Asbestos removal in Traralgon South, Callignee, Hazelwood North and Loy Yang

A district rebuilt more than once

Traralgon South has had two lives. The original township on the Traralgon Creek was bought up by the SEC after the two Loy Yang power stations were announced in 1967. A new Traralgon South grew further down the creek valley through housing subdivisions and bush acreage, about six kilometres south of Traralgon. It had 301 people in 2006, 467 in 2011 and 553 in 2021, and every occupied dwelling the 2021 Census counted there was a separate house.

Callignee has been farmed since about 1880. In the 2009 fire nearly all of its 60-odd houses were destroyed, along with the hall, and the fire crossed seven kilometres in under an hour. The 2021 Census counted 391 people there in 160 private dwellings, and every occupied one was a separate house.

Hazelwood North is rural-residential acreage, home to 1,552 people in 570 private dwellings in 2021, with very few homes rented. The old Shire approved large rural subdivisions there, and at Traralgon South and Callignee, as the Valley grew.

Loy Yang is the power station and the mine, with seven residents at the last Census. It's also where the council landfill is.

Fire-damaged material

The Churchill fire of 7 February 2009 burned 25,861 hectares and destroyed 145 houses across Jeeralang North, Koornalla, Callignee, Hazelwood North and South, and Traralgon South. It was deliberately lit on Glendonald Road in Churchill in the early afternoon, and about 500 people sheltered in a Traralgon theatre that night.

Fire changes asbestos cement. Sheet that has been through a fire can crack, blister and crumble, and crumbly material counts as friable. Friable asbestos is Class A work, the higher licence. So burnt sheet is a different job from a tidy old fence, even when the pieces look small.

If you come across fragments, whether along an old shed line, in the soil around a rebuilt house, under regrowth or near an old slab, treat them as friable until someone licensed says otherwise. Don't mow over it, rake it, dig around it or pick it up bare-handed. Mark the area, keep kids and dogs off it, and photograph it from where you stand. That's urgent, covered below.

New houses, older sheds

Much of Callignee, and parts of Traralgon South, were rebuilt after 2009. A house built after the national ban at the end of 2003 shouldn't contain asbestos building products.

What survived the fire, or was never in its path, is another matter. Going by the era, houses and sheds built before 1990 are the likely home of fibro eaves, wet-area sheet and super six shed roofs; nobody has surveyed these hills. And if you bought a rebuilt block, ask what was cleaned up in 2009 and whether anything older is still standing out the back.

Buying out here? The house may be new while the machinery shed, the pump house or the old garage beside the slab is not. Get anything older than the rebuild sampled before settlement if the timing allows; the testing page covers pre-purchase checks.

Dealing with old or burnt sheet on a hill block

• If the material is broken, burnt or blown down and you need someone today, don't register here: ring a licensed removalist directly from WorkSafe Victoria's directory.
• For old sheet that isn't broken or burnt, send photos of each building, a rough size, and the access, and we register your job and, if you ask us to, tell you when a licensed removalist covers your town; nobody rings you from this site in the meantime.
• Burnt material that crumbles needs a Class A removalist; bonded sheet in reasonable shape is Class B work. The quote should say which.
• The removalist notifies WorkSafe before the work and gives you a copy. Whether an emergency counts as an "unexpected situation" under the regulations is a test the removalist applies, not something a fire or storm triggers automatically.
• For friable work indoors, or outdoors where others are at risk, the air gets monitored while the work is on.

The clearance and the waste record follow the sequence on the services page. For what moves the price, including travel, see the cost guide.

The tip down the road, and who to call

The Hyland Highway Landfill sits at 64 Bartons Lane, Loy Yang, which makes it close for most people on this page. It opened in May 2009, three months after the fire. Close doesn't mean you can just turn up: a Latrobe resident's own load goes in by appointment, paid for in Morwell first, and commercial asbestos isn't accepted. The disposal page has the steps.

Latrobe's hard waste collection doesn't take asbestos either; the November 2025 round included Traralgon South and Hazelwood North, and sheets left out won't be collected.

If you find sheets dumped on a roadside or in the bush, the Latrobe Valley Asbestos Taskforce's guide splits it this way: a large amount on public land goes to EPA Victoria on 1300 372 842, a small amount on council land to Latrobe City on 1300 367 700, and a business seen dumping it to WorkSafe on 1800 136 089 or the EPA.

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