High and dry at the showgrounds after Wilks Park went under

Jason Bonwick and his partner Georgia are camped with a mate at the Wagga Showgrounds.

They managed to clear a good amount of their gear from Wilks Park before the water broke through.

“We got all the main stuff we needed but there’s still three tents full of stuff down there in the water,” Jason says.

The couple had been living among the small community of rough sleepers at the Wilks Park primitive camping ground for the past few months.

The site became waterlogged on Sunday and by Monday was under more than a metre of water.

Abandoned tents, tarps, firepits, trolleys, clothes and personal items now litter the flooded campsite where just a small handful lingered to wait out the flood.

This scenario was one of the concerns behind the move on notices issued by Wagga City Council in July to campers in the flood-prone campsite .

The response at the time from those in the tents – ‘move to where?’.

Jason says that when the river began to rise, he and others began packing but only had a limited number of vehicles.

“The SES was coming down the day prior and letting us know that the water might come up that night and that they’d come back with a Unimog [offroad vehicle] to help everyone pack up,” he says.

“They did help the people that were down in the back or with the buses that they could tow, but once they moved out some of the caravans they were nowhere to be seen for us.”

With the help of a fellow camper and his busted ute, they did several runs back and forth to the showground where the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) had established an evacuation centre.

“I lost a shitload of clothes and I had a bike down there and a mattress,” says Jason with a shrug.

There have been reports of looting among some of the abandoned tents.

While Jason, Georgia and their mate have chosen to stay in the public camping ground rather than the centre, many of the Wilks Park campers remain in tents and vehicles in the free site behind Kyeamba Hall.

Representatives from the DCJ confirmed that only 17 Wagga residents have needed to use the temporary shelter, with most staying with relatives or friends.

They also praised the support they had received from the showgrounds team and Kennards Hire, who arrived with industrial heaters to keep evacuees and volunteers warm.

Jason says he paid a visit to their sodden tents at Wilks Park on Tuesday morning and was grateful to have relocated when they did.

They remain high and dry at the showgrounds with a small generator for power and hot showers nearby.

“We’re doing all right, better than expected,” he says.

The couple is unlikely to return to the flood-prone campsite and are hoping that accommodation will become available.

“Housing come down and made me sign something almost a month ago, but that’s the last I heard of them,” says Jason.

“We’ll probably just stay here until a house comes across.”