ABC South East SA

Topic: Courts

Thursday, 23 July 2026, 11:46 am

Kylie and Jacob Malthouse want money for a trash pit on their land.

In short:

The Malthouse family is taking the Mount Gambier Racing Club to court over a trash pit on their land.

They found the pit when they started building their house.

What's next?

The racing club says the Malthouses' claims are not true, but they have not given their side of the story to the court yet.

A family is suing a horse racing club because of a big trash pit on their land.

The couple, Jacob and Kylie Malthouse, are taking the Mount Gambier Racing Club to court.

They bought the land in 2024 to build a new house.

But in January 2025, they found a big trash pit under where they wanted to build.

The Malthouses agreed to store the trash on the racing club's land.

The Malthouses say the racing club dug a pit on the land between 2003 and 2013.

The pit was used to throw away trash.

The trash included veterinary needles, horse shoes, and other waste.

The pit was covered up around 2013.

When they started digging, they found trash right away.

The trash was very deep, almost 5 meters.

It was like a small trash dump.

'Created a risk'

The Malthouse family wants about $114,000 from the racing club.

Some of the trash was removed and is now stored on the racing club's land.

The Malthouses' house is part of a bigger development near the race track.

The Malthouses want the racing club to pay them more than $66,000 and remove the rest of the trash.

The court papers say the racing club broke environmental laws.

The club did not have a license to use the land as a trash dump.

Club rejects claim

The racing club offered the Malthouses $10,000 to clean up the land.

But the next day, the club took back their offer and said they were not responsible for the trash.

The club has not given their side of the story to the court yet.

The club says they will respond to the Malthouses' claims soon.

The Mount Gambier Racing Club is very old and has horse races often.

The club says they do not agree with the Malthouses' claims.

The club says they did not break any environmental laws.

Mrs. Malthouse says her family wants the problem solved.

Instead of enjoying their new home, they spent weekends picking up trash.

It's been very confusing and stressful for the family.

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