From the day that it was announced that Sallys Flat near Hill End was one of six shortlisted sites for the construction of a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, the people of the village and surrounding region have been sick with worry.
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That’s not to say they sat back and waited to see what would happen.
Within minutes of learning about the decision through the media they started putting together a campaign to ensure they would not be further shortlisted.
It caught the government representatives by surprise, leading them to admit they had not expected a small community of farmers to be so organised.
Community members presented a united front that never wavered as they organised community meetings and sat down for talks with senior government officials and surrounding councils.
They also travelled to Canberra where, along with representatives of the five other shortlisted communities, they unsuccessfully attempted to speak with Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg.
Yesterday that commitment paid off, as Hill End was dropped as a possible site for the nuclear waste dump. Perhaps it all seemed too hard.
Although, in fairness, Minister Frydenberg did promise earlier that the facility would not be built at Hill End if the majority of the community was opposed to it.
Barndioota Station, one of the sites in South Australia, was not so lucky.
The decision is bad news for Indigenous groups in the area, who have also been fighting not to have the radioactive waste facility on their country.
The conflict has left the Hill End campaigners torn. They feel it is hard to be ecstatic about their own victory when another community is faced with the grim reality that it is likely nuclear waste will be housed nearby.
