By Adam Carey
Former Monash University chancellor and 2011 Australian of the year Simon McKeon has lived in McCrae for decades. His home is perched on a hill that slopes steeply to the bay.
Water defines the landscape in this sought-after slice of the Mornington Peninsula, but rarely as dramatically as on Tuesday, when a house downhill from McKeon’s was crushed in a landslide.
Former Monash University chancellor Simon McKeon, pictured in McCrae, says a thorough investigation into water and erosion is needed.Credit: Joe Armao
It was the second landslip in the same street this month and followed a major one in 2022.
McKeon says the near-disaster should be the final warning for authorities to get to the bottom of the long-running issue of underground flows and soil erosion in this highly urbanised pocket of the peninsula, before more damage is done.
In this week’s landslide, a house that sold for $2.1 million in 2023 was destroyed and left in pieces at the base of the cliff. A council worker who was on the scene at the time of the collapse was injured and taken to Frankston Hospital.
McKeon says he is “sad for the people who are really affected there, but of course, we know that it could have been so much worse”.
Eleven homes have been evacuated, and emergency services fear that further rainfall could cause more slippage.
Even though McKeon is uphill from evacuated home owners, “there’s no reason why the issues that they have today, I might not have in 10 years’ time”, he says.
McKeon says Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and South East Water should begin a thorough investigation into the cause of underground water movements in the area, and pin down who is responsible for dealing with the problem.
The landslide scene on Wednesday.Credit: Joe Armao
“It has taken a landslip to get to this point, but I’m really hoping some good will come out of this now. It’s not the first landslip. There’s been a number of little landslips along here in recent times, all caused by a common issue of water mobility, so let’s once and for all get some smart people to tell us what we should do.
“I don’t think we can put our head in the sand and say, just because it’s expensive, we don’t want to know about it.”
Residents of the evacuated homes met with emergency services in Dromana on Wednesday at a closed-door meeting, of which The Age obtained a recording.
SES Sorrento incident controller Mark Daw told attendees that underground water was still running through the area and further slippages were possible.
South East Water and the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council were pumping water out of a sinkhole they located about seven metres underground.
“There is so much investigation still going on, and we are trying to give you as many answers as we possibly can,” Daw said.
“I understand there’s been issues up on that hill for quite a while, stormwater that runs continuously, and I think a lot of that has to do with springs.
“There are a lot of old water courses up there that we’re just starting to try and get our head around. We also understand there’s been a lot of building up there, and we don’t know if someone’s accidentally diverted something off their property.”
McCrae resident and Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Association president Peter Clarke said locals were used to seeing water rising out of the drains.
“It’s not a surprise to anybody,” he said of the latest landslip. “You can often see water bubbling up in certain spots. At times there is water running constantly even when it is dry.”
Clarke, who ran unsuccessfully for a place on the council in November, said he wanted to push the council to do more to manage stormwater, including its impact on the coastline.
The council said on Wednesday that it could not comment on the source of the water.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Anthony Marsh said: “We are still working with the emergency services and state authorities to secure the site and investigate the circumstances surrounding the landslip. Until investigations are complete, we cannot comment on the likely cause.”
Nick and Kellie Moran, the owners of the destroyed house, released a statement on LinkedIn, saying the family were still in shock, but were grateful nobody died in Tuesday’s “very significant landslip”.
“Our thoughts are for the injured Mornington Peninsula Shire employee who we understand is in a stable condition,” they wrote.
The landslip had occurred from above and onto their property, and they had engaged a lawyer and insurance to work through the civil issues, they said.
With Sarah Danckert and Angus Delaney
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