Australia's long-running drought claimed a bizarre fatality when a 66-year-old man was bashed to death while watering his lawn, police said.

Ken Proctor, a retired truck driver, was hosing his grass in the southern Sydney suburb of Sylvania at 5.30pm yesterday when he got into a row with Todd Munter, 36, over the city's water restrictions.

Police said today that Mr Proctor turned his hose on Mr Munter after which the younger man punched and pushed him to the ground before kicking him. Mr Proctor was taken to hospital but died soon after of a heart attack.

Mr Munter was charged in a Sydney court today with Mr Proctor's murder. He was remanded in custody until November 15, when he will be asked to enter a plea.

Australia's major cities have all imposed strick water restrictions because of a five-year drought that has devastated some rural communities and hit grain and food production. Most cities have banned garden sprinklers and made it illegal to hose down cars and pavements.

But in fact Mr Proctor was complying with the rules in Sydney, which allow watering with hand-held hoses before 10am and after 4pm on Sundays and Wednesdays.

The country's drought began in 2002 and has gradually worsened since then, forcing the Government to face up to the realities of global warming. September was the driest since records began in 1900 and water levels in the vast Murray-Darling Basin, source of almost half of its agricultural produce, are at record lows.

Australian newspapers reported tributes today from Mr Proctor's friends and former colleagues, who had called him "Don Bradman" for his refusal to get out of his truck once he started work.

"He was a typical Australian male, he liked a beer, as we all do," said Bruce Buscombe, his neighbour for 14 years.

"He liked a punt on the horses, he loved his South Sydney rugby league team and in his younger days, I believe he was a good player."

Mr Proctor was a regular at the local bowling club and sat at the same table with the same seven friends every Thursday for the meat raffle.

"We'll go down to the club tonight and there'll be a space where he normally sits," Mr Buscombe said. "We'll certainly have a beer to remember him."

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