THE haunted gaze in the eyes of Barry Hughes is the first thing you notice when you shake his hand. It is the stark look of a man still coming to terms with the full magnitude of the task he faces to restore his shattered property.
More than 98 per cent of Mr Hughes' 80,000 hectare property, North Head, which is south of Georgetown, has been wiped out by fire in less than three weeks.
Five years of careful land management and planning to build up the pastures sustainably following a few good seasons, has literally gone up in smoke.
Fires were still burning across the property until late last week as Mr Hughes worked frantically to move as many cattle as he could into three 400ha paddocks surrounding the homestead.
Now the obvious concern is keeping his surviving cattle alive by ensuring there is a steady supply of fodder transported to the property.
There are 12 properties across the Etheridge Shire where more than 70pc of the pastures have been burnt out after strong winter rain followed by a long dry spell turned the region into a tinder box.
Fires are a usual part of life in the bush, especially in the Gulf, but the ferocity of the blaze has shocked locals.
The fires were crowning reportedly jumping 80 metres at a stretch in the treetops and at times trapping people fighting the blazes.
Fortunately there have been no fatalities.
The fires have wiped out pastures down to the sand.
Green timber has been reduced to ashes.
Locals report entire paddocks of cattle have been quickly immersed and killed by the flames.
Ag minister John McVeigh toured the Georgetown region to see the damage first-hand. Click on this image to see more photos in our online gallery.
Some properties have been forced to establish containment lines more than 50km from the fire front in order to stop its billowing advancement.
It is believed more than one million acres, or about one-third of Etheridge Shire, has been destroyed by the fires, with even Georgetown itself at risk at one point.
Neighbouring Croydon Shire is reporting similar figures.
There have been thousands of cattle killed in the blazes and now many thousands more are at risk of dying from starvation if there is no rain in the next three weeks.
A concerted community effort has begun with more than $450,000 in hay bales and lick blocks transported to affected properties, with many North Queensland businesses providing their services at little or no cost.
Georgetown is littered with hay stacks at the petrol station, the school and the local park, all ready for transportation to hungry cattle.
A mountain of pumpkins delivered from the coast late last week rests in the school grounds.
Seasonal rain, at least 2-4 inches (50-100mm), is needed to extinguish the last of the fires and begin the healing process.
However, the heavens are yet to respond.
At time of print, the seven day forecast saw no rain, the 28 day forecast saw no rain and the latest Bureau of Meteorology modelling does not indicate when the monsoon will move down.
If there is no seasonal rain, it is predicted the Etheridge Shire will require at least $500,000 every fortnight until there is rain to provide enough fodder to keep cattle on affected properties alive.
Queensland Country Life accompanied State Agriculture Minister John McVeigh as he took to a helicopter to visit affected properties last Thursday.
While in Georgetown he announced the Newman Government would immediately donate $100,000 to the Bendigo Bank Far North Queensland Bushfire Appeal to help affected Gulf Producers, which was also launched at Georgetown on Thursday.
At time of print, Mr McVeigh challenged the Federal Government to match the Newman Government's financial contribution to the effort.
Mr McVeigh has said producers could apply for Individual Disaster Stricken Property (IDSP) support through the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority, which provides up to $5000 in freight subsidy and up to a $250,000 loan.
However, the uptake of these low interest loans is always fraught because northern producers are already strangled with debt following the recent live export mess and several tough flood seasons.
During last week's trip, Mr McVeigh repeatedly told producers as he moved in and out of properties that he considered the tour a fact finding mission to uncover what people on the ground required to rebuild the region.
Mr McVeigh scribbled copious notes in a pocket book as the chopper moved between properties.
Aside from the obvious immediate needs of fodder and mental health support, producers have called on the Queensland Government to restore funding for the North Australian Fire Information website service, which was abandoned by the Beattie government more than a decade ago, despite being a data lifeline for people in the Gulf.
Producers expressed frustration that the information service was almost entirely funded by the Northern Territory and West Australian governments, who saw its usefulness, yet appeared to be of little importance to the Queensland Government.
It became another note Mr McVeigh took in his pocket book and producers now await the outcome.
The resolute and independent mindset of bush people says that they will always claim someone else is worse off than themselves.
Barry Hughes is no different.
But despite the circumstances, country hospitality never wavers.
As Mr Hughes shook Mr McVeigh's hand and the pair wandered towards the house, Mrs Hughes flowed from the veranda carrying a tray of crackers and cheese.
She added the food to a table overflowing with cakes, biscuits and tea and coffee, creating a picturesque picnic under a sprawling and shady tree spot near the home.
It was too much food for a handful of people, but it revealed wonders about the generosity of the couple, even in their darkest hour.
The Minister was polite he accepted a cup of tea and took a cake slice from the plate.
But no one really felt like eating when the discussion topic was the unprecedented destruction of a property which will celebrate a century with the Hughes family in two years.
Mr Hughes pointed southward across the sprawling timbered country and explained a 150km stretch from his property to halfway to Richmond has been totally burnt out.
He told the Minister that the lack of productivity over the long term across the affected region was the major hurdle towards recovery.
Mr Hughes said while the focus is on trying to keep the breeders and calves alive, the increased number of calves wandering alone in the burnt out country has become easy prey for wild dogs, which are reported to be having an early Christmas feast on this generation of progeny in the Gulf this month, which will be felt by producers over the next two years.
"We've been through a massive education plan in terms of land and livestock management," Mr Hughes told Mr McVeigh.
"We have built up a good body of feed over the past five years and really started to look after biodiversity.
"Our rotational grazing practices were going really fine. In hindsight, some of that might have contributed to the intensity of this fire, but it is all about looking after land, livestock and our soils.
"The land always heals itself but it is the ability to create production turnover cash flow that is really going to impact on the grazing industry in the long term.
"The banks have been good so far. But there are long term issues for people to work through. There is a huge emotional crisis going on across this Shire and the Gulf. It is going to take a lot of work to help those people handle the situations as they arise. We are just taking things day by day."
Local producers who spoke to the Minister frequently compared the impact of this fire event to devastation caused on northern banana growers following Cyclone Yasi.
George Ryan, Ballynure, who has lost more than 70pc of his pasture, called on the State Government to lift the disaster status in the Gulf to a similar level as the coast.
"This pasture was our crop and we have lost that," he said.
Armed with a filled pocketbook following his fact finding mission, the ball is now in the court of Mr McVeigh and the Newman Government to bring relief to the producers in the Gulf.
Following their brief encounter, Mr McVeigh and the Hughes shook hands as we returned to the chopper.
Then as the chopper pulled into the skies, standing at the edge of their homestead, arm in arm, were the humble producer couple, waving at the aircraft, hopeful the minister will move mountains to provide some relief and the people of Queensland will open their hearts and help this devastated region.
