Sinkhole Update: “Where Did the Dirt Go?”

SCONE resident Mr Pete Tullia has been dealing with a sinkhole in his backyard since December last year. (Read: Sink Hole In Scone Backyard.)

Since then, the Upper Hunter Council and NRMA have sent in engineers to identify what has caused the 8.6 meter-deep hole at his residence.

Mr Tullia is currently awaiting the results of a Geotech report to be sent into the NRMA for review after yet another engineer inspected the hole last week. 

“He drilled the driveway and backyard and he’s found bedrock at 8.69 meters so we don’t know what’s underneath it but it continues to get deeper and deeper,” said Mr Tullia.

The Geotech engineer was unable to answer Mr Tullia’s biggest question, “where did the dirt go?”

“He said I’ll send the report to the NRMA and we’ll go from there,” said Mr Tullia.

The sinkhole has grown considerably since it was discovered last year and earth movements have now started to impact the tiles around Mr Tullia’s pool.

“The pool is not losing any water but the sinkhole is continually dropping,” said Mr Tullia.

“It’s probably 12-13inches further across and probably another 14-15 inches deeper at the back,” he said.

“There are still signs that it’s sinking, you can see where the dirt is starting to come away at the clumps of grass,” said Pete Tullia.

Mr Tullia’s neighbours have had no signs of any earth movements relating to sinkholes at their properties.

“Kevin next door says he’s a bit worried about his mower sinking into a hole when he’s riding around the backyard,” Mr Tullia said jokingly.

“Personally, I think we’re going to lose more yard,” he said.

“Now we’ll wait on the NRMA and see what they’re going to do,” said Mr Tullia.