Newspaper article – Townsville Bulletin (date 1990?)
(Note – this is not a good scan of the newspaper article – anyone having the original – could you please scan a very high resolution version and email to me so I can update this – thx). Also – the details of the Townsville Daily Bulletin article (date, page), so that I can reference this.
The article stated:
Ed recalls 2m of raging water
Saturday’s flooding reminded Railway Estate pensioner Mr Ed Wilson of the 1946 flood when he had to swim up Doorey St against a strong current.
Mr Wilson, 78, said last weekend’s flood was minor compared to the 1946 downpour, when he braved 2m of raging water.
“I lived where the Stephensen family’s house is across the road now and had to swim to my parents’ property on the corner of Doorey St and Ninth Ave to get a primus stove,” Mr Wilson said.
“I got the primus all right but the kerosene fuel container floated away.
“On Saturday there was a lot of stormwater but in 1946 the river broke its banks.”
In 1917 Mr Wilson helped his father Abraham build a humpy on the site of his present home.
Old-timers from Railway Estate still remember the humpy, and Mr Wilson has a painting of it.
“The painting was done by the late Mr Jack O’Brien who wrote a history of it on the back, he said.
Mudpicker Family 
Thanks for sharing this article. You brought back memories growing up in Railway Estate and the many chats with Ed Wilson when I was a child and then a teenager. Also, it is wonderful to read a local testimony of the 1946 flood to match the numerous photos in archives. I wonder if the article might be more accurately dated by looking at state or elections in 1990. I recall a flood around 1990 and I’ll never forget the surreal feeling of wading through water up to my hip, with mum, dad and my sister from Tenth Avenue, past Mr Wilson’s place to school in order for them to vote.
Ed Wilson is my father’s Uncle. Not sure you remember his EH Holden – his pride and joy. Hopefully survived the 1990 flood. Most of my information comes from digitised newspapers held on NLA Trove. Eddie’s article was cut out and kept by family, otherwise we wouldn’t have seen it. JCU apparently have newspapers that haven’t yet been digitised, so I made a note to look them up and hopefully see the reporting for the 1990 flood.