General News
5 July, 2025
Farming family devastated but will fight on
As the news the Donald Mine project work plan had been approved filtered through the community, landowners whose properties are within the mine footprint, said they were dismayed that their concerns about the desecration of prime agricultural land by mining had gone unheeded by the state government.
They were also dismayed that they had heard the news through the media.
One of the families' generational farms affected by the mine owned by Astron Ltd, is Peter and Marie Byrne.
They settled in their home 55 years ago as newlyweds.
Eight children were born there, and the home and property is full of memories.
A boom sprayer is parked in the house garden.
Grandchildren run free during school holidays or after getting off the school bus, rounding up the chooks at sunset, and playing outside until called in for the photograph accompanying this article.
No screens in sight!
And this is the lifestyle Peter and Marie want to preserve for the future generations of their family and others in the area.
Peter is the fourth generation to farm their land, and their son, David, is the fifth, now managing the family property which has three family homes on it.
David's four sons are the sixth generation born to the farming family, and they live in one of the original homesteads; sister Katie and her family live in the home where Peter and his twin brother John were born.
David and his parents and siblings intend to fight on.
However, the bleak reality is that even if they save their farms, they may not be able to live in their homes due to the nearby mine and the 24/7 noise, light, and contaminated dust
The Byrne family provided a statement to the Mail-Times after learning about the decision on Wednesday afternoon, June 25, 2025.
"Our family is heartbroken to hear the announcement today through the media.
"It shows that it doesn’t matter what is right or wrong, the Government will ensure they get the outcome they want, regardless of who is in the way," it said.
"How this impacts the mental health of the landowners who are being forced off their land is beyond words.
"The emotional trauma that comes with knowing that their generational family farm is going to be wiped out for the sake of foreign-owned mining companies is devastating.
"Farming families who sit in a mining license now know what lies ahead of them.
"Our family is just the start of a terrible flow-on effect.
"David and our family will continue to fight for our land regardless of today’s outcome, for the future of his four boys and the future of our communities and agriculture in the Wimmera," the statement read.
Mr Byrne senior, whose home and land are in the path of the mine, said he will fight on.
Astron Ltd has purchased land for Phase One of the project, which the approved work plan applies to, and is now owned by the US and China-backed operation.
They need to purchase more land to expand the project and were recently granted an exploration licence on an additional parcel of land nearby.
They have approached the Byrne family, but Peter and family are standing firm.
"We are not selling," they said
"This week's decision is not the end.
"As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed with us."
Peter said he questioned the use of the Paris Agreement, which states that development should not threaten food production, and on that basis, he believes the viability of food production and the agricultural industry in Australia should be a priority.
"Arable land, suitable for farming, is a small percentage of the overall land mass of Australia, and the Wimmera has some of the best in the country," he said.
"But that will be a thing of the past if mining is allowed to continue," he said.
"I don't blame people for selling, but if they didn't want to pursue farming because of their age or not having a family to carry it on or for any other reason, neighbours would have bought their land and it would have remained farm land as it was intended.
"If land is classified as farm land, we should farm it," he said.
"There's an old saying, there's nothing quite as good as planting trees under whose shade you will never sit, and I suppose that's what we are doing, keeping our farmland safe for others.
"We may not benefit, but others will," he said.