Operation McCleod

Over an eight-week period, DRA’s skilled volunteers worked alongside locals to provide hands-on help across a range of tasks. This included debris removal, rubbish removal, mould treatment, clearing key access points and general mud clean-up to affected communities. A mass call-out to the general public saw DRA’s highly trained veteran volunteers, lead a mud army of volunteers to support recovery activities.

DRA conducted the largest disaster response activity since the inception of the organisation in 2017. Skilled volunteers undertook challenging and dirty flood recovery work in both QLD and NSW. The veteran-led volunteers worked alongside locals from

On Thursday, 22 November 2018, a bushfire began in the locality of Deepwater Queensland, south of Gladstone. By Sunday 25 November, evacuation warnings were issued for residents in the Deepwater and Baffle Creek communities. The Queensland Government enacted a disaster declaration for the Gladstone area on Monday 26 November in response to warnings of the fire intensifying. Evacuation orders were extended to Oyster Creek and Rules Beach after hundreds of homes at Deepwater, Baffle Creek and Agnes Water were evacuated. As at Tuesday 27 November, 1,500 people were displaced and 600 homes were evacuated. During the following fortnight, more than a million hectares of fires were burnt across Queensland, with catastrophic consequences for communities, primary producers, agriculture and the environment. 

Disaster Relief Australia deployed volunteers to provide Bushfire Recovery support from 16 December 2018 – 11 January 2019