Advocates for reopening Duck Creek Road are devastated but determined not to give up after Council’s two most recent applications for funding were unsuccessful.
Residents behind the ongoing push were buoyed by the opportunity to provide letters of support to Council’s 2021 application to the Australian Government Black Summer Bushfires Recovery Program.
Council received 37 letters of support for that application for funding for the road’s design and reconstruction, however the application was unsuccessful.
An additional application by Council under the South East Queensland Community Stimulus Program in 2021 was also unsuccessful.
Duck Creek Road, which connects Beaudesert and O’Reilly’s via Kerry Road, is considered an essential route for local employment and safety, particularly during bushfire season.
It has been closed since 2017, when ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie caused severe damage through flooding and landslips.
In 2017, it did not qualify for Disaster Recovery funded reconstruction, and a well-supported application by Council for a grant under the South East Queensland Community Stimulus Program for its reconstruction was unsuccessful.
In response to an enquiry from the Beaudesert Bulletin about the most recent unsuccessful funding applications, the Beaudesert Bulletin received the following statement:
“Council will continue to seek opportunities for external funding for this project as it is an important series of works to be able to provide an alternative route from Duck Creek Road in case of future bushfire and wet weather events, which will have positive flow-on economic benefits,” the statement said.
Long-time advocates and Kerry residents Sally Undery and Jodie O’Reilly were disappointed but focused on finding a solution when they spoke with the Bulletin.
“To get 37 letters of support was an amazing response and thank you to Council for actually asking what the community thought, and I believe those letters of support came from a really diverse range of people and it shows the need to get to road reopened,” Sally said.
“It’s pretty devastating that it wasn’t successful – it’s hard to know where to go to from now, and we’re questioning how we now plan for the next stage of getting this road reopened.
“We don’t believe we can wait around for the next grant to be rejected. We haven’t given up.”
