Jun 14, 2026 – 12.00pmBundaberg’s town centre sits on a picturesque bend of the Burnett River, before it turns north and runs out to the Coral Sea. Six blocks in from the waterfront, a shopping area has been built on an old swamp along Saltwater Creek. This creates a perilous point of vulnerability when the area floods, as it did in March.Three months after the deluge, the Melbourne Hotel, a favourite watering hole for locals, remains closed. It was one of around 200 homes and businesses inundated with hip-deep, brown, muddy water, forcing residents to get around in runabouts.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? James EyersSenior ReporterJames Eyers writes on banking, finance, payments, regulation and emerging technologies. Based in Sydney, he is a former legal and investment banking editor at the AFR and has been a business journalist for more than 20 years.Fetching latest articles