Brisbane City Council (BCC) estimates that there are 14.5 kilometres of fully lined concrete channels within its overall drainage network, including 1.6 kilometres within the Norman Creek catchment of central Brisbane. Heavy rains and flooding are regular events in this city, and managing life with and around them is a constant challenge, especially in areas like Norman Creek, which incorporates eight of its most urbanized inner suburbs. With climate change, and flood frequency and intensity increasing, the characteristics of each event vary, and are complicated by the specifics of local topography and waterway structure, tortuous drainage paths and the uneven distribution of urbanization.
Australia’s largest local government by area and budget, BCC is largely responsible for the planning, administration and management of the city’s infrastructure. After a century of flood management that concentrated on clearing vegetation and lining channels to maximize the rate of water movement through the system to the Brisbane River, it has inherited a network often unsuited to the needs and expectations of the contemporary city.
In areas where growthand floodways have nevertheless become the focus for open space, especially in the inner suburbs. As networks, they not only accommodate drainage infrastructure such as pipes, pits and pollutant traps, but they are distributor easements for other services. Water quality has declined, as has the quantum of endemic vegetation – especially in places like Norman Creek, once considered a hotspot for biodiversity where saltwater and freshwater meet. The photos in this review showing the site before commencement of the Hanlon Park/Bur’uda Waterway Rejuvenation illustrate typical conditions along Norman Creek.
