In the David vs Goliath battle of farmers and industrial renewables, Colin Fenton didn’t mince his words in a showdown with a Transmission Company Victoria attempting to gain access to the family’s 102-year family farming legacy at Dingwell.

“We’ve been through wars, floods and fire, by hell we’re a bloody resilient group,” stated Colin, who, in his 80s, stood firm with his wife Mary and a group of supporters, who had rushed to their side for one of two attempted property entries this week.

The paddock behind the human blockade is sown down to lucerne, and Colin points out that it is one of the first irrigation farms in Gannawarra that will be ridden roughshod over the panic to roll out renewables.

“We need everything put on hold, a national pause, and have a good look at what we really need for Australia, for power,” said Colin.

“I don’t think anyone has sat back and said, ‘This is the requirements we need in Australia for power.’ It’s just like an express train. It’s out of control, and it’s headed down the line.”

“They’re just pouring money, and the average person’s got no idea that it’s going to bite them.”

Amongst the crowd is Mick Shepard. Mick and wife Kath left their Tragowel property after the family farm became swamped by renewables and the neighbouring terminal station.

“The best thing we did was move away, just to ease the pain, or put aside what’s going on the family farm, the old man’s heartbroken about it.” said Mick.

The protests this week come after a spate of others along the VNI West line in Victoria. It is understood that the government agency is seeking access to the properties to conduct environmental surveys before construction.

The Fenton’s farm is also littered with remnants of another government walkover, water reform. Colin points to the once tree-lined channel still littered with pushed-up trees and debris of a project that ran out of money, as it wiped out almost 2,000 kilometres of some of Victoria’s best wildlife corridors. The irony of a plan to save the environment, wiping out some of the best feeding, breeding and refuge spots for native animals, isn’t lost on me, much like converting gravity-fed channels to pipelines during an energy crisis.

The politician’s energy transition hasn’t missed the irony train either, stamping industrial decentralised industrial renewable projects across our rural environment, to feed the energy demands of a concrete-clad metropolitan jungle.

Like many family farmers, the concerns of the Fenton’s and their ilk are not for themselves, but for future generations, summed up perfectly by Colin. “I’m not concerned one bit for myself, I’m 83, I’ll be gone before they even put the first tower in, I suspect, but it’s the grandkids that I’m concerned about.”

A wise man once said true leaders think in terms of five generations, a far cry from decisions driven by election cycles.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 27 November 2025.