This week drones have been spotted at Mimosa, and The Rock and the escalating activity has communities on edge as they fear the invasive filming leads to rural crime. The area around Marrar, Temora and Currawarna has been a hot spot for rural crime this year with reports of cattle and stud sheep stolen. 

Trent Everson lives at Mimosa and said there had been at least six drone sightings in his region in the past week.

He said neighbours were working together to track down the perpetrators and the landholders reported the activity to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and police. 

“We had a them (drones) flying around here yesterday (Monday) at 8.30 pm,” he said.

He believes the drones are linked to rural crime. “The one we saw at our property was low, it looked as if they (the operator) were “looking” inside the shed,” he said.  Mr Everson said the drones were quite large, maybe half a metre to a metre square in size and they were loud too. He said the dogs and livestock were easily disturbed by the activity. 

Mr Everson said it appeared landholders didn’t have too many rights in preventing the drone activity. “This is like having your privacy invaded, we shouldn’t have to feel this way, it is frustrating,” he said. 

Junee duty officer Inspector Rob Vergano said police were aware of drones in the area. He encouraged landholders to film or photograph the drones. One landholder, who didn’t want to be named, told The Rural landholders considered “shooting the drones down.” However, Inspector Vergano warned against this. NSW Farmers Wagga district branch chairman Alan Brown said drones posed a new issue for farmers. He said there was a belief that drones were linked to theft. 

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