General News
19 May, 2025
Robert and Joan Johns family farm settled in 1884
The farmland owned by Robert and Joan Johns at Dooen has been continuously owned by the Johns family since 1884, when William and Janet Johns settled in the region.
They chose to build on a small rise in the centre of the property and enjoyed the 360-degree view with views to the Grampians and to Mt Arapiles.
It was the days before electrical pumps, and the difficulty of getting water to the house by gravity resulted in a house being built on a lower level later to ensure the water supply.
Trees still stand where the original homestead was.
infrastructure.
Their efforts were rewarded by the Wimmera Development Association a number of years ago when they were awarded Agribusiness of the Year.
This award highlights the care and development that have gone into the land.
But all that could change as the prime agricultural land is inside the Avonbank Mine footprint, now the subject of an application for a mining licence by WIM Resource PL.
The threat of losing the property for decades has hit the owner's Robert and Joan Johns, hard.
While they no longer live on the farm, it is managed by their son Dean, a Nuffield Scholar, and their daughter Maryla.
It is especially hard because they began their married life on a portion of the land which was a wedding gift from the family and will be dug up if the mine proceeds.
In their submission to the Environmental Effects Study, they highlighted the recent data from Elders Australia who voted the Wimmera as the second best cropping region in Australia for 2022, their property is part of that assessment.
It is this that also concerns the Johns family, that the land is recognised for its ability to produce prime produce but will be mined instead over 36 years.
On behalf of parents Robert and Joan, the prepared statement said, "These Australian farms have contributed significantly over the 139 (now 140) years and we are appalled at the prospect of the planned removal of homes.
"We recommend that no farm should be removed as this will have lifelong devastating impacts on family and generations to come," they said.
"The existing rail, electricity, roads, port options available through local and regional rail, water and gas facilities, and potential workforce are all benefits that were installed to benefit landowners, not mines," they said.
WIM Resources has promoted the Avonbank Mineral Sand project as being viable because of the low start-up costs due to the location of the land holdings, but landowners like the Johns fear their access to these facilities may be affected in the future.
The Robert and Joan Johns family and the neighbouring Chris and Donna Johns family stand to lose a significant amount of land to the mine due to the potentially high concentration of critical minerals under the soil they own.
Generational farming to this family has ties to the past and to the future; a family reunion was held don't on the property on March 28 2004, to commemorate the lives of the ancestors, especially the early settlers, William and Janet.
A monument was erected in honour of the pioneers who settled the land and prepared a future for the generations.
Dean Johns said the prospects of the farm being mined have played heavily on his parent's health and happiness.
"We honour many of the traditions of people who came before us, we honour grave sites and property, and so we should, but it seems that in this case, we don't have a say," he said.
Dean is the president of the Mine Free Wimmera Farms Inc and has campaigned for greater understanding for farmers and the imporance of prime agricultural land in the production of food in a clean green environment.
The neighbouring Johns' farm has the ashes of one of the descendants of the family interred there, and that has also weighed heavily on the wider family because they are inside the mine site, and to date, they have no confirmation of how they will be protected or if they will be.
WIM Resource Project manager Michael Winternitz told the Mail-Times the matter regarding the ashes was confidential and he couldn't confirm or discuss it.
