This book, I have the original 1969 edition, is a pleasure to read.

Having just been through the January 2011 Brisbane Flood in which 650 mills fell in one day in the catchment, it was interesting to read Rees account of his father's experience in the 1893 flood in which 950 mills fell in one day - after the City was already flooded and there was no protecting dam as a shield. There were 3 floods that month.

A few years later, Rees' father survived a ferry that sank in a smaller flood. The ferry was the replacement for the original Victoria bridge that had been damaged in the 1893 floods - according to Rees, the bridge gave way to the weight of houses staked up against it. ( )