General News
24 February, 2026
Coast folk dig deep for bush
A CASSOWARY COAST resident’s spontaneous thought to load up a few cleaning supplies in her ute and deliver them to a flood-stricken, isolated community, turned into a bigger relief event than she imagined.
Lyjelle Tinsley from Bingil Bay had the idea after watching devastating pictures on the news about the Gulf Savannah tiny town of Einasleigh, including the local pub, being inundated during heavy rain in late January.
A tropical low, part of a monsoon trough caused the severe rainfall, dumping up to 300mm across the region.
Ms Tinsley posted on a north Queensland social media weather page to see if anyone else was interested in helping get vital supplies through to Einasleigh.
“I thought, I don’t think anyone’s really going to be interested, but I’ll just put up a post in the community page,” she told The Observer.
“And I went to bed and I woke up to 130 messages of people wanting to help. And yeah and it actually happened,” she said.
With help from her friend Amy Sprinks, Ms Tinsley started organising collections and how to get the supplies there.
“There were some points where I was getting a bit concerned about how much we were collecting and whether it was actually needed by the town, whether we were going to turn up and create more work for them or more headache for them,” Ms Tinsley said.
“But yeah, it just turned out better than I could have imagined,” she said.
She and Amy ended up packing 55 boxes of items collected from Bingil Bay, El Arish, Innisfail, Tully, Wongaling and the Mission Beach areas, “plus other bits ‘n pieces”.
They then took the two pallet loads up to the Tablelands to meet Chris Mason of DC Couriers NQ, who had kindly put his hand up to deliver the donated goods.
And there were more to be collected at points along the way that had volunteered to receive donations from their communities: Roc’s Stockfeed Atherton, Ravenshoe Community Centre, Mt Garnet Visitors Centre and BP Mt Surprise.
By the time they delivered the relief supplies to very thankful residents at the Einasleigh Community Hall on Saturday 7 February, there were nine pallets of goods aboard the truck.
“It’s been a tough wet season for a lot of us and I feel the community drive gave people the chance to forget about their own hardships for a moment and pitch in to help others,” Ms Tinsley said. “Real FNQ, grassroots stuff.”
“We also prepared two boxes and other items requested by Warren, at Feralview Station along the Gilbert River. Warren was rescued from his roof and lost almost everything in the flood.
“I think they were just as overwhelmed as we were with the amount of thought and effort that went into the donations.”
Ms Tinsley said she wanted to thank her friends Amy and Dakota, as well as a list of organisations and groups who donated: Wheelin It Up North, Roc’s Stockfeed, Bingil Bay Café, Salvos Innisfail, Cassowary Yarners, NQ Stockfeed, DC Couriers FNQ, Purse House Rural Innisfail, Steve Lizzio-MBL Bananas, Lindsay Rural Atherton, Petstock Gordonvale and City N Country clothing, the Beach 2 Bush team and Jim Gray and volunteers from the Mount Garnet Visitors Centre.
“Dakota was instrumental in organising the truck and donations from businesses and individuals across the greater Cairns region,” she said.
“There is also a verified Go Fund Me for the Einasleigh community, if you would like to check it out and donate, every little bit helps, together.
“Thank you to everyone who has donated, or otherwise helped with coordinating this event.”
Read More: Cassowary Coast