General News
18 May, 2025
Jim Hepworth is saddened by fractured communities
Jim Hepworth has farmed his whole life, and during that time he has enjoyed the warm, friendly dependability of the community he has lived in, but that has changed and Jim is not happy about it.
Tired of being overlooked by the government and big companies, and upset about what is happening to his community, this fourth-generation sheep and cereal farmer has decided to speak out.
"Family and neighbours, they're your life in the country, and it's been that way since 1874 when my family began farming in the Wimmera Mallee region," he said.
"If you had an issue, you talked about it.
"If you landed on hard times, neighbours were the first people to pitch in and lend a hand, but that has all changed," he said.
Jim says the Aston Donald Corporation Mineral Sands Mine Project and the influx of renewables have hit his community hard, and now you "don't know who your friend is or whom you can trust," he says.
"We not only paid for our land with dollars, we paid for it with blood, sweat, and tears."
"We faced drought, death, and subsequent death duties.
Jim says his family nearly lost the farm in the 1950's but they worked hard and are still here today.
"It takes a lot to be a farmer," he says.
Jim has seven children, and six are on farms.
"Farming is in the blood."
Jim was married for 63 years, and they worked hard to improve the farm while bringing up six children.
Losing his wife three years ago was tough.
"She was against all this, too," he said.
Jim says the worry about the mine and renewables on farming land is heartbreaking and is taking its toll on families in the district.
"The mine is about 6 kilometres from our home and we'll lose some of our land to the mine, but others will lose their homes," he says.
The Hepworth family has farmed their land for 5 generations, and Jim has a 16-year-old grandson who wants to carry on the farm.
He would be the sixth-generation Hepworth farmer, but now that is uncertain.
Jim says he thinks about it day and night, "There should have been more community meetings, and the community should have had more information," he says.
"They told us lies."
Jim concedes that some of the people spinning the benefits of the mine are probably nice people, but they are just paid marketers, and he feels sorry for them because they don't realise what they are doing to people.
"We just want some honesty amongst us all."
Before the mines, Jim says if neighbours wanted to sell land for whatever reason, drought or family death, they would tell you over the fence or at the post office when you caught up and give you a chance to buy it.
"But that's all changed!"
"Now they're selling to these big companies and signing agreements with confidentiality clauses, and it's caused division in our community like I've never seen before," he said.
"The bitterness is terrible.
"You don't know who your friend is anymore."
"People have the right to sell to whomever they want to, but once they'd have talked to you about it first and given neighbours a chance."
But the saddest part for Jim is the loss of cohesion in the community.
