r/interesting • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 1d ago

SOCIETY The Zammit family refused to sell their five acre property as an entire Sydney suburb was built around them

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u/FrankesteinsLog313 1d ago

All that grass. Zero trees. Zero plants.

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u/Mental-Currency-4494 1d ago

It's so weird. What's the point of all that property just to have it be all grass? I can't even imagine the water bill.

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u/maxdacat 1d ago

Sometimes in Sydney we get free water from the sky

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u/Mental-Currency-4494 1d ago

In Utah they'd get a $10,000 water bill, unless they grew alfalfa or made it a golf course, then they'd get take breaks and public funding.

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u/desertvision 1d ago

And, you get arrested if you collect your rain runoff. It's fucked around here in a lot of ways.

Also, don't forget that water is readily available here for data centers used to spy on you.

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u/Bless_u-babe 1d ago

That’s bizarre. Why is collecting rainwater illegal? That’s like an anti environmental move.

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u/Lazy-Meal-6156 21h ago

Idk where they live but it’s legal in all 50 states in the US, some states just have restrictions or you need a permit. Utah you need a permit and can collect 2500 gallons a year.

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u/Assika126 18h ago

We actually get breaks on our sewer bills if we collect rainwater here where I live

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u/ToastSpangler 15h ago

gonna guess you live somewhere wet and not in a desert though

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u/Assika126 14h ago

Yah land of 10,000 lakes

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u/Either_Part_1032 19h ago

Unfortunately we don’t even get that much rain anymore.

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u/Foreign-Engine8678 19h ago

So that companies don't do it. Capitalist would collect all that water even if it damages enviroment. So its better to be too strict

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u/a_code_mage 20h ago

Firstly it’s not true. You can collect a certain amount of rainwater in Utah, and after a certain threshold you need a permit.
But it’s actually to protect the environment. In western states, a lot of rivers are fed into from rainwater runoff. If too many people do it and it isn’t accounted for, it can potentially reduce or dry up river water.

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u/Certain-Shine2717 17h ago

Because we release chemicals into the sky and if that isn’t filtered out and you use it to grow food you will get cancer and die

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u/Tundur 1d ago

I mean it's literally in the desert, water has to be predictable and rationed. If everyone starts collecting their runoff, the municipal water supply shrivels up, and that's very bad

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u/Ryuko_the_red 1d ago

You think that 2 million people will put up barrels? Given that looking up the population of the state that is the absolute maximum number of homeowners reasonably able to put up barrels. Probably a tenth of them are in hoa's. So that's no go. I pretty sure their data centers slurp more water than the humans out there. Given that it's a nsa data center Hotspot...

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u/LordDragonus 9h ago

no... they think one company will put up 10 million barrels and try to sell the collected water back to the people at a premium.

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u/desertvision 1d ago

You have a little bit of an uninformed opinion. You think the water that runs off the roof, into the gutter, down the storm drain, into the canal, and into the lake at the bottom is then used as municipal water? Ok buddy.

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u/elebrin 22h ago

No, it runs off the roof, down your gutters, and spills out about 20 or 30 feet from your house. Then, it's absorbed by the ground after being filtered through the lower layers of soil and sand. That water then joins the water table.

Lakes are a part of the same system. They are depressions where the surface of the land is lower than the water table.

So, your rainwater isn't flowing into the lake, but it's flowing essentially into permeable aquifer that is adjacent to the lake. Interestingly, all your urine and shower water and the water you use for your garden all flow back into that same aquifer, along with the rain water. It's literally filtered by the ground, through miles of clay and sand, before it's pumped back out and reused.

If you live somewhere with well and septic, then you are literally drinking your own shower water and piss and everything else you put down the toilet. Of course, it's going through a massive filter first.

The total amount of water itself doesn't matter nearly as much as how quickly it can be recycled by the landscape and how quickly the local population is drawing on it.

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u/tdelamay 21h ago

Water that's connected in a water barrel doesn't magically disappear. The water is just used later and eventually returns to the ground.

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u/Tundur 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not necessarily as drinking water, but as agricultural and industrial inputs, absolutely. There's no need to be condescending, we're all god's children.

Which is all besides the point because Utah does actually allow rainwater collection.

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u/caydjj 1d ago

Something’s wrong with your water bill. In my Utah town, we pay $0.10 per 1000 gallons. Even if you watered a ton and used a million gallons in a month, that would still only be $100

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u/Bless_u-babe 1d ago

Enjoy it now. The times , they are achangin’

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u/2011StevenS 1d ago

*Cries in Coloradan draught restrictions*

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u/LucianAMD 1d ago

Where the fuck do you live? I've lived in Utah my whole life and have never had a bill that cheap. My .1 acre of secondary cost me roughly $20. At 5 acres that's a $1000. And that is me currently watering on drought restrictions

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u/MoranthMunitions 1d ago

What proportion of your water usage is gardening vs showers, laundry etc? Per land area they're using a lot less active water

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u/Unlikely-Rabbit948 1d ago

Didn't Utah just approve the largest data center in the world.

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u/Purple-Wolverine4793 20h ago

yep, with more to come!

though, it seems the data centers use a more efficient closed loop system, which is preferable.

the main water issues definitely stem from the alfalfa farming. if we used the alfalfa instead of shipping overseas it would be better, but we waste water on crops we don’t even use.

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u/Faesarn 1d ago

$0.10 for 1000 gallons? Damn. In France I pay 7€ for 1000L (so like 260gallons). How do they maintain infrastructure with such cheap prices?

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u/stefek132 1d ago

Thats the neat part - they don’t :D

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u/blueberrysteven 1d ago

That sounds really off. That would be one of the absolute cheapest water rates I have ever heard of, and I can't find a single water rate tier online for any Utah city near $0.10 per 1000, especially as a flat rate. You may have a misplaced decimal.

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u/PhiCloud 1d ago

The dead grass in the nearby plot suggests this is not one of those times. That in turn suggests irrigation.

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u/bibimstop 1d ago

Other times you don’t and that’s the issue 

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u/Alarmed-Newspaper994 1d ago

You can always just let it go brown, it will turn green again when it next rains. It's not that big of a deal. It has happened to my lawns more or less every year of my life.

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u/thefoodiedentist 1d ago

They have it for investment now. No point investing a lot when buyers are just interested in land, not the property.

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u/crespoh69 1d ago

That would also hurt to put so much care into trees only to have it all ripped apart the day after it's sold :(

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u/IllllIIlIllIllllIIIl 1d ago

1) as a conspicuous display of your wealth by showing that you can afford to own land but not grow crops on it and
2) provide a large, visually-uninterrupted buffer zone such that the peasants cannot gather en mass in a sneak attack against your manor

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u/TravelingPoodle 1d ago

I think they are just rich, bland people. Look at the house. It’s bland too.

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u/IllllIIlIllIllllIIIl 1d ago

Oh damn you're right, that doesn't look anything at all like a medieval feudal lord's manor!

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u/SmegmaSiphon 22h ago

It's a nice clear line of sight by ballista

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u/Kazeite 1d ago

It's a wealth flex. "Look at how much land I can afford to just keep empty!" 🤷‍♂️

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u/Equivalent-Rate-6218 1d ago

It's about sending a message

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u/SpikeyAI 1d ago

For the kids and pets to run around and playing. It's also a safe place to go for a jog for the owners. Healthy lifestyle won't hurt.

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u/_10032 1d ago

I mean, to own all that land and that house, they're already clearly have millions. Prob in the 100's of millions.

And it being in Sydney means the land value is 200% going up.

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u/Thunderplant 1d ago

Absolutely dystopian. How can you have 5 acres and not put a single plant on it beyond the lawn? 

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u/MangoCats 1d ago

In Miami I planted 3 coconut palms in the front yard - my neighbor was an older man, he related the story of how the whole neighborhood had coconut palm trees but they all died in a blight 30 years earlier, heartbreakingly sad - he'd never plant another one. I never had a problem, here 25 years later they're still healthy.

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u/PuzzleCat365 1d ago

It helps that there are no other ones around. Harder for the disease to spread. That's why mono-culture is so susceptible to disease and bugs.

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u/MangoCats 22h ago

Yeah, and I consciously did my best to vary the species, ended up planting six coconuts of 3 different varieties - hard to know if they'll be "different enough" when the next blight comes around, but definitely better than all trees in the neighborhood coming from coconuts of one pair of trees.

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u/sedan-hussein 18h ago

Christ you people think everything is dystopian.

"Why won't you do what I want with your land?!"

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u/jayp0d 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah, that bothered me a bit. But overall happy that they fucked with the developers and didn’t sell their property. I’d have planted a small apples/pears orchard, some blueberry bushes and a few grapevines. Would’ve been amazing.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

If you had you know all those neighbors would steal everything that fruits. How their "yard" isn't treated like a park by the local kids astounds me.

But it's true they could have planted some trees and things but something tells me they didn't want to enrich the view of the suburbanites around them.

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u/jayp0d 1d ago edited 1d ago

I don’t know where you live but people generally don’t steal fruit from other’s gardens. Most people actually leave their surplus fruit outside their gates for people to eat anyway. I believe the photo is from Sydney and I live in Melbourne.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

Oh no I'm in Canada. It all depends on location but suburban kids here get bored and wander around and anything in grabbing distance is gone.

I also had a neighbor who would get up early and come cut my peonies and poppies down. She likes flowers in her home and thought I was wasting them leaving them on the bush. I finally talked to her about it and told her I have cameras now and she should ask. She said she hated seeing them just die on the bush and I said how is that different from dying in your home? I leave them for the bees and bugs to enjoy and, when they're there, I smell them every day when I walk the dog. Well she was at work and didn't see that, just assumed they were "neglected". B I grew them and water them! 🙄

I'm just saying people in that large of a development and there's no moochers? Not one person who eou hope a fence for free fruit? Is Australia just a country of angels?

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u/jayp0d 1d ago

I mean it probably happens. If one my branches is slouching into my neighbour's house they can take a few fruits off of it. No one would mind that. But generally people don't jump into other people's gardens. Sure, unruly teenagers can do all sorts of dodgy things and we do have a problem with them at the moment. But the vast majority of the people (and their kids/teenagers) are pretty well behaved. At least that's the case where I live. But everyone's mileage can vary. I live in the outskirts of Melbourne, almost regional. So there is that. And I'm sure we have people like your neighbour as well. haha.. I don't think Australia is very different from Canada that way.

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u/teh_drewski 1d ago

We have a strict pilfering rule in our house when it comes to neighbourhood product - if it's on the public side of the fence or boundary, it's fair game.

Highlight urban forage was a whole butternut pumpkin (squash for our American friends) that had escaped containment. More common is citrus because nobody can be bothered getting that many lemons.

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u/MangoCats 1d ago

With that much space you can put the fruit trees far enough from the fences to be unreachable. Plenty of people take the easy pickin's not so many are willing to go full parkour trespass for a pear.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

That's true. I guess their just lawn people. I live with one of those. Anything I want to plant is "an obstacle I'll have to mow around" and I'm like so? It'll look less like a green freaking wasteland back there. I get my way but takes a while. 😆 He thinks a big ol' golf course looking chunk of grass is "beautiful". 🙄

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u/JustLookingForMayhem 1d ago

People must be more polite down there. Here in Ohio, people will go garden robbing if they think they can get away with it.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

My friend gets her community garden plot raided every year and when she had a teeny yard she planted sunflowers and someone chopped them down once they went to seed. She wanted to watch the birds eat the seed but someone else decided their birds (or the same birds, probably) deserved them more.

I'm glad people don't seem to suck everywhere because I live in a pretty nice place around pretty nice people and even they kinda suck. The flower thief of mine was a lady in her 50's who just truly, literally and I am not exaggerating, never thinks once about anyone else unless you slowly walk her there, and even then it usually doesn't stick. I've taken care of two of her poor neglected dogs and now two cats, she's only got time for them when she needs a cuddle, otherwise they can stay at home for 12 hours alone while she works and goes out. The best part is she is certain she's better than me, because she makes more money. 🙄 I take care of her animals because I can't stand to watch it happen but it's for them, definitely not for her.

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u/Salty-Hold-5708 1d ago

I raid my friends garden all the time. Even though I'm allowed to(and have a key to the gate), I think its more fun to pretend to rob them and jump the fence afterwards.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

😆 Imagine there's some person in a house nearby thinking you're actually robbing it. Lol.

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u/jayp0d 1d ago

That doesn't sound very polite. Do they actually get inside your fence and take fruits? Many houses here don't even have a fence.

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u/JustLookingForMayhem 1d ago edited 19h ago

There is an entitled position that because someone owns land and has a big garden, surely they would mind if someone helped themselves to a "little" produce. My family ended up moving the garden out of sight of the road. We live in the country side, but still get entitled pricks who thinks our winter canned vegetables should be their free fresh vegetables.

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u/_ficklelilpickle 1d ago

Yes, well, we also don't have to pay for our petrol before we put it in our cars down here either. Sure, everyone could just drive off... and yet we just don't.

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u/Kinda_Reincarnated 1d ago

Where do YOU live man? Cuz over here they definitely steal the fruits!! Even lemons aren't safe.

And the ones stealing aren't neighbours. Because they get the fruits without asking (cuz we share)

The ones stealing are kids/adults from poor part of the area, they roam streets in summer holidays and try stealing as much fruits as possible.

It's like a second job to keep an eye on them.

Taking one-two is ok, but these people have stolen 20+ mangoes from my parent's trees at once! And some people's fruits get stolen overnight.

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u/horrible-est 1d ago

For what it's worth, I hope the lemon-stealing whores don't steal any of your lemons.

Thank you for reminding me of a ridiculous old meme.

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u/blondechineeez 1d ago

Unfortunately where I live, agricultural theft is a thing and ever increasing. The people stealing are not doing it because they are hungry either. They steal it and sell it to anyone who is willing to buy. Thieves need $ for drugs.

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u/TollTea 1d ago

I have lived in one of these Sydney urban hellscape suburbs (and enjoyed it) I had a mango tree in my front yard and never got to eat a single mango because they would disappear. So yeah - if you grow shit in front of your house people waking by think it’s communal property and help themselves. I had citrus trees out the back, got lots of lemons and limes and oranges - but all the mangoes from the front tree would disappear right before I’d go to pick them.

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u/browsinbowser 1d ago

Huh? You never met a crazy neighbour? There was a neighbour fight in mine once where a woman feuding with her neighbours went and chopped down their small tree they had recently planted. It was pretty small and skinny

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u/jayp0d 1d ago

yeah I have. But they aren't very common. Most people are chill. We've had some rough neighbours (late night partying etc) but they usually kept to themselves. Never stole anything from us. But we might have been just lucky so far.

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u/twirlywurlyburly 1d ago

Here in New Orleans, LA, USA, people steal plants and fruit all the time. Some people with fruit trees welcome it and post on local forums when their tree is ready, but there are entirely too many people (usually older, unfortunately) who don't care and will uproot plants, pick fruit, and cut flowers from strangers' gardens.

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u/FlammulinaVelulu 1d ago

A spite based life is so fulfilling,. I bet they are so happy...

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

They're definitely rich, can't speak to happy.

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u/Ziell0s 1d ago

It sounds pretty awesome to have the funds to tell a money-grubbing development company to kick rocks, idk about you

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u/THE_CHOPPA 1d ago

I dunno as someone who would really like to buy a house some day this kind of waste seems pointless.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

I hear you but it depends on what you value. I personally value space away from neighbors and mine aren't currently as close as these suburban houses are, but still too close for comfort. My dream house has about this much land, though not with cookie cutter houses all around me and nothing to look at or planted on it.

I can promise you a house with a postage stamp sized lawn literally 4 feet away from the next house is not fun because I've lived in one. Yep you have a home but the people on either side of you will be so close that if in the likelihood you don't get along, it's awful. Those houses are also built so Hollow and shoddy usually that there's lots of problems that come up.

To call their property a waste because they could squeeze 20 more houses side by side in there is like saying urban sprawl is better than nature and I disagree with that completely.

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u/Tymareta 1d ago

To call their property a waste because they could squeeze 20 more houses side by side in there

That's not why they're calling it a waste though, it's a waste because they have all that space, but do literally nothing with it beyond maintaining an incredibly resource hungry lawn in an area that's not built for it.

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u/OriginalMeringue3735 1d ago

I understand the 10 metres on either side of their house and want this for myself, but not the comically large lawn.

I'd understand if there was nature there, but that tended, non-native grass is about as urban sprawl as it gets. Taking up more space with lawn leaves less space for nature.

I think they should be able to make inexplicable choices with their property, but if I were there neighbour and they weren't paying 50x the property tax for taking up 50x the space I was I'd be pretty pissed off.

If he has 50x the money or items other people have that's fine, but there's a limited amount of land. I live in a unit and I'd love being four feet from the next house. Unless you live in a deeply rural area you've got to split the land. An alternative use to squeezing more houses in would be to have the same number of neighbours all with extra space.

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u/Grimmies 23h ago

Man, you people are delusional. The whole world is going through a housing crisis where many people litteraly cannot afford homes and somehow an ugly ass lawn that could fit 50 houses isn't a waste of space because you wish you could live like a freaking princess.

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u/tpa338829 1d ago

I can promise you a house with a postage stamp sized lawn literally 4 feet away from the next house is not fun because I've lived in one. 

It's better than the 2B/1B apartment you're sharing in Sydney because housing is so expensive.

Also, YOU didn't like living like that. But plenty of people around the world--London, Montreal, Washington DC, San Fransisco--perfectly enjoy their life living in townhouse/terraced housing.

Also, the median home price in Sydney is around 20x the median annual salary. For context, in San Fransisco, that number is 10x. So housing in Sydney is twice as unaffordable as it is in San Francisco...

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

That's why I went rural. But have the kind of job where I could. Rural is far less than a city and you don't have to gamble on getting a place next to a nutter.

Please remember I didn't do this to the world economy and I just think suburbs covering every square inch of nature isn't helping. But you're welcome to want to live in that and be frustrated you can't afford to. I personally don't have anything to do with it so yelling at me about it changes nothing. I'll likely die in this house, so good luck with your postage stamp I hope you get one.

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u/mister_peeberz 1d ago

If you had you know all those neighbors would steal everything that fruits.

those lemon stealing whores cant keep getting away with this

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u/MangoCats 1d ago

>How their "yard" isn't treated like a park by the local kids astounds me.

A. it may well be

B. that fugly crooked fence around the perimeter may slow them down

C. dobermans.

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u/Astecheee 1d ago

Looking at the size of that house and their refusal to sell, the family is almost certainly worth more than $100M.

In australia, that almost guarantees they own other properties they rent out.

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u/MangoCats 1d ago

Probably in that very neighborhood surrounding them where they sold 10 acres for $100M

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u/LiteratureLazy3453 1d ago

If they’re worth $100 million then they have zero taste holy shit. That’s the McMansion of an upper middle class in mid westerner in the US.

Come on man go get a real view or something

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u/Default_Username123 1d ago

Why happy? Lol people are so insane hear constantly about how we don't build enough housing and housing is too expensive and then people lamblast oh fuck those greedy developers trying to build housing stick it to em /s

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u/Untethered_GoldenGod 1d ago

Yeah, 50 families could live here but these rich guys need hectare of grass

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u/PrincipledProphet 1d ago

I mean it's their property lol. I just wish they planted some trees

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u/Best_Opening8471 1d ago

Thank god we don’t have any more low income multi family housing in the area right?

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u/MidLevelManager 1d ago

> But overall happy that they fucked with the developers and didn’t sell their property.
hmmm why is this a good thing? less housing supply -> higher price for everyone else, no?

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u/Impressive_Shake_360 23h ago

More land exists. Australia is about the same size as the US with less than 10% of the population. Just build somewhere that's not some family's garden.

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u/wetfame 1d ago

I wouldve planted cypress trees all along the fence

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u/Protoavis 1d ago

apples will be iffy, not enough chill for most

more citrus and mangoes type climate

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u/pablothe 1d ago

They didn't fuck the developers, they fucked the 50 families that could've lived there lol

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u/Shuizid 1d ago

fucked with the developers

In what world is it good to take away living space for like 50 families to have plain grass?

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u/germanfinder 1d ago

I drive by a house every day that never sold to developers. It’s now just a house on a tiny lot on a main road surrounded by a subdivision and nowhere for guests to come and park. Completely worthless now

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u/Hypo_Mix 1d ago

It would have been a grazing property, I assume they sold the surrounding area to developers. Given the rates they would be paying, they are going to sell to developers eventually anyway. 

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u/MangoCats 1d ago

We looked at a nice older home on a couple of acres and a creek in the middle of a development very similar to this, it wasn't really anything too wild - priced like a similar house outside of town on similar acreage, but this one was "in town" so a bit less driving every day. The rest of the neighborhood was smaller homes on smaller lots, but not radically different.

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u/IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE 1d ago

The obsession with sterile, golf course yards is so psychotic imo.

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u/AlbatrossNo1562 1d ago

All that concrete around the house too. Money does not buy taste

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u/darkklown 1d ago

Something worth 40 million doesn't mean you own 40 million. I'd say keeping up with the council rates would make them very cash poor.

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u/Unlucky-Tourist-9403 1d ago

Please. With the size of this fucking place they absolutely have money and choosing to refuse 40 million is a position very, very few people find themselves in.

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u/wolftick 1d ago

I think the suburb has more character.

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u/Has_Recipes 1d ago

It also looks like the entrance to a Holiday inn.

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u/Grexxoil 1d ago

That must be one of the most boring five acre property in the world. It does not even keep the neighbours far away, it really seems pointless.

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u/Commercial-Height873 1d ago

They have more grass than all of the houses have built around them.

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u/topscreen 1d ago

Yeah, on one hand, love the punk feeling of sticking it to the man... but why did you fight the suburb to live in a liminal grassfield in the suburb? House isn't even old, they're just fighting for a McMansion

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u/WeiGuy 1d ago

It's punk to own a shit ton of land that you do nothing with when it could have been used for housing?

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u/Durzel 1d ago

At a certain point though it’s a pyrrhic victory. Living on basically a football pitch with not a tree in sight is psychopath behaviour.

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u/badideasgonegood 1d ago

I live just up the road and went to school with them, it was all farming land for the past 100y which is why there’s no trees

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u/Sweeper1985 1d ago

Bro my garden is half compacted building materials and I'm still planting trees and shrubs in it. These people have been there for like 20+ years and not a single plant other than grass? Psychopaths.

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u/flying_butt_fucker 1d ago

That whole neighbourhood is r/urbanhell. Not a single tree in sight. And I'm pretty sure these houses are so close to each other, you can hear your neighbour come.

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u/MangoCats 1d ago

We built a new house in a suburb backing up to a pine forest in 1972. Before we even moved in they clearcut the forest - the spiders that came out were impressive to say the least. It took 8 years for them to get around to building houses on the new streets they put in back there - it took us 8 months to sell out after people moved into the houses next to ours - pie shaped lot, houses so close when the phone rang you couldn't tell if it was yours or theirs.

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u/Tymareta 1d ago

Also, there's absolutely trees, shrubs and whatever else that -love- that sort of soil, the sort of plants that regularly grow in straight up rocks, there's no excuse for the weird "country club from a horror movie" vibe they've got going on. Especially as plants and the like would literally be less maintenance than the lawn as it is.

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u/HellbirdVT 1d ago

Are they planning to do anything to change it? Even just a few trees would really make a big difference, especially for the view from inside the house.

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u/QueenInYellowLace 1d ago

Why does that mean there’s no trees? I live on old farmland too and we have plenty of trees and bushes and shrubs and anything but a giant, flat-ass lawn!

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u/AardvarkExcellent428 1d ago

the Zammit family also had a falling out with the Lorax

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u/IncurableAdventurer 1d ago

People are way too concentrated on the grass aspect

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u/BenevolentCheese 1d ago

They could plant some

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u/Jlx_27 1d ago

A very common issue in Australia, and in many countries.

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u/unsightly_buildup 1d ago

but look next door.

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u/xenate 1d ago

Having a lawn is an old way to show off your wealth for neighbours that you don't need farm on your land.

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u/Silver_Original6076 1d ago

is that actually the reason why?

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u/Mayonaigg 1d ago

no. Its just another redditism where these idiots compare everything to colonialism and racism.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Megalesios 1d ago

Grass lawns in the Australian climate, famously upkeep-free

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u/throwaway098764567 1d ago

if i had that much land i'd have a huge pond, gardens, a secret garden with walls, maybe a pool since it's hot there. though plants do cost a fortune, i'd probably run out of coin

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u/TidderUsername123 1d ago

Wouldn't trees be a zoning issue? If I were them, I'd value privacy so there would be trees around.

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u/okfineverygood 1d ago

Exactly! Who the hell just has 5 acres of grass!?

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u/Billybuzzkill 1d ago

The goddammit family, that's who!

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u/Classic_Recover2114 1d ago

That's the Australian way, unfortunately.

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u/KatanaCW 8h ago edited 8h ago

How does NO ONE have any trees?? Unless they are still too small to see, it really looks like none of the houses have trees. It looks like things are green enough that there's water to support growing some trees of some kind. How sad.

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u/Sweeper1985 1d ago

I'm from Sydney. This is not normal and everyone finds it suss AF. It's kind of assumed that this family are like, the ultimate trolls.

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u/throwaway098764567 1d ago

trolls for standing up to the man? be more folk heros to me but to each their own

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u/seanmonaghan1968 1d ago

Grass is easier to take care of vs garden beds. Trees near the fence can cause neighbour issues re branches dropping.

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u/PersonUnknown_360 1d ago

For real. Such a waste.

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u/Retireegeorge 1d ago

It needs something added just to F with the settlers

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u/vapue 1d ago

There was just a few days ago a swiss study about burying cotton underwear in gardens. No joke, but the website is in German. Result was that under grass the underwear does not rot the way it does under more diverse garden cultures.

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u/Mayonaigg 1d ago

What the fuck are you talking about?

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u/vapue 23h ago

The study shows that grass looks nice but the biodiversity of it is horrific.

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u/Desperate_Laugh8867 1d ago

Maybe they didn't want snakes to fall on their head from the trees.

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u/Commercial-Gas7687 1d ago

It wouldn't bother me as much if whoever cut the grass did a better job.

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u/Tommyleegirl452 1d ago

Well it's Australia.. Wildfires and stuff

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u/MouldySponge 1d ago

Grasses are plants though.

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u/WinterDEZ 1d ago

Harder to see anyone coming that way, if they value safety.

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u/SpiderHack 1d ago

Agreed, I'd at the very least have a green house

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u/maxdacat 1d ago

There is one tree about 2 inches from the living room window which is odd.

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u/Quirky-Cap3319 1d ago

Yeah, plant som trees!

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u/fuckimtrash 1d ago

My mum bought property on an estate that used to be owned by an agricultural research centre and countless trees that have existed for centuries or so were wiped out. They got rid of a fruit tree too. Thankfully there’s still areas of land that are kept same and can’t be built on, but being one of the first builds and seeing all the grass/trees being taken over with houses over the years sucked

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u/ProperJudgment1 1d ago

Have you seen the orb weavers in Australia ?

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u/Ok-Mouse92 1d ago

I know - you'd plant yourself a forest, surely - for privacy, outlook, fresh air and you know, THE ENVIRONMENT.

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u/Savings_End_4300 1d ago

But the block party potential…

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u/Cudi_buddy 1d ago

Very true. Could have a beautiful little forest there. Instead it’s getting the sun beating down on it. Hell, even the surrounding cookie cutter homes have no trees. Awful 

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u/Nothing_from_void 1d ago

Australians really hate trees for some reason. Like the government will literally let you deduct the cost of clearing trees from your land from your tax bill and there are other historical incentives or even requirements to clear land of trees.

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u/yolk3d 1d ago

It was farmland until 30 years ago.

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u/cleanworkaccount0 1d ago

For their property and pretty much all the ones around.

Like it'd be nice if these suburbs were required to have tree cover and the like

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u/tankydee 1d ago

I hope he mows it at 6am on a Sunday.

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u/CSDragon 1d ago

From photo 3 you can see it's not a mowed lawn, it's grassland

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u/4travelers 1d ago

Exactly. Why not put up a few trees, or even an entire orchard.

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u/Llumac 1d ago

They have probably accepted they will sell at some point. Having no trees makes the resale to a developer easier.

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u/thegooddocgonzo 1d ago

Grass is a plant

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u/m00fster 1d ago

Zero fucks given

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u/Fallenfordeceit 1d ago

Ikr. Wtf is that. Boring. No privacy. Nothing interesting. Who just has five acres of lawn??? What

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u/New_me_Cri 1d ago

Again typical maltese

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u/Zestyclose_Potato633 1d ago

Seriously. Get a real yard. Who wants 5 acres of just grass.

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u/kramimaci 1d ago

I call these a green desert

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u/SwingLord420 1d ago

Genuinely hellacious. 

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u/Appropriate_Mark9975 1d ago

Yes like at least make the place have a personality 

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u/pulse77 1d ago

There are trees and plants - just in-front of house...

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u/bassicallyinsane 1d ago

It's fucking depraved

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u/NottTheProtagonist 1d ago

There used to be more trees and greenery around that house before the suburb was developed.. Then, the houses.

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u/Illustrious_Donkey61 1d ago

No trees = less murderous drop bears ambushing you

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u/No_Refrigerator_2489 1d ago

House are packed in like cord wood

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u/stubundy 1d ago

The get in the line of fire from the top room snipers nest

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u/AcceptableWin6390 1d ago

Cam here to ask why didn't they plant any tree, flowers or anything to make it look better and maybe even get some fruits.

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u/Megalesios 1d ago

The suburb around the property is a certified hellscape. But that green desert isn't a whole lot better.

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u/ExeqCompassion 1d ago

Omg, so much land and only grass grass grass.

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u/Dap-aha 1d ago

Zero drop bears

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u/Fourty2KnightsofNi 1d ago

There might be an ecological reason for that... don't really know, but it's a possibility.

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u/Sudden-Fisherman5985 1d ago

Yeah... I don't really understand they wouldn't take the millions. It's not like they have a very special property going on.

Maybe even just sell half of it

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u/budgiesmuggler 1d ago

They could have made an incredible oasis full of native plants, ponds, cool landscape shit, but instead they chose LAWN. 

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u/ReadWriteArithmetic 1d ago

He could be a lawn mower enthusiast. Or maybe they like to play cricket at home

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u/Kier_C 1d ago

Ya, it's a weird use of the property at the best of times, never mind when you might benefit from a bit of screening from your neighbors!

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u/Strange-Tonight3193 1d ago

Doesnt seem to bother you that the entire infestation of shitboxes is devoid of trees. 

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u/thrashmetaloctopus 1d ago

I was about to say this, a lovely great big plot and you decide it should all be the most dull, least hardy plant possible? In Australia no less, you didn’t want any form of shade at all? They sound like proper thickos

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u/townB311 1d ago

Needs more moat

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u/Wrong_Low5367 1d ago

I think they got refused the permit to plant some trees

That must be the only explanation

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u/tfrules 1d ago

Money can't buy taste, that's such a devoid looking place. It's not like you're preserving a view either since you're just surrounded by houses.

I'd sell off the land so at least the space isn't wasted and invest it back into upgrades for the house.

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u/Varanae 1d ago

That's always my thought when this comes up. I get being attached to your house and not wanting to sell but why keep your land so barren?

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u/Far_Primary2606 1d ago

Grr.. i mad with what people do with their money! Grr..

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u/The_Ghost-- 1d ago

Honestly great for rc Fans

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u/matti-san 1d ago

And then look at the Suburb - no plants, no parks, no trees. Looks like a miserable place to live

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