JT Talks Disaster Preparedness

Johnathan Thurston has weathered plenty of Storms in his illustrious rugby league career, but this week the North Queensland Cowboys legend was in Mackay to talk about a different kind of storm.

Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School welcomed Get Ready Queensland Ambassador “JT” to their school on Tuesday after winning the Get Ready Queensland school competition.

Students were tasked with designing and constructing disaster-ready houses, with entries received from 65 classrooms and almost 2,000 students across the state.

The winning design, built by Cooper, Zach, Ethan and Jake, was built on stilts and incorporated drainage trenches which were incorporated into the house’s vegetable garden, winning their school a visit from the Queensland icon.

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JT Helps Mackay School Get Ready For Storm Season

The iconic JT smile was mirrored by hundreds of Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School students as rugby league legend Johnathan Thurston visited the school for a morning of games and activities, bringing with him an important message.

Mr Thurston is an Ambassador for Get Ready Queensland, a Queensland Government all-hazards, resilience building initiative, to help communities prepare for natural disasters.

“As a Get Ready Queensland Ambassador, I’m very happy to be here, spread the message and make sure that the kids go home and ask mum and dad if they know their risk, have an emergency plan and have an emergency kit,” Mr Thurston said.

“Queensland is the most natural disaster-hit state in the country, and we want to make sure that everyone’s well prepared.

“It’s great work that the Government does, making sure that our communities are safe, and we need to make sure that families and people in our communities are well prepared so that when it happens, they know that they’re going to keep their families safe.”

Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School was chosen from schools state-wide for the visit and Principal Olivia Rostirolla said she was “jumping out of her seat” when she received the email.

“We announced it to the children, and they were beside themselves, they were so excited to know that Johnathan was coming to our school,” she said.

“A person like JT would probably get the message across better than any of us could here at the school because he is so respected in his field, and he is such a beautiful person that the children just listen and are enthralled by him.”

Year six students Natasha and Tessa were two of the students who participated in the project.

“We have a lot of footy fans at our school, so everyone was really excited,” said Natasha.

“We’ve learnt the three steps of how to get ready … and all the emergency kit supplies,” added Tessa.

“I’m going to tell my parents to prepare an emergency kit and emergency plan in case of any storms or floods.”

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3 Steps To Get Ready

Step 1: Understand your risk - impacts from extreme weather are different for everyone. Learn about what can happen where you live and how it could affect your family.

Step 2: Have a plan - make a household emergency plan so your family knows what to do and who to contact in extreme weather. It takes just a few minutes and will give you peace of mind that your information is in one place.

Step 3: Pack a kit - grab a few extra items next time you are at the supermarket to make an emergency kit.

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Johnathan Thurston was in Mackay this week to share the message of disaster preparedness with Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School students. Photo credit: Sam Gillespie

Johnathan Thurston quizzed the students of Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School on how to prepare for storm season

JT joined the students in a morning of games and activities facilitated by Queensland Fire, SES and Get Ready Queensland

Cooper, Zach, Ethan and Jake designed the disaster-ready house that won their school a visit from JT. Photo credit: Sam Gillespie

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