Goodna residents affected by the January floods are one step closer to moving back into their homes thanks to staff at The University of Queensland's Boilerhouse. Employees at the UQ Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre at the Ipswich Campus recently raised funds for flood relief through the book sale of Mines Mills and Shopping Malls: Celebrating the Identity of Ipswich. The $230 raised from the sale will go towards the Westlife Church fund, which aims to secure 50,000 square metres of plasterboard to help displaced Goodna residents return to their homes.

UQ Boilerhouse Support Services Manager and Goodna resident Pamela Lamb said she and her colleagues were keen to help the Goodna community recover from flood damage. “After the flood, my son and daughter-in-law were helping friends and neighbours with the clean up, and had to rip out water-damaged plasterboards from their homes,” she said. “So, when I heard about the Westlife Church fund it seemed like a great opportunity to help people replace these plasterboards and get their houses ready for moving back into.”

Although Ms Lamb's home was unaffected by the recent flooding, she lived through the 1974 floods and her personal experience is told in the Mines Mills and Shopping Malls book.“I never thought I'd see Goodna under water again,” Ms Lamb said. “Even though it's three months since the floods, there are still many people who need help getting their houses back to normal. We hope our donation will go some way towards bringing the suburb back to life again.”