East coast lows

The Winter storms of June 1967

“Synoptic chart for the storms of late June 1967. The tight gradient indicates very strong winds; the long “fetch” of these strong winds across the oceans off eastern Australia resulted in huge swells that greatly damaged Gold Coast beaches.”

The first system developed early in the second week of June, bringing high winds and seas, and torrential rain. On the 11th, a small low pressure centre developed off the Queensland coast, triggering exceptionally heavy rain over Brisbane and surrounds. In 13 hours some 260mm of rain fell, and the 24 hour total of 282mm to 9am on the 12th was Brisbane’s heaviest June rainfall ever. Resultant flooding was said to be the worst since 1931. The heavy rains extended several hundred kilometres north and south of Brisbane, with vast areas under water, although flooding extended inland only as far as the fringe of the Darling Downs. The mountainous hinterland of the Gold Coast and northern NSW received exceptional falls, up to 600mm within 24 hours.

There was to be no respite. The next depression developed off southern Queensland on 21 June, bringing a renewal of strong to gale force southeasterly winds and heavy rain over largely the same areas as before. Rainfall was not so heavy, but falling as it did on saturated soil, it was enough to cause further flooding. Gales and heavy seas lashed the coast between southern Queensland and central NSW. The Gold Coast beachfront, which had been pounded relentlessly through June on top of a summer cyclone season that had extended into April, was by now suffering serious erosion. A third east coast low developed on 26 June, and became notorious for the huge seas it produced. Gale force winds and huge southeasterly swells, generated by an unusually long fetch across the southern Coral Sea, sent mountainous waves crashing onto the crumbling Gold Coast. Houses, buildings, and large sections of roads, undermined by the waves, toppled into the sea. Damage would have been far worse but for the efforts of hundreds of troops and thousands of volunteers who spent days filling sandbags as a bulwark against the huge seas.

Apart from the serious erosion of Gold Coast beaches, June 1967 was noteworthy for the extraordinary rainfall the storms dumped over southeast Queensland and northeast NSW. More than 1,000mm fell over the mountainous hinterland, with 1,631mm at Springbrook. Brisbane’s total of 647mm exceeded all but the wettest months in the summer rainy season.

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