NSW Police, Victoria Police and members of the Australian Defence Force established checkpoints on the border throughout 2020 and 2021 to help control the virus, requiring local residents to have a permit to enter.
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
Sunday evening's celebration of the triumphant World Show Ski Championships held special significance for organisers and team members who experienced the heartbreak of the cancelled Mulwala event in 2020.
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It was exactly five years to the date (March 22) when former Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced all ‘non-essential’ businesses would be required to close for six weeks, following the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic.
The 2020 event was primed for action, with teams honing their routines at Max Kirwan Ski Park. However, they were quickly blindsided by the immediate cancellation and in a mad flurry hastily packed and booked flights home, leaving local organisers to grapple with the aftermath of an event that never materialised.
Soon after, the Prime Minister announced stay at home orders, asking Australians to only leave their home for essential shopping, medical care and exercise.
A ban on travelling overseas was imposed following the death of a woman who contracted Covid-19 on a passenger cruise ship.
The day the world was cancelled, five years ago this week.
Locally, many events fell victim to the initial 500-person cap imposed on public gatherings before being drastically reduced further.
Major events including the IWWF World Show Ski Championships, the annual Yarrawonga Easter Tournament, the Easter Under the Southern Stars rock concert, the GP Formula Boat Races and the Festival of 1000 Voices, local sporting matches on the eve of the season start all fell to the pandemic restrictions.
At the time, the true severity and highly infectious nature of COVID-19 were not fully understood by the public.
The duration of stay-at-home orders remained a mystery, with experts and officials unable to predict the long-term impact of the pandemic.
Belmore Street Yarrawonga and Melbourne Road Mulwala became eerily quiet as businesses tried to put their best foot forward and switch how they offered their services in a ‘Covid safe’ way.
For the first time in history, ANZAC Day was marked from home, as people gathered at the front of their driveways at 6am to honour the fallen.
Over the next few months, phrases such as ‘social distancing’, ‘flatten the curve’, ‘iso’, ‘PCR test’ and ‘border bubble’ would become a normal part of people’s vocabulary.
The biggest shock to the area arrived in July 2020 when the border between NSW and Victoria was slammed shut for the first time in 100 years following a surge of COVID-19 cases in Victoria.
For 138 days, a massive police operation was set up on the border with 14,000 police officers and 1,200 ADF personnel manning 27 checkpoints across the state.
The closure caused complete mayhem for border locals with passes and special exemptions needed to cross the border.
Many businesses suffered from the consequences of the border closure.
But, with many expecting 2021 to be a better year with less restrictions, the pain didn’t end there.
Border closures and lockdowns became the politicians preferred way to deal with spikes in Covid-19 cases.
Often there was little notice given before sweeping changes came through, upending people’s lives and creating a dangerous situation for those who needed to travel significant distances to get home.
The border region bore the brunt of lockdowns, with residents experiencing a significant toll on their morale and mental health.
ANZAC Day 2020 was commemorated only from the driveway of local homes for the first time in history.
