IT doesn’t matter your age, fitness or time you can spare, so long as you have two hands, you are welcomed.
An army of locals from all directions of the Gannawarra shire have rolled up their sleeves since last Thursday and prepared thousands of sand bags for when the major peak arrives.
Kelly McKnight, who has been helping co-ordinate sandbagging locations via social media, said “we have banded together again”, with locals joining the SES and CFA in a well-oiled operation.
“This community is special, they know that it’s the same goal to save land, homes, animals and crops … we all want the same result in the end,” she said.
“We’ve had elderly ladies in their 80s cooking goodies and bringing them down, to five year olds holding sandbags open.
“It doesn’t matter your age”
Ms McKnight said Sunday was the biggest turnout at Mawsons in Kerang, with more than 100 people on the shovels.
“It was just amazing,” she said.
“Everyone learnt a lot from 2011 – it’s kind of like riding a bike because it was only 10 years ago. You get back into the swing of action.”
For now, Ms McKnight said the community just “kind of want it over with”.
“We can deal with it and get through it all,” she said.
“We all know someone on the outskirts of the levee who are preparing to lose lots of crops. We know it’s a disappointing result for farmers.
“But we have to listen to the powers to be; they have a good idea of what they are doing and just have to trust them.”
Kerang comes together
MAWSONS’ Concrete became the population centre of Kerang this week with an endless chain of volunteers going through the gates to help fill a sandbag.
In the past few days a staggering 260 tonnes of sand has been poured into more than 25,000 bags to help defend homes and properties in areas outside the town’s primary levee bank.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh was in town on Tuesday and said the local effort to help local people confronted by an expected peak of 78m on the Loddon River was “overwhelming”.
He said while Kerang itself will be well protected by its existing levee bank, people in and around places such as Dingwall and Appin, will need all the help they can get if the expected inundation matches 2011.
“Which is why everyone owes a big thank you to Mawsons – and all the volunteers who turned up to do the heavy lifting,” Mr Walsh said.
“One of the busier people on the day was Ramon Steel – he was filling a double role in this huge effort as both captain of Kerang CFA as well as manager of Mawsons Kerang.
“Along with, I must point out, his work colleague Brian Murphy, who was also doing his fair share of lifting that bale and toting that barge.
“While the numbers were huge, they were also certainly helped by the Rapid Sand Bagger machine, which I am in no doubt will be making other river communities slightly green with envy because recently I have seen many other towns resorting to the time-tested shovel and hand-held bag.”
For example, Mr Walsh said more than 50,000 bags in Echuca were hand-filled, hand-loaded onto pallets, hand-loaded into the back of small trucks, utes and cars for residents queued up to get their 25 bags.
But added the sense of community in both towns, and all the other towns he had visited in the past few days, such as Koondrook and Torrumbarry, was the glue holding everything together.
“When you say community in regional Victoria you know exactly what it is, and know it will always be there when the need arises,” he says.
Sandbags can be collected from the following locations:
– Appin: Appin CFA shed
– Cohuna: Bags are available from the Cohuna Fire Brigade headquarters. Sand is available at the Cohuna Recreation Reserve
– Kerang: Kerang SES Unit (Tate Drive) and Mawson’s (Wellington Street, next to the railway line)
– Koondrook: Bags are available from the Koondrook Fire Brigade headquarters. Sand is available from the Council depot in View Street
– Murrabit: Murrabit Recreation Reserve
Quambatook: Quambatook Transfer Station
