Outback town abandoned after council 'drops the ball'

Sharing a house with her adult children, 57-year-old Waluwarra woman Michele Belia just wants to go home.

"I'm living in town here in Mount Isa, but I want to go back," she said.

Ms Belia's home in Urandangi, about two hours' drive south-west of Mount Isa, was one of about 15 homes destroyed in March 2023 when more than 7 metres of floodwaters inundated the town.

A lack of suitable housing and drinking water is stopping her and the other residents from returning.

For Ms Belia, there was the added pain of being away from where her family was buried and where she built her life.

"My brother's there, my mum, and all my cousins, my auntie and my uncle are there [buried]," she said.

"[In 2003], I bought a block [at Urandangi] … I said to my mum, 'I'm going back home,' and Mum said, 'I'm coming too, I'm following you'.

"I thought she was joking, but she chucked all her gear in the car, and she came with me. She was so happy to be home."

A forgotten town

Sitting on the banks of the Georgina River, near the Queensland–Northern Territory border, Urandangi was established in 1885 as an outpost for cattle drovers.

At its peak in the 1930s and 40s, the town was home to as many as 400 people, but the rise of cars and the decline of large-scale droving saw its population dwindle.

By 2023, about 20 permanent residents remained, with the outpost regularly accommodating up to 50 people who travelled between Urandangi and Alpurrurulam in the Northern Territory.

The Urandangi Hotel glued the town together, serving as the grocery store, post office and only pub for more than 300 kilometres.

But in March that year, torrential rain across the catchment saw the Georgina River rise to more than 7 metres, forcing the evacuation of the entire community.

The devastating event, which authorities said was on par with the 1974 record flood, was three months after another major peak.

Today, little remains of the historic town.

The severe water damage destroyed about half of the town's 40-odd homes and buildings.

None are habitable.

No residents are currently living in the outback town; its displaced people are dotted across Brisbane, Boulia and Mount Isa.

The local state school was one of the few buildings to survive.

In a statement, the Department of Education said Urandangi State School, which had eight students enrolled in 2023, was in working condition and could be reopened if needed.

'We dropped the ball'

Disconnected from the grid and two hours' drive from the nearest health clinic, Urandangi's isolation makes delivering essential services an expensive exercise.

Before the floods, Boulia Shire Council provided regular rubbish collection, treated bore water and sewerage services to the remote community.

But from December 2024, the council stopped supplying drinking water and most other services to the deserted township.

Mayor Rick Britton said bacterial testing required to maintain a safe drinking water supply was too difficult for the resource-strapped council.

He estimated restoring services would cost about $500,000 a year.

"We've dropped the ball on the traditional owners … but our capacity to keep that township and deliver those services is very limited," he said.

With 500 ratepayers across the shire's 61,000 square kilometres, Cr Britton said tough decisions had to be made.

"Even trying to get a permanent employee to live there [is impossible] … the lack of water, lack of electricity, lack of normal liveability," he said.

"We're willing to sit at the table, but it's got to be funded by either the state or federal government to the cent."

A federal government spokesperson said state and local authorities were responsible for coordinating water infrastructure.

"State and territory governments are primarily responsible for managing water within their jurisdictions and for bringing forward water infrastructure proposals to the federal government for funding consideration through the National Water Grid Fund," they said.

A spokesperson for Queensland's Minister for Local Government, Ann Leahy, said nearly $9 million was given to the Boulia Shire after the 2023 flooding from disaster recovery arrangements, including $35,000 to drill a new bore in Urandangi.

'Shouldn't be fighting for water'

Regardless of the new bore, Cr Britton said the costs lay with the treatment regime the council needed to follow to make water potable.

For Ms Belia and the other 18 residents wanting to go home, access to water remained the biggest barrier.

"I'm not going back until they put the water back on," she said.

Frustrated at the lack of progress, they turned to Mount Isa-based Indigenous advocacy group Camp Fire Healing for help.

Director Markeesh De Busch accused all levels of government of abandoning the community.

She said the upheaval, more than three years later, was "causing so much bloody grief".

"Boulia Shire Council needs to take responsibility and allow these people, Waluwarra people, the dignity and respect to go home," Ms De Busch said.

"We as Aboriginal people are the owners of this land, but yet we can't even get water."

With no funding agreement or timeline for restoring services, Ms De Busch said the township was being erased.

"We shouldn't be fighting for water, for our people. That's not fair; it's 2026."