Dookie forms part of the Goulburn Valley, widely known as the Food Bowl of Victoria for its extraordinary agricultural productivity.

The region contributes significantly to the state’s:

• fruit and orchard produce (peaches, pears, apples, stone fruit)

• dairy production and processing

• vegetable supply

• grain and oilseed production

• national and export food processing (SPC, Bega, Freedom Foods, Unilever)

• food manufacturing and logistics industries

The Greater Shepparton region directly underpins Victoria’s food security and supplies major supermarket chains, processors, and export markets.

Dookie’s role in the food bowl

Dookie is the dryland cropping engine of the Goulburn Valley. It produces some of the states largest volumes for:

• wheat

• canola

• barley

• pulses

• rotational cropping that supports dairy & feed supply
  

Key facts:

• Wheat yields average 5–8 t/ha

• Canola yields average 3–4 t/ha

• Dookie contributes 15% of GrainCorp’s total Victorian canola intake

• Up to 20% of canola processed at the Numurkah crush plant comes from the Dookie district
  

Three local farms have also been selected for GrainCorp NEXT, a national low-emissions canola supply chain program involving only 12 farms Australia-wide. This underscores the region’s importance not just to food security, but to emissions-reduction initiatives and biofuel production.

Once strategic agricultural land is fragmented or compromised by permanent infrastructure, it cannot be replaced.

Protecting Dookie means protecting the future food security of Victoria.

The Dookie district is not marginal farmland. It is high-performing, strategic agricultural land that plays a critical role in Victoria’s food and biofuel supply chains.

Dookie’s soils including the Shepparton Formation and basalt-derived loams are classified as high-capability agricultural land.

This land:

• produces consistent, high-performing yields

• withstands climate variability better than many regions

• supports critical food, feed and biofuel supply chains

• contains decades of farming investment and infrastructure

The REZ would fragment or remove land that cannot be relocated or replicated.

Victoria has committed to protecting Strategic Agricultural Land — this proposal contradicts that commitment.

The region contains significant Aboriginal cultural features, including:

• greenstone and chert outcrops

• quarry sites

• artefact scatters

• ancient stream beds and drainage lines

• undisturbed hill and plain surfaces likely containing unrecorded sites
  

Current planning relies heavily on Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Sensitivity mapping that is based on coarse, statewide geological datasets. These datasets do not capture many of the known cultural features present in the Dookie landscape.

Importantly:

• The absence of mapped sites does not mean an absence of cultural heritage

• The region has not undergone comprehensive on-ground cultural heritage surveys

• Unlike heavily modified irrigation districts, much of the Dookie landscape remains relatively intact, increasing the likelihood of unrecorded cultural sites

Planning decisions are therefore being made using incomplete information, placing cultural heritage at unacceptable risk.

The unique geology of the region is of high cultural heritage landscape scale significance. 

The REZ threatens these values.

The proposed REZ footprint overlaps:

• Brolga habitat

• wetlands and natural drainage lines

• remnant native vegetation

• broad floodplain systems across the Dookie plains

Since the decommissioning of historic stock and domestic channels, water now moves more naturally across the landscape. This has altered flood behaviour and increased reliance on natural floodways.

Despite this:

• No region-wide floodplain or cumulative hydrology assessment has been undertaken

• The potential for infrastructure to block, redirect or intensify flood flows has not been properly assessed

• Downstream impacts on farmland, ecosystems and wetlands remain unclear

Large-scale infrastructure in flood-prone agricultural landscapes carries long-term risks that must be properly understood before decisions are made.

Dookie is a growing tourism destination and a place of exceptional landscape value.

The region supports:

• Mount Major Summit Walk — the only “mount” walk in the Goulburn Valley

• Dookie Rail Trail

• seasonal canola tourism

• Silo art trail

• cycling events

• weddings, retreats and regional hospitality businesses reliant on scenic views

Mount Major provides panoramic views across the surrounding plains — yet no comprehensive visual impact assessment has been undertaken from:

• the Mount Major summit

• walking trails

• tourism corridors

• key viewing points across the district
  
  

Industrial-scale energy infrastructure would be visible for kilometres and would permanently alter the character of this landscape.

Key Visitor Assets

• Dookie Rail Trail — A signature attraction offering two routes (9.6 km and 6.4 km return) through rolling agricultural land, vineyards, olive groves, and native bushland. Interpretive signage explains Dookie’s agricultural and cultural heritage, while seating and viewing points create a welcoming experience for families and casual cyclists. Stage 2 (2020) provides a broader view across the valley between Mount Major and Mount Saddleback, with ongoing plans to extend the trail to Shepparton, strengthening regional connectivity

• Mount Major Circuit — A 5 km return walking trail offering panoramic views of the Dookie Hills and Goulburn Valley; the only mount walk in the region, making it a unique destination for hikers and photographers

• Mulana Nin Iyoga (“Spirit of Stone”) Walking Trail — A 4.6 km cultural and interpretive trail on the Dookie side of Mount Major, providing insight into natural and cultural values of the area with interpretive signage and 360-degree summit views

• Nomadic Silo Art and Flowering Gum — Iconic local landmarks combining creativity and nature. The silo art and 125-year-old gum tree are celebrated photographic subjects and reflect Dookie’s identity as a creative rural community

• Spring Canola Bloom — major seasonal tourism draw

• Professional Photography Hot Spot - Dookie’s panoramic landscapes and rural authenticity make it a favourite backdrop for local photographers and their clients for family, maternity and wedding photography. 

Tourism provides a growing source of local income, benefiting:

• accommodation

• hospitality

• event venues

• retail

• cycling groups

Industrial-scale energy infrastructure in view of these landscapes would cause:

• loss of scenic amenity

• reduced visitor numbers

• harm to local businesses

• a permanent change to the cultural and visual identity of the region

The GSCC community survey revealed:

• 84% of residents had no opportunity to participate in consultation

• 66% felt “not informed”

• 74% oppose the REZ

• 76% said the boundary selection process was flawed

• Not a single respondent described the consultation as:

  • transparent

  • timely

  • inclusive

This represents a fundamental failure of process. Community concern is not isolated or anecdotal.

These results point to a process that has failed to meaningfully engage with affected landholders, Traditional Owners, businesses and residents.

Good planning requires transparency, accurate data and genuine community participation — all of which have been lacking.

The community is not anti-renewable energy.

We support:

• solar and wind energy

• responsible development

• emissions reduction

• climate action

But these must not come at the cost of food security, cultural heritage, biodiversity, or community wellbeing.

Dookie is simply the wrong place for the REZ.

Wind Resource and Infrastructure Suitability

An independent RMIT University wind study conducted over a 12-month period found the Dookie district to be unsuitable for large-scale wind energy generation, due to consistently low and inconsistent average wind speeds across the Mount Major and surrounding plains.

This technical assessment highlights that the region’s climatic and topographic characteristics are not aligned with high-efficiency wind energy zones. Despite this, the findings of that study have not been referenced or incorporated in VicGrid’s current REZ planning or constraint mapping.

We request that VicGrid obtain and review the RMIT wind-resource data before any further zoning or infrastructure designation is made, to ensure that site selection is evidence-based and consistent with the State’s renewable energy performance criteria.