DRY KILLS NURSERY
DAY Dawn Nursery has been left with no other option but to close its doors, with the drought rendering the 60- year- old business beyond repair.
Owner Harry Wilschefski said the decision was made a few months ago to cut production as the business suffered irreversible damage from a lack of cash flow.
“Our customers started staying away in substantial numbers about a year ago,” he said.
“We’ve still got tens of thousands of plants.”
Mr Wilschefski said Townsville’s only production, retail and advisory nursery would close when the majority of the stock was cleared.
“It’ll be a matter of months – February to March, I’m expecting,” he said.
“I’ve been discounting the plants, and I’ll continue doing that as time goes by. Normally this time of year is our quietest, but this year is different because I’m having a sale and people know they’ll never get these prices again.”
Mr Wilschefski said the nursery closing was an example of Townsville paying the price of the management of the drought.
“I’m a bit upset that Townsville’s got into this situation with water, but I realise the Townsville City Council hasn’t got enough money to solve the problem,” he said.
“They have to get help from the State and Commonwealth governments, I understand that, but they’ve gambled on getting that money or rain and it didn’t happen.
“People say, ‘ Why should I go and plant trees and put in a lawn when I can’t water it?’ You can’t.
“Townsville has taken a real hit for this and it will take years to fix.”
Mr Wilschefski bought the busi- ness in 1969 from his mother, who started the nursery in 1957, and said the reaction to news of the closure from long- term customers had been incredible.
“There are a number of people that are so upset about it, some of them visibly quite upset,” he said.
“I’m not an emotional sort of guy, but it’s been an incredible reaction from people saying they’ve been coming here for 30, 40, 50 years and they don’t know what they’ll do.”
Staff have also been left upset by the closure, with some not knowing where they will be able to find employment.
“In this field there’s not a lot of work,” Mr Wilschefski said.
“Revenue has been cut and there’s no money coming in so I’ve had to cut back hours, and some people got extremely upset which cuts me up to no end. The customers stayed away, the revenue dropped and we can’t go on.”
Mr Wilschefski hopes to travel around Australia and the world to see family after a lifetime dedicated to the nursery.