IT may be the town with no beer, but now things have become even worse, with the residents of Matong succumbing to weed.
But it’s not the wacky baccy variety. Since Friday, the tiny farming community east of Narrandera, in southern NSW, has been overrun by hairy panic weed — a noxious tumbleweed also known as witchgrass that can be fatal to livestock.
The spiky menace began blowing into Matong, population 194, on Thursday — piling up so high that it is clogging doorways and blocking windows.
Locals have few places of refuge after the town’s pub burned down in 2007, leaving only an antique store making up the main street. “There’s not much you can do but stay inside,” said Maryanne Costello, who mistook the weed for haze in the air on Friday.
“I woke up thinking it was very overcast or hazy because it was so dark. And when I looked at the window it was completely blocked by the weed. It was piled more than 6ft high.”
A Primary Industries pamphlet about animal health says the grass contains toxins which can cause serious liver damage, photosensitivity and jaundice in sheep. Signs of poisoning include swelling of the head or sunburn on the nose and ears of sheep.
Ironically, hairy panic weed is generally a sign that crop farmers have had a good year.
Retired farmer Milton Clifford, 85, said: “It grows in paddocks that haven’t been cropped in a while. What that means is that farmers have had a good enough crop that they have been able to leave another paddock empty for some time.
“I’ve been retired and living in this town for 20 years and I have seen it before, but never this bad.
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“This is the worst year. It is higher than our house and blocks you inside. We can’t get out. Our neighbours can’t get out. We have a big sliding glass door and we couldn’t see to the road. It’s a bloody nuisance.”
The Department of Primary Industries advises residents to wait for the grass to blow away.
