Loddon Herald 12 October 2023

OF MILLIONS’ TO PUT

VNI WEST TOWERS ON IRRIGATION LAND

HIGH PRICE COMPO BILL ‘IN TENS

TRANSMISSION Company

Victoria faces multi-million dollar compensation claims to send VNI West transmission lines through prime irrigation farms.

The controversial project’s draft corridor route released late Friday afternoon could rip through properties between Barraport and Lake Meran.

TCV staff were on properties across the district on Monday, several farmers already speaking with solicitors about impacts of the project on their businesses.

Farmers are reluctant to speak openly about the challenges they face until more information is provided by TCV about the project that will construct 80-metre high towers through the northern Loddon.

But one said: “The corridor is ridiculous and doesn’t make sense. Coming through prime irrigation land where there has been significant investment ... we won’t be giving up without a fight.

He said early community consultation had been a joke. “They make out they have had these meetings but nothing alters.”

“We would be demanding millions of dollars ... tens of millions of dollars for compensa-

By CHRIS EARL

tion of disruption to agricultural production on our land for not only the current, but future generations, the kids who today are playing with toy tractors in the backyard gravel.

“The corridor is just not rational when they could do a few kilometres the other side and let everyone in the area get on with running what are a very productive farms.”

Another told the Loddon Herald: “What is being proposed is beyond a joke.”

Option 5A land of interest released in May identified more than 350 landholders.

The Loddon Herald has been told that the draft corridor does not include all owners contacted by TCV since May.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s company has been criticised for the corridor release timing, just four days before the first community engagement session in Charlton on Tuesday. Boort’s meeting is tonight.

And on Friday, TCV also revealed the names of members on its community reference group after criticism from across the Loddon, including by Mayor Dan Straub, that residents deserved to know the membership

MORE REPORTS - PAGE 5

WHERE THE TOWERS WILL BE - TCV’S CORRIDOR

PEERING into the future, perhaps, is our Bradley of Boort with this week’s Treemendous Sign. Turns out there is no pressure on Bradley who tells us to expect a BIG story any time soon. Something to do with giant pumpkin seeds. He’s teasing OTF and therefore, it’s only right that we pass on that sense of anxiously awaiting the detail. No pressure, of course for an early release of said information.

PERHAPS Bradley’s embarking on some type of whatchamacallit or even putting together a thingamebob. They are two descriptors that might sound very alien to today’s generation but by golly gosh, our grandmothers were well versed in using those nondescript words when they had a mental blank or stalled for time searching for the real word to include in conversation.

IN THE slang vernacular, a whatchamacallit is something that is hard to classify or whose name is unknown or forgotten. Apparently, according to our research, it’s a Yankee shortened version of “what you may call it” or “what you might call it”, said to have been around 100 years ago.

THINGAMEBOB used to refer to or address a person or thing whose name one has forgotten, does not know, or does not wish to mention. The trusted Encyclopaedia Britannica (not to be confused with the well-worn and thumbed Funk and Wagnell used by The Oracle), says you could also use thingamajig, thingie, whatchamacallit, whatsit, doodad and doohickey.

EVERYTHING was a doodad in one Loddon office last week where staff had survived hump day Wednesday but were still frazzled on the penultimate day of the official working week. Doodad, doodad and doodad they uttered while trying to locate a ... well, guess it was a doodad.

DOODAD has been around since the 1880s. Its origins from daud (“a piece of something”), later doohickey (“a thing (whose name one cannot recall)”), dialectal dad, dadge (“a large piece, chunk”)

THERE’S even a card game called Doodad that requires strategy, creativity and a bit of malicious manoeuvring. The object of the game is to spell ‘doodad’ with the Letter cards you collect –with the challenging twist that you can’t put one Letter card next to another unless the symbol and/ or colour on the cards match. The game’s creators say: “The dastardly Strike card allows you to steal cards from your opponents and ruin their best-laid plans, but remember that turnabout is fair play! Play it safe with a quick easy score … or go all in with a more difficult scheme to get extra points.”

Walsh enlists bucket brigade

THERE’S been plenty of calendars over the years sporting the essential contact information distributed by members of Parliament.

Throw in the odd pen and in more recent years, the reusable shopping bag.

The practical Peter Walsh, now into his second decade as the local MP heading off to Parliament House in Spring Street, has taken the useful offering of pollies to a new sphere.

At last week’s Elmore Field Days, Peter and the National Party had queues as they handed out

buckets - easily spotted in the bright yellow and green livery.

More than a few were used as head protection from the rain that fell on the first day of the 60th field days.

Thousands of people grabbed their handy buckets and there were constant lines of Peter Walsh’s very own bucket brigade wandering the displays.

The huge field days site was dotted with the bright yellow buckets.

The Loddon Herald discovered the trusty giveaways of pen and shopping bag were in the bucket!

Peter Walsh’s buckets prove a hit at field days.

Anniversary of hope

ANGLICAN Bishop of Bendigo

Matt Brain on Sunday re-dedicated St John’s Church Newbridge.

The church was flooded for the second time in 11 years when the swollen Loddon River spilled in the October flood emergency.

Parish priest Fr Darcy Vaughan said: “This month marks exactly a year since the floods that damaged St John’s Newbridge.

“So it is fitting that we welcomed our bishop to join us in a service re-dedicating this church to God’s glory and celebrating Holy Communion together,” he said.

The church’s piano and carpets were destroyed in the floods.

The Loddon last weekend hosted the first three performances of the Whole Loddon Love flood recovery music tour that this Saturday plays at the Bridgewater Hotel before moving to a finale in the Mount Alexander Shire on Sunday.

The Melbourne Cup arrives in Boort tomorrow as part of its international tour, the visit secured as part of flood recovery efforts in the region.

Voting compulsory

POLLING booths will open at 8am Saturday in the referendum to vote on the Federal Government’s Voice proposal for indigenous Australians.

Voting is compulsory with more than three million people already casting their ballot at pre-poll centres.

Bendigo pre-poll centres have been designated booths for Mallee voters.

Looking for a getaway close to home?

Enjoy a day out close to home with a visit to Kerang, Cohuna or Koondrook.

Browse specialty stores, weekend markets and indulge in quality food and coffee.

Relax at our many waterfront accommodation sites including family friendly caravan parks, glamping retreat and motels. Grab some sunshine and enjoy some downtime in the Gannawarra.

For more visit www.thegannawarra.com.au @thegannawarra

Bags packed for show

BOORT Show organisers are preparing for another bumper crowd when gates open on Saturday.

President Madeleine Scott said everything was in readiness for a successful day at the shire’s only agricultural show.

“We have had entries for events coming in on email and being delivered to the show office in Godfrey Street during the week,” she said.

And among those getting bags packed for the event are Haylee Antonello and guitarist James Glaubitz, the acoustic duo who form The Side Hustle. They will be playing Saturday evening before the fireworks display.

Road rescues

EMERGENCY services have been called to two road rescues on Loddon roads in the past week. A South Australian driver was rescued when his Ford Raptor hit trees on the Calder Highway, north of Wedderburn, last Thursday about 9.30pm. And an Inglewood driver, 22, and his passenger, 20, were rescued after a smash on the Bridgewater-Dunolly Road, Bridgwater early Sunday morning. The driver was transferred to a Melbourne hospital.

Committee hearings

STATE Parliament’s flood inquiry has held three days of public hearings this week. A panel from Buloke, Pyrenees and Moira Shire Councils and Mildura Rural City Council gave evidence on Tuesday.

Volunteer call

PLATFORM 1 Community

Hub in Bridgewater has put out the call for volunteers to assist its its book exchanges on Tuesdays and Wednesday.,

Bishop Matt Brain and Fr Darcy Vaughan with parishioners after Sunday’s re-dedication service. LH PHOTO

Bridgewater Memorial Hall Centenary - Special Feature starts Page 13

The Side Hustle will play in Boort on Saturday.

The damaged Raptor

Love our local!

The

Project finish hampered by hidden water pipes

THE FIRST section of Pyramid Hill’s delayed streetscape project is expected to be finished this week.

Loddon Shire’s wellbeing director Wendy Gladman on Tuesday said portholes and planting at Lions Park by Friday would complete that stage.

“The grassed area and access to the precinct at Kelly Park around the hall, and behind the toilets/museum will also shortly open to the community,” Mrs Gladman said.

“Works are continuing on the installation of the barbecue and shelter, as well as the street furniture and the pedestrian crossing.”

The $1.9 million project has been plagued by delays, including contractors finding decommissioned stormwater pipes and water supply mains as well as buried concrete footings and slabs buried on the Kelly Park site.

Trading hours

Monday – Open 3.00pm

Dinner from 6.00pm  Social Darts Night

Tuesday – Open 2.00pm

Dinner from 6.00pm  Trivia Night

Wednesday – Open Midday

Lunch from 12.00pm Dinner from 6.00pm  Pot’n’Parma Night

Thursday – Open Midday

Dinner from 5.30pm Steak’n’Pot Night

Friday – Open Midday

Lunch from 12.00pm Dinner from 5.30pm

Happy Hour 5.00pm – 6.30pm

With Hot Bar Snacks, Meat Raffle

Saturday – Open Midday

Lunch from 12.00pm Dinner from 5.30pm

Sunday – Open Midday  All Day Pizza Menu  Close 11.00pm

“Unfortunately, the project has experienced some unexpected challenges – in particular, contractors encountering a range of previously unidentified assets underground,” Mrs Gladman said.

“These were buried alongside currently active assets such as sewer lines and stormwater pipes, which, when constructed decades ago, were not recorded.

“So as things have been encountered a

fair amount of detective work is required to ascertain the active pipe verses the inactive pipe. This has led to many minor modifications to the execution of the planned works to accommodate the unknown buried infrastructure.

“While this is not an uncommon occurrence in civil works of this nature, there has been more than the usual associated

Greg Leach heads up SES

GREG Leach will become Victorian State Emergency Service chief next month. His appointment was announced last Friday and will see him return to Victoria after four years as commissioner of Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

Mr Leach led the QFES through significant operational challenges, including two severe bushfire seasons, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and severe flooding in February and March 2022.

Mr Leach began his career as a junior volunteer with the Rheola brigade and was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last year with the Australian Fire Service Medal.

His introduction to the Country Fire Authority came at Rheola where his parents Jennifer and Russell were volunteers.

Mr Leach has credited his time as a junior firefighter as being vital in his personal development. He has worked extensively in emergency services throughout Victoria with a professional career that began in 1986 at the Country Fire Authority in Bendigo.

“Involvement in CFA at a young age helped me develop teamwork and leadership skills I have used throughout my career” Commissioner Leach said.

“I can clearly remember my dad and the Rheola Rural Fire Brigade heading to the Black Forest ... to work on the frontline of

Anti-buyback commitment

THE Nationals have secured a commitment that the Victorian Government will continue to oppose water buybacks by the Federal Government.

Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad asked the Water Minister Harriet Shing in Parliament last week if Victoria would continue to oppose water buybacks.

The Minister confirmed that the Government would continue to oppose water buybacks, and referred to evidence that shows buybacks do real harm, lead to significant job losses and cause very significant hardships across communities, Ms Broad said.

Ash Wednesday fires. The tragic events would be forever etched in our memories and lead to a reshaping of firefighting in Australia.”

Mr Leach said he was honoured to lead VICSES and looked forward to working alongside its dedicated volunteers and staff to continue putting the safety of Victorians first.

“VICSES plays a crucial role in Victoria’s emergency preparedness and response, and I will ensure it remains a progressive and agile leader in the sector,” Mr Leach said.

with this project resulting in an accumulation of design adjustments and delays.

As a result, the contractor has undertaken a significant amount of improvement works in the area to enhance stormwater drainage and water supply in Kelly Park.

“These extra works have had an impact on the project’s original timeframe by six to eight weeks.

“Together with the discovery of these previously unknown underground assets, as well as some weather challenges that affected construction, this project is taking longer than originally anticipated.”

The project builds on the Pyramid Hill Streetscapes Masterplan developed in 2016 and aims to enhance Lions Park, Kelly Street and Kelly Park to create a consistent theme in the township.

The State Government has provided $800,000 in funding towards this project through its Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. COVID delayed awarding of a contract for the project until May last year with the project’s finish date pushed out to late this year.

Mrs Gladman said: “We thank the Pyramid Hill community for their patience during this time, and would like to assure the community that Council and the contractor are doing all they can to complete this project as soon as possible.”

Get expert help and grants to plant trees

NOW OPEN - Landholders in North Central Victoria can partner with a Registered Project Advisor and apply for funding to plant trees.

Carbon farming projects generate a range of on-farm benefits including:

• improving shade and shelter for stock

• generating wood or timber products

• enhancing biodiversity along streams and shelterbelts

Connect with a Registered Project Advisor and apply for funding today: agriculture.vic.gov.au/ victorian-carbon-farming-program

Greg Leach

Wendy Gladman

Corridor still 2km wide

THE FINAL VNI West route may be 18 months away.

Transmission Company Victoria said environmental and planning approvals would be required from the State and Federal Governments.

The draft corridor was released late Friday afternoon but is double the 1km-wide band TCV promised when the route was originally to be released in August.

“The draft corridor is generally 2km in width, in some areas the corridor is wider, namely at its southern and northern-most points to allow flexibility at connection points,” TCV said.

“Flexibility exists within the draft corridor to allow for direct collaboration with landholders and key stakeholders on the ‘micro-siting’ of infrastructure as project planning progresses.”

The corridor’s route reduces land of interest from up 50km wide in sections between Bulgana, near Stawell, and Kerang.

Northern parts of the Loddon Shire remain on TCV’s radar as talks continue with landholders and Aboriginal groups are consulted.

VNI West connecting Victoria and New South Wales as part of a national renewable energy grid has sparked controversy since the abrupt switch in February from a route that would have mirrored existing transmission easements between Bendigo and Kerang.

Protests have been staged across the region and in Melbourne and No Go AEMO signs erected on farm fences.

VNI West project director, Sam Magee, said: “In August 2023,

TCV’s sales pitch

“We’d like to thank all those involved who continue to provide information to reduce the impact of this new transmission line.”

TCV said important areas of land use such as residential areas were largely avoided and the draft corridor was more than 6km from major towns, including Charlton, Boort and Kerang.

TCV is yet to submit its application to the Government for a transmission licence in Victoria.

The licence is needed for land access, planning and environment approvals work.

Farmers have been offered a sign-on payment of up to $10,000 to grant access to TCV for two years.

Vaughan Toose

Reference group mystery ends

we committed to contacting all landholders located within the draft corridor before publishing it.

“We have sent letters and information packs to all landholders in the draft corridor and in addition we have contacted approximately 40 per cent of these people,” he said.

“Our conversations with landholders have been largely respectful and constructive, with many landholders sharing important information about their properties and farming practices that will help us further refine the route.

“Not all the properties that are currently in the draft corridor will be in the final route for VNI West and understanding how landholders are using their land and any important features will enable us to find the best location for the final easement, with the

least impact,” he said. The corridor still includes land that had been identified during consultation as used for extensive irrigation and flora and fauna-sensitive areas around Tobacco Lake, Round Lake, Little Lake Meran and Great Spectacle Lakes.

Land in the Gredwin and Oakvale districts includes an Aboriginal scar tree and artefacts and an environmental water reserve, according to the TCV website map plotting community feedbacks.

Mr Magee said: “The corridor will be narrowed considerably through ongoing consultation over the next two years, from an average width of about 2km to an easement of 70 metres to 120 metres.

“We recognise that VNI West has created uncertainty in communities and has been stressful for many people,” he said.

Groups including the Victorian Farmers’ Federation have been critical of access and compensation proposals.

TCV said it would discuss the VNI West transmission project with landholders, traditional owners and the community “to understand local concerns and ensure that commitments made in the early stages are captured and honoured across the life of the project”.

The company formed by Australian Energy Market Operator the project said VNI West would harness clean, low-cost electricity from both Victoria and New South Wales and help “bridge the looming supply gap as coal fired generation rapidly retires”.

“VNI West is expected to harness 3.4 gigawatts of renewable energy generation in Victoria, enough to power approximately 2.3 million homes.”

Construction is scheduled to start in 2026.

Little time to preparing for consultation, says Webster

TRANSMISSION Company Victoria had given affected landholders just days to prepare for planned consultation sessions, said Mallee MP Anne Webster.

Dr Webster criticised TCV for releasing the report late on a Friday afternoon, just four days before the start of consultation in Charlton, St Arnaud, Boort, Stawell and Kerang.

“Timing the report’s release for late on a Friday afternoon is highly cynical, and smacks of an attempt to avoid media scrutiny,“ Dr Webster said.

“It also left affected landholders with effec-

tively the weekend to digest the information and what it means for them.”

She said that in an unexpected change, TCV had also widened the draft corridor from what was initially 1km “to provide greater flexibility and to ensure TCV identifies the best route with the least impact on communities”.

“Yet again TCV have failed to keep the community informed, a common theme over the past few months even since before TCV was created by the Australian Energy Market Operator to manage VNI West.

“The people of Mallee have made their

thoughts on VNI West clear in protests and meetings right around the electorate and down at a protest in Melbourne, yet they push ahead and can’t seem to keep their word from one report to the next. “One can only hope TCV will listen to the views of the people of Mallee during their delayed and inadequate ‘stakeholder engagement’.

“Farmers’ livelihoods are at risk and many have told me they will not support it. This does not stop the Allan and Albanese Labor Governments from railroading through prime agricultural land and pristine bushland.”

BOORT farmer Vaughan Toose is one of 12 people appointed to Transmission Company Victoria’s VNI West community reference group.

TCV, under fire for refusing to reveal the group’s membership, unveiled a list of members in a project stakeholder update on Friday.

Mr Toose’s property is among those included in the VNI West corridor.

He said farmers were well represented on the group.

Other farmers include Victorian Farmers’ Federation St Arnaud branch leaders Barry Batters and Colin Coates, organiser of the Parliament House tractor protest Glenden Watts and Charlton’s Glenda Watts.

Buloke Shire councillor Daryl Warren, St Arnaud farmer Marcia McIntyre, Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare’s Andrew Borg, former Gannawarra councillor Max Fehring, Rachel Lloyd, Brad McDonald and John Wright are also on the group.

“This group has not been established to rubber-stamp VNI West,” said the AEMO-appointed chairman David Hale, of Bendigo.

“These community members are representing the very real and valid concerns of their families, neighbours, friends and wider community networks.

“The group is intended to be a forum for sincere and open discussion; for community members to have their questions answered and discuss with TCV how it can improve its work on the ground.”

However, TCV said people with “something you would like the group to raise with TCV” were to contact Mr Dale.

z Avoids ecologically sensitive waterways between Minmindie and Loddon Vale, including the Loddon River and its associated tributaries.

z Avoids major townships such as Boort, Charlton and Kerang.

z Minimises impacts to GMW irrigation infrastructure

z Avoids areas of registered cultural sensitivity surrounding Boort and Durham Ox.

z Avoids areas of registered and intangible cultural values surrounding Boort, Lake Marmal, along the Loddon River and across the Loddon River floodplain.

FLOOD RECOVERY UPDATE BULLETIN

HEALTH & WELLBEING SUPPORT

Royal Flying Doctor Service - Flying Doctor Wellbeing - Available to those aged 18+. Call (03) 8412 0480.

Rural Financial Counselling Service - free and con dential nancial support - Call

1300 735 578

Mind Australia Bendigo Call 1300 286 463 or visit mindaustralia.org.au

Orange Door - You have a right to be safe - Call 1800 512 359

Australian Community Support Organisation (ACSO) - An intake organisation for Alcohol and other Drugs, Mental health, Youth and other clinical services for the Loddon area.

1800respect - Con dential information, counselling and support service. Call

1800 737 732

Nurse on Call 24 hour caring and professional health advice 1300 60 60 24.

Lifeline: 24hr crisis support and suicide prevention services: 13 11 14 or lifeline. org.au

Beyond Blue Information and support for anxiety and/or depression: 1300 224 636 or beyondblue.com.au

Kids Help Line 24hr phone and online counselling service for people aged 5-25: 1800 551 800 or kidshelpline.com.au

Seniors Rights Victoria - Elder abuse, prevention and support - 1300 368 821

Emerging Minds Provides resources for parents, carers, and families about infant and child mental health: emergingminds.com.au

Translation and Interpreter Services

Provides access to phone and on-site interpreting services. Requests must be submitted at least 48 hours in advance. www.tisnational.gov.au

National Relay Service Assistance making a phone call if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impediment. Speak and listen number: 1300 555 727.

LOCAL SUPPORT SERVICES

Community Health/Hospitals

Boort District Health

3 Kiniry St, Boort P: (03) 5451 5200

Inglewood and District Health Services

3 Hospital St, Inglewood P: (03) 5431 7000

Northern District Community Health

P: (03) 5451 0200

Boort Medical Centre

2 Coutts St, Boort P:(03) 5451 5200

Dingee Bush Nursing Centre

21 King St, Dingee P:(03) 5436 8309

Marong Medical Practice

8 Hospital St, Inglewood P:(03) 5438 3308

Wedderburn Health Clinic

25 Wilson St, Wedderburn P: (03) 5494 3511

Legal Services

Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Service P: 1800 450 909

Neighbourhood Houses

Boort Resource and Information Centre

(BRIC) 119-121 Godfrey St, Boort

P: (03) 5455 2716

Inglewood Community

Neighbourhood House

Cnr Verdon & Market St, Inglewood

P: (03)5455 2716

Pyramid Hill Neighbourhood House

43 Kelly St, Pyramid Hill P: (03) 5455 7129

Wedderburn Community House

24 Wilson St, Wedderburn

P: (03) 5494 3489

12 OCTOBER 2023

October is Mental Health Awareness Month

On behalf of Loddon Shire Council I would like to welcome you to this edition of Council’s Flood Recovery Bulletin. Tomorrow is exactly one year to the day when Laanecoorie Reservoir spilled and the Loddon River valley ooded our shire from Newbridge to Appin South, and Pyramid Hill across to Boort and beyond.

Our community has shown tremendous resilience during the recovery phase and I commend everyone who pitched in with sandbagging, building temporary levees, moving equipment to high ground and cleaning up those businesses and facilities that could not be spared from the

Farmers’ Wellbeing Toolkit

oodwaters. Most importantly I want to congratulate the Loddon community on how you have looked out for each other and remained connected after such a di cult time. October being Mental Health Awareness Month is a timely reminder to look after your own mental health and avail yourself of the wonderful health and wellbeing support services that we are so fortunate to have throughout the Shire.

May this year’s harvest help get all our farmers back on their feet.

Cr Dan Straub Mayor

During this Mental Health Awareness Month, we recognise that our farming community faces unique challenges that can contribute to heightened stress and mental health issues.

Support for Businesses

Many businesses and communities are still dealing with longer-term impacts of the 2022 oods. New and ongoing supports available for businesses include:

Business Groups Flood Recovery Grants program

This grants program is still available to business groups – including chambers of commerce, trader groups, industry associations and more – and o ers funding to deliver locally-led recovery initiatives to support their ood-a ected small businesses to restart and recover. Applications close Tuesday 31 October 2023. For information or to apply visit https://shorturl.at/ikpP3

WHAT’S ON

Sat 14 October - Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour at the Boort Show. Come along and get your photo taken with the 2023 Cup. Sat 14 October - Whole Loddon Love Bridgewater Hotel (evening) Whole Loddon Love is a series of contemporary music gigs taking place in areas severely a ected by ooding in 2022. Tickets free for locals & kids, and only $15 for others! Money raised will go to local community groups and ood recovery. Book at www.wholeloddonlove.com

Sun 12 November - George the Farmer in Serpentine George the Farmer inspires kids to learn creatively about agriculture and where their food and bre comes from. Join George the Farmer for a live performance in the Serpentine Memorial Hall. The quintessentially Australian storylines delight and amuse the under 10 age group and adults alike. This event is for Loddon Shire residents only. Registrations are now open at https://forms.o ce.com/r/us1DYa21n4

GRANTS

Community Recovery Grants

Loddon Shire Council has opened Community Recovery Grants up to $5,000 for communities to hold activities and events which create opportunities for connection, resilience, capacity building and positive wellbeing and help keep our communities strong. Grants are available to not-for-pro t community groups or groups that are auspiced by an incorporated not-for-pro t group. Community groups must be located within the Loddon Shire and serve residents of the Loddon Shire. Projects must link to ood recovery and have clear outcomes for communities across Loddon Shire that were impacted by the October 2022 oods. Applications close at midnight on Sunday 22 October 2023.

To apply go to https://loddon.smartygrants.com.au/

LODDON SHIRE SERVICES AND CONTACTS

Loddon Shire Council’s Flood Recovery team would love to hear from you and assist you through your ood recovery.

Please get in touch if you would like to chat about ood recovery for you and your community.

Call Mal: 0499 978 145 or Josie: 0474 911 783

That National Centre for Farmer Health provides a range of resources and supports. Check out their ‘Farmers Wellbeing Toolkit” for physical and mental health resources created to support farmers at https://shorturl.at/psuF8

Business Recovery Advisory Service

This service is now available to ood-impacted businesses, o ering extended case management and support to help small businesses in their long-term recovery. Business Recovery Advisers will assist businesses to re-build, re-activate and focus on sustainable growth during and beyond recovery.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Support

Sole traders, business owners and their employees can continue to call the Partners in Wellbeing Helpline on 1300 375 330 for free, con dential advice 7 days a week. Trained nancial counsellors, business advisers and wellbeing coaches are available to provide con dential one-on-one support.

FRRR Prepare & Recover Grants

The Strengthening Rural Communities Prepare & Recover program supports communities inremote, rural and regional communities across Australia to implement initiatives that prevent and prepare for future climate related impacts, or recover from existing disasters in the medium to long-term timeframe, generally one to ten years after the disaster. Grants up to $25,000 are available for a broad range of initiatives to strengthen the capacity and capability of local people, organisations, networks, and systems that help communities to be informed, skilled, connected and resourced for the future. Applications close 5pm 4 December 2023.

For guidelines and to apply visit https://bitly.ws/VaLM

For up-to-date information regarding ood recovery and council services:

 Visit our website at www.loddon.vic.gov.au

 Call our o ce between 8.15am-4.45pm, Monday-Friday on (03) 5494 1200; or

 Go to our Facebook page facebook.com/LoddonShire/

Golden stories pan to Dipper’s TV camera

WHAT started as a chance stopover enjoying a pie in Inglewood has seen retired champion footballer turned television presenter Robert DiPierdomenico make an enthusiastic return to discover stories of the Loddon.

He spent last week trotting around Loddon towns filming segments for his travel program.

Every corner of the Loddon Shire was travelled over five days talking to locals, visiting tourist attractions and sampling local food and wine.

“It’s always nice to know your backyard,” the AFL star known as Dipper said during a break in filming at Bridgewater.

“The stories I have been hearing ... of gold, the eucy distilleries ... it’s about the community, the people and their stories.

“I’ve been in a pub and a bloke pulls up a chair. He tells you stories about the gold.

“It’s addictive to understand the story and every story is true and a couple of glasses of local red help (in telling the story.

“I’m hearing good stories and the locals tell good stories.”

Dipper said he chanced across Loddon communities when returning to his Rosebud home from St Arnaud last year.

“I stopped in Inglewood - I like rollicking in antique stores and now I’m back,” he said.

Dipper’s collectable craze is old model car kits that he can assemble.

He said the television show helped people learn about what was in Victoria’s

backyard and be encouraged people to explore country areas.

“I’ll be coming back here. Might buy my own gold metal detector and make my own stories.”

His visit to Loddon communities last week was a collaboration with Loddon Tourism.

Dipper’s visit to Kooyoora State Park came in the same week DJAARA launched

Good foot health focus of Nicole’s work week

NICOLE Hocking has had extra spring in her step this week promoting good foot health during Podiatry Week.

The Loddon podiatrist based at Dingee Bush Nursing Centre said the week was about putting the spotlight on the diverse scope of podiatrists, their dynamic workplaces and the broad spectrum of patients they treat.

“We use our feet every day and take for granted that they will carry us around,” said Nicole. “Sometimes the smallest issues can reduce mobility and quality of life.

“Our role as podiatrists is to offer advice and treatment and keep people mobile”

“Working in rural communities means that clients can come in for their treatment and be back at work without having to make the trip to a larger town where podiatry services are already under pressure and waiting lists extensive”

Nicole said podiatrists were one of the few allied health professionals who can work with an advanced scope of practice, such as prescribing medicines as an endorsed prescriber and performing surgical procedures as a podiatric surgeon.

“Conditions managed by podiatrists include sports and musculoskeletal disorders, injuries, growth and development conditions, chronic diseases such as ar-

thritis, dermatological pathologies and neurological disease,” she said.

“Podiatrists use a combination of medical, surgical and rehabilitation techniques to provide personalised care to alleviate pain, restore mobility and improve a person’s quality of life.

“We have a hands-on approach and a broad range of skills to use equipment and technology for gait analysis, diagnosis, therapy, injection techniques and surgery.

Leadership program planning new year activities

LEAD Loddon Murray has opened applications for its 2024 community leadership program.

The annual program started in 1998 and has involved more than a dozen Loddon residents, former Loddon councillor Colleen Condlifee one of the first pro-

gram participants who later served as LEAD Loddon Murray chair.

Loddon Shire is one of the program’s partners providing a scholarship for a local resident each year.

The program aims to prepare people to respond adaptively to community needs.

the first of its cultural tours in the park. The destination program is one of two that feature Dipper. Another is backyard barbecue wars.

He played 240 games with Hawthorn and featured in five premiership sides, sharing the 1989 Brownlow Medal with Sydney’s Greg Williams. The Loddon segments will screen early next year.

Flavours of Loddon will be Popping Up across the Loddon Shire over summer

Sunday 5 November 2023

Inglewood Alive

Thursday 7 December 2023

Christmas on High – Wedderburn

Saturday 27 January 2024

Flavours of Loddon Festival – Boort

Friday 16 and Saturday 17 February 2024

Vintage Caravan Weekend – Bridgewater

Savour the Flavour of our region

Nicole Hocking

Dingee Hotel publican Mick Kerkman, Dipper and Mayor Dan Straub. LH PHOTO

Dipper with Bridgewater Hotel’s Virginia Hyland

Dipper at John Piccoli’s Spanner Man Sculpture Gardens with Andrew, Janet and Sophia Piccoli

Dipper with Jonas and William Haw

Haylett’s dream day

RIPON MP Martha Haylett and Sam Lynch were married on Saturday in what the politician elected to State Parliament 11 months ago says was a dream day.

“It was a beautiful, relaxed country wedding surrounded by our dear friends and family. The day felt like a dream,” Ms Haylett said before the couple left for a week-

VNI West – October Information Sessions

The VNI West project is a major infrastructure project to build a vital new transmission line between Victoria and New South Wales.

Come along to one of our events to hear more about the project, including the draft corridor and ask questions of the project team. Each event will include a town hall presentation and panel Q&A from 5:00pm – 6:30pm followed by a drop-in information session from 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Tuesday 10 October Charlton Park Complex, Charlton

Wednesday 11 October Stewart and McDonald Hall, St Arnaud

Thursday 12 October Boort Memorial Hall, Boort

Monday 16 October Stawell Entertainment Centre, Stawell

Tuesday 17 October Kerang Memorial Hall, Kerang

Thursday 19 October Online information session and Q&A (4:00pm-5:30pm)

Please register via the QR code or TCV website

Where can I find more information?

W:

P: 1800 824 221

E: enquiries@transmissionvictoria.com.au

The Railway Hotel

long beachside honeymoon. The wedding was held at at Eurambeen Historic Homestead, near Beaufort.

Ms Haylett wore a satin silk gown from Anna Campbell Bridal - an Australian designer born and bred in Smeaton. Her electorate office remains open during the MP’s short break.

Warren shares ‘unbreakable’ message

RESIDENTS from Yando, Canary Island and Appin heard words of hope and resilience from The Unbreakable Farmer, Warren Davies, on Friday night.

Warren was guest speaker at a Loddon Shire flood recovery evening in the Yando Hall.

One of Australia’s leading rural mental health speakers, he shared experiences of his eventful life that have tested resilience, persistence and determination.

More than 65 people attended the evening with catering by Pyramid Hill Lions Club and music from Elias Lanyon.

Maintenance works limit water supplies

SUPPLIES in several Loddon towns will be disrupted this month by Coliban Water maintenance and cleaning of mains.

Work was to have been completed in Serpentine last week while Coliban says crews will be cleaning mains in Inglewood between next Monday and Wednesday.

“This work will mean a planned interruption to your water service,” said Coliban Water.

Meanwhile, Coliban Water said it was continuing essential maintenance work at the Pyramid Hill Water Treatment Plant.

“To complete these works, the current clarifier is offline and a temporary bypass system is in place.

“To help reduce pressure on the network, we’re asking all Pyramid Hill residents to continue limiting their water use during October. This includes using handheld trigger nozzles or watering gardens or lawns overnight to avoid peak use times.

“These efforts will mean enough water for everyone while these works are underway.”

Martha Haylett and Sam Lynch at their weekend wedding.

Yando Hall at capacity to hear Warren Davies talk on resilience.

Trailer’s hitched for local food pop-ups

FOOD businesses will pop up across the region from spring to summer with the launch of Flavours of Loddon.

Local food truck and mobile traders will serve their cuisine at major town events and in tourist hotspots over the next six months.

“We have a diverse mix of high quality food truck and mobile traders right here in Loddon” said Flavours of Loddon event manager Ann-Maree Davis.

“They are all really excited to have the opportunity to showcase their businesses at major events.

Ava stands up to strict principal

AVA Rudkins nailed the lead role when East Loddon P12 College performed the stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel Matilda.

The school biennial production featured Ava in the lead role of Matilda Wormwood, a gifted girl forced to put up with a crude, distant father whose voice was projected in the production by Jye Rassmussen.

Matilda realised she has the power of telekinesis, she defended her friends from the wrath of Principal Trunchbull played by (Zane Tyzack) and fight back against her unkind parents. her ability to speak with expres

sion, all the while ensuring she was moving and acting in character.

Matilda’s parents were played by Jye Rassmussen (Harry Wormwood) and Amy Tomic (Zinnia Wormwood) who proved they had the talent, despite not being on stage together, a symmetry was evident in their characters of as they displayed a lack of care for their on stage child

Matilda. Amy extended herself by then also playing a second lead role of Miss Honey.

Campbell Harcourt (Bruce Bogtrotter) worked tirelessly to

chocolate cake for punishment. His acting ability and the special effects had the audience asking “was that cake real?’ and “did he eat the whole cake?”

Andrew Chappel complimented Payton Payton as FBI agents while Piper Long, Archer Ketterer and Isaac Ferguson showed much promise on stage. Siena Ferres, Holly Ella Gleisner, Alex Fletcher, Tahlia Smith and Neko Straub were also among the ensemble cast.

Another highlight for the audience of the end-of-term production performance was dance segments featuring the school’s

“From barista coffee to hot jam donuts, Spanish paella to gourmet sausage rolls, loaded baked potatoes to ice cream cones and nachos to loaded fries, there will be a great range of food and treats on of-

fer from the team at Flavours of Loddon.”

Flavours of Loddon will feature at the Inglewood Alive Festival in November, Christmas on High in Wedderburn in December, the Australia Day long weekend in Boort and the Bridgewater Vintage Caravan weekend next February.

Supported by Loddon Shire tourism team, Flavours of Loddon is planned to ensure existing community events are supported and businesses benefit from increased visitor numbers and community vitality.

“The objectives of Flavours of Loddon include supporting local business, local residents as well as the visitor economy,” said Ann-Maree.

“We will provide a diverse menu and new experience to showcase our community and local food traders.”

Health service expands care work

INGLEWOOD and Districts

Health Service will start providing home community programs in Buloke Shire from January.

IDHS was one of three new providers to take on in-home services in the Loddon Shire in July after council withdrew from programs following reforms of the sector by the

Federal Government. Buloke is one of the latest councils to end its in-home services.

Loddon services provided by IDHS will be extended to communities in the south-east and central parts of Buloke. Services include domestic assistance, home maintenance and gardening and personal care.

East Loddon students take to the stage in their production of Matilda.

INAUGURAL LODDON VALLEY ARTS TRAIL

ELECTIC art had people travelling to the region at the weekend visiting more than 20 studios and pop-up galleries for the first Loddon Valley Arts Trails.

More than 40 artists from Eastville and Dunolly through to Boort were part of the weekend that also saw exhibitions at holiday accommodation, cafes and community hubs in Inglewood, Tarnagulla and Pyramid Hill.

The inaugural event was co-ordinated by Tenar Dwyer.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT

z Brenton Bell held his first exhibition of Bridgewater-made garden art on the lawns overlooking

grapevines at Water Wheel Winery, his extensive collection growing after friends this year asked him to make art for their gardens.

z Colin Mowbray’s Tarnagulla front yard become an outdoor gallery he called Wasteland - photographs of discarded treasures found in bushland around the town.

z Recycling was among the themes at Kurracaburn Heights accommodation in Wedderburn with lamps and radios made by Glenn Gosling and quilts from the local patchwork group, displayed by Hilary Finch and Michelle Hargreaves.

z Janette Nixon was one of several artists who had works in the pop-up display at Inglewood’s Eucalyptus Distillery Museum.

Outcomes of Council’s monthly meeting

The September Council Meeting saw a number of items presented for Councillors’ consideration. This included the adoption by Council of the Disposal of Council Assets Policy. The purpose of this policy is to provide direction to Council sta when disposing of Council assets. E ective application of this policy will ensure that any disposal of Council’s assets is carried out in a transparent, fair, independent and open manner. Other outcomes of the meeting included:

z Endorsement of the 2023/24 Chief Executive O cer key performance indicators

z Issuing of Planning Application 5812 in Market Street, Newbridge

A reminder that Council Meetings usually take place on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 3pm. Meetings take place in the Council Chambers, o Peters Street, Wedderburn, and are open to the public. Council Meetings are also streamed via Loddon Shire’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/LoddonShire

To view the September Council Meeting agenda and minutes, visit www.loddon.vic.gov.au/Our-Council/ Agendas-and-minutes/Agendas-and-minutes-2023

Australia Day award nominations close soon

Is there someone in your community that goes above and beyond? Someone that deserves recognition for all the hard work they do for their community?

Council is now receiving nominations for the Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Community Group/Event of the Year, and Community Services Awards.

For more information, head to Australia Day page on Council’s website. Nominations for all awards close on Friday, 20 October 2023.

WHOLE LODDON LOVE MUSIC TOUR - THE fIRST WEEkEND

Tom Smith, Dylan Stubbs and Scen Schoenher enjoy the music at Pyramid Hill on Friday night as the Whole Loddon Love flood recovery music tour started at the Victoria Hotel followed by Boort and Newbridge for the first weekend before heading to Bridgewater this Saturday. LH PHOTOS

Laura Poole, Alina Gould, Sophie Twigg, Rylan Chislett and Elsie Poole. LH PHOTO

Kelly Gould, Kirsty Twigg, Lauren Gould and Yvonne Gould. LH PHOTO

Sue Hayman and drummer Matthew Bishop at Newbridge on Sunday. LH PHOTO

The event is raising funds for local groups. Among them Newbridge Fire Brigade with members Anthony Holland and Jason McDonald flying the flag in Sunday. LH PHOTO

Newbridge CWA members running the cake stall. LH

Jason Chew and Mitchell Whitton.

Welcoming the Piermont Group to Bendigo

McKean McGregor is privileged to be working with the Piermont Group to help bring a new standard of living to the downsizer and retiree market in Bendigo.

With three suburban residential sites to be transformed into vibrant new micro-communities through a range of contemporary, low maintenance, fully established, ‘turn-key’ homes, the McKean McGregor team are excited to find the perfect home for those looking to downsize.

Join us:

Hear from the Piermont Group about their projects, why they chose Bendigo and how they plan to transform some of Bendigo’s favourite suburbs.

When: Wednesday 25th October at 6:00pm

Where: Fortuna Villa

Details: Drinks and nibbles provided RSVP: clientservices2@mckeanmcgregor.com.au or phone 03 5454 6600

Learn more & Register your interest:

JAYDEN DONALDSON

M: 0437 177 379

E: jayden@mckeanmcgregor.com.au

celebration of community resilience

THE Roaring 20s were a time of hope, excitement and vision for Bridgewater-on-Loddon.

The riverside community had welcomed home soldiers from the battles of World War One half a world away.

More than 500 people in the district immediately set to raising funds to build a town hall that would be an eternal tribute to those who came home and those who did not.

The memorial hall was opened in 1923 and soon became the hub of civic and social life - community meetings calling for reticulated water, balls and dances organised by local churches that attracted hundreds from far and wide.

Geoffrey Hurry, the new federal member of Parliament for the area, was given the honour of officially opening the hall. He had been commanding officer of the 38th Battalion. Among those the new hall honoured was Bridgewater’s William Cumming killed in Belgium in 1917.

The sobering tribute at the hall to more than 130 local men and women of World War One (and additional

WEEKEND OF ACTIVITIES

Friday October 20

5pm – Barefoot Bowling under lights at Bridgewater Bowling Club. Memorabilia on display.

Saturday October 21

9am – Bridgewater Recreation Reserve – junior cricket

10am - Back-to registrations at Bridgewater Fire Station. Map collection point, free morning and afternoon tea. Memorabilia display.

10am – Bridgewater Primary School. Memorabilia display. Parents’ club selling light lunch.

10am – Bridgewater History display in Bridgewater Memorial Hall supper room.

1.30pm – Bridgewater Water Ski Club demonstration

1pm – Bridgewater Bowling Club pennant matches.

1.30pm – Bridgewater Recreation Reserve – tennis

5.30pm-7.30pm – Little Sangria Food Van at Bridgewater Memorial Hall.

8pm – Bridgewater Memorial Hall centenary celebrations.

SUNDAY October 22

9am – Ecumenical service at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

10.30am – Bridgewater Recreation Reserve family day.

SELF-GUIDED TOURS

Back-to-Bridgewater 1932

Connor makes his musical mark with country classics

CONNOR Bulger will headline the family day entertainment when the community and friends celebrate at the recreation reserve on the final day of Back-to-Bridgewater 2023.

The local entertainer made his made earlier this year when television rebooted Australian Idol.

The Akubra-wearing lamb marker with an impressive mullet performed the Slim Dusty classic A Pub With No Beer and made it through

Sesquicentenary has school ringing welcoming bell

HUNDREDS of young students have had their education at Bridgewater Primary School since its opening in 1871. Plans for the 150th anniversary were put on hold by the pandemic two years ago.

Now former students will be back renewing friendships and meeting today’s eager students for celebrations as part of the Backto-Bridgewater weekend. All year, parents and

to the final 32 performers, impressing icon judges Marcia Hines, Harry Connick Jr, Amy Shark and Kyle Sandilands.

Bridgewater’s award-winning wineries will be at the family day offering tastings and selling their famous local shiraz and other varietals.

It’s also where the monster raffle will be drawn during official proceedings involving the member for Mallee Anne Webster, member for Ripon

staff have been collecting old photographs and memorabilia that will be on display in the school building itself built around a century ago to replace the original brick classrooms. The school will be open between 10am and 2pm and members of the parents’ club will be selling lunches, raising funds to assist projects at the school.

BUSINESSES proud to be in town

FOR more than 150 years, enterprising Bridgewater businesses have put the town on the map.

From the early breweries and suppliers of goods to farmers and goldminers in the district to today’s vital local employers, Bridgewater has a reputation of excellence in products and service.

Tours over the back-to weekend at Laucke

Flour Mills, long a major employer in town, were booked out within weeks of being promoted by the organising committee, residents and visitors keen for a rare look at the local product that is sent far and wide.

Bridgewater Bakehouse is another contemporary business always boosting the town’s reputation. Pat and Theresa O’Toole have vanilla slices that pick up national awards and make sure people stop when travelling the Calder Highway.

The art deco-style Bridgewater Hotel also brings people to town where they enjoy fine cuisine on the banks of the Loddon River. And Tim Ferguson is much more than the local motor mechanic. He’s captain of the fire brigade and is overseeing a special back-to display of memorabilia at the fire station.

Martha Haylett and Loddon Shire’s Inglewood Ward councillor Wendy Murphy.

And in the tradition of great community events in Bridgewater, members of Inglewood Lions Club from both sides of the Loddon River will be cooking up their famous barbecue lunch.

The family day runs from 10.30am to 2.30pm with entry by gold coin donation.

The finale will be day to remember.

Connor Bulger

Independent and part of the community

GENERATIONS of Bridgewater

district farmers have looked locally for equipment and supplies vital to keeping the agricultural sector vibrant and valued.

When Dave and Leanne Edwards purchased the agricultural supply business from Nick and Lola Saunders back in 2010, they quickly became part of the local rural scene and the Bridgewater community.

“We are a large, independent local business with direct access to national buying networks and leading Aussie suppliers.

“The product range is massive. We cater for all aspects of farming and rural living across our district.” said Dave.

Dave and Leanne’s business on Main Street has a daily flow of customers travelling into the town for all sorts of gear.

“This includes Pump and Irrigation supplies, Animal Heath, Fencing, Crop Protection, Grain Storage, Harvest gear, Mowers and General Hardware. All typically in stock and ready to go.

“And our commitment to the local

community is embodied in our name - Bridgewater Farmware - because it’s the town were proud to call home for our business and where we raised our family.”

Bridgewater Farmware is a significant and important employer of local people. “We have a fantastic team, in the store and out on site. They all live locally and are experienced in all aspects of our business.” he said.

“This allows us to provide an extensive range of products and services to our Rural community.

“We also install and service what we sell. That’s key to providing farmers with peace of mind when making major investments.

“And because we have a strong after sales ethos, that continues to maintain a strong connection with customers.”

“We continue to stay at the forefront of stocking and selling the latest gear available ... our products dotting hundreds of farms across Victoria and even into New South Wales, improving productivity and efficiency.

Leanne says Bridgewater Farmware is always keen to share information with local rural communities.

“Dave and the team - when they are not out installing new irrigation systems - can be at field days and industry exhibitions or speaking to local groups about current and emerging trends in the agricultural sector,” she said.

“These are among the ways we are part of the community - a proud local business helping local people. That’s really important to us.”

Dave said advances in agricultural equipment had been huge since he and Leanne purchased Bridgewater Farmware almost 15 years ago.

“Tractors and equipment are bigger and our business has grown significantly with this change.”

“Yet, the staples that keep a farm running remain the same. Good fences, pumps, products to protect animals and crops remain the core of everyday farming. These products are always in demand at Bridgewater Farmware, where we welcome back regular customers every day.”

Dave and Leanne said Bridgewater is the best base for a business serving loyal customers in a fantastic community.

Bridgewater Farmware owners Dave and Leanne Edwards

David matches top price for second year

HAMILTON farmer David Moyle has paid top price at Derby Downs Poll Dorset Stud ram sale for a second year.

He paid top price of $3600 at Friday’s Marong auction and picked up another six rams in the offering of 84 that achieved a sale average of $1127.12.

The Randall Park farm owner paid the same top price last year when he purchased six rams. David said the 2023 top price ram had a good barrel and eye muscle.

“He was the best ram in the auction and I had to have him,” David said.

“We find the Derby Downs rams are good doing sheep and that’s why we keep coming back. We have been buying here for seven or eight eights now.”

While the sale average was down, stud principal Don McKinnon said he was pleased with the overall prices considering current market challenges.

“I would have liked a better clearance but that is understand-

able,” he said. Auctioneers sold 59 of the 84 rams offered.

“We were missing a number of volume buyers this year, particularly from the Ballarat and Mildura areas but they are expected to return in 2024,” Don said.

He said the stud had overcome challenges after October’s floods and the warmer summer.

“We used a new drench to combat worms and the rams did very well after that together with being given a balanced diet that included supple day,” Don said.

Loddon farmers were again well represented at the sale.

Chris Nevins, of FP Nevins and Co, purchased 19 rams for them, all repeat buyers at Derby Downs.

“They are good rams and all our clients have been buying here for 10 and 15 years,” he said.

“They are happy with the progeny and for that reason happy to continue buying rams at from the local Derby Downs stud,” the veteran stock agent said after the auction.

2014.6 Acres

Superb cropping country

CLEARING SALE - INGLEWOOD

14th October 2023 – 9am Sharp!

MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT, SUNDRIES & HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

A/C F &J CARBONE

Onsite: 32 Scholes Road, Inglewood VIC 3517 (property sold)

TRACTORS: “John Brown” tractor with Grader attachment, McCorm Deeline tractor with Grader attached, small disc plough, assorted antique farm implements, carry all, “Husqvarna” ride on mower, mower trailer &rake, 6’ x 4’ tipping trailer, “Catamaran” trailer, Elec grain mixer, platform scales, “Cigweld” 170 inv port welder, G65 8 hp Honda motor, 8 hp “B&S” generator, large air compressor, “Tomahawk” rotary Hoe, assorted chainsaws, assorted car parts.

SUNDRY ITEMS: Assorted collectable tools, Drills, Grinders, Wire Spinner, Wire, complete pipe threader, assort A & B belts, Strainers, pipes, poly pipe, Besa bricks, shed trusses, Jerry fuel cans, guttering, corrugated iron, water tank, toolboxes, HD car ramps, Gold detector

Household: “Bosh” FL wash Mach, Fridges, Microwaves, Freezer, “Everhot” wood stoves / hotplates, grape/olive squeezer, quantity shelving/ lockers, small steam cleaner, fire screen, 22’ TV, dress maters model, HGPP Sew Machine, assorted crockery, ornaments, cookware, glassware, linen, table & 4 chairs & Host sundries too numerous to particularise

TERMS: Numbers system operating- I.D required. Cash, Cheque payment accepted & EFTPOS available.

‘Moresis’ 325 Meering West Road

 663.3ha/1639ac in four titles. Sown to wheat in two paddocks.

 Comfortable 4BR BV residence, Brick double garage, sheds, 2 silos.

Asking price $3,200/acre.

‘Livingstons’ Meran Road

 152ha/375.6ac. Sown to canola in one paddock.

Asking Price $3,500/acre

Both Holdings:

 5kms* between blocks. Growing crops not included.

 Pipeline water to tanks and troughs

 Part of Meering West Wind Farm Project. Prospect of attractive returns.

Jason Telford 0447 533313

Peter Robertson 0417 636348

Elders Barham eldersrealestate.com.au/300P129629

REMARKS: Genuine sale as the property is sold.

DIRECTIONS: From Inglewood, turn into Tarnagulla Road from Calder Hwy, Left into Weeah Street and follow the road over the Railway line. Property is on the right in Scholes Lane. Signs will be a guide

FULL DETAILS & PHOTOS www.fpnevins.com.au

Agent: James Nevins 0407 302 900 Vendor: Frank Carbone 0417 577 741

Don McKinnon, Lachlan Bailey and top buyer David Moyle. LH PHOTO

SHEEP AND LAMBS

THERE was a similar number of 19,550 lambs at Bendigo on Monday and the quality was mostly from very good to average after last weeks rain.

New season lambs supply continues to flow in taking up the majority with 12, 400 offered.

There was many runs of well presented new season heavy lambs and very good trade weights.

Old lambs varied in quality from good heavy weights to secondary plainer types at the end of most agents run.

Loddon Shire Council’s community recovery team joined a range of support services who shared Agriculture Victoria’s pavilion at last week’s Elmore Field Days. Manager community recovery Mal Brown said team members engaged with visitors regarding the resources and support services available for those still on their flood recovery journey. Among them was Rosie Last (pictured) who has recently joined the community recovery team.

GrAiN

BOORT Grain Co-op prices Mon-

day:

Higher prices help offset rising costs

Wheat - H1 $318. H2 $356.25.

APW1 $351.25. ASW $360. AGP1

$360. SFW1 $360. Fed1 $345.

Barley - PL1 $330. SP1 $330. Bar1

$310. Bar2 $300. Bar3 $290. Bar 4

$280.

Non-GM canola ISCC +/- AOF

$637.75. Non-GM canola +/- AOF

$627.75. GM canola ISCC +/- AOF

$613. GM canola +/- AOF **CANGS

$603.

Faba1 $415. Faba2 $415.

New season - APW MG $374.

Malt spread $330. Bar1 MG $3222. Bar2 $298. ISCC non-GM canola

$643. ISCC GM canola $623.

A REPORT has found Victorian dairy farmers enjoyed one of their most profitable 12 months in the last 17 years.

Agriculture Victoria’s 20222023 Dairy Farm Monitor surveyed 80 dairy farms.

Sector development and services executive director Dougal Purcell said the report showed that in 2022-2023, milk price increased by 33 per cent to $9.77 per kilogram milk solids – the highest in 17 years – helping to offset rising feed costs and overheads including labour. Data came from farms in all areas.

The usual buyers attended and they operated with an increase in demand. The market was generally $3 to $8/head dearer especially on the heavy and the trade weight lambs as they ranged in average from 470c to 530c/kg cwt.

Light lambs during the sale sold close to unchanged. Restockers paid from $31 to $72 for lighter lambs and a Ballarat restocker purchased lambs from mainly $110 to $125/head.

Extra heavy old Merino lambs made to $152 and a few pens of the better young Merino lambs sold from $57 to $96/head.

Close to 2970 hoggets were penned and the best of the Merino portion sold from $41 to $91 with the crossbreds with cover making between $40 to $83/head.

Light young lambs to processors made $29 to $64 and the light trade weights sold from $66 to $96/head. Trade weight new season lambs sold from $100 to

Bendigo Sheep & Lamb Market Report

Lambs remained firm while light lambs trended $4-5 dearer. Sheep were cheaper, similar to rates of a fortnight ago.

$128/head averaging an estimated 500c to 530c/kg cwt. Heavy young lambs 25 to 26kg cwt made from $125 to $140, heavier weights sold from $130 to $152 and the extra heavy new season lambs were from $153 to $168/ head averaging from mainly 470c to 520c/kg cwt.

Extra heavy old lambs made $125 to $164, the heavier trade weights made from $92 to $144 and the medium trade old lambs were from $80 to $104/head. Prices from the good quality ranged in average from 430c to 500c/kg cwt.

Sheep numbers jumped by close to 9650 as approximately 13,750 head were yarded. The quality overall was mixed from good to plain with most weights and grades represented. Prices for sheep were mostly from $10 to $25/head cheaper with not all the processors operating in a subdued market that lacked competition. Lighter weight mutton was from $3 to $9/head easier.

The medium to heavy sheep sold from mostly $24 to $53/head. Most of the mutton averaged between an estimated 90c to 150c/ kg cwt. A few Merino ram sales were from $2 to $8/head.

SUCKERS

M Ryan Colbinabbin (45) $168. RE & SL

Pedersen Kamarooka (37) $163. LJ & PM

Cooper Strathfieldsaye (17) $155. AL & GL

Lloyd Stuart Mill (56) $153. F Stewart Colbinabbin (42) $152. B & M Barlow Wanalta (75) $150. M Ryan Colbinabbin (51) $150.

Cain Bros Laanecoorie (96) $150. Cain Bros Laanecoorie (88) $149. T Fernandes Winjalock (39) $148. D & S Ludeman Raywood

(39) $147. Burnewang Nth Past Rochester (81) $147. Elliott Farms Diggora (69) $147. M Hartland Goornong (80) $145. PD Reynolds Pyramid Hill (58) $145. LT Lowndes Strathfieldsaye (34) $145. The Active Corp Sutton Grange (38) $143. Peter F Schlitz Quambatook (50) $141. M Hall Wychitella (68) $140. JF & DL Gibson & Son Borung (36) $139. A & C Dalrymple Narrewillock (36) $137. MW & DA Kelly Pental Island (57) $137. Verge Past, Euroa (50) $136. DL & TM Jensen Diggora West (107) $136. J Riley & Sons Woodvale (70) $135. T & K Dobson Echuca (23) $134. EJ, GJ & JH Chambers Leichardt (70) $131. G & C Canfield Powlett Plains (60) $130. R & K Sloan Powlett Plains (66) $130. NS & PA Collins Bridgewater (15) $127. D & H McKinley Leichardt (83) $121. Mrs L Dingwall Pyramid Hill (51) $116.

CROSSBRED LAMBS

C & J Martin Inglewood (36) $155. JM Hiscock & Sons Pyalong (84) $150. JM Hiscock & Sons Pyalong (45) $146. R Fisicaro Deniliquin (167) $141. W Chippindall Maiden Gully (57) $140. Mirnee Partnership Hunter (35) $138. R & K Sloan Powlett Plains (47) $134. Glenore Holdings Carisbrook (43) $129. J & R Free Speewa (88) $125.

MERINO LAMBS

RM McLean Rushworth (54) $152. A & L Hiscock Ivanhoe (35) $111. A White Axedale (26) $106.

MERINO TWO TOOTH

RM McLean Rushworth (220) $91.

CROSSBRED EWES

R & R Seach Molka (97) $53. Peter F Schlitz Quambatook (27) $48. MW & DA Kelly Pental Island (66) $44. B & J Week Echuca (84) $43. JM Hiscock & Sons Pyalong (29) $43. R & K Sloan Powlett Plains (70) $41. Fox Past, Merton (93) $41. RE & SL Pedersen Kamarooka (34) $40.

MERINO EWES

Hayden Farm Piangil (152) $52. Bennington Past Euston (197) $50. P & F Robertson

Mellool (40) $50. A & R Hiscock Ivanhoe (197) $48. Hayden Farms Piangil (22) $48. WJ and EZ Diss Prairie (175) $44. G & A Hargreaves Kurracca (65) $41. MW & DA Kelly Pental Island (64) $40. MN Isaac Powlett Plains (37) $38.

To discuss the marketing opportunities available for your livestock, contact the McKean McGregor team.

Manufacturer sends trays and mixers far and wide

NORM and Simon Morrison went to their customers at Elmore Field Days last week.

The father and son have their Eddington Engineering base on the banks of the Loddon River but their customers are as far away as the Riverina in New South Wales and south-east South Australia.

“We’ve been coming here for six or seven years. It’s an event that brings us into contact with customers who come from far and wide,” said Simon.

He said the business, employing eight staff, now specialised in manufacturing truck and ute trays and feed mixers.

“Our high quality ute trays and truck trays are renowned throughout Victoria,” he said.

“The company also strives to meet the needs of local farmers by repairing mowers, headers, and all types of farm machinery, quickly and efficiently either in the workshop or on site.”

The business was started by Norm more than 40 years ago.

He had been working as an apprentice at the Bridgewater flour mill when friends asked him to build a shed, said Simon.

“Dad started up the business and started making truck trays

more than 30 years ago,” he said.

“And then about 15 years ago, we started building feed mixers at Eddington.

“Now they each make up about 50 per cent of our output.”

Simon and Norm said training staff had always been a priority,

having trained nine TAFE-based, one on-the-job apprentice steel fabricators, and one office administrator.

“Several of our apprentices have taken out top awards during their training with us,” Simon said

bin three years

FIELD bins that improve farm management efficiency and storage are rolling off the production line in Pyramid Hill.

At least one 62-tonne capacity bin, double the size of most other bins, is being made in Pyramid Hill every week.

Terrick Engineering, the brainchild of Rohan Stevens and Daniel Rawnsley, had its display at Elmore Field Day for three days last week.

Daniel said the idea to build bigger and more efficient bins started when Rohan moved back to the farm in Pyramid Hill.

“He needed a bigger field bin. We both grew up in Pyramid Hill - Rohan has an engineering background, I’m a boilermakerand we spent three years working on a design,” said Daniel.

“We built just two bins in the first year, we ramped up production and are doing 40 a year at the moment.

“A lot are being sold in the local area but they’ve also made their way to South Australia and New South Wales.”

Daniel said Terrick Engineering bins had a capacity double most conventional designs.

“That means more storage in the paddock. It’s all hydraulic that makes the bin safer and easier to use,” he said.

“The 13-inch auger unloads grain in no time. Offering single person operation, its huge capacity can quickly fill two semis in just 12 minutes.”

Daniel said Elmore Field Days was well timed to display farm equipment advancements with farmers who had harvest front of mind.

Terrick Engineering is now employing three full-time boilermakers and an apprentice.

“We have picked up staff ... some had been doing fly-in flyout work in mines and they love a job that’s close to home,” he said.

“They have experience in mining and construction and we have those skills in the backyard at Pyramid Hill.”

Simon and Norm Morrison at Elmore Field Days. LH PHOTO

Daniel Rawnsley

By CHRIS EARL

THE largest employer in Australia is small business - more than two million enterprises creating employment through an idea, a passion, a product that is needed and valued by users.

Small business collectively makes a contribution to Australia’s economy all too often overlooked in favour of big companies making big profits, employing thousands of workers in head office and branch outposts and, these days, drifting away from core business goals with dalliances into political and social issues.

Right here in the Loddon Shire, we are without really big businesses as local employers. Individually, it is the health sector and the council that rate as the largest single employers.

The mighty presence, however, of small businesses is making an immense contribution to the economy of our local towns and through providing employment for local people.

In recent months the Loddon Herald has been highlighting the nation-wide respect for the Merino sheep industry. Local Loddon studs that have carved their place firmly as representative of what is now one of Australia’s important Merino growing areas with sheep genetics farmers across Australia want as part of their flocks.

Today’s edition features Loddon-based businesses that took their place among hundreds of other leading agricultural exhibitors at the Elmore Field Days.

Two businesses employing more than a handful of staff each, manufacturing products that are finding favour on farms far and wide.

LOCAL PERSPECTIVE

One in business for decades, the other a far more recent arrival. Both part of the economic fabric of the Loddon Shire.

There are many more small businesses - whether agribusinesses or retail - that quietly go about doing what they do best, making and selling. Behind nondescript old shopfronts or in sheds set back from roads and highways.

And then there are the farms of the Loddon, many of substantial holdings. They are also small businesses.

By now, I’m hopefully painting a vivid picture that triggers an appreciation for the collective importantance of small business that is the heartbeat of our communities, fuelling an engine room that gives the power to withstand any challenge and obstacle, always able to leap forward when a couple of steps backwards have had to be taken.

The small businesses are sometimes our local hidden treasures, enterprises their owners have deliberately chosen to base in the Loddon Shire. They are in the majority of small businesses in Australia where 97.3 per cent employ up to 19 people.

In 2020-2021, the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contributed by small businesses and family enterprises was about $438 billion - more than 32 per cent of the nation’s economy.

On those figures it’s easy to see how important our local enterprises are for a strong today and a robust future. Never underestimate the importance of local small business.

YOUR ONLINE WORDS FROM THE LODDON HERALD FACEBOOK PAGE

LODDON SHIRE IS LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE INGLEWOOD’S BROOKE STREET. HERE’S WHAT OUR READERS SAY Peter Bell wrote: Keep the street scape. Plant bright flower boxes in the street. Offer the traders heritage coloured paints to renew the appeal of the old shop fronts.

Anne Maree Fiscalini Hansen wrote: What happened to the last lot of ideas? - nothing. So why waste more money on a new research project, why not use the ideas from the last project and stop wasting money?

By the way how much was the

last research project and how much is this project costing? How much money is set aside to facilitate ideas this time?

Peter Bell wrote: Anne Maree Fiscalini Hansen. sometimes it takes a new committee group to push ahead with new ideas. The hardest part is about change. Too many people do not want things to change, others are for it but do not want a lot of new tourist traffic coming into their area. et’s face it, if you do nothing at all then most are happy. If you really want your township to survive then you need to change. The country towns are becoming ghost towns and dying off. Look around you,

1. A famous music duo is Gilbert and who?

2. What body part is also known as the Trachea?

3. St Patrick is the patron saint of which country?

4. Who is credited as having invented the telephone?

5. What is the case called that holds an archer’s arrows?

6. True or false – An octopus has three hearts.

7. Joseph Smith is the founder of which religion?

8. How many animals are there in the Chinese Zodiac?

9. What is the collective noun for a group of gorillas?

10. If someone is an onomast, what would they study?

11. Tupperware was founded in which year?

12. When Harold Holt went missing, who took over from him as Australian Prime Minister?

13. Volcanoes are so named after the Roman god of fire. What is his name?

14. What is an equilibrist?

15. How many carats is pure gold?

16. What does RSPCA stand for?

17. D is the Roman numeral for what number?

18. A mule is the offspring of which two animals?

19. Melbourne’s Eureka Tower was opened in which year?

20. Which Australian state has the longest coastline?

ANSWERS

when businesses cannot survive financially and close down, it becomes another nail in the coffin. Are you prepared for change? Or do you want just one more ghost town?

Catherine Norman wrote: Have filled out the survey. Hopefully there will be a great response so that a range of input is received

THE VNI WEST CORRIDOR HAS BEEN RELEASED AS NEW COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STARTS

Grant Hollingworth wrote: I thought community engagement was meant to be about ‘participation in the process’? Surely if the engagement process has

been open, transparent and honest, community members would already know where the refined corridor will be. Seems like AEMO is not interested in participation but is once again using these engagement sessions to tell people what they are doing. This is not engagement, it is arrogance. TCV’s website is pretty clear about how much the community can be involved. “Come along to one of our events to hear more about the project, including the draft corridor and ask questions of the project team.” The only question I would be asking is “WHAT ABOUT PLAN B?”

1. Sullivan 2. Windpipe 3. Ireland 4. Alexander Graham Bell

5. Quiver 6. True 7. Mormonism

Names

1946 12. John McEwan

Vulcan

A tight rope walker

24 16. Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

500 18. Donkey and horse

2006 20. Western Australia.

Career of service shaped by family

TRACEY Slatter’s journey in life has taken her from Yando to senior career appointments in government and local government.

The new Transport Accident Commission chief executive officer says strong values - doing the right thing, being honest and contributing to the community - were held highly by her father Harold.

“Dad was in just about every organisation in Boort and would always turn up at working bees. It was never about him ... he was a worker,” Tracey said.

“I had the tragedy of losing my mum (Eva) when I was 14. We weren’t particularly wealthy but dad felt I needed a bit more support and the decision was made to send me off to school (Methodist Ladies’ College) in Melbourne.

“That was a game changer. I struggled at first and then began to thrive by focusing on education and the structure that the school gave.”

Tracey said the selfless decision by her father, even if difficult, had been an investment in her future.

After school and university, the ethos of service had her working in the neighbourhood house network where she helped create

opportunities for better access for people to improve numeracy and literacy skills.

“There was a real sense of contributing,” she said.

And her roles of neighbourhood houses had created amazing stories that emerged from people’s lives being enriched.

Career moves saw Tracey take up positions that would include chief executive officer at the City of Port Phillip, head of claims at the Transport Accident Commission, chief executive officer at Colac Otway Shire - she wanted a move back to the country - and director of primary and community health.

It is her new role as head of TAC that Tracey says has a personal commitment to improve road safety in Victoria.

“When I was 12, I was involved in a transport accident in Boort that left an ongoing impairment,” she said.

“The memory of the accident holds firmly as I was lucky to survive. That’s why there is a personal commitment in my new role.”

She said nothing was more important than safety on the roads, in the workplace and the home “because we care about each

other”. “Driving on roads is a high risk and particularly on country roads.

“We have to think about having conversations that put safety at the forefront.

“We want people to drive to the conditions, don’t drink and drive ... that’s the bottom line.”

When Tracey was appointed TAC’s new leader, it was for her ability to lead high-performing organisations and deliver significant projects along with a commitment to achieving optimum outcomes for the community.

Tracey’s road safety message is already being backed up with campaigns to not use phones while driving.

“The risks of driving while distracted were indisputable, and it was concerning that so many people were still picking up their phone while driving. We’ve seen a devastating increase to the number of people killed on our roads and each one of those deaths was avoidable, we need people to put the phone away and play their part in making our roads safe.”

For Tracey, the road safety message is personal and one she hopes everyone heeds.

- CHRIS EARL

Voice proponents have only created division

By GAVAN HOLT

IT IS a fact that Aboriginal affairs in Australia are in a complete mess.

The well intentioned and generous welfare bestowed upon a minority of disadvantaged Aboriginal people has achieved little. It has been incompetently administered and perhaps rorted.

The hundreds of agencies and huge bureaucracy that make up the Aboriginal industry in Australia have failed. And it is true that once such agencies and bureaucracies are in place they are difficult to remove. They become self-serving.

There is a huge amount of goodwill towards Aboriginal people in Australia. Most Australians support their being recognized in the Constitution as the first peoples of this country.

To brand Australians as racists in one of the most successful multi-cultural countries in the world, as some of the Yes supporters in the Voice campaign have done, is unacceptable. This has damaged the Yes campaign in the eyes of many Australians.

At the 2021 census 812,000 Australians identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. This is 3.2 per cent of the population. There are 227 members of the Federal parliament of which 11 or 4.8 per cent identify as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

There is no doubt that upon the colonization of this continent by the British there were injustices done to Aboriginal people. Professor Geoffrey Blainey, in my opinion Australia’s pre-eminent historian, has said, “it may be that as many as 20,000 Aborigines were killed predominantly by Europeans, but sometimes by Aborigines enrolled as troopers.”

He has also said after they arrived, “the frequent contempt for Aborigines’ culture, sometimes contempt for the colour of

their skin, the removal of their freedoms and the breaking of their links with their precious tribal lands is an undeniable fact”.

British settlement of Australia has led to the security, prosperity and liberty that we now enjoy. The majority of people of Aboriginal descent have been beneficiaries. Australia’s successes outweigh its failures by a very large margin.

How have we moved from that fact to a position where there are many people in influential positions such as journalists, educators, politicians, sports administrators and heads of large corporations who believe that our British heritage is a matter of shame?

typing “people of colour” as victims which leads to a self-perpetuating cycle of dependency. She has lived and worked with the issues of Aboriginal people in the settlements and town camps and believes the serious problems bedeviling this minority of Aboriginal people will not be fixed by creating another chapter in our constitution that creates a Voice to parliament and executive government. It will continue to produce more of the same failure.

The apple has not fallen far from the tree with Jacinta. Her mother Bess Nungarrayi Price is a full blood Warlpiri woman born in Yuendemu whose father first saw kardiya (white men) when he was around 12 years old. Bess was pregnant at 13 but pulled herself up to become a trained primary school teacher and also become a member of the Northern Teritory government.

come from the culture we were taught as children. The so-called First Nations leaders tell us these things are caused by kardiya, by racism and colonisation. They have made everything worse but all of these things come from our own culture.”

For her views Jacinta Price has often been vilified. There is no doubt that Noel Pearson has done many positive thing for Aboriginal people, but Jacinta got under his skin.

You know you are winning the argument when your opponent resorts to personal criticism as he allegedly did by saying that she operated in a “redneck celebrity vortex” and was “punching down on blackfellas.”

The Voice campaign in Australia has been terribly conducted by its supporters and the Australian Government, not the least Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Surely not just because of the failure of Aboriginal affairs in this country. Maybe they have been reading too much Critical Race Theory. More likely they simply want to show us their virtue.

Every now and again in our communities, in our country, a person comes along who stands out from the rest. A person who has a clarity of purpose and can make a positive difference. One such person is Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

She has turned the Voice debate on its head. She believes that all Australians are created equal and should be treated in the same manner, regardless of how many generations they have lived here.

She believes we should not be stereo-

In a recent opinion piece Bess opined, “Those who control the national debate are people of indigenous descent who speak English well and are educated kardiya way. They have access to the media and politicians and are loudest in their criticisms of governments and kardiya in general. They don’t live by the Old Law and never have. They romanticise it, creating what I call a Disneyland version. They never talk about the down side, the acceptance of violence as a way to settle conflicts, the misogyny and acceptance of violence against women, the forcing of young girls into marriage with old men, the belief in sorcery. These old ways still cause a lot of problems, like continued violence against women, family feuding and humbugging that forces so many to give their money to addicted kin for grog and gambling. All of these things

It has divided us not united us. They have not convinced a large number of Australians of its benefits. Leaving aside the issue of creating a special position in our constitution for some people because of their ancestory, the worst aspect has been not telling us its details. To change our founding document you need more than a feel good vibe.

I ask you two questions if you are considering voting yes in the referendum. First, what is it that you think you will be doing to solve the problems of Aboriginal affairs in Australia? Second, are you across how this proposal will actually work?

The Yes campaigners, including our Prime Minister, have not adequately prosecuted their case and consequently Australians are turning against this proposal. We cannot alter what has happened in the past, but we can do better in the future.

From Yando to the TAC ... Tracey Slatter

Every now and again a person comes along who stands out from the rest

Loddon HERALD CLASSIFIEDS

BYRNE - Peter John

11/11/1938 – 9/10/2023

Father of Travis and Daniel Father-in-law of Erika Grandpa of Patrick “Rest In Peace”

The Funeral Service to celebrate Peter’s life will be held at Bendigo Crematorium Chapel, 5 Victoria Street, Eaglehawk, on Tuesday (Oct 17th ) at 11.00am.

Haw, Lester McDonald

Passed away peacefully on October 6th, age 75

Treasured husband of Sandra. Dearly loved father and father-in-law to Loretta and Asha, Melissa and Rohan, Nicholas and Emily, Christopher and Ruth. Much love Grandpa to 12 grandchildren.

“In heavenly love abiding”

A thanksgiving service will be held at the Boort Baptist Church at 2:30pm on Thursday October 12th.

Haw, Lester McDonald

The Henderson family wish to express their appreciation for Lester’s love and contribution to our family.

Daryl and Jean, Leon and Judy, Carol, and their families.

Nesbit - Lee Irene

9/7/1959 – 6/10/2023

Eldest daughter of Ernest & Ann

Sister to Graham &Sara, Sue & Dean Aunty to James & Kat, Laura, Jack, and Mitchell

Passed away peacefully

Re-united with her loving parents

Forever in our hearts

PUBLIC NOTICES

Meeting of Council: Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2023

Council has prepared the Annual Report including Financial and Performance Statements for the year ended 30 June 2023 and in accordance with Section 99 of the Local Government Act 2020 (the Act).

Auditor reports for the Financial and Performance Statements have been received in accordance with Section 98 (12) of the Act and are included within the Annual Report.

Copies of the Annual Report can be inspected at Council’s Wedderburn O ce and on Council’s website www.loddon.vic.gov.au.

In accordance with Section 100 of the Act, Council will hold a meeting to consider and discuss the Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2023.

Details of the meeting are:

Venue: Loddon Shire Council Council Chambers Kerr St, Wedderburn

Date: Tuesday 24 October 2023

Time: 3.00pm

Members of the community are welcome to attend or can live stream via the Facebook link provided on the Council page.

EMPLOYMENT

Yung Balug Keeping Place

The Museum is situated on the property of Paul & Cathie Haw.

Well worth a visit to see the amazing Artefacts collected from the Boort Region.

A recent addition is 34 photos taken by John Hunter Kerr in the 1850s. This was made possible by the State Library of Victoria.

Everyone is welcome. but please call or Email before visiting.

Phone - 0417 333 171

Email - paulcathiehaw@gmail.com

EMPLOYMENT

CAREERS AT LODDON

Loddon Shire Council is seeking applications for the following positions from highly motivated, enthusiastic, energetic and outcome focused individuals who want to make a di erence and help shape our future.

Kindergarten Activity Group Leader (Roving Position) - ref.J/240

 Part-time, xed-term position until 28 June 2024

 AGL46/52 - $27.28 per hour plus employer superannuation

 Work across all kindergartens in our beautiful Shire

Applications for the position above will close on Monday 16 October 2023 at 5pm.

Administration Traineeships- 1x Corporate Services and 1x Works Department

 Full-time, xed term opportunity (one year)

 Based at our Wedderburn O ce and Wedderburn Depot

 Gain a certi cate III quali cation

Applications for the position above will be considered as they are received.

For further information, including a detailed position description and details on how to apply, please visit Council’s website www.loddon.vic. gov.au or contact Council’s Organisational Development Unit on (03) 5494 1202.

Join our Team

Are you looking for a new EXCITING opportunity?

Join our vibrant and supportive multidisciplinary team. IDHS provides Acute Care, Transitional Care, Aged Care and Community programs. These positions will allow you to work across a range of settings with ample opportunities for the growth and development of the service across the Loddon Shire.

IDHS invites applications for the following employment opportunities

 Nurse Unit Manager

 Physiotherapist – Grade 2

 Home Care Support Workers

 Associate Nurse Unit Manager (ANUM)

 Registered Nurse

 Enrolled Nurse

 Mental Health Worker

 Admin – Casual

To view the full details of the position and

ANNUAL

26th October 2023

7:00pm at the Inglewood Town Hall Hub

Nominations are now open for 2023/24

Office Bearer positions: - President - Vice President - Secretary – Treasurer

Nomination forms, and membership application forms, are available from the IDTC Secretary

Nomination forms must be received no later than 5:00pm, seven days prior to the AGM, 19th October 2023.

Email to idtcsecretary@hotmail.com or mail to IDTC Secretary, P O Box 102, Inglewood, VIC 3517

Diploma (AQF Level 5) Consul�ng Arborist

ANNUAL

Friday 24th November 10am

Platform 1 Bridgewater Community Hub

MITIAMO PROGRESS ASSOCIATION

Annual General Meeting on the 8th November 2023 at 7.30pm at the Mitiamo Tavern. Nominations for all positions will be accepted. Everyone is welcome.

questions please to call

Freeman 0428 368 371 or Tracey Cox 0433 281 531.

Diggers raise $35,000 for Peter Mac Cancer Foundation

GOLD DETECTING enthusiasts have raised another $35,000 for charity at the weekend’s Laanecoorie Gold Bash.

More than 300 registered for the annual event with as many again attending to take part in the weekend of golden activities.

For many, it was their second trip into Loddon gold country this year. They also

attend the Wedderburn Detector Jamboree in March.

Jason Noonan, of Philip Island, is a regular at both events. “I enjoy the pace here in Laanecoorie,” he said.

Talks on the art of mining were given throughout the weekend. Among speakers was Brenton Shannon, the Bendigo gold hunter now featuring on television

and still mining in the Laanecoorie district.

Sunday’s token hunt had some competitors trying to jump the start, only for organisers to push them back behind the tape until the last entrants made their way to the top of the hill.

And while tokens were the key, one youngster had his golden reward on

Sunday morning. A 15-gram gold nugget had been lost by a participant the previous night only for the youngster to find it and receive a new metal detector as thanks from organisers and sponsors. Organise Di Hodgson said the event had again been a success and built on the money raised for the Peter Mac Foundation.

Jason Noonan is a Lannecoorie regular. LH PHOTOS

Mikhaela, Sophie and Monique Scoble.

Blair Gaylard finds his first token in Sunday’s hunt.

Jock Stewart readies for another day of the Laanecoorie Gold Bash.

Parkrun’s first birthday

DYLAN Leersen was among more than a dozen runners to clock a personal best when he crossed the line first in Saturday’s Boort Parkrun.

He came home in 20 minutes and 14 seconds as the event marked one year since it started sending runners around Little Lake Boort on a Saturday morning.

Parkrun organiser Sharlene Stringer said the parkrun had been embraced by the community.

“We’ve had as many as 65 runners and walkers join us and during summer, the average is consistently between 40 and 50,” she said.

“Even in winter we had good

numbers and the run attracts people from other areas who have the aim of participating at as many parkrun locations as possible.

“Visitors love the lake and the flat structure of the course.”

Sharlene said some runners were competitive. “Everyone takes something different out of doing a parkrun.”

And the course is not just for runners. Family groups take a more leisurely pace for the 2.5km out of Nolens Park and the return.

Sharlene said Boort District Health had been a strong supporter of the parkrun in the first 12 months.

BDH and Northern District

Community Health were among the crew cooking breakfasts and providing smoothie drinks to competitors as they finished on Saturday.

Sharlene said volunteers con

tinued to be a strength in planning and running the weekly run.

The course record for woman is held by Boort netballer and Wycheproof’s Queen of the Mountain Carly Isaac who fin

ished in 19 minutes and 15 sec

onds in March.

Aaron Kennedy holds the men’s record of 16 minutes and 58 second set on Christmas Eve. Parkruns started in Britain in 2004 and have since popped up around the world.

STUART Tweddle ran a personal best time of 23 minutes 20 seconds in Saturday’s first birthday parkrun at Boort. He only joined in the Saturday morning fitness craze early this year after being a walker of the 5km track around Little Lake Boort. “I used to swim competitively 30 years ago and have been using the same mindset to get motivated and fit,” he said after checking his finish time. “Fitness is important and taking part in the parkrun is paying off for me.”

Parkrun organise Sharlene Stringer said Stuart epitomised the importance of parkruns for participation and inclusion.

Dee Smith and Judy Parker. LH PHOTO

Volunteers David Johnston, Jacinta Sutton, Sharlene Stringer, Adrian Grogan and Ryan O’Flaherty. LH PHOTO

Dylan Leersen

Amy, Emma and Eliana Malone

Wedderburn takes opening honours in Loddon derby

WEDDERBURN bowlers had their final pre-season hit out against Inglewood on Saturday.

They backed up the next day for an early start to the North Central pennant season at home against Boort.

North Central matches officially start this Saturday but the clash between the two Loddon sides was rescheduled to allow Boort bowlers to attend the annual agricultural show.

Wedderburn was convincing winners in both divisions.

INGLEWOOD

Inglewood’s requestfor its division four team to go be relegated to division six for the next season has been granted by the region. The request was made to overcome a player shortage.

Division six will start its season against Heathcote at home on October 21 with the premier division team away at Eaglehawk.

Midweek Bowls starts on October 16 with division one at Woodbury and and division five at Golden Square.

Inglewood ladies will have a medley tournament on October 26.

Fantastic to see Inglewood members out and about again supporting our fellow clubs as at the end of the day we are all in this together.

Visiting Serpentine for their opening day were Daniel Garrett, John Jackman, Simon Laird, Pam Kelly, Lindsay Kelly and Vicky Tierney with Lindsay being in the runner-up team.

Helen Leech and Bev Taig supported Eaglehawk during the week.

The club has welcomed new member Bill Concol and seen the return of Dianne Wayman

NORTH CENTRAL

Division 1 – Wedderburn 8510 d Boort 55-2. R Guelfo, B Hargreaves, D Mason, L Witham (s) d D Gibson, K Birt, J Gibson, K Ritchie (s) 38-14. A Holt, C Mills, W Roberts, A Jackson (s) d S Roberts, G Gardner, A Matley, S Morris (s) 27-17. D Stephenson, R

Back on court from Saturday

LODDON Valley and Marong tennis associations start their 2023-2024 seasons on Saturday.

Inglewood association players will also take to the court with both matches scheduled to be played at Wedderburn for the first two rounds.

However, play will return to the Inglewood courts for the first time since 2022 when Powlett and Loddon Eagles host home matches on October 28.

The clubs have held working bees to prepare for the return.

Montebello, A Caserta, N Holt (s) lost to P Waters, J Maxted, T Nisbet, L Maxted (s) 18-24.

Division 2 – Wedderburn 10612 d Boort 53-0. R Ashley, M Guelfo, R Hall, G Burnside (s) d I Allison, J Hampson, C Newsome, G Smith (s) 35-22. S Steel, A Benaim, L Standfiield, A Roberts (s) d J Nelson, C Roberts, J Earl, G Tweddle (s) 35-16. S Lear, N White, A Noordennen, I Hall (s)

d R Taylor, C Wood, D Brunt, G Hudson (s) 36-15.

NORTHERN DISTRICT

Division 2 – Barham 2 69-12

d Pyramid Hill 45-0. G Archard, J Laursen, I Fasham, K Ashton d R Harris, I Bartels, M Noelker, J

Leed (s) 26-13. G Keane, M Mc-

Neill, T Keegan, V Kendell (s) d K Wood, R Price, J Mann, L Mann (s) 22-16. G Lake, S Baker, Maurer, D Paterson (s) d W Boyd, T Strobaus, E Carmody, M Scott (s) 21-16.

Division 3 – Barham 5 86-10

d Pyramid Hill 57-2. M Hallam, N Martin, P Nash, G Kennedy (s) lost to G Goodward, R Fidler, A Bennett (s) 21-26. M Daffy, I Ellis, F Graco, D Carter (s) d R Boyd, A Roberts, L Dingwall (s) 32-22. S Slingo, P Mertz, W Waller, P Slingo (s) d M Mahoney, A Fidler, J Cauchi (s) 33-.9

Midweek – Last week’s opening round abandoned by rain.

Everygreens will go again

WEDDERBURN premiership veterans Danny Benaim and Adam Postle will line up for another season with the Redbacks.

Postle, whose 2023 North Central season was interrupted by injuries, said he had pulled up better than expected and was determined to become a 300-game player next year.

“That’s certainly a bit of the motivation,” said Postle who currently has 294 senior games to his name. “To be so close, the goal will keep me playing.”

Postle returned to the ruck this season when Jordan Hargreaves was unavailable.

“I thoroughly enjoyed being in the ruck at times this season and I don’t mind being in the backline. Happy with either although there’s a bit of freedom in the ruck.”

Benaim already has 350 games to his name and was a key focus up forward for the Redbacks this season.

At 40, he said there was no reason not to keep playing.

“I couldn’t imagine not playing. I love the group we have at Donaldson Park even though they are all younger than Poss and I,” said Benaim.

“The will is certainly still there to keep going.”

Wedderburn has appointed Tom Metherell as senior coach for the 2024 season.

GOLF WEDDERBURN

THE Anne Reeves Memorial was contested at Wedderburn club’s season closing day on Saturday. Ladies winner was Glenda Bird with 32 points while A. Hargreaves took the men’s event with 38 points from Peter McHugh 35.

The social club teams event was won by Cam Taylor and Byron Bird. Best second on 2nd: Jim Tonkin. Best third on 6th: Tony Holt. Nearest the pins: Carolyn McHugh, Jim Tonkin.

TARNAGULLA

JENNY Honeyman was the winner of the ladies’ event at Tarnagulla’s closing day ahead of Robyn Ravenhall.’

The men’s event was won by Ron Sanderson from Peter Sanderson.

Tradition rules at tounament

LAKESIDE Croquet Club has hosted its first association croquet tournament in six years.

Players from across Victoria took part in the two-day event at Boort over the weekend.

Boort member Ian Potter said association croquet was played under more traditional rules with games lasting more than three hours.

“We had been unable to get the numbers needed to run the tournament for a few years but everything came together for this weekend,” Potter said. Under the two-ball game rules, players make their way through six hoops to the centre and then come back out.

While most clubs played un-

der golf croquet rules, Potter said there were players from Bendigo, Melbourne, Horsham, Echuca and Castlemaine at the tournament.

In Level 1, Ken Bald from Kalimna Park Club in Horsham was the undefeated winner with five wins. Paul Ryan from the Quarry Hill Club in Bendigo was the runner up with four wins .

In Level 2, Lois Munro from the Swan Hill club was the undefeated winner with five wins.

Tom Kudelka from the MCC Club in Melbourne was the runner up with four wins.

Meanwhile, Potter said light spinners recently installed around the croquet courts are deterring corellas.

New Inglewood bowler Simon Laird. LH PHOTO

Pensive moments in the practice match between Wedderburn and Inglewood. LH PHOTO

Ian Potter competes in the weekend tournament hosted by Boort’s Lakeside Croquet Club. LH PHOTO

Sixes come in quick succession for Harry

By MICHAEL ROSE

THE 2023-2024 Upper Loddon Junior Cricket season commenced on Saturday with four teams competing.

Reigning Premiers Arnold were unable to get enough numbers to field a side this season, while the two teams who rejoined the competition this season, Boort-Yando and Wedderburn did battle first up at Boort.

Boort-Yando batted first after winning the toss and Harry Malone got the innings away to a flyer, crunching three sixes in a quick fire innings of 25.

Lachlan Hall and Cooper Gooding then took control of the innings with both players playing major roles in Boort-Yando’s final total of six for 194.

Gooding scored the first fifty of the season while Hall was unlucky to fall just four short of his.

Flynn Lock was the pick of the Wedderburn bowlers, sending down a tidy 10 overs, conceding just 21 runs as well as taking three wickets. Lock was the only bowler who was able to put the clamps on Boort-Yando’s scoring rate.

Kingower hosted Bridgewater in the other game with Bridgwater being sent in by the home side. Bridgewater’s final total was set up mainly from two separate partnerships.

Firstly , Lewis Lonsdale and Nate Harrison joined forces after Bridgewater had lost their first four wickets with just 21 runs on the board.

This pair added 24 for the fifth wicket before both losing their wickets following the tea interval.

Harrison was a little unlucky as Morgan Lonza took a ripping slip catch to dismiss him.

Premiers face immediate test of strength

KINGOWER’S strength and depth will be immediately put to the test when Upper Loddon senior cricket starts on Saturday.

The reigning premiers will be without Jayden Leach, a key player last season, recovering from a post-football season injury.

And skipper Braydon Welsh could also be in doubt for the opening clash against Arnold.

The Redbacks were unable to capture the previous season’s victorious spark when finals came earlier this year, several players hampered by niggling injuries.

Saturday’s match at Kingower may give an early indication of the depth both teams will have this season.

Wedderburn, last season’s runners-up, has retained most players for the new season and will have Cam Steel back adding his experience to the team.

Boort Yando will head to the turf of Wedderburn for the first time under the guidance of Josh Smith.

At home Wedderburn always knows where to lob a delivery.

If it is to have a winning start, bowling will be the key against Boort Yando who developed depth last season.

L. Boyd b F. Lock ..................................... 5

Xavier Power and Isaac Ferguson then kept the bowling at bay and with the help of extras were able to enjoy a twenty five run eighth wicket stand. Tyler Murphy and Riley Leach took the bowling honours for Kingower with each claiming three wickets Kingower

Boort Yando 1st innings

H. Malone b E. Sellick ........................... 25

S. Toose c T. Clarke b F.Lock .................. 2

Although Drew Crilly has retired after a stellar contribution with bat and ball, the younger brigade showed more than a few glimpses of skill and tenacity last year.

L. Hall lbw b F. Lock .............................. 46

C. Gooding retired ................................. 50

O. Byrne retired ..................................... 13

F. Gyroup b T. Clarke ............................... 0

T. Zanker c K. Cramp b A. Clarke ............ 3

F. Arnold not out ...................................... 3

J. Malone not out .................................... 5

Extras .................................................... 42

Total .......................................... 6/194

Bowling E. Sellick10-1-1-57, B. Cramp 7-00-38, F. Lock 10-0-3-21, L. Sellick 3-0-0-25, T. Clarke 4-0-1-22, A. Clarke 2-1-1-12, E. Clarke 1-0-0-2, L. Finch 1-0-0-3, C. Finch 1-0-0-6.

The opening round in Upper Loddon junior cricket is a two-day match.

Upper Loddon has been reduced to four teams with the withdrawal of Bridgewater.

Arnold has said it will look at other options for future seasons but its preference is for the Upper Loddon association to again attract new teams.

Wedderburn’s annual meeting last week also discussed possible teams in the region that could be candidates for the association.

- CHRIS EARL

We are family, friends, colleagues and neighbours

We are family, friends, colleagues and neighbours

We are family, friends, colleagues and neighbours

The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on all our lives so looking after your mental wellbeing is essential. It is normal to feel anxious, stressed and fearful during times of crisis. The Federal Government is providing support for the mental health and

The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on all our lives so looking after your mental wellbeing is essential. It is normal to feel anxious, stressed and fearful during times of crisis. The Federal Government is providing support for the mental health and wellbeing of Australians as we face the challenges of the pandemic; go to www.headtohealth.gov.au if you feel like you might need some additional help coping with anxiety and worry about Coronavirus.

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The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on all our lives so looking after your mental wellbeing is essential. It is normal to feel anxious, stressed and fearful during times of crisis. The Federal Government is providing support for the mental health and wellbeing of Australians as we face the challenges of the pandemic; go to www.headtohealth.gov.au if you feel like you might need some additional help coping with anxiety and worry about Coronavirus.

If you need advice or assistance with anything related to government, or in your general day-to-day life, please contact my of ce on the details below and we will do our best to help you.

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Wedderburn’s Blaze Cramp in Saturday’s opening round match against Boort Yando. LH PHOTO

Loddon HERALD sport

Thursday October 12, 2023

New award will recognise monthly top achievers

SPORT is the heatbeat of Loddon communities and every week in every season locals are striving to achieve.

Your local Loddon Herald will recognise outstanding achievements with the introduction of our Sports Star of the Year Award.

Nominations for the monthly award will be selected from articles appearing in

the Loddon Herald with the monthly recipients then in the running to be named our Sports Star of the Year.

The first monthly Sports Star will be named in November after our selection panel considers nominations for the month of October.

Our launch of these important local awards coincides with the start of the

summer sport season involving hundreds of people in local Loddon communities.

Presentation of the first Sports Star of the Year and monthly awards will be made at a special function next October. If there’s a local sporting achievement, let the Loddon Herald know. It’s sports news we want to help our communities celebrate.

CAP STRAPPED

Reduced game day pay scuttles switch bid

MARONG’S bid to abandon Loddon Valley football and netball is over.

Heathcote league this week rejected the Panthers’ request for a review of the decision that had denied the reigning Loddon Valley premiers, Maiden Gully and Cohuna joining the competition.

The league applied to the AFL to increase club salary caps by $12,000 if the clubs were admitted and two more home and away games became part of the Heathcote fixture.

However, AFL only approved an increase of $4000 on the current $106,000 cap.

League president Peter Cole said: “That would have been an $8000 cut for our clubs and they would not approve that. We kept Marong in the loop. They were aware of what was happening and that the salary cap would be the be all and end all,” Cole said.

Heathcote’s cap increase bid was supported by AFL Central Victoria but not approved by AFL Victoria.

AFL Central Victoria general manager Craig Armstead said: “The commission did support an

increase in the Heathcote salary cap for 2024 on the condition that the number of games clubs play increase from 16 to 18. Player payments and player points for all leagues across the state require approval from an AFL Vic panel.”

“Player payments and player points for Loddon Valley and Heathcote have not been finalised for 2024. We expect this process to be completed in the coming weeks,” Armstead said.

Heathcote’s decision came hours after Loddon Valley goalkicking record holder Brayden Grenfell put up his hand for a transfer to Central Murray league club Nyah Nyah West United after earlier committing to a third season at Malone Park. However that was conditional on Marong moving to Heathcote.

“I had a couple of years at Marong successfully and staying in the Loddon Valley didn’t interest me much,” Grenfell, embroiled in a betting agency advertisement furore before the finals, has since said. Marong was contacted for comment.

- CHRIS EARL

Boort Yando’s Harry Malone was in swashbuckling form when the first overs of Upper Loddon junior cricket were bowled on Saturday. Malone hit multiple sixes and fours in his opening stand against Wedderburn to have the home side in a strong position after the first day of play. LH PHOTO