Land Recovered after 1,207 days

It might not seem much but, when the (residential building) site next to us was developed, the ensuing (massive) excavation deliberately over-stepped its mark by over a 1.5m along a 25 metre boundary on our land, as well as along two other sides of the site. The fourth side is the Parramatta River. One day our fence was there, the next day it was in a 3.5 metre hole in the ground. 

If we'd not had a 20 foot storage container temporarily sitting close to the edge of our property, I'm pretty sure we'd have lost more of our land but the bessa block wall went, along with a colorbond fence.

Over the next 3.5 years we couldn't find anyone who was willing to help with our situation. Everyone had an opinion, but it always came down to the fact that there was nothing we could do about it - other than perhaps to sue the owner. 

No one we spoke to was in a position to enforce the replacement of our land before the development was finished. Not the Mayor (who we baled up about this on two occasions), not the Council (Ryde), which was very apologetic (but had abrogated all responsibility to external Certifiers, and not the lawyer we eventually sought council from. No one was going to help us, so we had to wait till the owner/developer had finished excavating (this took more than a year), then built their basement, then the ground floor, so we could finally get our thin strip of land back. 

And now, finally, three-and-a-half years after the first excavator began ripping into our land, we can finish our landscaping, finish installing our backyard gates (which had been overlapped and duct-taped to a post to get them to fit the narrower strip of driveway), and not be reminded every time we look out of the back window, of how much power developers have over individual rights in this council area. 
If there's a planned development next to your home, watch out!