00:00As the afternoon light fades, Yukani Bales heads to his favourite fishing spot at the Dawson River Weir.
00:09Catching all the yellow bully out of the river into the frying pan.
00:12It's a favourite pastime that's been captured on Theodore's water tower.
00:16A little bit proud and very honoured just to drive past and see like such a, it's huge, he's huge up there.
00:22It took renowned silo artist Joel Fergie two weeks and 300 litres of paint to complete the mural to help celebrate the town's centenary.
00:32Everyone loved the river so much. The Dawson just is this, it's an oasis in the outback.
00:38In the 1920s Queensland Premier Ted Theodore wanted to dam the river and create 5,000 irrigation farms.
00:46Lorraine Hellier's great grandfather left his dairy farm in Victoria to settle at the Dawson Valley Irrigation Scheme.
00:53Yeah they promised the earth, they promised the earth it was going to be wonderful. It wasn't quite as good as that.
00:59The dam never eventuated but a small and resilient farming community sprouted.
01:04The government really wanted cotton to be grown.
01:08The industry and town was almost wiped out in 2010. The Dawson River broke its banks in the worst flood disaster on record.
01:17Keith Shewcraft helped evacuate the entire town which was a Queensland first.
01:22It was about three of us spent the whole day loading people onto a helicopter.
01:28Everybody helped everybody else and that was how we got ourselves through it.
01:33Still the community remains deeply connected to the mighty river.
01:37So whether you came 60,000 years ago or whether you arrived six weeks ago, you're probably here because of the river.
01:44I want to catch this one, by the yellow belly.
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