BOGGED DOWN
Heavy rains leave Marshall farmers drowning in bureaucracy
FARMER Dick Wylie has always been up for a fight.
He’s fought off drugged-up criminals and has been run over, beaten and threatened in his fights for justice.
But he says his latest battle, against VicRoads, is his toughest yet.
This week’s heavy rains again exposed the after-effects of VicRoads’ decision to build a large culvert under the railway line neighbouring Mr Wylie’s property. In recent months heavy downpours have led to storm water and local creek overflow being channelled on to his Marshall farmland, flooding crops and leaving Mr Wylie drowning in bureaucracy.
Dressed in a dusty check shirt and tired boots, the elderly farmer rolls up his sleeves in a show of determination against the government blunder he says is threatening his livelihood.
Behind him lies a body of water that has again flooded the land he farms to support his family.
“They’ve failed in their duty of care to protect the farmers and their land. They have no right to divert floodwater out on to our properties,” he says.
“Every time we get a local flood, we go under.”
In September last year, thousands of litres of dirty creek water inundated low-lying farming properties at Marshall.
More than 200ha of land between Norcott Rd and Woolscour Lane, farmed by six farmers, was rendered useless for more than three months, taking with it Mr Wylie’s precious beehives.
Mr Wylie says the contributing factor is the large culvert built under the railway line during the construction of the nearby two-lane Breakwater Bridge.
“The water, it was gushing through like a waterfall and there was nothing we could do. We believe they rushed the thing through for the Breakwater Bridge project and the study (was) not correctly carried out for long enough,” he says.
“The problem can be fixed: bring in a dozen truckloads of dirt and build a wall.
“We don’t want flood relief. The only assistance we want is for VicRoads to come and fix their blunder. They haven't even had the bloody manners to contact us.
“The guy on Tannery Rd, he lost more than half his crops.
“We just need a solution. Get up and do something because we’re not going away.”
Mr Wylie says he warned VicRoads of the danger in 2010 when the road authority announced its major plans.
The elevated 1.3km Breakwater Bridge was built to replace the old one, which had been subject to flooding from the nearby Barwon River for years.
Landowner Colin Chapman says he’s lived on the land there for 44 years and never once seen the creek flood on to the properties before the culvert was built.
“When VicRoads proposed building the culvert they assured us no water would ever go through that. Now both the local creek and storm water run-off from the new housing developments is coming right through,” he says.
“We can understand if the Barwon River floods, we can accept that, but now we’ve got other foreign water coming through.
“Dick, he lost more than half of his hay crop, and he wasn’t able to farm his land for three months because it was waterlogged. There’s nowhere else for him to put his cattle.
“How can you just go and flood someone else’s property? Our land has been destroyed.”
South Barwon MP Andrew Katos has taken up the fight for action, raising the flooding issue in Parliament.
In January, State Roads Minister Luke Donnellan told Parliament that VicRoads had discussed the issue with the property owners and was committed to working with them to “clarify the cause and resolve the flooding issue”, something they deny.
“What happens if it’s flooded again during the upcoming winter or spring? These works should have been going on now,” he says.
“This is a man-made occurrence.” When contacted this week, VicRoads spokesman Jeremy Rann said the authority was aware of the concerns and investigating “possible improvements”.
“VicRoads is aware of Mr Wylie’s concerns and is committed to working with him and other authorities to determine the cause of the flooding impacts and possible improvements that could alleviate these impacts,” he says.
But Mr Chapman says he’s never once heard from any VicRoads representatives.
“Mr Katos has raised the question in Parliament on several occasions with the Minister for Roads and Safety, Luke Donnellan MP, regarding flooding issues on our property in Marshall. He has stated that VicRoads had discussed the issue with the property owners to clarify the cause and resolve the flooding issue,” he says.
“No affected landholder or farmer has been ever been contacted by any VicRoads representatives regarding our inherited flooding issues, swept under the carpet, so to speak.”
This is not the first time determined farmer Dick Wylie has fought for something he is passionate about.
In 2004 he made headlines in his fight against rubbish dumpers.
In 2009 he pushed to have a dangerous level crossing sign relocated after finding it blocked driver’s views, and the following year shot savage dogs who had mauled his neighbour’s sheep.
Come 2012 he took up the fight to stop motorbike riders cutting his fences and letting his cows on to the nearby train line. That continued through to 2014 when his fight against the teenage vandals left him battered when he attempted a citizen’s arrest after his fences were cut seven times in 18 days.
A fight for justice, he says, has inadvertently become his life’s work.