General News
16 December, 2025
Lake Fyans tensions slowly easing
LAKE Fyans Holiday Park operators Darrin and Janine Palensky have expressed cautious optimism about potentially finding some common ground with their landlords, with a County Court judgement paving the way for potential peace.
The Lake Fyans Recreational Area Committee of Management, which looks after the lake on behalf of GWM Water, had insisted on a substantial rent increase for the holiday park, and when the Palenskys pushed back, the matter ended up in a courtroom where it was determined the valuation on which the committee was basing its case was essentially worthless.
The court found the nature of the lease — determined to be a retail lease — qualifies for a full suite of retail-tenancy protections.
Now that the case has concluded, Ms Palensky confirmed that lines of communication have opened with the committee and that they’ve already taken several small steps toward addressing issues plaguing the ageing holiday park.
She said a plumber had attended the park to resolve problems with tree roots blocking sewerage, and that electrical work would soon be carried out in one of the toilet blocks.
The Palenskys hope this marks the beginning of a more positive chapter in their relationship with the committee, after what has been a rocky road for more than a decade.
The remaining elephant in the room is the lease itself, which the Palenskys would dearly love to see extended to give the park’s annual site holders certainty about the future of their assets on-site.
Extending the lease would also mean the Palenskys could attract a buyer if they decide to retire from operating the park, because with only a few years left on the current term, it simply isn’t long enough to entice a purchaser.
“The community loves this place,” Ms Palensky said, “This place means so much to people.”
She described generations of families who have pitched tents, taught their children to ski, paddled in the shallows and gathered for long weekends at Lake Fyans. Many of the park’s annuals, she said, have been coming for decades, some since they were children themselves.
“It’s not just a holiday for them, it’s tradition, it’s their memories, it’s where their kids grew up.”
Ms Palensky can’t stand the thought of not being able to sell the park when the time comes, because of the devastating effect it would have on the community if she were forced to simply close and sell off infrastructure piece by piece.
The flow-on effect to local businesses, the emotional toll for families who rely on the lake as their summer home, and the blow to the wider tourism economy all weighed heavily on her mind.
And while some people assume the park could simply close and reopen under a new operator, Ms Palensky stressed that this is not possible.
“You’re closing the park down, you’re looking at a vacant park for a minimum of a few years, maybe five plus,” she said, explaining that if the holiday park stopped operating when the current lease expires, it would have to be reregistered from scratch — a process governed by today’s stringent compliance codes, not the ones that applied decades ago when much of the existing infrastructure was built.
That would require all-new approvals, all-new certification and extensive, expensive rebuilding. Roads, sewerage, power supply, fire systems, parking layouts, accessibility standards, stormwater management, safety audits, electrical compliance, potable water certification and onsite waste systems would all need to meet current regulations.
“It’s not just putting up a few cabins,” she said, “The place would have to meet all the current standards… all of them.”
Her estimate was blunt: the cost of reinstating the park and bringing it up to modern code would likely reach tens of millions of dollars.
“Who’s going to spend that under a 21-year Crown land lease?” she asked. “No-one, it’s not commercially feasible.”
That scenario — a shut-down park, an empty foreshore and years of construction — is what keeps the Palenskys awake at night, not for themselves but for the people who rely on Lake Fyans as one of the region’s most treasured recreational spaces.
“It would be heartbreaking,” she said, “Not just for us, for everyone.”
Read More: Stawell