Mirriwoong Farm in deep trouble

For Don McLeod it is the end of a dream.

The largest mango farm in WA and one of the largest in Australia looks set to be leased out or sold.

The Miriwoong Farm on Ivanhoe Road is beset with problems surrounding loan repayments and grant funding.

The farm was divested to the Kununurra Waringarri Aboriginal Corporation in 1992 and the first mangoes were planted in 1994.

Now there are 100 hectares of mangoes of various types to suit various markets.

For farm manager Don McLeod, it is a sad end to a dream to set up a big undertaking that could have supplied plenty of work and income for Aboriginal people.

A long-term resident of the Ord, Don sold his Packsaddle property to take up management of the farm and set up his packing equipment at the farm.

Now he has been told he will be evicted and he can have the coming crop in exchange for his packing equipment - a gamble he is not prepared to take on; the equipment is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He has a lease on the packing shed and is digging in his toes.

Don says he is going nowhere until he is paid the $63,000 he is owed and then he will decide what to do with his machinery.

Friction between Waringarri and the farm has evolved over funding, non-funding and mortgaging.

Don says Waringarri was paid $8000 to do the accounting for the farm but nothing had happened.

"The accounting practices in Waringarri in the last six years have been appalling," he said.

Now Miriwoong Farm is being wound up and negotiations are underway to get someone to step in and take this year's crop off.

The farm's remaining area has been leased out for sugar cane production.

The other option is to sell the farm.

Don was told last week that security guards were to be sent around to evict him.

His solicitor faxed the relevant parties, warning them of action if he was evicted and police in Kununurra monitored the situation, but nothing came of it.

In May 2001 the farm was valued at more than $4.5 million.

Between 40 and 60 percent of its workforce have been Aboriginal people, who have received significant training.

Now all that is almost certain to cease, unless an agreement can be hammered out with the new lessee.