General News
7 May, 2025
Bathroom access the priority for Centennial Place's new 'resident'
Lee Ellis is happy living out of Centennial Place and says access to the toilets is the reason why he and others are staying put.
Lee Ellis says there is only one thing that will sway him from residing at Centennial Place.
“I’m an old man and I need a toilet and shower block, somewhere closeby that I can use multiple times a night,” he explains.
“If there were other places in town that were available like that then I would be able to move somewhere else.
“I told that to the police and I told council that, too.”
By Mount Isa City Council’s own admission, the award-winning park was constructed after repeated complaints were made that there was a dearth of public toilets in the CBD.
So when Lee found himself without a roof over his head in March, he decided to set up camp at Centennial Park because it offered the essential amenities.
It is a sentiment seemingly shared by others as the area has become a controversial gathering space for multiple itinerants, much to the ongoing frustration of council, police and surrounding business owners.
When North West Weekly went to Centennial Place to ask Lee about what he had observed after more than a month camping in the area, he was serenely sitting at one of the undercover park benches with an old analogue clock resting in front of him.
These park benches double as his sleeping quarters, where he lays out blankets and even a pillow each night, wedged into the same grassed area between a bench and a garden bed.
Lee says he needs the clock to know when it strikes 4.30am each morning, because that is when the council’s sprinklers turn on.
Not wanting to be caught in the shower, so to speak, Lee always ensures he has gathered his belongings and moved to the concreted area near the shipping containers before the water starts spraying.
He says by 5am he has usually bundled his stuff together and moves it all to a hiding place.
Lee then routinely sets off to McCarthy’s newsagency to buy a coffee, and Brumbies, where he buys an apple turnover with cream.
He then sits at the concrete bench next to Headspace, which he says is his favourite spot in the city to eat breakfast.
Lee does not collect the aged pension and has no interest in seeking public housing.
He lives off a small pension for former servicemen earned during his time as a NASHO more than 50 years ago.
When he needs to clean his clothes or linen, he spends about $14 at the laundromat.
To wash himself, he has a “pet shower spray” that connects to the wash basin near the sink in the Centennial Place public toilets.
“I’m 75 years old so I don’t have much time left. There is nothing that I want or need,” he says.
However, Lee said he was troubled by what he had witnessed in Centennial Place. He calls it the “Bermuda Triangle” of Mount Isa because it is where people disappear to drink.
He explains the moniker comes from the fact the park is central to the “three corners”, which is what he calls the Liquor Warehouse, the Super Cellars and Buffs Club bottle shops.
When North West Weekly spoke to Lee just before 9 o’clock one morning, there were various people gathered at the rear of Centennial Place pulling bags of wine and bottles from the garden and consuming the alcohol in public view.
North West Weekly also observed the same people pouring remnants of alcohol into plastic soft drink and water bottles in an attempt to disguise its contents.
“How could I ever get bored when I have so much entertainment during the day?” Lee exclaimed sarcastically.
He said by the early afternoon, the men and women were drunk enough in the park that the yelling matches started – they accuse one another of owing the other money.
Lee said he had gotten to know some of the characters who gathered in the park to drink, many of whom have fled Burke Street after finding themselves on the outer of that community.
There is one young man he calls “Triple Zero” because his consumption usually ends with him calling emergency services after becoming belligerent and facing a threatening situation.
However, Lee says he is generally left alone by the itinerants who call him the “old man”.
He said he tried to help them where he could and often gave them food or water and a few kind words about the demon drink if they were in the mood.
On one night, he spent several hours talking to a suicidal woman distraught over a recent break-up.
“I was a night watchman at Arthur Peterson (Diversionary Centre) for more than one year and so I have dealt with a lot of tough situations alone,” he said.
“The people staying in this park are all very lost and I try to help them if I can.”