A TWISTED pile of tin, wire and rubbish weighing 300 tonnes and a pack of homeless vermin are all that's left of Florence Vorhauer's back yard in South Tamworth.
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Tamworth City Council gave a demolition team the green light early yesterday and by mid morning, the former schoolhouse Mrs Vorhauer moved onto the block 30 years ago was all that was left standing.
A decision on whether to demolish the house will be made this morning.
Council has employed a removalist to pack up items in the house and these will be kept in storage for collection.
The council employed a vet to euthanase and dispose of 320 chickens and ducks from the site, however council rangers were still removing the odd escapee yesterday as the heavy equipment moved in.
Security remained on site as did three WIRES snake catchers who reported no reptiles but plenty of rats and mice making a last minute dash for survival.
The company council contracted to clear the block, Murrays Earthmoving, removed five cars, three caravans and two trailers from the yard, salvaging one trailer and a handful of tools and garden implements.
In a job that posed significant health risks to his workers, Murray's Earthmoving managing director Col Murray described the scene as one out of the film Mad Max due to the amount of bric-a-brac and "junk" the Vorhauers had accumulated.
"It's like a horror movie, I've been involved in demolition for 30 years and I've never seen anything that resembles it, it's amazing that one family could accumulate so much stuff," Mr Murray said.
Next door neighbour of 15 years Lindsay Newman said Mrs Vorhauer's accumulation of materials and animals began about 10 years ago.
In that time Mr Newman and his wife endured the stench of fowl manure, infestations of rats and brown snakes moving onto their property from the Vorhauer yard.
Council's community and corporate services director Steve Bartlett said council has removed over 1000 poultry from the Vorhauer yard over the past four years with the eviction costs to council so far estimated at $45,000.
Mrs Vorhauer, 63, is in custody awaiting sentencing on charges arising from a clash with police and Tamworth City Council on the site four years ago.
Mr Bartlett said council hoped to complete the sale of the block to a Tamworth man before the end of this week.
