Fishing in full Clunes drains

Talbot Road resident Barry Crane put out the man-like dummy after becoming frustrated at the lack of effective drainage outside his home. 

Mr Crane said the deep channel of water sits outside the front of his home for months at a time and has been a problem since he moved in around five years ago. 

A lack of action to fix the problem triggered his move to gain attention in a humorous way. 

“There has been a heap of people pulling up out the front since its (the dummy) been there to take photos of it,” Mr Crane said. 

“The water almost flowed in the front door of our house last year because it can’t get away when it really rains.”

Mr Crane said he first issued a formal complaint with Hepburn Shire Council about the ineffective drainage at Talbot Road over two years ago. He again contacted council around two months ago, frustrated that no improvements had been made at the site. 

Hepburn Shire Council said Talbot Road was the responsibility of VicRoads. Council said the issue with drainage was first reported to VicRoads in 2015 and again on Friday. 

VicRoads acting regional director Mal Kersting said VicRoads crew inspected the site on Monday.

"We have inspected this site and will now undertake drain cleaning to fix the current ponding that is occurring,” he said. 

"Our crews have prioritised this work, so we hope to have this fixed quickly.”

VicRoads confirmed reports had been made about the drainage issue in earlier years. According to VicRoads, the drain had been cleaned and cleared on several occasions. 

“We shouldn’t really have to go to these extremes to get a simple thing done,” Mr Crane said. 

“I thought it would have been the council’s responsibility to organise whether it be their problem or not, to organise to get somebody to do it, whoever’s problem it is.”

You can identify hazards or problems to VicRoads on 13 11 70.