In May my mum, little sister and I went to Lockyer Valley, this was upon the recommendation of Paul Maxwell from Healthy Land and Water who had told me that this is was a good spot to grasp the extremity of farm land erosion.
Lockyer Valley is known as one of the country’s largest food bowls; temperature and moisture wise it is the perfect place to grow produce.
Prior to coming to Lockyer, I didn’t know too much information about the region other than that it had experienced a lot of flooding and that it was located near the Wivenhoe dam.
Based on my trip I now know that the area is a very flat, vast expanse, riddled with little creeks and rivers. As such I can see how it would be quite vulnerable to flooding. A plane, removed of its natural vegetation and with its rivers and creeks shaped to take up the smallest possible area, its understandable that with no obstacles the water would have little trouble ripping through the land.
However, post visit I am still confused about the level of erosion, farms are private property and so naturally I didn’t visit them. We did cross a road bridge and I got an idea about how steep the river banks could be but its hard to say how common this is or if this is what it looks like for everyone.
Stone’s Corner was another recommendation from Paul Maxwell. A somewhat walkable distance from my house, Stones Corner is essentially a large drain where swamp land has been cut off to stop water from entering the area. This spot was suggested to show the extent of human manipulation where native bush has literally been cropped to suit the surrounding infrastructure. Still not 100% sure how visiting the place is going to help with my film though.