This week, guest presenter Kristy O’Brien heads to the outback town of Charleville in south-west Queensland, where she discovers a place that offers second chances and a community that always finds the silver linings.
Charleville is the birthplace of the ‘Save the Bilby Fund’ and our much-loved ‘Easter Bilby’. The founders of the program, the late Peter McCrae and Frank Manthey, are fondly known as the Bilby Brothers. They set up one of the largest bilby breeding programs in the country right here in Charleville and Kristy meets the program’s newest babies including one still in mum’s pouch!
Everyone pitches in to help in Charleville, including people from some unexpected quarters. Prisoners help care for the bilbies as part of a state program where low-risk inmates can apply to join a work camp in a country town before they leave jail. It’s a two-way street, where the prisoners get help to find their feet again and remote and rural places get much-needed help too. Kristy meets three prisoners who have learned more than they thought they’d ever know about bilbies!
Kristy discovers the highly successful program began in Charleville after the town was ravaged by floods in 2019. As the waters rose, people scrambled for their lives, climbing into ceilings and kicking out tin roofs to get to safety. Locals got in their boats and helicopters and lifted people to safety. Hundreds were airlifted and thousands were evacuated.
In Brisbane, one prisoner asked if the inmates could help clean up the devastated town and the Department of Corrections agreed. The state’s first work camp was launched when 40 prisoners arrived to lend a hand and one of them stayed. When Peter McDonald finished his sentence, a local businesswoman offered him the chance of a fresh start with help to find a job and a place to stay. Peter says that small gesture changed his life. 30 years later he says he’s a local… almost!
In Charleville, Kristy finds a town with a big heart and an even bigger sense of humour. Local legend Judey Aiken takes Kristy on an hilarious tour of her fishing tackle shop and Kristy learns why she’s also known as Rude Jude. 91-year-old Bob Brown leads Kristy through the town’s once secret military base… and the local fishing club shows her how they do a camp oven, Charleville-style!
Story Producer: Kathy McLeish
