‘Disgusting stench’: the Queenslanders fighting for clean, fresh air

‘We can be having a barbecue with friends and the smell comes in, and we get so embarrassed,’ South Ripley resident Kathleen Sheen says. Photograph: David Kelly/The Guardian

Some liken the stench wafting around Ipswich to the smell of rotten eggs. It makes your eyes water, your throat itch and triggers your gag reflex.

Others describe the smell as chemical, reminiscent of manure and fertiliser, but stronger. Once this foul odour enters your home, they say, it lingers for hours.