Building the Eli Creek Boardwalk K’gari 1981

The story of the construction of the first Eli Creek boardwalk emerges as an instructive one to understand the relationship between K’gari, John Sinclair and the broader community during the 1980s. It was not long after the return of John and his young family to Maryborough in 1965 that Charlie and Beryl Sinclair retired from the service station and decided to return to live on the island where their marriage had begun thirty years before. They were soon recruited by Sir Reginald Barnewall to work on his Orchid Beach resort, some hours travel north along the beach from their house at Eurong. John was only too happy to spend more time on the island, caring for his parents’ house and driving the long stretch of K’gari between Eurong and Orchid Beach. He had to manage the tides carefully as all drivers on carried Ocean Beach must do. This often meant a stop for a break where the fast-flowing waters of Eli Creek gushed out to sea. The water was clear, though deep, and in its crystal depths one could see many of the crabs (eli) for which the creek was named scuttling along. Catfish had holes in the steep backs along with many other small creatures.  

As the years went by, John observed impacts on this cherished place. Some of this may be laid at his door indirectly because his campaigns for K’gari had made her very famous and attracted many visitors, many of whom visited Eli Creek on the ocean beach to the North of the shipwreck of the Maheno. It is understandable why Eli Creek became so popular. It’s possible to jump into its fast flowing water upstream several 100 metres and take a wild ride along in the current supported by the crystal-clear water until you emerge onto the sandy beach. Holiday makers with inflatable flamingos tied to their roof racks still do it to the present day.

This is still possible is largely the result of what John initiated in 1981. By that time, serious environmental degradation was obvious at the creek mouth. Visitors loved to walk up the Creek bed and climb the banks. In those days when activity was very unregulated, it was common to see four-wheel drive vehicles in the actual creek bed, often playing loud music. The creek bed had grown wider and shallower. The northern bank was seriously eroded by the number of people walking upstream and climbing the banks, destroying the riparian vegetation. Campers were allowed to camp anywhere and open fires still permitted. Trees and branches were broken off for firewood and patches of burnt undergrowth dotted the area. There were no toilets on the island anywhere north of Happy Valley and toilet paper littered the ground, along with human excrement leaking e coli into the water. .

After a visit to the site at Easter 1981, the impact of people was so clearly evident that John determined that something had to be done. He determined to remedy the situation despite the government negligence and the fact that it was on a mining lease. FIDO had no legal authority but John called together some trusted FIDO compatriots to make a plan. Life member of FIDO, JD, remembers its inception:

“I had been working away from Maryborough in Roma for five years and soon after my return John contacted me to discuss something he had in mind. He also involved Rex Bain, whom I already slightly knew, in this discussion. His plan was to take action to protect Eli Creek.”

Among the interviewees who had worked on the project, none recalled it more vividly than JD. When I arrived at his home to record an interview, he had photos ready, many of which showed the action FIDO took. He looked back on this as one of the memorable events in his long association with John and FIDO.

“Building this boardwalk was all John’s idea. He had this great vision and we got talked into it. It’s the sort of thing I’d be very scared of doing today for professional liability reasons. Apparently he had no permissions or anything at all. But there was popular support. I think he got Warren Hyne to donate the timber and he got other people to contribute things. And we had numerous working bees. The first two working bees were on consecutive weekends where we drove up on the Friday night, camped at Talinga and then drove up the beach the next day.

But after the first ones which were two consecutive weekends, we realised that was too tough to be going up there for a full weekend twice consecutively. So after that they tended to be spaced out a bit. Building the boardwalk was a big job but it gave us a lot of satisfaction. After we built the toilets we were able to camp there. We built the other things and that improved the amenity of the area quite considerably. And from memory I think we got praise from some of the tour operators who appreciated that something was being done for the area.”

Word about the project spread and more volunteers came forward to help. In total, the project was completed over 18 weekend working bees. The initial group of FIDO members was joined by other supporters. Some important material support came from an unexpected quarter. In public meetings in Maryborough, John had been publicly challenged by Lambert Hyne, the head of the timber firm, Hyne and Sons which had milled a vast quantity of logs from “Fraser Island”. At the time of writing, many older homes which come on the market in the Maryborough region are advertised by real estate agents as being constructed from “Fraser Island Satinay”, (Syncarpia hillii) a timber resistant to borers and termites.

Despite their dispute with FIDO over the island’s forest supplies, Lambert’s son Warren Hyne contributed the timber at half price. Teacher and historian Elaine Brown took part in the project with her husband Geoff. In Elaine’s photos of the official opening, Warren Hyne stands proudly with John Sinclair at the head of the boardwalk.

After the construction was done by willing volunteers, the boardwalk enabled the creekside vegetation to reestablish and the creek soon deepened. FIDO planted native trees to help the healing and stabilise the banks. John recalls that the scarring quickly overgrew. The project had two ancillary constructions in addition to the boardwalk a shelter shed with picnic tables and two low maintenance long drop toilets.

The team was a diverse one. Once work was underway, JD could not recall any hostility or resistance over the months of its construction. Recollections of participants reveal a diverse range of people including teachers from Gympie, a surgeon from Brisbane, an electrician for Cooinda, fishers and campers from all over the country. Keith Sinclair who was just a child at the time, remembers Rollo Petrie who took part in the building of the boardwalk on some of the 18 weekends: “He walked with a limp but he was very strong in the upper body and arms.” These are a few of the many who were willing to give their time and labour to achieve a plan initiated by a man they trusted and perceived to be acting faithfully the service of K’gari.

In Backgrounder #66 of February 2014, a supplement to FIDO’s regular Moonbi Newsletter, John retold the story with photos of work in progress. He notes that FIDO’s direct action “shamed the recalcitrant government into doing more to protect this amazing natural asset”. In fact by the time the original boardwalk had been weathered five years later in 1086, QPWS reconstructed it and built enclosed toilet facilities.

A Butchulla participant in their research shared a much more recent anecdote about the wildlife of Eli Creek. As one of the Indigenous rangers on K’gari, she had observed a catfish in the creek with a strange body shape. On closer examination she saw that a plastic ring from the top of a beer six-pack was tightly wedged around its body. She gave the fish the code name “Percy” and determined that on a quiet day she would catch him and remove the plastic circle. When the day came, she was ready with her scoop net but unfortunately a shrieking visitor came tumbling down the Creek at exactly the wrong moment and Percy disappeared into his burrow. My ranger friend still hopes to catch him before he becomes so large at the constricting band proves fatal.

The construction of this major project over 18 weekend working bees clearly demonstrates John’s ability to organise large groups of people, to motivate people into taking actions with some associated risks, and to draw tother diverse stakeholders to accomplish major projects. It also shows his ability to assess the consensus of opinion among those who had a genuine interest in caring for K’gari and his willingness to defy restrictive rules and regulations in the service of what he perceived as K’gari’s welfare.