Cattle farmer Trish Goodwin is trapped on her family property in central Queensland, forced to rely on a farm buggy for essential supplies after the only access road was rendered impassable by heavy rain.
A Road Washed Away, Leaving a Farmer in Limbo
Goodwin, 62, should be celebrating the nearly 200mm of "very good soaking rain" that fell on her parched land near Bluff last week. Instead, she is stranded in the tin and timber homestead where she was raised, carefully rationing her instant coffee and milk. Her predicament stems from an access road built by the now-mothballed Bluff coalmine, which has been washed away by ex-Tropical Cyclone Koji.
The new gravel road, constructed to compensate Goodwin after the original road was destroyed for the open-cut mine, is now unusable. Sections have been eroded, exposing rock and creating wet ditches that her 200 Series Landcruiser cannot cross. The only way she can leave is by using her UTV buggy to reach the Capricorn Highway, where friends meet her with supplies.
A Decade of Disruption from a Troubled Mine
Goodwin's isolation is the latest chapter in a saga of disruption spanning over a decade. The Bluff mine, which forced her to lease 590 hectares of her land, has a troubled history. Its first owner, Carabella, was liquidated, and the current owner, Bowen Coking Coal, went into receivership in July 2024. The mine itself has been in care and maintenance since late 2023.
The farmer says the six years since Carabella blasted open her land have been marked by uncertainty, bad faith negotiations, and broken promises. Her infrastructure was destroyed, her land degraded, and her health has suffered. She recounts previous medical emergencies where she was "carted off" by ambulance, including an anaphylactic shock, and now fears what would happen if she needed urgent help while cut off.
"If you go off that hard surface – that’s where you’ll stay," Goodwin says of the boggy terrain surrounding the damaged road. She estimates it will be "a good month" before machinery can access the site for repairs, and that's only if the rain stops immediately.
Calls for Action and Rehabilitation
Claire Gronow, central Queensland coordinator for the Lock the Gate alliance, argues the Bluff mine has little prospect of operating profitably. She is calling for the Queensland government to permanently close it and access the rehabilitation bond to start returning the land to grazing condition—a process not officially due for completion until 2060.
"I would love to see the state government permanently close this mine," Gronow said, "which would give landholders and the community the certainty they need." She emphasised that the state should demand the mine's owners and receivers fulfil their obligations, particularly regarding road access. "Trish has health problems and – even without that – she ought to be able to drive to Blackwater to get her groceries," Gronow stated.
Under Queensland’s Land Access Code, mining lease holders are required to keep access roads in good repair. A spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Mines confirmed it is "in regular contact with the administrators of the Bluff Mine." Neither Bowen Coking Coal nor the receivers, FTI Consulting, provided comment.
For Trish Goodwin, the immediate future involves more precarious buggy trips for supplies and the anxiety of being alone in a flood-damaged landscape, a situation she sums up with one word: "ridiculous."
