By Adam Carey
An inquiry into the January landslide that destroyed a house on the Mornington Peninsula and forced the ongoing, indefinite evacuation of eight properties will investigate whether factors including hillside building works and poor stormwater drainage were to blame. It will also look at whether the council adequately managed erosion risks in an area known for landslides.
The Allan government’s inquiry into the destructive McCrae landslide of January 14 – and three earlier landslides on the same steep hill in 2022 and 2025 – will also investigate the potential role of natural springs in the suburb, and a nearby burst water main discovered by residents in the days after the January 14 landslide.
Landslides have been a feature of the McCrae area for decades, but January’s was unusual because it happened during a dry period.Credit: Jason South
The damage and reconstruction bill for the January 14 landslide in McCrae is already estimated at $8 million and will cost Mornington Peninsula Shire ratepayers an average of $75 per household. Evacuation orders remain in place for eight homes in the vicinity, and two households are locked in legal disputes with the council.
Inquiry chair Renée Enbom KC said it was critical that the inquiry worked carefully, but also quickly, given the number of landslides that have happened in McCrae and the ongoing impact on residents.
“I am determined to make recommendations as quickly as possible as to the measures that need to be taken to prevent or mitigate the risk of another landslide,” Enbom said.
Enbom noted that a council worker had been badly injured in the January 14 landslide, that one family’s cherished holiday home was destroyed and that another household, whose property had been damaged in the 2022 landslide, had been denied access to their retirement home for well over two years, with no clarity on when or if they will be able to return.
“Those residents who have not returned home must be able to do so safely; those residents who are now back in their homes need to feel safe.”
In his introductory comments, counsel assisting, Mark Costello, KC, noted that the area had a history of landslides, including a major landslide in July 1952 during a period of record rainfall, which destroyed eight homes.
Eight destroyed homes in McCrae following a landslide in July 1952, as depicted on page one of The Age.Credit: The Age
“Whether or not it’s correct to describe the general area within McCrae as landslide-prone, it’s certainly the case that landslides are not unknown in the area,” Costello said.
He noted that landslides in 1952 and 2022 followed periods of record or near-record rainfall, unlike the January 14 landslide that sparked the inquiry, which occurred during a period of dry weather, with no major rain events. But soil at the top of the hill where the landslide occurred was observed to be saturated at the time of a smaller landslide on January 5. Residents also observed heavy water flows in their streets for weeks, which could have been caused by a burst water main.
“The water, we have been told, roared in the stormwater drainage system. It emerged through the roads. It pushed up and cracked the asphalt. It flowed down the streets,” Costello said.
The McCrae area where the landslides occurred is mostly built on a steep hillside between Arthurs Seat and Port Phillip Bay.
Costello noted that the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council had an unusual approach to applying erosion management overlays on properties, with six distinct overlays rather than one general overlay. None of those six overlays had been imposed on the houses caught up in the 2022 and 2025 landslides.
“Perhaps surprisingly given some of the history of this particular land, there was no erosion management overlay in respect of the subject of the landslide here,” he said.
The inquiry will probe whether an overlay would have altered the outcome of the McCrae landslides.
“We will consider both the shire’s actions in respect of the land at McCrae and more generally, the policy questions arising in respect of landslide prevention,” Costello said.
Several witnesses are due to speak before the ongoing inquiry this week, including geologists and geotechnical engineers, senior representatives from the council and South East Water.
The inquiry is due to report its findings by June 18.
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