Interviewer: Sue Rosen

Length: 5770 words

Date: May 1992

John Downes had lived all his life at Brownlow Hill and had knowledge of the Nepean back to the 1920s. Of flooding on the river John said, floods

"… come all over the flats down in front of the house here, to .... In my time, it's been about ten feet deep, all over this flat; and the river, in this particular area [has been] close to a mile in width; but it's quite extraordinary, the way the floodwaters get away so quickly. They're never over our flats - from when they first come on, and come right up to the eight, or ten feet, in a big flood, and go off the flat again - never on for more than about 40 to 48 hours, which is surprising; because all this water in this area, [and] other areas - up in the Camden area, where it floods flats; and downstream from here, the Cut Hill area, where the water spreads out right over the flats - all has to get away through Bents Basin, which flows out through a gorge down there; and it always surprises me that such a vast quantity of water can get away through this Bents Basin Gorge as quickly as it does, and it's not on our flats for a lot longer, as it is, down around Windsor and Richmond."