Determined: The owners of Aspen Lodge Caravan Park in Mooroopna, Russell and Yvonne Prince, have vowed to rebuild after the October floods destroyed most of their cabins.
Photo by
Murray Silby
Russell and Yvonne Prince sunk their life savings into the Aspen Lodge Caravan Park, a last resort for many of the Goulburn Valley’s homeless, but thanks to Mooroopna’s floods, they themselves are now without a home.
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Aspen Lodge sits on the edge of Mooroopna township, nothing but trees between it and the Goulburn River.
It has been a refuge for many people who had nowhere else to go, either because they could not afford alternative accommodation or it was simply unavailable. Others found it became part of their escape route after fleeing violence.
“Huge disruption for a lot of people, it is a huge disruption for a lot of vulnerable people,” Mr Prince said.
“People that we've actually had here in our park, a lot have been here for 10, 15, 20 years and it is their home; and same thing, they've lost everything as well. Which does make it tough for everybody.
“We have over 50 long-term residents. A lot of them are low-income earners. A few of them are on mental illness benefits and things like that and we sort of looked on them as family, and it's a shame that they will need to be re-placed somewhere else at the moment.”
Long road back: Aspen Lodge Caravan Park in Mooroopna lost 60 of 69 caravans and cabins during October’s floods.
Photo by
Murray Silby
Mrs Prince said a large part of the couple’s determination to rebuild the park was to provide a place for their residents to return to.
“We put too much into it. Our bodies, our heart and soul’s in this place,” she said.
“We've got a lot of good memories, and we've got a lot of bad ones, but we've got a lot of characters here too and that will keep us going.
“I think they make the place, to tell you the truth. We've got a few of them here and yeah, the place is quiet without them.”
Clean out: Aspen Lodge owners Russell and Yvonne Prince estimate they’ve lost up to $60,000 worth of equipment, such as washing machines, in the floods.
Photo by
Murray Silby
To walk around the park, the damage wreaked by the floods in October is not immediately obvious, but Mr Prince said as many as 60 of their 69 cabins and caravans in the park would be marked down for demolition.
Then there are the new regulations, introduced since the park was originally established, that it will now have to adhere to as it rebuilds, adding cost and reducing capacity.
“They’ve got to be like a caravan so you can virtually bring them in and take them out in an emergency situation, which everybody understands and that's what everybody wants to do, and we still can do that, but like I said, the price of that is astronomical,” Mr Prince said.
“And then we're, like I said, we had 69 here and I believe that it'll be cut back to 50; we're not sure on the exact figure at the moment, we’re waiting on (Greater Shepparton City) Council to do the planning.
“So that's a lot of accommodation that is going to be missed in the Shepparton and Mooroopna areas when everybody's fighting for accommodation at the moment.”
New residence: Owners of Aspen Lodge Russell and Yvonne Prince are now homeless as their residence at the caravan park will also have to be replaced.
Photo by
Murray Silby
The scale of the damage has left the Princes themselves homeless and reliant on friends in Tatura for accommodation.
“We're living with friends at the moment that come in and help us as well,” Mr Prince said.
“They're in their 70s and they've been very good.
“It's very hard when you're looking at your life savings, and, and the good that we do for the community as well and not being able to keep that up.
“I’ve had several cries over the last couple of months.”
A light on the horizon for the Princes is state funding promised during a public announcement for up to 30 new cabins at Aspen Lodge, but it is unclear exactly what the number will turn out to be, as they have not actually heard from the government yet on detail of the plan — and with a great deal of infrastructure work to be done first, the broader outcomes remain unclear.
Mr Prince said he was largely happy with the emergency response so far though, during a difficult time for many.
“We're getting great support from council at the moment,” he said.
“It's going to take a while, anything up to three to six months before we could probably reopen again.
“Personally for me, my wife, we find it very tough because this was our life savings and our only means of income, and we've lost everything.
“It's tough for us, we've even spoken about ourselves, which is just packing up and walking away, but we don't do that, we're fighters and we're just, we'll just keep fighting on.”
