Border checkpoints lead to unlikely friendships between farm communities, personnel

The Wrattonbully checkpoint on its last day of operation. (Supplied: Michelle Malone)

While it marked a sense of reclaimed freedom, Michelle Malone felt a pang of sadness when the COVID border checkpoint disappeared from the end of her street in mid-2021. 

For 18 months, army and police personnel had been stationed on and off next to her farm in Wrattonbully, a small South Australian community on the Victorian border.