The village that fought and lost a war against the new water merchants

The tiny gold-mining village of Stanley sits quietly - most of the time - on its plateau in the foothills of Victoria’s north-east high country, its vineyards and groves of walnut and orchards of apple, stone fruits and berries quenched by pure water from beneath the ground. 

David McIntyre , Stanley nut grower, is concerned about water mining in the district.

There’s a little Athenaeum - the old fancy name for a community library - at the crossroads at the centre of town.

Its fine collection of books date to a time when gold miners and their families felt the need for tranquil retreat from the often vulgar doings on the wild diggings. The first librarian was appointed in 1863.

Late last year and right through the summer, Stanley’s Athenaeum hosted an exhibition called “Water and Mining: Water management on the goldfields”.

It told the story of how “water merchants” of the 19th century made fortunes by diverting the flow of the Nine Mile Creek - Stanley’s old name - to serve diggings down the hill.

Read Tony Wright’s story in The Age - “The village that fought and lost a war against the new water merchants.”

Severe heat alert

Firefighters will be on high alert this weekend, after the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe fire warning that could place much of Victoria at risk.

Maximum temperatures are forecast to exceed 40°C across much of the state on Saturday, with fresh winds also expected ahead of an approaching front.

CFA District 22 operations officer Travis Harris said the forecast weather conditions were the perfect brewing ground for fires.

Fire ready: Firefighters will be on high alert this weekend
with strong winds and low humidity forecast.

Mr Harris said conditions would be favourable today and tomorrow, but the fire danger on Saturday would mean crews would be on high alert.

The CFA will put control centres in place on Saturday, in addition to extra resources and people, in the event of an incident.

‘‘It’s all factored around the weather so the high temperatures, combined with the strong winds and low humidity will increase the dangers if a fire was to start,’’ Mr Harris said.

Northern parts of the state will be most impacted, with the northern country and north central to receive severe warnings, and warnings for the Wimmera and Mallee areas to be set to extreme.

Lighting any fires is illegal on high fire danger rating days, and even activities such as mowing grass and working machinery can spark a blaze.

Mr Harris said fires could occur anywhere at any time, but asked those on rural properties to be even more vigilant.

“We hope that everyone is on their best behaviour, so we can have bad fire weather, but if nothing happens that will be fantastic; if one starts, there’s an increased risk that a fire could take hold,’’ he said.

“We just ask people to be extra vigilant and to put off any tasks that are high risk.

‘‘At this stage, we have no expectation for what Saturday may bring, we’re still monitoring the forecast and keeping an eye on it.’’

Rhiannon Tuffield writes in the Shepparton News - “Severe heat alert.”