Instinctive Neighbour Saves Queensland Farmer's Life After Gruesome Auger Accident
A split-second act of instinct has been credited with saving the life of an 89-year-old Queensland farmer after a devastating machinery accident left him bleeding out in a paddock. Clive Weier, a veteran farmer from Mondure, northwest of Brisbane, was performing a routine task on his property on March 30, 2025, when everything went horribly wrong.
The Moment of Crisis
Weier had been clearing oats from a combine harvester attachment, believing the auger was shut off. Unbeknownst to him, the machinery had only jammed. "I put my finger to scratch a bit of stuff away... and all of a sudden it unjammed and took off again, and tore my hand off," he recounted. He looked down to a gruesome sight: his hand was gone, with bones exposed and severe bleeding.
By sheer chance, his neighbour Graham Terry was standing right beside the machine at that moment. "He got his hand caught in it and jumped back with his bone sticking out... it wouldn't have been a second," Terry recalled. In an instant, Weier's right arm was severed below the elbow.
Life-Saving Actions
Terry reacted immediately, clamping his hands around Weier's arm, sitting him down against a wheel, and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Weier's son Leigh called triple-0 and applied a tourniquet as they worked together to keep him alive. "I knew I needed to stop the bleeding and get him comfortable," Terry said. "I couldn't stop his pain... I could only stop his bleeding."
Remarkably, Terry had only done a first aid course about 35–40 years prior, but his quick thinking came down to pure instinct. LifeFlight critical care doctor Daniel Bundock, who was part of the crew that transported Weier to hospital, emphasised the critical nature of the situation. "He was bleeding heavily. His wife tells me that his boots were filled with blood," Bundock said. "What Clive's son and his neighbour did saved his life. Undisputably. If they'd not stopped the bleeding, Clive would have bled to death."
Recovery and Advocacy
Weier was stabilised at the scene before being flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for emergency surgery. More than a year later, he has recovered and returned to work, now as a left-hander. "I get up, I can dress myself, I can get my boots on, I can go and feed my chooks and collect my eggs," he said. "It's happened. I've got to live with it, and I can't do nothing about it. I've got to think positive and I've got to get on with my life."
Both Weier and Terry are now urging others, especially in regional areas, to learn basic trauma skills. They are organising a First Minutes Matter workshop for their local community through LifeFlight's free trauma training program. "It's essential... you never know when it's going to happen," Terry stated. Bundock agrees, warning that those crucial first minutes can mean the difference between life and death. "In an emergency, every second counts," he emphasised.
