Skip to main content

Loading...

A grainy black and white image of distant small buildings across a bend in a river.
Paradise settlement in 1897.(Supplied: State Library of Queensland)
black and white image of two wooden buildings, with a man standing in a suit in the foreground
Paradise Methodist Church and Home Missionary's Quarters in 1892.(Supplied: State Library of Queensland)
black and white image of four children in fancy dress, all look sad. three are standing and one sits in the middle.
Children of Paradise wearing fancy dress in 1891.(Supplied: State Library of Queensland)

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie leans over a railing at Paradise Dam.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie inspects Paradise Dam outside Bundaberg, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006, on day 3 of the State Election campaign.(AAP: Lyndon Mechielsen)

A golden sunlit storm cloud looms in the distance behind an urban street.
A damaging storm brews over central Queensland heralding flooding rains in January 2013.   (Supplied: Rod Savidge/Flickr)

Flood Spill 2013
The dam overflows after the January 2013 deluge. (Supplied: Flickr/Rod Savidge)
A nearly submerged farmhouse and buildings surrounded by brown water.
Many farms were isolated for days.(Supplied: Flickr/Rod Savidge)
A citrus crop goes under.(Supplied: Flickr/Rod Savidge)
Swamped Bundaberg streets and shops.(Supplied: Flickr/Rod Savidge)
As the rain cleared residents faced heartbreaking scenes.   (Supplied: Flickr/Rod Savidge)

Close up shot of a large cavity beneath a concrete dam wall.
The damage left by the overspill at Paradise Dam.(Supplied: Sunwater)
A worker and truck are dwarfed by an enormous hole under a large concrete wall.
Workers face a daunting task to repair the dam.(Supplied: GHD)

A bespectacled middle-aged man faces the camera.
Jon Williams has worked on dam builds and upgrades around the world.(Supplied: YouTube/GHD)

A lightning bolt over a cosntruction site in bushland.
Stormy early days in 2004.  
A gate with a "Danger" sign barring access to unauthorised personnel.
Worksite access in 2004.
A 4WD and canvas shelter on the far side of a river.
Workers on the river banks in 2003.
A shot through trees of heavy machinery, a large concrete channel, bare earth and massive piles of gravel.
The bush gives way to concrete, bare earth and heavy machinery. 
A aerial shot a dam under construction, access roads leading to a wall over a river bed.
Paradise Dam's progress from the air.
An aerial shot of a dam wall across a brown and low-flowing river.
The primary headwall in place across the Burnett River in late 2004.
A photo looking across the top of a large dam wall under constriction.
The headwall nears completion.
An high-level aerial shot of a dam under construction and the river upstream.
Paradise Dam construction.
A shot from the side a concrete dam spillway with a lake filling behind it, the water several metres from the top
The river rises behind the new spillway. 

Reservoir water level with the top of a dam wall.
The dam wall after it was lowered.  (ABC Wide Bay: Johanna Marie )

Black Ash
A canefield burns near Bundaberg.(Supplied: Denise Cauchi)
A man and a woman walk crouch on grass with a little dog, large crops growing behind them
Sugarcane farmers Judy and Jeffrey Plath were among farmers questioning remediation works.(ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
A man, wearing an orange high-viz shirt, a cap, and sunnies stands in a sweet potato patch
A worker on a Bundaberg sweet potato farm.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
A smiling man stands in a field of brightly coloured flowers.
Flowers are another important crop for local workers.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
Lychee tress from Craig Van Rooyen’s farm.
Lychees are one of the area's mosts productive crops.(ABC News: Jonathan Hair)

  • The RCC layers lacked sufficient "shear strength" and were at risk of sliding along their joints.
  • The apron, or flat bed of concrete at the foot of the dam, was not wide enough "to resist the erosive force of water overtopping the main spillway".

Aerial shot of construction work on a dam wall, looking across the spillway and upstream.
Work to lower the spillway.(Supplied: Sunwater)

A close-up of gloved hands handling wet concrete cylinders in a large plastic tub.
Soaking test samples. (Supplied: GHD)
Two machines hold three cylinders of concrete each.
The core samples go into the drier. (Supplied: GHD)
A high-viz clad worker reaches into a machine holding cracked and crumbling concrete.
The samples are compressed to test their strength.  (Supplied GHD)
A bespectacled man sits at a computer monitor showing phots of concrete cylinders.
Jon Williams checks test results logged online.  (Supplied: GHD)

Loading...

Loading...

Sunlit grassy shores of a lake with a dam wall to the right of the frame.
The shores of Paradise Dam in 2024. (ABC Wide Bay: Kallee Buchanan)

A graphic showing the levels of risk of the first, current and planned dam.
The dam remains well above an acceptable level of risk.(Supplied: Sunwater)

A graphic showing a close-up of Peter Beattie and text superimposed on the image.
How ABC Wide Bay reported Mr Beattie's apology on its Facebook page. 

A large sign near the water's edge with a map of Paradise Dam reservoir and the text 'no boating area'.
Paradise Dam in winter 2024 with its reduced water capacity. (ABC Wide Bay: Kallee Buchanan)

A smiling man in an orange high-vis shirt stands on a dam spillway.

Posted 
Share