Rebuilding Corangamite, Pomborneit, Weerite, Koallah & Stonyford

The Communities

Pomborneit is located approximately 177kms south-west of Melbourne, just 2.5 hours drive from the CBD and under 30 minutes from Colac. Localities include Pomborneit North and East, Weerite, Koallah and Stonyford.

Pomborneit is a community of approximately 50 families with 30 per cent of the population working in agriculture. A major dairy industry area, dairy cattle farming is the major employer.

The Bushfires

The Weerite-Pomborneit fire occurred on Saturday 7 February 2009, starting adjacent to the Princes Highway, 10 kilometres east of Camperdown.  It burned in a south-easterly direction before a wind change carried the fire across the Princes Highway in a north-easterly direction. 

The fire burned approximately 1300 hectares of predominantly farming land, resulting in the loss of pasture, stored fodder, fencing, sheds, damage to public facilities (recreation reserve and railway line) and service utilities.  This had a significant impact on dairy production in the region.

Sixteen landowners were directly affected by the fires.  Six families needed to be re-housed however they were able to return to their homes in the months after the fires.  Whilst no residential premises were destroyed, several small businesses and hobby farmers operating from their properties were affected. 

There was also significant damage to the Pomborneit Recreation Reserve, estimated to total $95,000, including to downpipes, window seals, paint work, posts and wire of the boundary fence, cricket practice wickets and nets, the public toilet tank and pumps, the concrete irrigation tank and pumps, sponsorship signage, the oval and cypress trees used as a wind break.

The Pomborneit Cricket Club (located halfway between Colac and Camperdown) was affected, with the main ground severely damaged by a grass fire and the club losing a number of important items, including a travelling irrigator valued at over $4500.  There was also damage to the irrigation equipment, toilet block, water and septic tanks, pipes and fencing. 

Recovery Plan

Since the 2009 bushfires Community Recovery Committees and the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority (the Authority) worked in partnership with the community, other government departments and authorities, the philanthropic sector and private donors to deliver outcomes for the vast majority of recovery projects proposed in the 33 Community Recovery Plans across the state. The plans have been pivotal in driving and directing the community rebuilding and recovery effort, through a focus on the needs and priorities of each individual community.

With around 1,100 projects and ideas identified in plans across Victoria, the Authority estimates that around 800 of these have been addressed in varying ways. Hundreds more projects identified outside this process have been delivered across affected communities.

The attachments below include the Community Recovery Plan and the response and funding status for all of the projects originally identified: