Melrose farmer Andrew Walter says this season is his last chance to beat drought

It’s been a long, dry three years for the Walter family since little Lucy was born. Her father is determined to keep the dream alive – and he’s got one last shot.

The sun rose not long after we arrived at the Walter’s Melrose property, revealing the majestic Mt Remarkable National Park a one kilometre high, like a giant frozen majestic wave over this once fertile plains.

Three-year-old Lucy Walter, in a blue chequered dress, cowgirl boots, rolling a large chicken feather in her fingers as she watched the vast plains illuminate in the dawn.

It’s been a long, dry three years for the Walter family since little Lucy was born.

Andrew Walter, 45, is the fifth generation to run the 717 hectare family property 277 km north of Adelaide and he hopes one of his three daughters will make it at least a sixth.

This is not just a business, it’s a way of life; these plains birth dreams of all sorts; magical adventure walks, a flying fox, shrieks of joy mud pies, castles, spells and lost worlds.

Lucy is certain that an old cow skull lying in the field – does actually belong to an dead dinosaur.

Lucy Walter next to her “dinosaur skull”. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“I would not want my children growing up anywhere else” he said.

They have to get through this winter first.

Last year hundreds of thousands dollars were spent on wheat, chickpea and lentil crops that didn’t grow at all.

This year, having lost most of his equity, he has had to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bank he’ll only be able to pay back if the new crop he just planted does better.

“Weather does come in cycles, we have good years and bad years, good years usually make up for the bad years but it’s never been as bad as this,” he said.

The Bureau of Meterology’s Annual Climate report released in February showed that the area surrounding Melrose recorded its lowest ever annual rainfall total in 2024.

Some of the specific numbers do tell a story – Melrose has had 3.4mms of rain this year and just 0.2 in the whole of March.

The 162-year average is 110.9mms for January to the start of April.

But perhaps these numbers paint a more acute picture: three – the number of jobs Mr Walter has to work; and 4.30am to 9.30pm are the hours he works to keep his farm alive.

Andrew Walter strives to keep his family legacy and his culture alive. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Lucy in the land that their family love. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“The bank has said that is it, if we can’t repay these loans – and we won’t be able to if these don’t grow – they can’t help us anymore and then we are really stuck.”

In the chilly morning air, exuding a warm toughness, Mr Walter explained that they need 50ml in April and then 50ml from June to August.

Last year over the same period they got a grand total of 16mm which did little but delay a few dust storms

As we walked back to the house under the fading pink of partially clouded skies, Mr Walter casually suggested to Lucy she was “a muppet.”

She looked up at me and says earnestly and annoyed “I’m not a muppet. Dad is”.

It’s a proposition she repeats again with the utmost sincerity as we take off our shoes a minute later in their house foyer.

The house he built six years ago still has a fresh smell. As we sit at the kitchen table, Mr Walters make us fresh coffee and hot buttered hot cross buns. Lucy works on a colouring book.

Mr Walters suggested a spare seat might be a good spot for the Premier Peter Malinauskas, who unlike opposition leader Vincent Tarzia – is yet to come out here.

He said he doesn’t want a government hand-out just to make low interest government loans available to drought-stricken farmers to help see them through to greener pastures.

“We have a deep connection to the land, we don’t want to loose it” Mr Walter said.

The alternative might not just be a loss of our food sources, but the loss of an enduring, ancient culture and way of life.