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The bodies of livestock and a sea of debris are what greets longtime grazier Ernie Camp as he steps foot on his property for the first time since floods ravaged the Gulf of Carpentaria.
After severe water levels forced him and his family to evacuate their Floraville Station home, near the Leichhardt River, he returned yesterday to begin picking up the pieces.
Standing in the boot-deep water, surveying the wreckage in his house, the grazier said most of the property he spent his life building from the ground up, will be unsalvageable.
"The entire homestead is in a state of complete devastation," he said.
"There's some livestock around but most are dead.
"There's so much work ahead."
Remembering he was not alone was what motivated him to face the clean-up.
"We have dozens of properties and roadhouses around the area that are in the same boat as I am. Not to mention all the residents in the towns up here," he said.
Neighbours banded together to help each other through the recovery.
"We've got four helicopters from surrounding properties that are pitching in and dropping as much hay as we can scrape together for the cattle that survived," Mr Camp said.
Immediate help needed
It was not just the grazing properties Mr Camp was concerned about.
As mayor of the Burke Shire, he is responsible for the 150 residents who were hit hard by floodwater in Burketown and the Indigenous community of Bidunggu.
"We are suffering. We need help," Mr Camp said.
"We really need someone from the government up here now — yesterday — to see first hand the horrific situation we are dealing with."
As residents across the Gulf faced months of clean-up, Mr Camp said better processes were needed to ensure a flood event never again left this degree of devastation.
"What we do need is hope," he said.
"Hope can be given by understanding the immediate needs of the communities but also by improvement.
"In the future, we need to be able to respond better to these events, take the pressure and pain away from these residents."
Mayor begs social media users to 'be kind'
Mr Camp called for compassion from the wider Australian community.
"Those comments on social media suggesting residents somehow had this coming because we have chosen to live here: be kind," he said.
"When residents on the banks of the Brisbane River were being inundated by floods, we didn't make comments that were so ridiculous.
"Being a little kind to each other would be a good start."
Mr Camp encouraged Aussies to set their sights on the Gulf region for their next holiday.
"When we do recover, come and visit us — inject some much needed cash into the community that will help us be more resilient," he said.
"We have a wonderful land out here and wonderful people."