Back Roads: April 29

Tonight on Back Roads Heather Ewart is travels through the heart of Victoria’s Mallee.

Our travels were held on the lands of Aboriginal Traditional Owners and we acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging future leaders.

A land of sweeping landscapes and huge skies, it’s the state’s hottest and driest region. It was also its last frontier, because the tough drought-resistant Mallee eucalypt scrub made it so hard to clear.

Bert Holland is Mallee born and bred. At 87-years of age, he’s done it all, including digging up the mother of all Mallee stumps. The ten-tonne-whopper holds pride of position in the town’s park and is a testament to the region’s history. Bert says the Mallee legacy lives on today. “Because everyone knew what hardship was like, everyone’s there to help one another and that spirit’s gone on right through. The work ethic, I think was the backbone of the Mallee.”

They certainly know how to roll up their sleeves and get things done in the Mallee. When new pipelines radically cut water loss after the Millennium drought, they also left the region without recreational water. The locals got to work. This resourceful community got together to build their own lake. Now, it’s the busiest place in town, alive with activities from water skiing to fishing, barbecues to runners.

The Mallee people are investing in their children and the future. “If kids want to return to this community, we need to have a vibrant community for them to come home to,” says organiser ‘Spot’ Munro. “It’s future generations that will actually drive this community into a really strong position and it’s up to us to set the foundations.”

That theme is continued throughout the Mallee. In Chinkapook, Heather meets artists Robby and Jackie Wirramanda, who are using their art to keep the stories of their people and their culture alive. In Sea Lake, the local school teaches agriculture with the backing of the community, including the local machinery dealer who lends the students a brand new $150,000 tractor to learn on every year.

Join Heather as she discovers the Mallee spirit that binds these towns together.

Executive Producer, Brigid Donovan. Story Producer Kathy McLeish.

8pm tonight on ABC.