Red dirt street party marked one year flood anniversary on Saturday March 28

More than 500 fun loving revellers – which is ¾ of the local population – kicked up the dust for some bootscooting fun that marked the one-year anniversary of the floods that devasted Outback Queensland in 2025.

Quilpie’s main street was turned into a concert space – with renowned country music stalwart Lee Kernaghan headlining a line-up that also included Jarrod Wrigley (from Farmer Finds a Wife and recent Tamworth CMF Starmaker winner), Luke Geiger and Lee’s wife Robby X.

The free community concert saw Brolga Street in Quilpie transformed into a pedestrian thoroughfare for the event – with the main street closed to traffic and the stage for the concert set in the middle of the roadway out the front of the historic Brick Hotel.

“It was an awesome night. People travelled hundreds of kilometres to come together, mark the flood anniversary, and honour the strength and resilience of these local communities. It’s so important that we keep showing up for outback Queensland. The country is looking incredible, fuel supplies are good, and they’d love to welcome visitors to their beautiful part of the world,” said Lee Kernaghan.

Red earth from the surrounding landscape was spread underfoot on Brolga Street in front of the stage adding to the boot scooting country vibe under foot, while food vendors will line the street and comedy from Mandy Nolan accompanied the music of country music.

Local heroes who helped with rescues and clean-up were recognised on the night, with two breakout awards for exceptional service going to Senior Constable Chris Seng who put his life on the line using an old tinnie to ferry people in chest deep water to safety and then spent months being integral in the Adavale recovery.  Local Channel Country Helicopter operators Shane and Lauran Wendelborn were the second award recipients for their incredible work providing essential support and delivery of hay to livestock when properties and stock were isolated by floodwaters.

“As we marked twelve months since one of the most significant flood events our Shire has experienced in living memory, we were able to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of those in our community who stepped up during the challenging time and played a vital role in both the immediate response and the long term recovery of our communities at the Spirit of the Bush event. It was a night that was enjoyed by more than 80% of the community, who were able to come together in a very different way twelve months on from the floods kicking their heels up to a fantastic line up of music and comedy,” said Quilpie Shire Mayor Ben Hall.