Hideaway Hills

Growing up in Hideaway Hills was difficult for Sam. His life changed drastically in a very short time. It all started at the age of six.

One day at Hideaway Hills Station, the three thousand acre station owned by Claudia Carr, a contractor appeared. He was extremely interested in the station. He wanted to develop the station into a few houses within four years. After that time had passed he wanted to completely develop the station and surrounding area into a town, his offer was that the Carr’s were allowed a two acre allotment and that the town would keep the original name of the station which was Hideaway Hills. The Carr’s agreed on the terms of the contract.

After the contract went through, people started visiting the area, taking in the views, finding a place that would be suitable for them and then leaving. A few weeks later they would return with the contractor and a team of surveyors. Then a few more weeks later there would be fences, paths and driveways.

The neighbourhood developed so much in such a short time that soon there was not enough water for the town to survive. Something had to be done. If nothing was done, all the plants and natural forests would die.  

Claudia Carr decided she would write a letter to the government asking them if they could help. 3 weeks later she received a letter back from them, saying that they would help out the Hideaway Hills community by constructing a dam. The dam would be located over 500 kilometres away. Therefore the water had to be piped the whole way to Hideaway Hills.

The trouble was that the people who lived where the dam was planned to go weren’t very happy about it. They protested day and night with signs saying “No Dam”. They also held rallies in Hideaway Hills and other surrounding towns.

But Hideaway Hills still had no water. It was a crisis. If they didn’t receive water or rain in a few months all the plants would die. If all the plants died no one would visit Hideaway Hills. Hideaway Hills had a lovely forest and people would come to see it. They would stay for days exploring it. The forest made business thrive for Hideaway Hills.

Unfortunately, the dam could not go ahead. So the government had to think of another idea. They thought about setting up a desalination plant but that would have to be too far away. So they decided on giving rebates to anyone in Hideaway Hills who bought a water tank and got it filled.

One year later Hideaway Hills received the highest rainfall percentage ever recorded in Australia.