Long-awaited funding to seal a flood-prone runway on the Nullarbor is part of a $29.3 million plan, announced ahead of Thursday’s Western Australia State Budget to upgrade regional and remote airstrips. 

The government confirmed on Tuesday it would spend $21.3 million upgrading regional airstrips at Eucla, Carnarvon, Onslow, Albany and an unnamed airstrip in the East Kimberley. 

A further $8 million will be allocated to the Aboriginal Community Airstrip Renewal Program.

The Eucla upgrade will be a lifeline for the small town’s local population and the thousands of motorists travelling on the Nullarbor each year.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) has previously had to land on the Eyre Highway for emergency evacuations when the Eucla airstrip is out of action.

Shire of Dundas president Laurene Bonza said the council had been told after more than a decade of lobbying that $3.38 million had been allocated to the Eucla upgrade. 

The council has committed $500,000 of in-kind support to the project, which has previously been estimated at $4.47 million to seal the 1,200-metre runway. 

“We are very resourceful and clever with our money,” Cr Bonza told ABC Regional Drive.

“We don’t get much of it, so we make it stretch a long way.  

“We will price it up and it will be like brand new, and much more user friendly.

She estimated that the time frame for the runway sealing would be “within 12 months”.

Council considered crowd-funding

The upgraded infrastructure will also benefit one of the world’s largest renewable energy projects, the proposed Western Green Energy Hub.  

Cr Bonza said the renewable project could have contributed to the state government’s decision to award funding after years of lobbying, but she maintained it was necessary regardless.   

“This is vital infrastructure, and given the recent closures, and the reason for those closures being road trauma, you’re a long way from anywhere if something goes horribly wrong,” she said. 

“That’s been our mantra the whole way through and finally it’s come to fruition.”

Eucla is 500 kilometres from the nearest hospital at Ceduna in South Australia, 700km from Norseman and 900km from Kalgoorlie Regional Health Campus.

Cr Bonza said the council had also explored crowd-funding the airstrip upgrade.   

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. 

“We’ve had a lot of support over the years from RFDS and WA police, the quarantine staff, the locals at Eucla — they’ve all had a bit to say about it.

“We had our finger hovering over the button [to start crowd-funding] and then we started to get slightly more encouraging signs from the government, so we held off, but it was close.” 

Relief for emergency services

Simone Conklin has lived in Eucla for 22 years and is captain of the local emergency services.

She said as little as 3 millimetres of rain could make the airstrip unserviceable, which meant monthly RFDS clinics in Eucla were often unable to land.   

“It is fantastic news,” Ms Conklin said. 

“Many times during the winter months we don’t get an RFDS clinic, which a lot of people struggle with if they’re on prescription medication.”

She said the Eucla airstrip had been out of action more frequently in recent times.  

“The recent downpours that went to Rawlinna and the Eyre Bird Observatory and flooded the Eyre Highway also put the airstrip out because it was far too wet to even walk on, let alone land a multi-million-dollar plane on,” Ms Conklin said. 

“If a local gets sick, we’ll now have a way to get them to hospital.”