By Dongyun Kwon
Adventure Dog 2024 was suddenly relocated from Wandin Park Estate in Gruyere to Yarra Glen Recreation Reserve and Showground with about two weeks left until the event.
It was on 15 March when Wandin Park Estate co-owner William Anker first received a phone call from a representative from the Yarra Ranges Council (YRC).
“They realised, after they discussed the event, that we didn’t have a permit to run the Adventure Dog on our property,” he said.
“They said they would get back to us regarding that, but we didn’t hear anything.”
Mr Anker eventually received another email from the council around 10.10pm on 22 March that Wandin Park Estate could not run the event.
“Under our understanding, we thought we had a permit because we had gone through with this person to tie up in planning back in 2020 and we had been granted our existing use rights permit in 2021 because we’ve been running events at Wandin Park for over 40 years,” he said.
“Apparently, we didn’t have a permit to run this event even though we had been running this event since 2018.”
Mr Anker claimed that the YRC took off the advertisement about Adventure Dog 2024 from its website after 22 April.
“We’re quite devastated. We don’t see why the event had to be cancelled from our property,” he said.
“It’s not a moneymaker for us, it’s just a great thing to help back in the community. The Adventure Dog made $100,000 last year, which was a great result.
“To be honest, it’s not a huge effect to us, but it is definitely a detrimental effect to the main organiser [Animal Aid] because they had less than two weeks and it was too late for them to get the event off the ground.”
YRC planning and sustainable futures director Kath McClusky said council officers have spoken to the owners and their representatives of Wandin Park Estate several times during 2023 and 2024 in relation to holding events at the property.
“During those conversations, Council clarified what type of events could occur without the need to follow a planning permit process and what could not,” she said.
“Following several conversations with officers, where planning processes were not followed by the land owners, Council officers had no choice but to inform Wandin Park Estate that they did not have planning permission for the Animal Aid event.
“Council has an obligation to ensure that significant public events are run safely, to ensure that risks to members of the public are managed and minimised, and to protect amenity for community members. It also ensures that local residents are informed about the event that has been applied for and make submissions.
“This is why events on private land may require permits to operate – these permits assess traffic management and emergency management, as well as how the proposed event sites will manage the number of attendees safely.”
Despite the permit issue, Animal Aid successfully wrapped up Adventure Dog 2024 with over 840 participants and raised $95,000.
Animal Aid event manager Elle Ammann said the last-minute venue change caused difficulties in creating a new course, site and communicating with the participants, volunteers, vendors, local community and stakeholders.
“The last-minute venue change created a huge logistical challenge. We were shocked,” she said.
“The funds we raise from Adventure Dog are vital to Animal Aid’s daily operations and welfare mission. The impacts of cancelling Adventure Dog would have had very real impacts on the animals we care for.
“Cancelling Adventure Dog 2024 just wasn’t an option. Our community loves this event. Participants were coming from ACT, SA, and QLD. These people had booked their accommodation and made their travel plans months in advance. We needed to make Adventure Dog happen no matter what.”
Ms McClusky said YRC highly values its relationship with Animal Aid and supports their work in animal welfare.
“We understand the significance of this event for their fundraising activities, and are disappointed by the circumstances,” she said.
“As soon as Council became aware that the planning permit process was not an option, an alternative location to host the Adventure Dog event was found and we are glad this important event was able to run.
“We are committed to working with Animal Aid and assisting them through the permit process for future events.”
