THE long battle for flood compensation is finally over for Goodna’s Frank Beaumont as his watched his home in Enid Street reduced to rubble last week.
For the past 12 years Frank has been the face of the flood victims’ campaign, appearing in numerous TV interviews and newspaper articles.
His battle started in 2011 when floodwaters completely inundated Enid Street submerging his modest timber home.
When a class action was filed his plight resonated with everyone who had been impacted in their life by a disaster.
In a bitter twist, although the class action was successful, his compensation resulted in a messily $797.67 plus payout, which in his words was hardly enough to buy a few week’s groceries.
In 2022 the floodwaters rose angrily again from the nearby creek and once again his home went under.
This time the government acted and through their flood buy-back scheme they bought his old home and moved him out once and for all.
As he watched machinery destroy his cottage he reminisced about the years he had spent there.
Four of his five children were born while he was living in Enid Street and he spoke about those good days and even the native wildlife that inhabited the area.
“I’ll miss her after 35 years, but I just couldn’t take another flood again,” he said with a tear in his eye.
I’ve now bought a motorhome, so my home will be wherever I won’t to go. At 81 years of age, I hopefully have only 30 years to go. I’ll try to get that many anyway, I am setting off on an adventure.
“I drove semis for more than 20 years and I saw a lot of Australia, but I really took in little.”
Frank said his family would miss the old house, but they were glad to see it go.
Cr Paul Tully who championed the flood class action praised Frank for his fighting spirit over more than a decade.
“Once all this area is cleared it will be turned into parkland and I will be pushing to have it named Frank Beaumont Park,” Cr Tully said.
There is no doubt few would oppose his suggestion.
