But it has now emerged that the block the Ammendolas handed over to the council is in a part of Golden Beach that can in fact be developed, provided it is “restructured” – that is, putting four adjoining lots together to make one larger block. Ms Ammendola said her father was a hard worker who had always paid his bills on time, but had stopped paying rates as a silent protest when he learned other landowners had done so. He had been so stressed by the constant to-and-fro with the council that he told her to just “deal with it”. “At the very end when it was becoming evident that they were throwing good money after bad, it was too much for him to bear," Ms Ammendola said. "He said 'I can’t do this anymore'." He had paid the rates in full and on time for more than 40 years prior to that. “To receive a letter like that was completely and utterly demoralising. It really tore at their values and morals after all those years of scraping and saving to make a better life for their family…

“It really is a targeted, manipulative, cruel, twisted and greedy way to deal with people,” Ms Ammendola said. “It’s just disgusting.” Loading Shortly after people bought the blocks, they were told they could not be developed. Essential infrastructure that had been promised on what was touted as Victoria’s own Surfers Paradise was never built. The saga of the beach blocks is often referred to as Victoria’s longest-running planning dispute. Almost 12,000 blocks were sold along a 25 kilometre stretch of coastline within the bounds of what is now Wellington Shire, south of the town of Sale, by a private developer in the 1950s and `60s. Since then, planning regulations and state and council policy governing the area has changed many times, creating confusion and worry among landowners.

Paradise Beach, one of the areas that was sold off in lots to unsuspecting migrants mid-last century. Credit:Justin McManus But there are some parts of the original subdivision where development is allowed, subject to regulations that stipulate blocks be joined together to create a larger lot. And it was recently revealed that some of the blocks in those areas, which had been acquired by the council in the past, would soon be sold off for a significant profit. The Age sent a number of questions to a spokeswoman for Wellington Shire about the Ammendolas’ case. She said she would not provide any official comment, claiming a previous story published by The Age was “inaccurate and mischievous”. Asked to spell out the inaccuracies so that they could be corrected, she did not reply.

The Age also approached Wellington Shire mayor Carolyn Crossley. She did not respond either. Ms Ammendola said she has found the situation difficult to cope with. “I have a strong sense of moral justice and this just goes right against the grain… Councils are supposed to work for their constituents but they have forgotten and lost sight of that... "Where did all that money go? The mind boggles. [Asking what happened to the rates money] really would open up a Pandora's Box. There's no transparency in this whole thing.” Gabrielle Costa's grandfather bought a block in nearby Paradise Beach. She has no financial interest in it.