The Derrinallum bomb blast and the death of Glenn Sanders two years on

Last month, mention of the incident found its way into state parliament, as Western Victoria MP Simon Ramsay raised questions around a $150,000 bill the Sanders estate had to pay to the CFA.

It was another chapter in a story that began almost exactly two years ago.

On April 10, 2014, Mr Sanders was involved in a violent incident which was reported to police, who visited his Derrinallum property the next day

The visit triggered a seven-hour stand-off that came to a fiery conclusion in the early hours of April 12, when Mr Sanders’ house exploded, as did the items – believed to have been explosives – he was wearing. 

The detonation injured two police officers and was heard for miles around. Road blocks remained in place near the property for weeks as police searched the farm for more explosives – a search that uncovered $190,000 in cash buried on the property.

The money was held by police until they could be satisfied it was not the proceeds of crime. It transpired the money was left to Mr Sanders by his late wife Shirley, who died in 2012 – Mr Sanders, being distrustful of banks, had removed the money from his account and buried it in a home-made safe.

Money would prove to be the element that kept the story of Glenn Sanders bubbling away, long after the odd but well-liked mechanic had been laid to rest and Derrinallum had returned to normal.

Mr Sanders left behind an estate valued in the vicinity of $700,000 (initial estimates put that figure closer to $1 million) which he bequeathed entirely to his mother Margaret Sanders – an 80-year-old war widow who’d had a leg amputated just days before the tragic events of April 12, 2014.

As is often the case, the will was challenged, with three other parties asking for a share of the will – Mr Sanders’ estranged daughter Hollie who re-appeared just days after her father’s death, a cousin who had spent a lot of time with Mr Sanders at his farm, and the CFA.

The latter was seeking payment in excess of $500,000 for the cost of stationing two hazmat trucks at the scene of the explosion for weeks afterwards.

In October last year, after lengthy negotiations and court proceedings, the four parties – Mr Sanders’ mother, his daughter, his cousin and the CFA – reached an agreement on the division of Mr Sanders’ estate (which included the $190,000 buried in the safe).

With the case having reached a conclusion where all the parties were satisfied, Sanders family solicitor Michael Morrow said he was surprised to learn the matter of the $150,000 CFA bill had been raised in parliament last month, given that at least three members of the family had signed off on it.

“I’m quite aghast,” Mr Morrow said.

“All of the matters were resolved … and everyone was as satisfied as can be … in a multi-party mediation.”

While Mr Ramsay had asked minister for emergency services Jane Garrett “to direct the CFA to repay those funds in full back to Mrs Sanders”, Ms Garrett responded that “invoicing for services in instances such as these is in line with legislation and CFA policy”.

“I am unable to intervene in a settlement sanctioned by the courts,” Ms Garrett said.

She did not deny the amount of the bill, instead noting “a confidential settlement was reached”.

Gary French, a member of Warrnambool Legacy and CFA volunteer, said he’d never heard of such a bill being served by CFA in his 50 years of volunteering and worried it set a dangerous precedent.

But the mention of the bill in parliament is the last twist in a long tale that now seems to be finished, two years on from a day no one in the Derrinallum region will ever forget.