th anniversary tour, but it was cut short after she suffered a brain haemorrhage.
She spent six weeks in intensive rehabilitation at a Melbourne hospital before returning to the stage to continue the tour.
Durham said it was a “miracle” that the musical Georgy Girl, which told the story of The Seekers, made it to the stage in 2015, while she was still alive.
“I’m thrilled to bits that it’s happening. It’s very special the way it’s all done, beautiful production and everything,” she said.
The Seekers reunited in 2019 for the filming of Australian Story. (Australian Story: Darren James Photography)
“It’s not 100 per cent true to life, but that’s important for the entertainment value.”
She said watching her life on stage was overwhelming in many ways.
“Sometimes I think ‘oh surely, it wasn’t that tragic’, but everyone says ‘Oh my God, what you’ve gone through’,” Durham said.
“It’s a funny one, I belittle all the things in my life, I’ve had a philosophy in life that carries me through those things.
Despite her many years of success, Durham never thought of herself as a pop star, but appreciated the love of her fans.
Ceiling or pedestal fans can help push fresh air from outside, settings of air-conditioning can be changed to bring in air from outside and in some places it might be possible to make building changes, opening windows for example, that have been previously sealed shut .
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Portable HEPA air filters have been widely installed in Victorian schools, and Sutton revealed that they had also been deployed to aged care facilities during outbreaks, where the state has jurisdiction.
But he says more could be done in the aged care sector, which has recorded 30 per cent of the nation’s COVID-19 deaths, saying many facilities had been built when insulation from the heat and cold was the main concern, meaning there was poor natural ventilation.
“We’ve clearly raised that with the aged care sector to do what they can, but it’s going to be a long-term project to address that, [the] same with the disability sector for that matter.”
Associate Professor in atmospheric chemistry at the University of Melbourne Robyn Schofield said COVID-19 could stay in the air for three hours indoors, but there were other reasons to ventilate too, including making sure carbon dioxide didn’t build up, affecting people’s concentration.
She said poor indoor ventilation cost Australia about $9 billion each year in productivity losses.
“Ventilation was an issue before the pandemic, the pandemic’s highlighted actually how bad it is.”
The Victorian government has created guides to improve ventilation in cafes and restaurants, pubs and clubs, function spaces, shopping malls, kitchen and food preparation areas, foyers, lunchrooms, boardrooms and a number of other workspaces.
Grants are also available for small businesses that deal with the public to improve their building ventilation, and possibly help with an expert assessment, but Sutton said people might find after going through one of the self-assessment guides, they were doing enough.
He said people should consider how much natural ventilation already existed, how many people gather in the space and for how long, and what activity was happening there.
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“Is it silent, which is the lowest risk, or talking, which is a step up, or shouting, screaming [or] singing which is a next level up, and exertion, which is also up there as well,” he said. “That’s why gyms and cafes and hospo and pubs and clubs tend to fall into the highest-risk category because they have more people, tend to be enclosed … and have those activities that generate a lot more aerosols.”
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The sky-watching world was thrown into a spin this week with multiple reports of space debris falling onto Australian farms.
Experts say as more satellites go up, it is only logical more will come down.
Key points:
The biggest pieces of space junk seen in Australia since 1979 were recently found in NSW
Researchers in Queensland are using wind tunnels to predict where space junk could land in the future
Experts say there are likely many more pieces of space junk in Australia, but the likelihood of finding them is “pretty small”
Mark Rigby, a former curator of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, agrees.
“The number of operational satellites has almost doubled in the last 18 months. That’s phenomenal,” he said.
But if you’re planning a “space debris” hunt, do not get your hopes up.
“Fortunately, most of our earth is covered in ocean. So, most space junk actually comes down harmlessly, and a lot of space junk vaporises before it even reaches the surface of our planet,” Mr Rigby said.
But sometimes it lands in a cow paddock.
James Stirton discovered wreckage from a rocket on his family property in south-west Queensland, near Quilpie in 2008.
Mr Stirton’s space junk is now on display at the Cosmos Center in Charleville.(Supplied: Cosmos Center)
At the time, he and his wife Sue took calls from all over the world and hosted visits from researchers keen to inspect the round fuel cell that landed near his cattle in the scrub.
“They checked it over for radiation, and wanted to take it away, and I said, ‘No, it’ll stay here’,” he explained.
The space wreckage, officially named 2006-047-C, lived in a farm shed until the couple retired.
It is now on permanent display at Charleville’s Cosmos Centre.
Ever the pragmatic farmer, Mr Stirton said his discovery did not lead to any further space-craft exploration on his property.
“It was during the drought years, so we had plenty of other things to do,” he said.
“And I figured it’d only happen once in my lifetime, so no, I never thought I’d find any more space junk.”
But he did.
“A few years later we found another one,” he said.
“Actually, I don’t think we’ve ever told anyone about that second find,” Ms Stirton laughed.
Serious area of study
A specialist project at the University of Southern Queensland was launched earlier this year focusing on space junk.
“We’re starting to see more and more of this stuff happening,” Fabian Zander, senior research fellow at the University of Southern Queensland, said.
Fabian Zander is using wind tunnels to study the “separation of objects in hypersonic flow”.(Supplied: University of Southern Queensland)
“I’d like to hope that there’s not too many more [incidents] like the SpaceX one… but we need a better understanding of the demise and the dispersion of things that re-enter the atmosphere.”
He said while most controlled re-entries aim for the “space graveyard” in the South Pacific, some non-functional satellites could come down anywhere.
“Even the impact of the sun shining onto the object can change the force and the trajectory of it,” he explained.
“The Earth’s atmosphere expands and retracts slightly depending on the weather.
“When something’s orbiting the upper reaches of the atmosphere the effect is marginally different depending on the particular atmospheric conditions, and that can’t be predicted with any certainty at this stage.”
But he said there was no need to worry about getting hit by “zombie” satellites when you stepped outside.
“There’s only ever been one person that’s been hit by space junk,” he said.
“A lady named Lottie Williams in the USA got hit by a piece on her shoulder, and it didn’t hurt her at all.”
Mark Rigby says the chance of finding space debris is “pretty small.”(Supplied: Mark Rigby)
Space junk hunting we will go?
Mr Rigby said the recent findings might inspire people to go hunting for debris, but the chances of finding something were “pretty small”.
“Even if you use satellite imagery to find those Skylab pieces that came down in 1979, that are no doubt still out there, you’re trying to find things that might be a meter across — or even smaller — in a vast country.
Farmers Mick Miners and Jock Wallace, along with ANU astrophysicist Brad Tucker, visit a site in NSW where two pieces of space junk were found.(ABC South East NSW: Adriane Reardon)
“So, I’d say good luck to you.”
I have also cautioned on the possible hazards.
“There may be space junk that’s come down that still has some toxic material. With these things, it’s quite often best to contact authorities if you found something you think is space junk.
“Get it checked out first before you go handling it.”
And if you find something, don’t get too attached to it.
“It still belongs to the originating country,” Mr Rigby said.
The Pumas had the running of the first half and led 19-10 at the break, courtesy of some poor discipline from the visitors, who conceded nine penalties in the opening 40 minutes.
But the Wallabies rallied, and scored three tries in the second half to surge home. Leading by 27-26 in the 70th minute, the Wallabies boldly went to the corner again and Folau Fainga’a did what he does so often in Canberra and pounced over. A try to Len Ikitau after the siren sealed the victory.
Cooper appeared to tear a calf muscle in the 47th minute, when pushing off to try and launch an attack. It seems likely he will be sidelined for a good portion of The Rugby Championship, if not all of it.
Fraser McReight, stepping in for Hooper, did his captain and the jersey proud with a busy performance that included a try.
Argentina led 19-10 after a first half often punctuated by the shrill whistle of the referee.
The Wallabies’ tendency against England last month to make life tough for themselves in their own half continued right from the start, when two errors gave the ball to the Pumas in the 22 in the opening minute.
They escaped that time but Pablo Matera didn’t take much longer to open the scoring, when he took a nice inside ball from about 10 meters out and beat the cover defense of Allan Ala’alatoa to score first points in the fifth minute.
The Wallabies responded with a penalty to Cooper from the kick-off, via some strong defence, but they gave the three points back straight away by infringing from the restart.
Australia were unable to mount any serious pressure because they kept turning over the ball, and with Adamson cracking down on offsides, the Wallabies were pinged again for another three points in the 15th minute.
The Pumas led 13-3 but they got back into the game with a bold decision to turn down easy points in the 16th minute. A lineout maul came to nothing but Cooper did enough on the next phase to draw in two defenders and give Jordan Petaia an angled run to the line for a try.
But the penalties kept coming, Argentina kicker Emiliano Boffelli banging over another in the 20th minute.
Cooper on attack for Australia.Credit:Getty
Cooper had the chance to put on a second try soon after when he made a clean break upfield but he failed to pass to a flying Fraser McReight in support, who would have likely scored. Another chance went begging soon after when James Slipper couldn’t hold a Cooper offload near the line.
A rough penalty against Jed Holloway ended the half, and Boffelli kicked another goal to extend the lead.
Holloway went close to scoring after Tom Wright counter-attacked well, but he had no support in the cleanout and the ball was lost.
Cooper was searching for another try in Pumas territory in the 47th minute when he slipped on some wet grass as he pushed off, and he immediately hit the deck clutching his calf.
Players consoled him before he limped off, seemingly aware it was a serious tear.
The Wallabies’ moods turned quickly, though, when they used a lineout maul near the line to score a second try. McReight burst through the middle to finally jag his first Test five-pointer.
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The game and scoreline tightened up but the Pumas eased away again in the 55th minute when a sloppy kick chase allowed the hosts to fracture the chase line, and an 80-meter move ended with Juan Martin Gonzalez scoring a well-received try.
The game still had plenty of twists to come, though. The Wallabies again went into Pumas territory and used the rolling maul, and this time the referee pinged Argentina for illegally collapsing, and awarded a penalty try.
A long-range penalty from Reece Hodge finally took the Wallabies to the lead for the first time in the 64th minute.
Watch every match of The Rugby Championship on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. All matches streaming ad-free, live and on demand.
For Liz Carnuccio there is nothing quite like the sound of a plane flying directly overhead.
“You can really hear the roar of the engine and feel the wind hit your face, it’s pretty amazing,” she said.
She’s part of a plane-spotting group in Melbourne with hundreds of members.
These enthusiasts spend their free time traveling to viewing areas outside Melbourne Airport in Tullamarine, where planes fly right above, on their way to land or take-off.
“I am a fan of the whole thing,” Liz explained.
Liz Carnuccio says she enjoys every element of plane spotting.(ABC News: Billy Draper)
“Traveling to the airport, watching plans, tracking them… and imagining where people are going.”
She shares her aviation passion with her cousin Kieren Andrews.
“It’s something that my parents used to do when they were younger and then took us out as kids as well,” he said.
At the viewing area, plane spotters track flights on apps on their phones. Members each have a favorite plane model to spot.
Kieren Andrews says his parents used to spot plans.(ABC News: Billy Draper)
“At the moment the 737 is pretty good,” Kieren said, although he does miss the 747s.
Fellow plane spotter Linda Ramage has loved planes since she was a small girl but said she didn’t always get a positive response when telling people about her passion.
“They look at me weirdly,” she laughed.
“But to me it is no different to anyone liking cars, trucks, trains. We just love planes.”
Linda Ramage says some people are judgmental when she tells them about her passion for plans.(ABC News: Billy Draper)
There are two dedicated viewing areas outside of Melbourne Airport.
Plane spotters say they are so popular they have become a local tourist attraction in Melbourne’s north-west.
Here, children flock to the food trucks serving hot chips and ice cream, while couples rug up around steaming cups of coffee and look to the skies.
Plane spotters use phone apps to track flights.(ABC News: Billy Draper)
Linda said since lockdowns ended and flights returned, the viewing areas had become busier and busier.
“The more people that get involved with our hobby, our passion that is great,” she said.
“The more the merrier.”
Chris has seen nearly half a century of aviation
While train and bird spotting are more recognized pursuits, plans have always been Chris Daley’s love.
It has been nearly fifty years since he first started plane spotting.
He said when he first started, the jets “were a lot louder, a lot smaller, a lot smokier.”
Chris Daley hopes plane spotting will keep growing in popularity.(ABC News: Billy Draper)
Chris has watched nearly half a century of aviation history from right under flight paths.
He can’t even estimate how many photos he has taken of plans in that time.
“It would be impossible to count them, just in the last 10 years it would be multiple tens-of-thousands,” he said.
Like his fellow enthusiasts, he hopes his hobby continues to dream of popularity.
Lili Greer’s mum was abused by her bikie boyfriend for years before it’s believed he killed her and disposed of her body.
But exactly what happened to Tina Greer remains a mystery more than 10 years after she disappeared, with neither her body, nor evidence of her death, having ever been uncovered.
A coroner finally declared in May this year that the 32-year-old mother died at the hands of her now-deceased boyfriend, Les “Grumpy” Sharman, on or about January 18, 2012, somewhere in Clumber, Queensland.
Tina Greer and daughter Lili. Tina has not been seen since 2012. (Supplied)
Despite coroner Christine Roney acknowledging Greer was not adequately supported by authorities as a known domestic violence victim, she has refused her daughter’s request that an inquest be conducted into the suspected death.
The coroner has told Lili there would be no “public benefit” of an inquiry, ruling there is no evidence her mother’s death could have been prevented.
“I am always obliged to consider the public benefit of an inquest proceeding and I am unable to see one here based upon the current state of the evidence,” the coroner wrote to Lili.
“It can’t be concluded that if (Greer) had more support, she would have stopped seeing (Sharman).”
Lili Greer (pictured as a child with Tina) believes an inquest into her mother’s death is in the public interest. (Supplied)
Lili, 23, cannot understand – or accept – the coroner’s observation that, based on the current evidence, an inquest into her mother’s death is not in the public interest, or that the death could not have been prevented.
She believes there are multiple reasons her mother’s death is in the public interest, most notably that looking at ways her mother was failed by others could help prevent others dying.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to try to prevent domestic violence,” she said.
“There’s a lot of issues that could be brought to light with this case… there’s so many things that could change.
“We need an inquiry to help guide the police and other authorities on how they can prevent future deaths in similar circumstances.”
Lili says there are many questions that need to be answered about why her mother wasn’t given better help when many other people were aware she was being abused.
The coroner’s findings into Greer’s suspected death found “shortcomings … identified in the police response to reports of serious domestic violence by Mr Sharman against Tina”, as well as concerns she may not have been given information about domestic violence support services by police, or by the rehabilitation center she attended while being abused by Sharman.
Tina Greer was abused by her partner before her disappearance and suspected murder. (Queensland Police)
About 17 months before Greer is believed to have died, police had responded to a witness report that Sharman had tried to run her over with his ute, the coroner’s report noted.
Three months after that, police responded to a report Greer had been seen running down a road screaming and bleeding.
Her face was bruised and swollen.
She told police her injuries had happened she had an accident mowing the lawn, denying Sharman had assaulted her.
Sharman had also threatened to kill Greer if she tried to leave him, according to the report.
Tina and Lili Greer. (Queensland Police)
Lili said it should have come as no surprise that her mum denied her partner was behind the attacks.
“What woman or man is going to report their partner who’s standing right next to them when they’ve got to go back and live with them?”
Lili said that while she never saw Sharman hit her mother, she witnessed him dragging her and was privy to her mother’s various injuries, including black eyes.
“I saw him drag her down the hallway and I had to try to stop it,” she said.
In the letter the coroner sent to Lili denying her request for a coronial inquest, the coroner said “more support” would not necessarily have meant Greer would have stayed away from Sharman.
“While it might seem logical to have done so, matters of emotion and attachment are rarely rational,” the letter reads.
Lili claimed the attitude that her mother’s death could not have been better prevented was “so out of touch” in 2022, when the difficult and complex nature of domestic violence is becoming widely known.
‘If I don’t do this, it’s never going to happen’
Of course, Lili also wants an inquest to find her mother’s remains, and to find out more about what happened.
She further wants an inquest to examine how the police investigated her mother’s disappearance – and whether the processes were as best as they could have been.
Greer disappeared after she dropped 13-year-old Lili at her friend’s house, then went to see Sharman at Clumber on January 18, 2012.
She never returned to pick up her daughter, and it’s not known what happened to her.
Greer’s car was found three days after she vanished, abandoned at the end of a dirt track at Clumber near the Moogerah dam, containing all her usual belongings.
Tina Greer disappeared after dropping her daughter at a friend’s house and going to visit her then-partner. (Supplied)Tina Greer’s car was found in the days after she disappeared. (Queensland Police)
Sharman was a person of interest in the case, but the Finks bikie gang member – who was 26 years older than Greer – was never arrested over her disappearance.
It was later discovered that he had a friend dispose of a mattress and several other items days after Greer went missing.
Sharman, and any hope of him being convicted, died in a car crash in 2018.
His death left Lili fearing she could never find out what happened to her mum.
Lili’s hopes that she would get answers were raised in January 2020 when police announced a $250,000 reward for anyone who had information that could lead to a conviction of a person for her murder.
However, nothing came of the search.
Police searched for Tina Greer’s remains at a Gold Coast hinterland property in August 2020. (Nine)Lili Greer spoke to the media when police announced the $250,000 reward in 2020. (9News)Lili Greer feels she has no choice but to keep fighting for her mother. (Supplied)
Lili said each development and bit of hope was “retraumatizing”.
“It’s a horrible feeling,” she said.
But hope is what is driving Lili to continue to fight for answers for her mother, and to try to get changes to stop others suffering the same fate.
“It’s a dangerous emotion, but it’s also motivating,” she said.
Lili is driving an online petition to attempt to show the coroner’s court that there is public interest in an inquest into Greer’s disappearance.
The petition already has more than 12,700 signatures.
Lili said she feels she has no choice but to keep fighting for her mum, despite her grief.
“If I don’t do this, it’s never going to happen,” she said.
“So I need to do it. There’s no choice in the matter really.”
A spokesperson from the Coroners Court of Queensland told 9news.com.au the state coroner is considering an application to hold an inquest.
Queensland Police have confirmed Greer’s case remains an open investigation.
A police spokesperson has said an investigation into Greer’s disappearance began within 24 hours of the report being made, and that extensive investigations have been conducted in the years since.
“Over and covert investigations remained underway in 2018, prior to the death of a suspect,” the spokesperson said.
The police reward for information about Greer’s disappearance still stands, and has been widened to include any information which could assist in locating her remains or which leads to the conviction of a person or persons who acted as an accessory to her murder.
The glue that held graziers Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and sons Graham and Ross Tighe together, also pulled in all those who knew them.
This magnetic orbit has been repeatedly described by shell-shocked friends and associates after the execution-style killing of three members of the family on their cattle property at Bogie, west of Bowen, this week.
“You won’t find many families as tied together and that work as hard as they did,” Queensland grazier Warren Drynan said.
Graham Tighe died after a shooting incident at a Bogie property.(Facebook)
Mr Schwarz, 71, Mrs Schwarz, 59, and son Graham John Tighe, 35, were shot dead with a rifle, allegedly by their neighbor Darryl Young, 59, at the gate of their property at Shannonvale Rd on Thursday morning.
Police allege they had met to discuss a property dispute.
Sole survivor Ross Tighe, 30, remains in hospital and is recovering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Incredibly, I have managed to escape, getting into a nearby car and driving 40 kilometers to raise the alarm.
Mr Young, a long-term resident, has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Darryl Young (right) has been charged with murder.(Supplied)
He remains in custody awaiting his first appearance before a magistrate on Monday.
The family had been at the property to muster cattle on the day of the fatal shootings.
The expansive Bogie farm where the tragic shooting happened was only purchased last year for $10 million, according to property records.
A floral tribute was left at the intersection of Normanby and Peter Delemothe roads.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
It’s located just west of Bowen, halfway to the mining town of Collinsville.
The property, known as Shannonvale Station, was owned by the same family from the 1930s to the early 2000s and then had five previous owners before the Schwarz family came to town just months ago.
The 29,856-hectare Shannonvale Rd cattle property was purchased in equal shares by Mr and Mrs Schwarz and Graham Tighe.
Graham is a father of two young children, one only a few weeks old.
The ABC has been told Graham lived at the Bogie property, while Mr and Mrs Schwarz lived at another large farm at The Gums, closer to the town of Tara.
Ross Tighe is recovering in hospital.(Facebook)
That address, known as Doonkoona, comprises 1,961 hectares of grazing land on Humbug Rd, which they bought in 2016 for $2.6 million.
Ross Tighe has been living not far from Rome.
It’s understood many family members are now traveling to be with Ross as he recovers.
But with large extended families from previous marriages, Merv and Maree’s children have been left to put together the pieces, with separate family groups joining to support each other.
The family declined to speak to the ABC.
Chilling deaths against gold rush backdrop
Bogie is harsh cattle country.
Many came to the area during the gold rush in the 1800s and some residents still believe their properties could have a jackpot of gold beneath the earth.
Bogie is described as harsh cattle country.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Dirt roads and cattle grids connect properties dozens of kilometers apart.
Many boundaries are “give and take” perimeters, locals told the ABC.
Only 37 families call the 3,858 square kilometer locality — the size of Singapore, Samoa and the Maldives combined — home.
It was at the front gate of Shannonvale Station, in dense scrubby bushland an hour-and-a-half down a dirt track off the main road to Collinsville, where tragedy struck on Thursday morning.
Police cordoned off Normanby Road while investigating the shooting.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Police say it was a request to meet that drew the family to the front gate along with their neighbor Mr Young.
“We understand there was a conversation that occurred the night before, which was the reason why the parties had met at the gate on the property in the morning,” Acting Superintendent Tom Armitt said.
“There was an invitation [from the alleged gunman] for them to go there.”
One local said disputes over boundaries and cattle had been going on in Bogie for “years and years and years”.
“It’s just rotten around there,” he said.
A family unit like no other
Warren Drynan bought his property at Jackson North, east of Roma, from the Schwarz family in 2014.
He said Ross and Graham had helped build some fences on the farm known as Noonga shortly after the sale.
Mr Drynan never forgot Mr and Mrs Schwarz’s hospitality and the boys’ hardworking nature.
He said the tight-knit family had long-held large parcels of farming land throughout Queensland.
Graziers said the family developed properties many thought too difficult to improve before making a profit and moving onto the next project.
“They’d take on anything,” Mr Drynan said.
“Que [Mervyn] liked doing, was finding these rundown places, clearing them, improving pastures.
“He was just that person, Merv, and Maree and the two boys, they were a family unit who worked hard and long hours.”
Even years later, Mr Schwarz would always stop and have a chat if he saw Mr Drynan at cattle meets.
“We weren’t real social friends by any means, but he was just that person that once you knew him, you could always have a yarn,” Mr Drynan said.
Other people called Mr Schwarz a “scallywag”, saying he was a joker and one of his main gags was about his signature one finger and one toe attached to his right hand after a farming accident.
“He’d always make a joke about shaking your hand,” Mr Drynan said.
“Merv was really just so happy go lucky, the sort of bloke who wore his heart on his sleeve,” another grazier from Tara recalled.
Maree Schwarz has been remembered as a “lovely person”.(Facebook)
Mrs Schwarz is remembered by many as a “lovely person”.
On social media she cradles a new grandbaby with a beaming smile.
“She is beautiful,” she tells a friend in a comment.
While one of Graham’s close friends described the father-of-two as “a top bloke who was a little rough around the edges.”
“He was always up to no good, had some crazy idea and was just a bloody good horseman,” he said.
“I learned more from that family than I could even explain.”
Mr Drynan, like many graziers, was shaken by the killings.
He said the family were “not aggressive” people.
“I just I don’t know how the hell it could happen,” he said.
Mrs Schwarz’s brother-in-law, Greg Austen, said the family had previously lived at Kilcummin, near Clermont in central Queensland, and were much-loved and well-respected members of the community.
“They were terrific, down to earth typical country people,” he said.
“They were typical pumpkin scones and a few beers on a Friday people.”
Mr Austen, a councilor on the Isaac Regional Council, said his children, along with Graham and Ross, would regularly muster cattle together.
“They were very close to them,” he said.
“My family are pretty… in shock. We’ll band together and hold together.”
Sole survivor ‘up and talking’
Ross Tighe suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen.(Facebook)
Mr Austen said it was an “amazing feat of strength and courage” from Ross to flee the scene, which ultimately led to his survival.
“It was very strong of him to do that, to go that far and raise the alarm,” he said.
Ross was flown by helicopter to the Mackay Base Hospital in a serious, but stable condition.
“He’s OK,” Mr Austen said.
“He’s not out of hospital, but he’s out of surgery. He’s up and talking.
“But he’s got a lot of difficulties ahead of him I imagine.”
Angel Flight CEO Marjorie Pagani told ABC the service would assist family members of the shooting victims to return to Mackay, at the request of Bob Katter’s office.
Police were called to shoot at a property between Collinsville and Bowen.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
tragic story unravels
Whitsunday Regional Councilor Mike Brunker said the council would assist police in their investigation.
“I think as the story unravels, it’s going to be just a very sad, tragic story,” he said.
Burdekin MP Dale Last, whose electorate takes in Collinsville and Bogie, said nothing like this had happened in the community in recent memory.
“There are a lot of long-term residents and property owners in the area, and to think something like that could happen in their backyard, it just sent a shockwave through the entire area,” he said.
“But places like Collinsville are very resilient.”
Dale Last says the rural community is in shock.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
He said the community had been through a lot in recent years and they banded together when times were tough.
Mr Brunker said he instantly thought of the United States of America when he heard about the shooting, not his own region.
“The last thing you think of is the Bogie community, the remote properties,” he said.
Bogie grazier Bob Gaadie said the community might be spread out, but the incident hit everyone hard.
“It might be 50 to 60 kilometers away, but it’s still your doorstep,” he said.
Police blocked off Normanby Road while investigating the shooting.(ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
The police investigation into the deaths is ongoing and detectives are asking anyone who may have had interactions with the alleged gunman in the past two months to contact them.
Mr Young will appear in the Proserpine Magistrates Court on Monday.
