Mansfield Courier 060923

CFA WARNS TO PLAN PLAN AHEAD

WELL DONE

DUCK HUNTING REPORT LANDS

DOON INTO GRAND FINAL

Early birds caught by radar

VICTORIA Police officers from across the region were joined by helicopters in the last weekend of August as they carried out Operation Early Bird targeting early arrivals to the snow fields.

Officers for the operation, which commenced at 6am each day, came from Mansfield Highway Patrol, Benalla Highway Patrol and the Victoria Police Air Wing.

Mansfield Highway Patrol’s Sergeant Marty

BY PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY pzierk-mahoney@ nemedia.com.au

McLachlan said although traffic was not as heavy as expected the operation went well.

The two day operation involved detecting speed from a helicopter which measured time/distance over pre-measured 500 metres of road markings on

Mt Buller Road at Merrijig.

The operation included ground crew for intercepts of helicopter detections, ground units also conducting laser/radar detection within the 80km/h zone.

Sgt McLachlan said this was the first time such an operation could be held since the end of COVID-19 restrictions.

The first day of the operation was partially

rain affected with reduced visibility and was finished early.

On the second day the Highway Patrol units were re-tasked to a fatal collision during the last two hours of the operation.

However, despite these hold ups officers carried out 36 PBTS, five drug tests, checked 42 vehicles with the same number of people being checked.

Two defect notices were

issued on vehicles checked.

Detected also were 35 speeding offences, three other traffic offences and one car was impounded.

The drive of the impounded car was found to be unlicensed and failed to show Learner plates as well as detected speeding at 49 kilometres over the speed limit – travelling at 129km/h in a 80km/h zone.

Operations by VicPol such as these are there to save

lives, cut down the road tolls and make sure drivers are obeying the rules.

Up to August 29, 191 people had lost their lives on Victorian roads so far this year - up 23.2 per cent from the 2022 total.

Rural Victoria recorded 88 of these road deaths last year and to date 108 have been reported on rural roads up by 82 or 23 percent from 2022.

■ Continued page 2

MPS students (from left down) Charlotte Clelland, Franzi Stumpf, Ashton Prosser, Ned Hutchison, Coco Crawford and Madalyn Busst. (From right) SES members Grant Prosser and Ros Fauvel, Community Bank Director Haley Tudor-Harrop , SES member Chris Fauvel and CFA members Anne Beckingsale and Chris Roberts.

Snow season draws to an early close

By EMMA OLIVER

A LACK of snow has not deterred visitation significantly this season, with numbers to our local mountains holding strong despite the cancellation of the Mogul Ski World Australian Interschools Championships and the early closure of Mt Stirling’s winter season.

Due to the low snow conditions and warm forecast Mt Stirling decided to end its Winter season early this year, with Friday September 3 being the last day for 2023.

Head of Mt Stirling Andre Philbrick said that the date brought the mountain into line with Lake Mountain and Mt Baw Baw who also closed early for the season.

“From September 4, guests have been able to visit Mt Stirling at no cost and have not been required to carry chains,” he said.

Mt Stirling along with resorts across the Alpine areas and into New South Wales

have all struggled to keep key areas open in recent weeks, with meteorologists confirming that it is has been one of the worst seasons of snowfall in decades .

Yet despite reports of reduced snow cover, crowds have not been deterred from making the trek up our local mountains.

Both local resorts have seen a noticeable decline from last year’s recordbreaking numbers, with figures down from 367,377 to 280,731 year-to-date for

Mt Buller and from 8,862 to 7016 for Mt Stirling.

However despite this significant drop, visitation numbers for both Mt Stirling and Mt Buller remained strong for the season, with numbers for 2023 higher than the ten year average experiencing a 41 per cent and a 22 per cent increase respectively in year-to-date entry statistics.

Mt Buller is tracking close to pre-COVID figures with Mt Stirling registering its third best year in a decade,

Early Birds caught by radar

■ From page 1

Liberal member for Eildon Cindy McLeish was pushing a petition to the Victorian State Government in July and August after numerous complaints about the state of roads throughout the region.

The petition - which drew 1816 signatures before closing last week“draws to the attention of the Legislative Assembly the rapidly deteriorating condition of the highways between Yarra Glen and Mansfield”.

“Drivers are forking out costs for blown tyres, busted rims, and wheel realignment after hitting potholes,” Ms McLeish said.

“The Melba Highway, the Goulburn Valley Highway between Yea and Yarck and the Maroondah Highway from Yarck to Mansfield have a significant number

according to Alpine Resorts Victoria’s official visitor count for the week ending August 20.

With lower than usual snow cover, Mt Buller attributes strong visitor levels to the resort’s ongoing investment in snowmaking to supplement natural snow falls, along with clientele looking for a ‘complete alpine resort experience’ for their winter holiday.

“Mt Buller also pulled off an incredibly successful Interschools for the Victorian

Championships despite the challenging circumstances,” said Buller Ski Lifts general manager, Noel Landry.

These positive sentiments have been reiterated by local schools with students competing at the event.

Local schools have also managed to deliver much of their annual ski programs despite reduced snow cover, citing minimum impact to activities.

“We would like to say how much our students enjoyed participating in the Victo-

rian Interschools this last week and how well the resort did to run it given the limited natural conditions this season,” said Mansfield Steiner’s Lou Pullar.

“We are incredibly fortunate to live so close to such beautiful mountain environments and aim to enjoy them in all conditions,” said Mansfield Steiner’s Lou Pullar.

The Mansfield Steiner School confirmed that their ski program proceeded as normal, with students enjoying hiking up to the snow and skiing in new areas.

“Our students, staff and parents have had a great time enjoying the snow at Mt Buller throughout term three,” said Mansfield Secondary College’s Abbey McConnell.

With the snow sports program traditionally running for ten weeks through until the September holidays, poor conditions have regrettably forced the Secondary College to cancel the last three weeks of bookings.

of potholes, crumbling shoulders, and broken bitumen, which is jeopardising driver’s safety.

“Drivers are forking out costs for blown tyres, busted rims, and wheel realignments after hitting potholes.

“A lot of people from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne travel along these roads when they go on holidays.”

In June at the beginning of the snow season, Northern Inspector for Victoria Police,

Superintendent Shane Cashman, asked the public travelling to Mt Buller and Mt Stirling this winter to take extra care.

In an effort to cut down the tragic road toll, Supt Cashman said as the snow season opened it was more timely to appeal for safer driving.

“The snow season is a very exciting time for the community with hundreds of thousands of visitors going to the snow resorts,”

Supt Cashman said.

“We have had a horrific start to the year with the road toll and we want people to come up, have a fantastic time and then go home safely to their family.

“We (Victoria Police) have multiple operations during the course of the snow season.

“Police will be checking drivers entering the snow region and the high country until the end of the snow season (October 1).”

HOPING FOR A SNOW ANGEL: Despite less than half the lifts operating, there is still snow on the summit of Mt Buller for those keen on a Spring ski.

TESTED: Drivers heading for the snowfields recently were breath tested by Victoria Police groundcrew and speedsters by helciopter detection.

CFA says start preparing now for summer season

CFA data shows Victorians won’t leave early in the event of a bushfire.

An alarming number of Victorians living in high-risk bushfire areas say they would stay at their properties until they felt threatened by a bushfire, or would wait for an official warning, a CFA survey revealed.

CFA’s annual Bushfire Community Survey, undertaken since 2009-10, showed 30.9 per cent would wait for emergency authorities to tell them what to do, 28.6 per cent would stay until they felt threatened and 13.8 per cent would stay and defend their property.

The survey also showed 44.4 per cent believe CFA is responsible for protecting them during a bushfire, and 43.8 per cent say CFA is responsible for protecting their home.

“We simply can’t get a truck to every house during a major bushfire; fire safety is a joint effort and the community need to also take on this responsibility when living in a bushfire prone area,” CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said last week.

Victoria has experienced many damaging fire seasons in recent memory such as the February 2009 bushfires and the 2019-20 fires, and with the prediction of a warmer spring and earlier start to this year’s season, CFA is concerned that not enough people are preparing themselves for fire season and heeding its advice.

CO Heffernan said it’s concerning knowing around half of all Victorians in high-risk bushfire areas are risking their lives if a bushfire was to occur.

“Victoria has had quieter fire seasons over the past few years but now is not the time for the

Predictions are for a hotter and drier summer

community to become complacent,” he said.

“And while our firefighters are always well prepared and your safety during fire season is a shared responsibility, it’s vital that you understand your local risks and take actions to prepare your family and property.

“We’ve recently seen that weather patterns are changing and we’re expecting warmer and drier conditions across the state leading up to summer.

“Fires spread quickly and they threaten lives and properties.

“The community needs to be prepared and they need to know their triggers to act.

“Please don’t rely on one source of information, utilise the multiple channels available to you.

“Use common sense and pro-

tect yourself and your loved ones.

“Now is the time to sit down with your family or household and make sure you have a bushfire survival plan.

“Practice this plan and be ready.

“On hot, dry and windy days, don’t drive into or through highrisk areas.

“Plan an alternate route or postpone your travel if possible.

“Continue to monitor conditions every day.

“Our promise is to continue with our mission to protect lives and property and we are lucky to have some of the best firefighters in the world to do this.”

For information Victoria’s integrated warning system includes the Vic Emergency website, app and social media chan-

nels, VicEmergency Hotline 1800 226 226, emergency broadcasters including ABC radio, Sky News TV, commercial radio and select community radio stations including Radio Mansfield in the shire.

Warnings are issued when an incident is occurring, and you need to act.

Make sure you understand the three levels of warnings and additional messages such as ‘Evacuate Now’.

If you are burning off to remove green waste, register your burn-off online at Fire Permits Victoria at www.firepermits.vic. gov.au, or call ESTA on 1800 688 511.

Make sure your household has a Bushfire Survival Plan – to find out how go to: www.cfa.vic. gov.au/bushfireplan.

SUMMER FIRES: Whether started by lightning strikes or other causes fires can spread and be out of control very quickly during summer.

7 DAY WEATHER FORECAST

Sunday: Mostly sunny

Temperature: 1-15

Monday: Mostly sunny

Temperature: 2-16

Tuesday: Sunny

Temperature: 5-17

MANSFIELD RAINFALL

Week to 9am Monday – 8mm

Month Total (September 2023) – 1.6mm

Month Total (September 2022) – 87mm

YTD Total – 439.3mm

Total (2022) - 977.20mm

Total (2021) – 789.9mm

Total (2020) – 746.6mm

LAKE EILDON LEVELS

Details courtesy of Goulburn Murray Water

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Ticking off that bucket list

GUY Hayston is big on personality and very engaging, and it’s perhaps these attributes that drew Channel Nine producers of Millionaire Hot Seat to make that casting call.

“It had been on my bucket list for years,” Guy said of the long-running game show.

It was during a COVID lockdown that Guy applied to be a contestant, with the try-out conducted via Zoom.

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YOUR LOCAL COURIER TEAM

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Pam Zierk-Mahoney

“I was in competition with eight other people in an online at-home version of Fastest Finger First,” said Guy.

“It was 15 questions in quick succession with whoever answers the most correctly in the fastest time pe-

BY EMMA OLIVER eoliver@ nemedia.com.au

riod given the title.

“And quite honestly at the end of it all I wasn’t particularly confident that I’d hear back from the producers.”

With no indication as to how he had fared Guy put it down to experience, and he went about his day-to-day life.

That was until he received the call.

“It was 18 months later and I’d all but given up.

“All I could say was ‘you must have been hard up’,” he said with a laugh.

Despite finding the initial try-out nerve-racking, he found the show itself to be thoroughly enjoyable, leading with confidence in Fastest Finger First to take out the accolade and bag himself a cool $1000.

Allocated to the sixth and last seat in the contestant lineup, Guy was the last man standing when it came to the final question and a chance at the jackpot of $10,000, which had gradually been whittled down by successive wrong answers.

With Guy listing his strengths as history and geography, he was elated when the money question was about countries. 

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(JOURNALIST)

LOCK IT IN EDDIE: Under pressure, Guy Hayston answered the money question correctly.

DREAM WIN: Merton-local Guy Hayston receiving his winning cheque from Millionaire Hot Seat host Eddie Maguire.

I’ve always loved the program, and so I was quite familiar with the types of questions they favoured.

- GUY HAYSTON

 “I was asked which of these four countries – Canada, Columbia, Romania and Nigeria – was the most populous on its continent,” he said.

“And I thought to myself, I know this, lock it in Eddy.”

Guy admits that he did study beforehand, spending his time studying the periodic table, memorising planets of the solar system and their respective moons, and delving into the works of Shakespeare.

“I’ve always loved the program, and so I was quite familiar with the types of questions they favoured,” he said.

Guy even spent some time

researching the botanical names of plants which was a bit of an effort, as he professes he’s not much of a green thumb.

None of it proved necessary.

“It was a fabulous experience,” said Guy, with his enthusiasm only mildly tempered by having to watch himself on television.

“When the program went to air, I really didn’t want to watch it.

“But I was with friends who forced me to sit down and watch the entire episode.

‘I walked away with a very real appreciation of the

show’s editors,” he said.

Guy also had great things to say about host Eddie Maguire, who he had met before.

Before embracing a slower paced life in Merton, Guy worked for Qantas for 28 years as a short haul flight attendant, flying domestically and trans-Tasman with the occasional stint to Bali, Tokyo, Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong just to mix things up a bit.

It was in this role that he met Eddie Maguire, one of numerous celebrities he served over the decades.

It was a great job, Guy said of his years flying.

Beginning his career at the age of 30, he had spent his life beforehand travelling extensively, living in a total of five different countries over the period.

Becoming a flight attendant was somewhat of a natural progression for the world-wise Guy.

The story behind his transition from waiting tables at the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane to manning the aisles on 737s and A330s is one of those sliding doors moments.

“I was working at the Brekkie Creek, and there was always one day a week when I covered my workmate’s area

for about 15 minutes whilst they had a break,” he said.

“I was serving this particular group and unbeknownst to me a gentleman at the table was the training manager for Australian Airlines (as it was called back then before its merger with Qantas).

“I went to hand over the table to my colleague, and the gentleman at the table requested that I stay on serving them.

“At the end of the meal, he thanked me, commended me on my service and asked if I had ever considered flying.”

Two years later after the two airlines had finally merged, and Guy had repeatedly gone through the interview process, he found himself in the air and loving it.

“I’m not opposed to playing the long game, I can be quite a patient person when I have a specific end goal in sight,” Guy said of his journey to working for Qantas.

It was COVID that would bring about his retirement, taking up the offer of voluntary redundancy as travel across the country and all over the world came to a standstill.

“Besides I had always planned to retire at 60, as there are a lot of things on my bucket list that I have yet to tick off,” Guy said.

At the moment he’s particularly happy that he managed to achieve his Millionaire Hotseat dream.

And as for the remaining experiences on his extensive bucket list, more travel is high on the agenda.

“I’ve visited 54 countries in total,” Guy said.

“And there’s definitely the desire to explore more.”

There’s a safari in the Serengeti planned with his brother, and Guy has only recently returned from holidaying in Italy.

“On my fiftieth birthday I took off 50 days in long service leave, and had five parties around the world, one in each of the places that I had lived,” he said with a chuckle.

“We had a tour shirt with all the dates printed on the back, and at each party out would come the tops.

“It was also my ten year anniversary with partner Dejai so we celebrated with a cruise around the Mediterranean.”

Guy’s enthusiasm for life extends beyond his love of travel, throwing his support behind Dejai’s newest business venture into home-andgarden cleaning and maintenance.

There’s also a 75 acre hobby farm in Merton (with cattle and sheep, six chickens and a rooster, two cats called Cabernet and Sauvignon and a dog called Cosmo) that Guy calls home.

“I returned home from one of my overseas jaunts, and Dejai had bought a farm,” he said.

“Cosmo was another surprise that appeared one day as a new member of the family.”

Guy is the first to admit he’s had a great life, seeing the world and embracing everything that came his way.

“I’ve explored the statues on Easter Island, I’ve hiked to Macchu Pichu, I’ve walked along the Great Wall of China twice and I’ve dangled my feet over the Grand Canyon,” he said.

“But I always envisaged myself on a farm at some point, with a vegie patch and an orchard and the opportunity to be relatively selfsufficient.

“And now I’ve got the best of both worlds, my High Country home and a list of experiences that I’m steadily working my way through accomplishing.”

Let us make it clear

By PAM ZIERKMAHONEY

On the front page of the Courier’s Know your Local feature last week (August 30) one paragraph in the front page story mentioned that Lawrence Stolz (pictured) was retiring from the furniture business.

Some may have taken this the wrong way and was a little misunderstanding, when in fact Lawrence is not retiring completely, he has just sold out his Mansfield store to Kemp’s.

Lawrence is in fact still continuing his homemakers business as Stolz, Benalla.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A positive outcome

SUBMISSIONS for improvements to disabled parking around town is great news for people with disability stickers.

Also the grant from the Victorian Government RE: the Mansfield Township Infrastructure Plan will go a long way to identify problems associated with large population growth in Mansfield.

Let’s all hope the Mansfield

Council will identify existing problems now and future problems before they occur.

Mary Parker, Mansfield

Friends of Red Cross

Unfortunately Red Cross has suffered greatly over the last few years.

With numbers of members decreasing, ageing and not being computer literate, it is becoming very hard for the local branch to continue.

On Friday September 8 an

annual meeting is planned to take place.

The possibility of becoming a ‘Friends of Red Cross’ rather than a branch will be the main topic of interest discussed.

‘Friends of Red Cross’ do not have regular meetings, but may meet over a coffee morning to discuss and organise fundraising events to take place, like having an open garden or morning tea or conducting a garden raffle at the November Bush market.

Red Cross is an essential organisation in the world of today with more and more crises

LETTERS to the editor must be signed with the full name, address and contact telephone number of the author provided. Letters under 250 words are preferred and we reserve the right to edit letters to fit in with space requirements. Nom de plumes will only be published at the editor’s discretion. Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the Courier.

happening on a global front as well as within Australia.

I appeal to all caring people of the community to come along on Friday to help with the continuing work of Red Cross and offer help if possible.

The other alternative is that Red Cross would cease to exist here in Mansfield after beginning in 1939.

The meeting is set for 2pm on September 8 in the RSL Hall and all comers will be welcome.

For more information ring 5775 1041.

Margaret Adcock, Red Cross member, Mansfield

Email: edit.mcourier@nemedia.com.au.

Fax: (03) 5775 1580

Post: Letters to the Editor Mansfield Courier, 98 High St, Mansfield 3722.

SKILLSSHORTAGE:Itishopedthattheinitativewillincreasethe

SKILLS SHORTAGE: It is hoped that the initative will increase the number of skilled workers in Mansfield.

DEDICATIONHONOURED:Christian ‘Fish’ Thomsonhadbeen

associated with the club for 17 years.

Way Back Wednesday - a look back at what was making news 15 years ago this week.

A MAJOR State Government shake-up of the training sector has given new hope for Mansfield to combat a growing skills shortage.

Diploma and advanced

diploma courses - where students will be able to defer course fees - could be offered by Mansfield Adult Continuing Education (MACE), following a government initiative effective

from July 1 next year.

In sport, Christian ‘Fish’ Thomson will not continue as the senior coach of the Mansfield Football Club next year.

He officially announced

his decision after the Eagles’ last game for the season on Saturday, citing the reason as needing extra time to spend with his family.

Inquiry urges urges government to scrap duck to scrap duck hunting

By SAMUEL O’BRIEN

A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry has concluded recreational native bird hunting in Victoria should end as of 2024.

The Legislative Council Select Committee is urging the State Government to end the activity on all public and private land ahead of the upcoming season opening in its report handed down last week.

It also made further recommendations including:

 retaining existing exemptions for controlling native bird populations impacting agricultural and other land

 retaining traditional owner hunting rights under existing legislation

 convert existing State Games

Reserves into Outdoor Recreation

Reserves

 providing extra resources to better control non-native invasive species

 extra protections for Aboriginal cultural heritage sites.

The five-month inquiry accepted a record 10,402 public submissions and involved multiple site visits and six days of public hearings.

This comes after the Victorian Government limited the duck hunting to five weeks earlier this year, angering animal activists and hunters alike.

Dr Liz Walker, RSPCA Victoria CEO, said the Select Committee Report recommendations were a

fantastic step in the right direction.

“This report is the next crucial step to end native bird hunting in Victoria,” Dr Walker said.

“The evidence is clear; the high wounding rates for ducks and quail highlight the inherent and inevitable pain and suffering experienced by hundreds of thousands of ducks and quail each year – and that is why it needs to be banned.

“We strongly urge the Victorian Government to take the next step

and endorse the Select Committee’s recommendation by legislating to end native bird hunting.”

The Liberals and National parties claimed the inquiry was “biased and stacked”, and said Labor and Animal Justice Parties “have ignored science and based their call to end duck hunting on ideology alone”.

Emma Kealy, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, said, “Duck hunting is sustainable and safe and has enormous economic benefits.”

The opposition claimed duck

hunting contributes about $65 million to the economy, and it benefits local communities in regional Victoria, including Mansfield, East Gippsland, Latrobe, Horsham and Gannawarra.

In 2022, there were almost 28,000 licences to hunt game birds (ducks and quails) in Victoria, making up 0.41 per cent of the population of the state.

The full report, hearing transcripts and public submissions are on the Select Committee’s website.

Government launches Triple Zero Victoria

VICTORIA’S emergency

triple zero service will undergo a significant transformation to improve governance, accountability and oversight under new legislation introduced last week by the State Government.

This comes after complaints made over the past two years about emergency services response across the state, with residents waiting for longer and not receiving the help they need.

The Triple Zero Victoria Bill 2023 will reform the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) to bring it closer to government, ensuring greater oversight and pro-

viding clear and transparent accountabilities for the organisation, board and Chief Executive Officer.

Under the reforms, ESTA will be renamed Triple Zero Victoria and established as a new statutory authority, led by a new board and CEO directly accountable to the Minister for Emergency Services that draws on expertise from across the emergency and health services sectors.

Given the unique nature of its services, maintaining Triple Zero Victoria as a statutory authority will preserve its operational autonomy and its ability to respond quickly to emergency situations.

This is a similar arrangement to how other emergency services like Ambulance Victoria operate.

Delivering on another key recommendation from the ESTA Capability and Service Review led by former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, Triple Zero Victoria will strengthen its partnership with emergency service organisations and key government departments with the establishment of an Operational Committee.

The committee will include representatives from ambulance, police, fire and VICSES, and will provide advice to the Board to help

ensure Victorians calling triple zero receive the highest quality service.

This will be supported by robust reporting requirements that will enable Triple Zero Victoria to quickly escalate and resolve issues that could affect emergency service delivery, making sure residents get the help they need, when they need it.

Under the legislation, the Department of Justice and Community Safety will be required to endorse Triple Zero Victoria’s annual financial plans and operating budgets.

This will make sure it is financially robust and gives greater transparency of the

organisation’s financial position.

The Inspector General for Emergency Management will continue to monitor and provide assurance around the performance of Triple Zero Victoria.

Since October 2021, the Victorian Government has invested $363 million to help ESTA meet overwhelming demand – employing more than 400 extra staff, building better support and surge capacity for busy times, strengthening mental health support for staff and supporting critical technology upgrades.

In 2022-23, ESTA answered almost 2.7 million

calls for assistance, representing a call every 11 seconds or 7,350 calls every day.

Despite this demand, ESTA has consistently exceeded the 90 per cent ambulance call answer performance benchmark since last August.

ESTA’s dedicated workforce will be supported through the transitional period.

Staff employed by ESTA will transfer to Triple Zero Victoria on the same terms and conditions they are currently employed under to help ensure the continuity of service to the community. The legislation will commence by the end of 2023.

PROTECTING WILDLIFE: The Select Committee argued that native bird hunting is damaging the environment.

Plenty more page-turning celebrations for Book Week

By HANNAH KENNELLY

PRIMARY schools around the Mansfield Shire donned their literary bests to celebrate Children’s Book Week from August 19 to 25.

Jamieson Primary School

Principal Hannah Madin said the week was an incredible success.

“We had a full week of costumes and activities, including a play day for new preps next year, a Book Week assembly and parade and a number of visits from extraordinary characters such as Fireman Sam and Indiana Jones,” she said.

Merrijig Primary School also celebrated Book Week with a dress-up day filled with superheros, Disney princesses, and footy players.

Mary Poppins dropped by to give the children a spoonful of advice and Mr Twit was on hand to teach the students about personal hygiene.

Merrijig students then spent the day doing activities based on the book My Place before a presentation from the author Nadia Wheatley.

St Mary’s and Mansfield Primary students also dressed up for the occasion with a special parade around Mansfield.

St Mary’s library teacher Stacey Clingan said staff and students looked forward to the

annual tradition all year.

“The 2023 theme,’ Read, Grow, Inspire’ reflects the essence of the event perfectly,” she said.

“It’s a call to encourage young readers to not only enjoy the stories within books but also to embrace the personal growth and inspiration that reading can provide.

“Dressing up is a creative and engaging way to spark children’s

imaginations and connect them with the stories they love.”

During their parade, St Mary’s staff and students walked past Mansfield Cubby House so the younger children could see their favourite book characters come to life.

Some of the extraordinary costumes included The Invisible Man, Paddington Bear, Ninja Kid, and Bin Chicken.

matters

The upcoming scheduled Council meeting is Tuesday 19 September 2023 at 5pm and will be held online. Go to the events section on our website for information about how to observe the meeting or contact Customer Service on 5775 8555.

Applications Opening Soon

Council committed $75,000 in the Budget 2023/24 for the Outlying Communities Infrastructure Fund.

Grants applications for up to $20,000 will open soon for outlying communities within Mansfield Shire to develop facilities to enhance and improve their communities resilience and connectivity.

For more information visit mansfield.vic.gov.au/OutlyingCommunities-Infrastructure-Fund

Council invites suitably qualified and experienced contractors to submit a tender for the construction of a Car Park at 34 High Street, Mansfield. Request for tender documents and submissions may be downloaded and submitted at the Council eTender portal portal.tenderlink.com/mansfield.

Request for Tender closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 13 September 2023.

The Council Onsite Wastewater Management Plan includes conducting inspections of all existing septic systems located in the Mansfield Shire using a risk-based approach. Council is currently conducting inspections in the Macs Cove area. A letter will be sent to you advising when your property is due for inspection, you are not required to be home during this time. Council officers will provide contact details and will be available to discuss any improvement works required.

Alexander, Chief Executive Officer

NO COMPARISON: Mansfield SES’ new truck (right) versus their old vehicle.

Mansfield SES score new truck

By HANNAH KENNELLY

Mansfield has recently welcomed a shiny member into their unit - a brand new medium rigid rescue tuck.

STATE EMERGENCY SERVICES

SES Mansfield controller Ros Fauvel said the team were thrilled to have the new vehicle onboard.

“It’s much larger than our previous truck and is fitted with more equipment for both road rescue and storm emergencies,” she said.

“There’s so much space and a lot of thought has gone into the storage areas.”

The new truck is an impressive upgrade from the unit’s previous 12-year-old vehicle.

Ros said a few SES members had already taken the new truck “out for a spin” and familiarised themselves with the equipment.

“A representative from SES came out and gave an induction and showed everyone the features of the truck,” she said.

“It [the truck] has also already been used in last week’s training session for a road rescue scenario,” she said.

“Our members were really impressed with the functionality of the truck and it should be a great asset to our unit.”

The 2023 Mansfield Seniors Festival will run from 1-8 October with a range of activities on offer. Thanks to the Victorian Seniors Festival grant we have been able to cover the cost of most events and to subsidise others so that they are affordable for everyone to participate.

FREE Activities

Pilates at Barefoot Pilates Studio Yoga at Found Yoga

Clay Play with M.A.D Potters

Gift bags at The Little Shop of Good Reads

For more information on Seniors Week in Mansfield Shire and to book your place at one of the activities on offer scan the QR code or visit mansfield.vic.gov.au /Seniors-Festival-2023

Councillors: Cr James Tehan (Mayor), Cr Steve Rabie (Deputy Mayor), Cr Paul Sladdin, Cr Mark Holcombe, Cr Rohan Webb

Kirsten

A FABULOUS FUR COAT: Levi Lindsay looked like the perfect Disney de Vil vilian.

FANTASTIC FIREMAN: Luke Young was there in case any fires broke out.

PICTURE READY: Jody Mercieca, Kate Mercieca, and Ava Ragg smile big.

The Delatite Winery The Delatite Winery scores high in Halliday scores in

THIS year is shaping up to be one of the biggest yet for the Delatite Winery, with the reimagined venue on the receiving end of numerous awards, nominations and accolades, as the venue is lauded for its winemaking skills, its service, its ambience and its architecture.

“We’re absolutely delighted that in the 2024 edition of the James Halliday Australian Wine Companion, three of our wines received 95 points,” said Delatite Winery managing director David Ritchie.

The Halliday Wine Companion Awards recognise the nation’s top wines, winemakers, viticulturists, and wineries, with David attributing their recent success to the natural hands-off approach that the Delatite practices in the vineyard and to Andy Browning’s winemaking.

“Just as thrilling is that our totally-natural 2022 Petnat received 93 points, as did the 2021 vintage,” said David.

“It’s the second year running that our PetNat has received equal top points in this up-and-coming wine style category.”

Petnat is short for ‘pétillant naturel’, translating from French as ‘naturally sparkling’, with the wine made with as little intervention as possible which suits the Delatite’s preferred wine-making style.

Nothing is added during the process, and nothing is filtered out at the end, with the wine simply taken from the tank and bottled while it’s undergoing fermentation, which creates the bubbles.

On top of strong endorsement from the Halliday , it’s also been quite a month for architectural awards, with the Delatite Winery shortlisted in more than its fair share of state, national and global awards.

“These include being shortlisted in the Australian Institute of Architects 2023 Commercial Architecture Awards, the World Architecture Festival in the WAF Completed Buildings: Hotel

and Leisure category and also the prestigious 2023 Designers Australia Awards,” said David.

The cellar door which opened in June 2021 was designed by Lucy Clemenger Architects and takes advantage of the stunning views over Mt Buller and the Alpine Range.

“These nominations are a testament to the architects who have designed a truly beautiful building,” said David.

“They took inspiration from the environment around us.

“The colour of the bricks is designed to blend into the summer grass, the greens used in the interiors are taken from walking along the Howqua River and the use of timber was inspired from local fishing and cattleman’s huts.

“And although the design was a collaboration between us and the architects, they delivered above

ARCHITECTURAL TRIUMPH: The Delataite Winery cellar door which opened in June 2021 was designed by Lucy Clemenger Architects.

and beyond our brief.”

And the slew of accolades also extends to service, with the winery recently notified that their dining room was named a finalist in the Winery Restaurant category for the 2024 Victorian/Tasmanian Restaurant and Caterer’s Association Awards for Excellence.

“This is a real credit to Tiff Henwood our hospitality manager, Alwyn Ong our head chef, and all our amazing staff,” said David.

PHOTO: Dereck Swalwell

New event ‘Lake High’ targets women walkers to Mansfield

EARLY bird registrations are now open for a new regional event, Lake High – Great Victorian Walk for Autism.

On April 26 next year, teams of two to 10 women will be able to participate in the fundraiser, walking either 15 or 30 kilometres, along the Great Victorian Rail Trail to Mansfield.

Lake High will attract local women and women from further afield, looking for a weekend away, for social time, outdoor exercise, and the feel goods of walking for a great cause.

It will be easy walking on a well formed track, with celebration for finishing taking place at the Station Precinct in Mansfield, with music, food and beverages.

Simone Reeves, Chief Executive Officer of the notfor-profit Mansfield Autism Statewide Services (MASS), explained that inspiration for the event came after a weekend away, walking with girlfriends and the resulting strong connections made and sense of achievement.

“Mansfield has the ideal walking track in the Great Victorian Rail Trail and a wonderful reason to walk

raising funds for a critically needed expansion of services for autistic children and their families, to help get them off waitlists.

“Support for our Operation Gamechanger expansion has been fantastic, in strong recognition of the socio-economic benefits it will bring to the state and the difference it will make to the families.

“We’re expanding in response to overwhelming demand, and all funds raised help make our vision, of a Centre of Excellence Therapeutic Care Farm, a reality,” she said.

According to Reeves, exercise and walking are key components of all MASS programs because they help to reduce anxiety, in turn assisting students and clients to eat and sleep well and learn.”

The Victorian Government is supporting Lake High – Great Victorian Walk for Autism via the Living Local Regional Grants Program.

“We’re making sure every Victorian child and family has access to the services and opportunities they need to thrive,” said Minister for

Regional Development Harriet Shing.

Lake High – Great Victorian Walk for Autism is well supported, with representatives of Regional Development Victoria, Mansfield Shire Council, Tourism

What’s On

greatly appreciated and put to important use.

Anyone keen to volunteer to assist in the smooth running of the event should register their interest via the website.

The website is also a great source of inspiration for all the additional things to do in the area once the walk is over, from exploring, relaxing, dining, shopping and local events.

The incidence of autism is rising and affects up to 1 in 50 people.

The services Mansfield Autism provide for autistic children focus on the importance of family, exercise, healthy eating and early intervention.

North East, Friends Great Victorian Rail Trail, Mansfield District Business Association and Mansfield Marathon joining Mansfield Autism Statewide Services to form the steering committee.

Lake High is a one day walk event.

Participants register online at lakehigh.org.au.

There is no compulsory fundraising minimum, although every dollar raised beyond registration will be

24 Kidston Parade, Mansfield Bookings 5775 2628 mansfieldgolfclub.com.au

Mansfield Autism offers day school, term therapeutic placements, respite and crisis care, family camps, in home practitioners, adult services, outreach and transition programs and professional and vocational training.

Mansfield Autism is a registered charity, not for profit, independent special school and NDIS provider.

For more information on Lake High go to https://lakehigh.org.au

AHA ME HEARTIES: Mansfield Autism Statewide Services i hosting a fundraising walk along the Great Victorian Rail Trail this upcoming April. Dressing as a pirate is optional, but encouraged with Emily Ploschke, Judy Dixon and Sue Hare all embracing the challenge.

PHOTO: James Davidson from Tourism North East

PHOTOS: Pam Zierk-Mahoney

 FLIP IT OVER: Performers, Luca (over the top) and Tiffany try backflips - up and over for the children at St Mary’s Primary School.

QBE Foundation opens applications for local grants

APPLICATIONS are now open for the annual QBE Foundation’s local grants program, offering charities and community organisations working in both climate resilience and inclusion, the opportunity to receive up to $40,000 in grants.

Nine grants of $40,000 each will be provided to high impact community initiatives operating in Australia, New Zealand or the Pacific for a total of $360,000.

Jon Fox, QBE Foundation Co-Chair, said the grants are a key way for QBE to support charities who are working to make a difference in areas of need.

“At QBE, addressing cli-

mate resilience and inclusion are integral to our purpose of enabling a more resilient future, so being able to support community organisations that align with our core values is tremendous,” Mr Fox said.

“We’ve seen great positive impacts from past grant recipients and look forward to contributing towards further change through this year’s program.”

ActionAid, a global women’s rights organisation and one of nine recipients of last year’s grants, have been supporting women in Vanuatu to learn about the impacts of climate change, strengthen their leadership in climate change decision-making and build long-term solutions for their communities.

In partnership with the Women I TokTok Tugeta (WITTT) network, ActionAid held a two day training workshop for 17 women leaders from the WITTT network to share traditional knowledge and gain new scientific knowledge on climate change, and build skills to develop inclusive, community-led adaptation and preparedness plans.

Applications will be accepted up to September 29 (9am AEST), with the recipients being announced later this year, subject to change.

For eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit the QBE Foundation website: https://www.qbe.com/ au/about/sponsorship-community/the-qbe-foundation/ local-grants

PRIMARY School students are used to seeing typical anti-bullying messages on television or around their school grounds. But what if an anti-bulling message was expressed through parkour, flips and handstands?

Saint Mary’s Primary School hosted a performance from Action Education - Backflips Against Bullying in their Mercy Centre Last Friday.

Launched in 2019, Backflips Against Bulling is an action-packed

educational performance that teaches students about resilience, empowerment and holding their peers accountable.

The performance featured amazing aerial tricks and flips, all while showing students how to ‘Say No To Bullying’.

Wangaratta 7th Oct

Mansfield 15th Oct

Euroa 21st Oct

Bright 4th Nov

Albury 11th Nov

Beechworth 25th Nov

Tallangatta Dec 9th

Grand Final

Benalla Jan 20th

The Battle of the Bands Series will feature seven heats across the North East and a Final. There will be 3 Categories; Solos, Duos and Bands. Aged 12 - 25.

GUESTS

By PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY

 PAYING ATTENTION: The students at St Mary’s were all attentive during the performance.

 WHAT TO DO: Luca from Action Educastion - Backflip Against Bullying program tells St Mary’s Primary School student Ceuze Gardner how to say ‘no’ to bullying.

St Mary’s says no to bullying, one backflip at a time

Tree planting for the community on the rail trail

EACH year Up2Us Landcare Alliance and the local Mansfield community gather on National Tree Day.

It is always a huge success with the turn out resulting in a large number of trees planted within a short period of time.

The Scouts and Girl Guides group make light work of the task.

You can always guarantee the planting is done-and-dusted with time for a celebratory sausage in bread at the end.

National Tree Day has been running since 1996 and is Australia’s largest community tree-planting and nature care event.

The benefits of planting trees for the environment is well understood, and the community engagement and enthusiasm on the day is proof that the health and wellbeing benefit to individuals is another great byproduct.

Over the years, local volunteer and Landcare groups have set aside areas to plant with indigenous plant species, selected for their suitability to the region and their benefit to wildlife.

This year the Friends of the Rail Trail volunteer group have earmarked a section along the rail trail for tree planting.

Previous plantings along the rail trail have resulted in extensions of vegetation cover along the rail trail, creating pockets of habitat, connecting to other areas of vegetation, habitat and resources for wildlife.

The Friends of the Rail Trail group are an active group of local volunteers who work tirelessly and enhancing the natural features of the rail trail, for the benefit of trail users and wildlife.

Unfortunately, due to the wet conditions from recent rainfall it was decided to postpone any planting activities until the planting site had a chance to dry out.

The new date for tree planting is Saturday, September 9, beginning at 10am and finishing at 12pm with a sausage sizzle at the end.

The location is the stretch of Olivers Road that intersects with the rail trail. This is a great opportunity to ride your bike and plant some trees.

Help at wetland planting

WINTON Wetlands is looking for volunteers to assist planting tube stock of various shrub species native to the wetland reserve.

The wetland planting will take place at the Greens Hill campground, Boggy Bridge Road, (off Lake Mokoan Road, Chesney Vale) on Saturday, September 16 from 9am to 1pm.

The first of these volunteer days was held last Saturday, September 2.

The planting is part of a project generously funded by Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority to increase the floristic and structural diversity of several sites that have recently undergone the process known as ‘ecological thinning’.

mansfieldcourier.com.au

In an effort to repair environmental damage done in decades gone by, the Winton Wetlands team – with the help of enthusiastic volunteers – is undertaking these planting activities to give nature a helping hand restoring the wetland habitat.

Volunteers will be supervised, enjoy a free drink pass to use on the day at the Mokoan

Hub Cafe, gain understanding of how plant eco-systems work, experience the benefits of a healthy outdoor activity – and have fun.

Please register your attendance by Emailing field ecologist Sarah Way: sarah.way@wintonwetlands.org.au or by calling the Winton Wetlands Project Office on 5766 4462.

Mansfield Kindergarten jazz and art night a success

By HANNA ALDOUS, Mansfield Kindergarten

THE inaugural Mansfield Kindergarten Jazz and Art Night was recently held at the Mansfield Coffee Merchant.

A happy crowd celebrated the Kindergarten’s 70 years with toe-tapping music supplied all evening by talented local band, The Harvey Club, whilst browsing wonderful artwork generously donated by local artists.

Donated artworks, along with art pieces created by kindergarten children and their teachers, were the subject of healthy bidding competition, with many smiling faces taking home fabulous works at the end of the night.

The event was a fantastic fundraising success, rais-

ing over $6,000 towards furnishing a new classroom and multi-purpose community space for the Mansfield Kindergarten Redevelopment and Mechanics Institute Restoration project.

The project is currently underway to upgrade and expand the existing facility for increased kindergarten capacity for local families (see Mansfield Courier July 5 2023).

The Mansfield Kindergarten Committee of Management are very grateful for the sponsorship and support of the The Harvey Club, Mansfield Sound and Lighting, Mansfield Coffee Merchant, Bendigo Bank and other sponsors, as well as local artists and businesses who generously donated artworks and raffle prizes.

ART AUCTION: Tara Purcell with her painting of a Leadbeater possum with its proud new owner Dr Will Twycross at the Mansfield Kindergarten fundraiser.

Steiner students’ art on display

MANSFIELD Steiner school’s year 12 students opened their International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme Graduate Visual Arts Exhibition last Monday evening.

The high-level art students excelled in presenting their work from the past two years in an exhibition that forms part of their final assessment.

The night was well attended and all celebrated each artist’s creative achievement.

Work included painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, embroidery and metal work, and spoke to the diversity of expression of the individuals within the cohort.

WORK ON DISPLAY: Wil Hotton and Jessica Cassels were thrilled to have completed their final assessment, with the exhibition representing the culmination of two years of dedicated practice.

CREATIVE SPACE: IB student Holly Sanders discussed her work with Jack Smyth.

JOB WELL DONE: Teachers Lou Cassels and Briony Davenport found the evening to be a lovely social affair enjoying the opportunity to celebrate the students’ achievements.

Goulburn River to benefit from spring water delivery

THE Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (CMA) has announced plans to release water from Lake Eildon down the Goulburn River in September to benefit native fish, platypus and the long-term health of the waterway.

Goulburn Broken CMA Environmental Water and Wetlands Manager, Simon Casanelia, said the annual water release was referred to as the Goulburn River early spring fresh and was expected to run from approximately September 4 to 31.

“This additional water will enhance available habitat for native fish, platypus and waterbugs, enabling them to use the food washed in from the high flows as the weather becomes warmer,” he said.

Mansfield celebrates Women’s Health Week

MANSFIELD Shire

Council is celebrating women’s health this week and is calling on the community to actively promote women’s health, wellbeing, and preventive measures.

This year’s theme is ‘Grow your knowledge’ to support women to make informed decisions about their health.

Council, Mansfield Respond, Country Women’s Association, Women in North East Network and LouFit Personal Training started celebrations on Monday with a women’s healthcare check event.

The event provided information on women’s health, specifically prevention checks and when they should be done.

Community Health and Wellbeing Executive Manager Nola Bales said this was a significant week and encouraged the community to become involved.

“Women’s Health Week is a call to recognise the immense strength and potential of women when they are empowered with health knowledge and resources,” she said.

“Because fish are more actively migrating and spawning in spring, there is great value in the spring fresh, even with the high winter flows we’ve had.

“Conditions are also ideal for native plant growth which will aid long-term bank stabilisation.”

The fresh is expected to benefit the whole length of the Goulburn River downstream of Lake Eildon.

It will begin with a peak flow of approximately 9,500ML/day at Trawool and Shepparton before slowly dropping back to approximately 1,000ML/ day later in September.

Mr Casanelia said peak flows would be well below minor flood levels along the Goulburn River.

“At Trawool the river will reach

2.4m, the minor flood level is 4m, and at Shepparton the river will reach 4m, the minor flood level is 9.5m,” he said.

“Timing and height of the fresh may vary depending on natural flows in the river.

“Delivery of water for the environment will reduce or stop if there is any flood risk.

“Timing of the spring fresh has been complex this year.

“Planned works at Goulburn Weir in October require the fresh to start in early September.

“This could have led to high flows during the Goulburn Fishing Festival on September 2, however following consultation with the community, it was agreed to delay the

start of the fresh several days so as not disrupt the fishing festival or the planned Goulburn Weir works.”

Environmental flows are planned by the Goulburn Broken CMA in consultation with the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office and the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) as well as Goulburn-Murray Water, who manage the releases of environmental flows from its storages.

This use of water for the environment is authorised by VEWH in line with its Seasonal Watering Plan 202324, which is available for download from www.vewh.vic.gov.au, with regular watering updates posted on the Goulburn Broken CMA website www. gbcma.vic.gov.au.

“As a community this is a great opportunity for us to come together, and our aim is to inspire every woman to take control of her health, understanding that the choices made today lay the foundation for future wellbeing.”

The Women’s Health Week program features daily topics including understanding pain, hormones, women’s health in the workplace and nutrition.

Keep an eye out on social media for further information this week.

Seed shortage and fire puts Victorian forests at risk of collapse

EXPERTS are concerned

Victoria’s Ash forests are on the brink of ecosystem collapse following a poor flowering season and repeated fire events.

There are Ash forests throughout the alpine regions of Victoria, with both Mountain and Alpine varieties present in the North East.

Ecologist Owen Bassett, who has continuously monitored flowering and seed crops in Victoria’s Ash forests since 1994, has reported that for the first time in 28 years, flowering did not occur as predicted, greatly impacting the natural regeneration ability and hampering seed collection efforts.

“What this means for Victoria’s Ash forests is that they are at serious risk of ecosystem collapse, because they will not have the capacity to naturally regenerate themselves come the next fire season,” he said.

Seed collection has also been part of Mr Bassett’s work with seeds gathered used to assist forest regeneration after fire and storm events.

Forests harvested for timber are also resown using seed from the harvest sites with leftover seed contribut-

ing to a bank used to resow areas including national parks.

However, with repeated bushfires in 1998, 2003, 2006/07, 2009, 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2019/20, the seed bank was nearly exhausted.

“The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and VicForests undertook the largest sowing event in Victoria’s history following the 2019/20 bushfires resowing of 11,500ha of Ash forest,” Mr Bassett said.

“However, despite that world-leading effort, more than 10,000ha of Ash forest was not able to be resown and is not likely to recover following those fires.

“Another serious concern is that there is at least

143,000ha of fire-killed forest which is now regenerating, but extremely vulnerable to another fire event.

“If it burns it will be lost forever because it doesn’t have the ability to reseed itself and we just don’t have

the seed to resow it.”

Seed collection is one of the services provided by Victoria’s forest agency VicForests which deposits into the seed bank seed from timber harvest and specific collection operations.

However, Forestry Australia President Dr Michelle Freeman said this service may be lost following the native timber sector shutdown in Victoria.

“With the closure of native forest harvesting and recent announcement that seed collection contractors are now considered part of that transition package, who will save our forests when the next bushfire comes?” she said.

Dr Freeman also noted the higher fire risk this coming season, putting Ash forests at risk.

“In the face of these threats, active forest management is vital to build resilience against catastrophic fire and restore and maintain forest ecosystems,” Dr Freeman said.

“If we are serious about meeting greenhouse gas emissions targets, then we must do more instead of taking people such as highly skilled seed collectors out of the forests.”

NORTH EAST NATIVE: Ash forests exist in the alpine areas of Victoria, including on Mt Stirling.

Jane Bunn releases her first children’s book

By PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY

WELL known meteorologist, Jane Bunn, has just released her first children’s book and of course it is all about weather.

Released through Scholastic Australia the brand-new picture book titled Storm is written by the highly accomplished meteorologist and TV weather presenter.

When a dark, menacing storm rumbles over Jane’s house, she has lots of questions

Where do storms come from?

What causes lightning?

How does hail form?

And most importantly, how do we stay safe?

Discover all the wildweather answers you need to know in this imaginative and informative story.

Storm is an illuminating, evocative story about storm safety, packed with clear, accessible illustrations and diagrams explaining the science behind storms, illustrated by award-winning artist, photographer and illustrator Dasha Riley.

“I hope this book can introduce inquisitive minds to why we get such dramatic and exciting weather and help them understand what to do to stay safe.,” Jane said on the August release of her book.

“I’m so glad we’ve been able to bring to life young Jane and her dog Stampy and take them

on a meteorological journey.

“It’s great being able to share what I find really interesting about storms through the eyes of a little girl and her dog,” says Jane.

Jane Bunn has over 18 years’ experience forecasting the weather in Australia and the US. She has an infectious enthusiasm for talking about the weather.

As Channel 7 Melbourne’s resident weather forecaster and presenter, Jane is featured on the nightly news, as well as special national bulletins and events and often visits Mt Buller and the Mansfield region, particularly during winter to report on snow conditions.

Jane is also CEO and founder of online weather platform, Jane’s Weather.

Dasha Riley is an Australian artist, photographer and illustrator.

Her images have been widely exhibited, including Getty Images Gallery, London, the Sony World Photography Awards 2016 (Second place National Awards, Australia), and the Murray Art Museum Albury, where three of her works were acquired into the museum’s permanent collection.

Dasha has recently rekindled a love for illustration.

Inspired by Disney’s midcentury era, her focus is on children’s book illustration and educational books.

Women talk ‘Ice Business’ on Buller

By PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY

THE second “Women in the Snowfields’ event was held on Mt Buller recently with a discussion panel lead by Glaciologist and Ice Core Technician, Chelsea Long.

For her main talk Chelsea spoke about Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and the role of women in what has been typically a ‘man’s world’.

She spoke of the discrimination she encountered

during a research trip to a glacier and the difference it made as a woman when up against a male dominated profession.

During the evening, at which more than 100 attended, she spoke on her experiences during her studies.

She told the story how on a research trip with about 30 scientists she was treated much differently, was not allowed to use the core extraction equipment – because she would not be strong enough – and was basically

told to just do the photography. She has worked in Antarctica and has more than five years of technical experience processing and analys-

ing ice cores.

During her tertiary studies, she was awarded the New Colombo Plan – Hokkaido University, AINSE Honours scholarship, and

the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Regional Award for her studies of Solar Proxies in Ice Cores.

Chelsea is currently studying her PhD at the University of Tasmania, with her PhD aiming to reduce the Science-Policy Gap by using Ice Core research.

Organiser of the evening Tessa Flynn from Buller Hospitality said she received good feedback from the evening as a whole, the ladies attending loved the talk

and were given inspiration to take up working in fields which were not necessarily entered by women.

A discussion panel followed Chelsea’s talk and included panellists Maria Baker (Founder of Nobody’s Princess), Linsey Caddy (Buller’s ski patrol instructor), Kelsey Williams, Brodie Wilson, Rhylla Morgan, Sue George and Jassie Salbesan. Tessa said the evening was such a success plans were being made for another session next year.

PANEL DISCUSSION: The panel of women discussing issues on gender and equality at the recent ABOM Women’s event.

OUT NOW: Weather presenter and meteorologist, Jane Bunn, with her first children’s book ‘Storm’.

Father’s Day in Jamieson

JAMIESON residents and visitors celebrated Father’s Day on Sunday in warm sunny conditions on a perfect spring day.

Many boats arrived at the Jamieson Brewery in perfect boating conditions.

The proprietors Pat and Cameron and their team provided a fully booked clientele to a very happy Father’s Day to remember.

THE annual helicopter Pub Crawl was conducted on Saturday with two helicopters, eight guests and two pilots.

The annual trip commenced at Moorabin airport Melbourne, they flew to Noojee, landed and enjoyed the hospitality.

They then went onto the Jamieson Brewery for lunch and refreshments.

Back on board the passengers were then flown to McAdams Gap near Woods Point for their final respite prior to reboarding the helicopters they were then flown back to Melbourne, marvelling at the great time they all enjoyed.

The views from the helicopters over the extended waterways of Lake Eildon - especially at the Jamieson lakeside area - was breathtaking.

THE Courthouse Hotel was a hive of activity with many guests enjoying a fabulous Father’s Day on Sunday.

JAMIESON ON THE LINE with Carmel Dixon

Many guests drove to Jamieson to celebrate the family event in idyllic spring weather conditions.

The 4WD enthusiasts have been arriving and staying at the Courthouse Hotel for the weekend exploring the various tracks that are open through the local terrain.

ST PETER’S Anglican Church Jamieson had Father’s Day Eucharist Service on Sunday. Rev Mel Clarke conducted the service.

All fathers, husbands, brothers and friends were celebrated by the attending community.

Following the service the community with Rev Mel Clarke dined at the Jamieson Cafe enjoyed the fellowship and delicious meal.

THE very popular Jamieson Cafe’s clients enjoyed a superb spring day, with the clients enjoying the sun filled garden area dining and chatting to friends.

LOCAL Jamieson home owners Donna and Alan Scash have recently returned from a ‘Bucket List’ trip.

They flew to South Australia boarded the Ghan train to Darwin.

They boarded a

French ship and enjoyed 10 nights on board to Broome, with a stop at various small ports in between.

Donna and Alan enjoyed three night stay in a resort in Broome and then flew to Perth visiting family.

On arrival home in Melbourne they marvelled at vast and beautiful land they traversed.

THE Jamieson general store was kept busy with travelling drivers stopping for refreshment and some delicious food to take on their drive.

The new proprietor Andy Dolling has been catering to the local clientele and visitors with great flair.

JAMIESON Primary School students were unable to attend their skiing class on Mt Buller, last Friday due to snow conditions.

Two students celebrated their birthdays last week Mason turned nine and Belle was six.

We wish them both happy birthdays.

Thursday will be the last Library day for the Mansfield Library personnel to attend the school for this term. There was a school manager training day at the Benalla Training Centre on Tuesday in preparation for the end of year school finances.

& Beauty guide

Proud parents Carley and Tom Scash with 7 month old Louis celebrated their first Father’s Day in Jamieson.

ACROSS

1 Viticulture is the cultivation of what fruit (6)

8 Name a renowned harness racer, ... Adios (8)

9 Name one of the seven dwarfs (6)

10 In which US State is Chicago (8)

11 Which term describes an acquired male offspring (6)

12 Which peninsula lies in Arnhem Land (4)

13 What is a knotty protuberance on a tree (5)

16 What are cormorants also known as (5)

19 To be in a state of wonder and amazement, is to be what (4)

21 Which term describes that which is ingenious (6)

22 To be free from commotion or tumult, is to be what (8)

23 Name a particular woodwind instrument player (6)

24 What are tabular surfaces of high elevation (8)

25 Name the units of inductance (6)

DOWN

2 What was the former name of Myanmar’s capital city (7)

3 What do we call one who forces wool into bales, etc (7)

4 Sidney Reilly earned a living doing what (6)

5 Name animals of the cat family (7)

6 What is a cylindrical rocket-launcher (7)

7 Name a particular temperature scale (7)

13 Who were the secret state police of Nazi Germany (7)

14 What is a calendar of the days of the year (7)

15 Name a resinous varnish (7)

E-QUATIONS

Letters A to Z have a number value. Some are shown in the right-hand cells. Create remaining values using clues in centre cells.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CROSSWORD QUICK

SUDOKU

17 Which barbed, spearlike missile is used in catching whales (7)

18 To speak or act against, is to do what (7)

20 Which piece of leather runs round the lower part of a shoe’s uppers (6)

Find the following words in the grid. They may be read in any direction, even diagonally. Some letters are used more than once.

WHICH WORDS

BIYWORD

Build it yourself using the clues and each of the twenty-four letters once only to form ten words: five across and five down. A key word (bold clue) builds on the letter set in the grid.

CLUES:

City (coll): The Big ... (5)

Hobo (5)

Inquire inquisitively (3)

One of the beat generation (7)

People who edit (7)

Tall and lean (5)

Thermal energy storage

To-do list

Try out

Untruth

THINK

Solve the crossword. Each answer has four letters.

SOLUTIONS

WHAT’S ON CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER 16

Buller Retro Weekend

September

 SEPTEMBER 9: Up2Us Landcare community tree planting: 10am - 12pm - Great Victorian Rail Trail at Olivers Road. Sausage Sizzle provided.

 SEPTEMBER 14: Friends of the Great Victorian Rail Trail monthly meeting and AGM: 3pm - Up2Us Landcare office. A community group working towards the development and promotion of the rail trail to increase its economic benefit to the local community.

 SEPTEMBER 15 - 30: Klytie Pate Ceramics Competition and Exhibition - MACE 145 High Street Mansfield. Celebrating the artistry and craftsmanship of Australian ceramics including the presentation of the Klytie Pate Award for Ceramics, the Emerging Artists Award and the People’s Choice Award.

 SEPTEMBER 16: Buller Retro Weekend. Trip back through two of our favourite decades to the 80s’ and 90s’ and invite all who attend the slopes that weekend to dress wild and bright.

 SEPTEMBER 16: Buller Banked Slalom. Race your mates and settle once and for all who’s fastest on the hill. Riders will battle it out for glory, speed and a share in prizes from Yuki Threads, BLAK Apparel & RAD Gloves.

Regular Events:

 Circle of Friends meet every second Monday at Invoke from 10:30am - 12:30pm. Join a group of women for morning tea, a chat and some meditation. Nominal fee to cover costs. Enquiries: Suzy Rideout: 0466 998 811

 CWA Monthly meetings: 4th Wednesday Evening or Sunday afternoon (alternating each month: March –Wed).

 CWA Craft Days: Wednesday‘s 10am and last Thursday evening of the month at 6pm.

 CWA Op shop open: most days from 10am to 2pm.

 Grief and bereavement support group meets on the first Thursday of the month at Bob’s Shed, 82A Malcolm Street. All are welcome on a regular or casual basis and morning tea is provided. Ring 5775 3161 for more information.

 High Country Poets meet at the Mansfield Library on the 3rd Friday of the month at 1:30 pm. Members of the public all welcome to come and listen / or share their poetic ramblings.

 JUSTICE of the Peace Services – Every Thursday, Mansfield Police Station. 10am to 1pm for witnessing and signing of documents.

 Lima South Old Time Dance: At Lima South Hall the second Sunday of each month between 1pm and 5pm. Entry $10. Music provided by The Ramblers. Please bring a plate of afternoon tea to share. All welcome. Contact: 0425868277.

 Mansfield Croquet Club – Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9am till 12 noon, Lord‘s Reserve, Cnr Victoria and Apollo Streets. Playing equipment available, $2 per session.

 Mansfield Multicultural Group – Every second Tuesday of the month at 6pm at MACE.

 Monday Mingle – Every Monday – organised by the Bonnie Doon Community Centre –chat and make new friends – new theme each week. BYO ideas for activities – all ages and abilities

 Mansfield support group for carers and people with special needs – morning coffee, third Tuesday of the month, 9.30am The Witches Brew

SEPTEMBER 15 - 30

Klytie Pate Ceramics Competition and Exhibition

 SEPTEMBER 18: U3A presents Unit 7: Crafts & Fabrics of South America presented by Marta Mueck - Mansfield Library (enter by back door). For membership details call Trish 0437 357 829

October

 OCTOBER 4: The Produce Store Artesian Market: 4 - 6pm - The Produce Store. Showcasing local artisans and artists. Hampers available for purchase.

OCTOBER 7

High Country Halls Music Festival

 OCTOBER 7: High Country Halls Music Festival: 6:30pm - Merrijig Hall. Featuring Liz Stringer and supported by Blue Curtain, Doc Wallace and Archie Dunn. On-site food truck and sausage sizzle with drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) available.

 OCTOBER 14 - 28: MMuDS Presents: The Castle2 A Bonnie Doon Rock Musical. Tickets on sale from September 2 on the MMuDS website.

 OCTOBER 28: Mansfield Steiner Spring Fair and Open Day: 10am3:30pm - Mansfield Steiner School. The whole community is invited to join in a day of celebration, beginning with a Welcome to Spring Fair Maypole Ceremony.

 OCTOBER 28: High Country Halls Music Festival: 3:30pm - Merton Hall. Featuring John Flanagan & 7 Piece Band and supported by Naturally Kerley. On-site food truck and sausage sizzle with drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) available.

MANSFIELD ARMCHAIR CINEMA

 Men‘s Probus meetings are held every 2nd Wednesday for monthly meetings, and then activities/outings are held on the last Wednesday of each month – or as organised.

 Ladies Probus meets every second Monday of each month at Delatite Hotel for meetings and 4th Monday for social or as organised.

 Rotary meet the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at the Delatite Hotel. 6.30 for a 7pm start.

 Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) meet every fourth Monday of the month at 6pm in the library (rear entrance)

 U3A meetings are held on 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month at 10am at the Library.

THOUGHTFULLY designed by Willick

Designs, this custom-built home features light and bright living, coordinated with luxury and liveability, all on one level. The quality of this immaculate home is obvious, so with nothing left to do but move in and enjoy, you can elevate your entertaining with seamless indoor and outdoor dining.

Built in 2020, this home boasts spotted fantastic shed/workshop and an abundance

Offering a comfortable, low-maintenance lifestyle in an excellent location, this home is ideal for those accommodating a growing family, seeking a tree change or down-sizing from acreage. Brilliantly close to High Street, it’s just a few minutes’ walk to the Botanic

property of the week

Gardens to exercise, picnic, or walk fourlegged friends and just a couple more to High Street for a coffee or dinner.

More reasons we love this home:

796m2 (approx.) corner allotment

Still covered by the builder’s warranty

Elevated, North-facing home

Dual access from Avoca Court and Redgum Drive

Expansive meals/dining/family area

Sliding doors opening out to covered alfresco

Ducted heated and cooling plus wood heater

Kitchen with polished concrete benchtops

Gas cooktop and electric wall oven

Additional living/sitting room

Master bedroom with walk-in-robes

Ensuite with double vanity and large shower

Three additional bedrooms with BIRs

Main bathroom with bathtub

Separate WC and powder room

Established low maintenance landscaping

Fully fenced backyard for privacy, pets and kids

Double garage with remote entry

Side yard access for vehicles

9m x 6m shed with built-in workbenches, Just a 10 minute walk to High Street, or a 5 minute drive to all schools, plus it’s only 15 minutes to Lake Eildon and 50 minutes’ drive to Mt Buller.

4

Location 40 Redgum Drive, Mansfield

Price $1.05m - $1.15m

Agent McGrath Mansfield

Phone 03 5775 2437

Property Management Professionals

Our team is dedicated to providing exceptional service to landlords and tenants alike.

Lead by Wiesha as the team leader, overseen by Claire and Imogen as property managers, supported by Debbie handling administration, we are committed to delivering the highest standards of professionalism, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

We understand that the rental process can be complex and sometimes challenging, which is why we are committed to providing seamless experiences. Whether you are a landlord seeking reliable property management or a tenant in search of a comfortable rental home, our experienced team is here to assist you.

5775 1188 - rentals @mansfieldrealestate.com.au

Local input vital in national soil-knowledge quest

A SURVEY to understand soil issues, knowledge gaps and opportunities across Australia is now open, with Mansfield Shire residents urged to participate to inform local soil management procedures.

Dr Peter Fisher, Soil Co-ordinator with the Dookie-based Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (Vic Hub), said, “Everyone knows the importance of soils in sustaining healthy food production and for protecting the environment and biodiversity.

“But the pressure to improve soil health – while aiming for net zero emissions to minimise impacts on climate change – requires developing and adopting better soil-management practices.

“For this reason, the Regional Soil Co-ordinators, who are based across the country at each of the eight Drought and Innovation Hubs, are asking people involved in soil management to complete a new survey on the soil issues, gaps and opportunities in their region.”

Results from the survey – which is open to all those interested in the future of soils, from agriculture to natural resource management –will help inform the design and delivery of targeted soil interventions to address priorities under the National Soil Strategy.

Dr Fisher is keen to see a strong representation in the nation-wide survey of Victorian soil issues and knowledge gaps, as well as re-

search, development and extension opportunities for improved soil management.

“Soil types, farming systems and soil management issues in Victoria are quite varied, but Victoria is Australia’s largest food and fibre exporter by value, and getting a good Victorian response to the survey is very important,” he said.

With a background in research, Dr Fisher helped design the survey.

“But it’s not just for farmers,” he said.

“This survey is for everyone who is interested in the future of soils; so I encourage all Victorians across the agricultural sector and those involved in natural resource management of soils to participate.”

The multi-choice questionnaire has been funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Launch into iconic lakes for Murray cod this Spring

LAKE Eildon will continue to provide Murray cod fishing as the annual closed season begins in rivers and lakes across the state.

From 1 September, the closed season comes into effect and remains in place for three months until December 1 to give the native fish a chance to breed.

Eildon along with Rocklands Reservoir in the Wimmera have been at the heart of Victoria’s record-breaking fish stocking program, funded through the reinvestment of recreational fishing licence fees and the government’s Go Fishing Victoria plan.

Since 2017, Lake Eildon has been open year-round for cod fishing with more than 2.4 million fingerlings stocked in the past five years.

National Landcare Program.

Anyone wanting help, or more information about the survey, is encouraged to contact Peter via email fisher.p@unimelb.edu.au or mobile 0408 145 619.

More information can be found on the Vic Hub website: https:// vicdroughthub.org.au/newsevents/news-articles/australiawide-survey-to-find-gaps-in-soilknowledge-now-open

Whilst Rocklands is fast emerging as its western counterpart with 2.75 million cod released since stockings began in 2017 – some of which are now legal size between 55 and 75 centimetres.

At Eildon, a fixed marker remains in place at the Jamieson boat ramp to clearly define the lake area where the closed season does not apply.

Wild Dog Management Plan renewal a no-brainer

LOCAL producers are backing the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) in urging the Victorian Government to renew the highly successful Wild Dog Management Plan which has seen an enormous drop in wild dog attacks on livestock since launching in 2012.

VFF Livestock Group VicePresident and Tallangatta farmer Peter Star said the VFF has written to the government seeking the plan’s renewal, after 11 years of positive results protecting farmers, livestock and native wildlife from the effects of wild dogs.

“Since launching in 2012, the Wild Dog Management Plan has been instrumental in a 75 per cent reduction in livestock loss and attacks on properties neighbouring public lands in east and south west Victoria,” he said.

“Livestock farmers have come to rely on this plan to protect their livestock from the harrowing impacts of wild dogs and renewing it is a complete no-brainer.”

Local livestock producer and farm advisor Matt Mahoney of Agridome Consultancy has been proactive in addressing wild dog management within the shire, facilitating pilot program Less Predators, More Lambs a collaborative industry initiative with a goal to reduce predator numbers in the region.

“As a producer and member of the VFF l am glad to see and support the VFF stance on this matter,” said Mr Mahoney.

“My hope is that common sense will prevail and that the continued investment in the proper management of wild dogs and other feral animals will occur well into the future to keep both livestock and native animals safe.”

The VFF’s Peter Star said that wild dogs cause untold damage to livestock and native wildlife, while the impact of losing livestock to wild dog attacks takes a massive toll on a farmer’s mental health.

“Wild dog control in the three-kilometre livestock protection buffer is delivering genuine conservation outcomes,” he said.

“It also has positive impacts on Victoria’s dingo population by reducing the risk of crossbreeding with domestic dogs, while reducing the impacts of attacks by dingoes and wild dogs on neighbouring livestock production and domestic pets.”

The VFF’s calls to renew the program come as a Victorian Government review

is being undertaken in response to the Parliamentary review into ecosystem decline, which recommended that dingoes, which are considered a threatened species in Victoria, are protected across the state.

“The current Wild Dog Management Plan balances the needs of farmers and the protection of native animals,” Mr Star said.

“The State Government have shown real leadership in championing this program which has been responsible for a significant decline in wild dog attacks over the last 11 years.

“I would hate to think what would happen if the program wasn’t renewed, so it’s critical that the government progresses with the plan in its current state.”

INDUSTRY EXPERT: Dr Peter Fisher, Soil Co-ordinator with the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (Vic Hub) helped design the soil survey. INSET: ENCOURAGING INPUT: The QR code for the soil survey.

NECESSARY SPENDING: Livestock producer Matt Mahoney has reiterated the call to renew state-funded initiative, the Wild Dog Management Plan.

Future entrepreneurs at Mansfield Primary

By HANNAH KENNELLY

MANSFIELD Primary School students know all about profit for a purpose.

The Year Six cohort recently completed their Social Enterprise School project, a business education program delivered by the Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship.

The program teaches students how to create their own social enterprise, a “business for good that puts people and the planet ahead of profits”.

Mansfield Primary students spent a week trading their products with younger classmates and chose to donate their profits to different charities.

Last week, representatives from Mansfield State Emergency Services, Country Fire Authority and Jamieson Wildlife Rescue visited the school to thank the students for their donations.

Cathy Raeburn from the Jamieson Wildlife Rescue Shelter said the dona-

tions would help her rescue countless of wildlife including kangaroos, wallabies, wombat, and possums.

“Your donations will help

go towards medical supplies, which are really invaluable,” she told the students.

Mansfield SES Controller

Ros Fauvel also thanked the

students and said the money would go towards a new defibrillator.

Social Enterprise Schools

Program Manager Tom Col-

cott congratulated all the students and their teachers.

“By following the journey the students have been on, I have watched them overcome

barriers and obstacles, thinking of creative ideas and persevere with their enterprise,” he said.

“Today was a chance to celebrate them and their amazing teachers for their hard work”.

The Social Enterprise Schools program has been funded by the Community Bank Mansfield and District over the past three years and has helped over 300 students in the Mansfield district.

Director Haley TudorHarrop said the bank was thrilled to help students “through a community approach.”

“As a community bank we are a social enterprise, so it’s wonderful for us to be able to give these students the opportunity to participate in developing their own social enterprise,” she said.

“It’s really given them the opportunity to understand the role that we play within our community and the significant impact a social enterprise can have.”

Swanpool

HOORAY: Mansfield Primary Year Six students and SES and CFA representatives celebrate with their certificates.

Page 28 - MANSFIELD COURIER - Wednesday, September 6, 2023 mansfieldcourier.com.au

ELECTRICIAN Servicing all your electrical needs

Walshy’s Wiring Craig Walsh REC 20826 0409 402 600 All types of Electrical Installations “Success through Service” Andrew Folk - 0410 651 204 Email: watkins.eservices@outlook.com ABN 21 581 557 461R.E.C 30262

ELECTRICIAN

Watkins Electrical Services VIC T/As

North East distributor of Taylex Treatment Systems to plumbers, builders & home owners.

Servicing Treatment Systems

Irrigation Design FUNERAL DIRECTORS Caring & Professional 24 hour service, all areas Obligation free appointments Pre-paid, pre-arranged, personalised funeral and memorial services www.mccormackfunerals.com.au

Land McCORMACK FUNERALS 1800 080 909 11 Highett Street, Mansfield Andrew Howie

Septic/Treatment System Designs ELECTRICIAN BILLY MAHONEY ELECTRICAL REC NO. 15385 ALL TYPES OF ELECTRICAL WORK LANDSCAPING OVER 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE Call Michael Visser on 0407 545 069

Soil Mob: 0409 313 690 Domestic & Commercial Painting Contractors peterpezzimenti67@hotmail.com

PLUMBER LICENSED Steve Taylor over 30 Years Experience HOT WATER SPECIALIST

* No Obligation FREE Quotes * Service & Repair to Hot Waters

Classification Reports FENCING 55D03134mc PLUMBER Phone: 0417 283 565

Wastewater ELECTRICAL PLASTERER JEFF MAGGS PLASTERING 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE FREE QUOTES PHONE 0418 349 972 FENCING MANSFIELD FENCING Steve | 0407 357 806

Capability Assessments (LCA) FENCING MANSFIELD TEMPORARY FENCING Mansfield and surrounding areas 0428 481 300 mansfieldtemporaryfencing@gmail.com PAINTER Peter Pezzimenti Painter & Decorator

Specialising in On-site Wastewater Management * Pensioner Discount * Gas Fitting * General Maintenance Servicing Mansfield and surrounding areas.

CAR ADVERTISERS

Private vendors of motor cars advertised for sale must include in their advertisement

PHOTOGRAPHS

FOUND ADVERTISEMENTS

All found advertisements are

PERSONAL ADVERTISERS

Maindample CFA would like to thank all our sponsors and the community for making the Plant and Garden Sale such a wonderful success.

Winners of the main raffle were:

1st prize: June-Compost

2nd prize: EricTrailer of wood

RED CROSS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Friday, September 8, 2023, 2pm in the RSL hall. Guest Speaker. All welcome.

Get your names in the RADIO MANSFIELD and MANSFIELD COURIER birthday book.

Win Bertalli’s birthday goodies on Radio Mansfield

99.7 FM’s “Anything Goes” Birthday Wheel

Thursdays from 2-4pm

This week’s winner is: PAUL NEALY

To enter call Radio Mansfield on 5775 2333

MANSFIELD KINDERGARTEN

PART-TIME EDUCATOR

Mansfield Kindergarten is a not-for-profit, sessional kindergarten offering a fantastic workplace. We have a great team of professional and dedicated staff who really enjoy working here!

We are seeking a Cert III or Diploma qualified Early Childhood educator to assist in our After Kinder Care program two afternoons per week. This part-time role is a casual position for Term 4 but could extend into 2024 and further hours. Offering a total of 6 hours over Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons (finishing at 5.30pm), there is also the chance of other casual work during the week.

If you’re interested in joining our team, please call Nicola Beautyman on 5775 2445 or email your resume to mansfield.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au.

To obtain the Position Description and/or to apply, visit the Employment page on our website: www.ggs.vic.edu.au/employment Emailyouradvert classifieds@nemedia.com.au

K&M Automotive 4x4 is the leading Emergency Roadside Assistance provider in Mansfield and surrounding areas. We provide roadside care and towing for RACV, emergency services, vehicle manufacturers and motor car clubs.

We are looking for new RACV contractors to join our team. The job will be providing emergency roadside assistance after hours and weekends, on behalf of the RACV and another programs. You will be provided with a work service vehicle / tow truck as required, work phone and tools, as well as training.

Roles & Responsibilities:

KELPIE PUPS FOR SALE

Two female and two male pups, vaccinated and micro-chipped. 991001004568727

991001004568724

991001004568721

991001004568726

Source ID: MB215060. Excellent breeding and stunning: 1x tri-colour, 1x red, 2 x red/tan. Need new homes! POA. Contact 0448 791 591.

Motoring Get $42

Advertise your car, boat, caravan, bike or trailer across all North East Media newspapersfor Conditions apply.

SOLD

Phone: 5723 0101 email: classifieds@nemedia.com.au

ADDITIONS

INTERNET

Skills & Experience: but not essential)

To apply, please send your resume to shannon@kmonsite.com.au or (03) 5775 1605.

RURAL MERCHANDISE SALES

Corcoran Parker’s Rural Supply Division is seeking a PART

Corcoran Parker is a leading agricultural marketing agency throughout NorthEast Victoria and Southern NSW. We are excited to offer a unique opportunity continued business growth. You will be an “Animal Lover” and play a key role in expanding the business that values an all-hands-on deck attitude. We understand a strong culture is critical in driving success and provide a dynamic and results based environment with a focus on looking after our customers and our team. You will have strong ethics with honesty, initiative and a passion for all customers – Human and Animal. Previous customer

On the job training is provided along with a great team. The role is initially part time being end of week loaded with full days Thursday and Friday plus half day Saturday.

For further information please contact Merchandise Manager Kirsten Craze on 0418 754 476.

Interested applicants should email their application including current CV by close of business Friday, September 15, 2023 to Kelly Hegarty at kelly@corcoranparker.com.au.

Crown Cabs

TAXI

DRIVERS WANTED

Part-time or Full-time

Mansfield Area

Please contact Syzen 0417 333 300

HOLDEN Cruze

SRi-V, (1OK9GX), great first car, 1.6L turbo, auto. Top of the range including heated seats, Bluetooth, Sat.nav, 6 air bags. Registered to Nov. 2023. RW certificate.

$10,600. Couple minor scrapes on passenge r side. Contact Brad 0488 095 109.

SOLD

2014 Mazda CX5 Maxx Sport, AWD, 2.2l TurboDiesel, 6 sp Auto, Reg Dec 2023 (1DT2XG), ODO 122,400, towbar, RWC supplied, $20,500 ONO. Ph 0447 381 481.

2020 Toyota Hilux (1SO2UL), 2.8L ute, diesel, 28,000km. $62,000. Phone Brian 0427 595 561.

Classifieds Work! Phone:

NISSAN Navara, dual cab ute, JN1CNUD22A0026712, suit wrecking, 2 engines, 2 radiators, bull bar with electric winch, tow bar, good axles and gear box, $500. Ph (03) 5764 4332.

CARAVANS & CAMPERS

KOKODA Endure II

Platinum, semi offroad, 18ft 6in. $50,000. Phone Brian 0427 595 561.

Don’t leave money lying around the house PHONE Courier 5723 0101

Sell all those items that are no longer used or wanted

BRITTON, Ronald Arthur.

Aged 96.

BRITTON

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Ron Britton will be held at the Club on Thursday, September 7, commencing at 11.30am.

COLES

COLES

(née Donehue), Joy Elizabeth Elliss.

Passed away Saturday, September 2, 2023 at Buckland House. 99 years young.

Loving wife to Alan (dec) Cherished mother to Maureen (dec) and Laurie.

Loved by 5 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. In our thoughts and forever in our hearts. May she rest in peace.

McDONAGH, Bill.

Bill McDonagh died peacefully surrounded by all his children at his daughter Phoebe’s home in Highvale, QLD on Saturday, September 2, 2023. He will be sadly missed and forever in our hearts. We feel privileged and grateful for the outstanding care and support given by Dr Will Twycross and District Nurse Kelly Cummins.

Special thanks to our Merton Friends and to the local community for looking out for Bill and supporting Jeannie over the last few difficult years.

~ Jeannie, Jim and Belle, Phoebe and David, Keira and Tom. Evie, Imogen, Frankie, Griffin, Sydney, Summer, Henry and Richie.

MUNRO, Judith Anne.

Passed away peacefully on August 24, 2023, after a short illness.

Treasured and devoted wife for 60 years of John and dearly loved mother of Melissa and mother-in-law of Greg.

Many thanks to the wonderful caring Forever in our hearts.

TAYLOR, Iain Stephen. 28/8/1971-28/8/2023

Loved son of Steve and Lex. Loved father of Jarreth and Jacqueline. Loved brother to Amanda, Uncle to Kenneth, Samantha, Mathew and Jordan.

Loved friend to Pam and Ian.

The funeral service to celebrate the life of Mrs Joy Elizabeth Elliss Coles will be held at St John’s Anglican Church, Highett Street

September 11, 2023, commencing at 1pm.

Private Cremation

The funeral service will be livestreamed, please go to the NJ Todd website and follow the livestream link.

N.J. TODD

MANSFIELD 1800 352 425

BENALLA (03) 5762 2461 Member AFDA

MUNRO.

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Judith Munro will be held at a date to be

COLES, Joy.

The family of Joy would like to send their sincerest thank you to the team at Buckland House for their care and compassion for Joy over the last years of her life.

and Martin families thank everyone for their support, cards this very sad time on the loss of Alli.

STEVENSON, Neil Morrison. 20 years. Many happy memories.

Love your family.

Sargent takes monthly medal

By LINDA TERRY

THINGS are getting busy for the ladies golf calendar with several trips away – both social and competitive.

Numbers are also getting back up, as the weather warms and those who have been travelling are starting to wend their way home.

On the local front, it was the August Monthly Medal, sponsored by Snowgum Nursery.

Thanks Cooksey for giving us an extra challenge with the greens freshly cored and sanded and this writer can attest to the added degree of difficulty until you got used to them (seven putts in the first two holes).

But Sheryl Sargent was unfazed and played beautifully to win the medal with a terrific score of net 71.

Linda Terry was runner up with 73 and third belonged to Kylie Egan with 77.

Line Balls went to Sue Parsons.

Marion Mitchell and Margie Franke-Williams and Kylie Egan won Nearest the Pins.

Sue Parson had a fabulous day with the putter and would no doubt love the sandy greens more often, winning that event with just 27 putts.

Saturday saw a good field of 13 out in beautiful conditions and the in-form Kylie Egan won the Stableford round with 32 points.

Shelly Comerford followed close

Brown scores an eagle

MEN’S GOLF

THE weather gods have finally smiled on the men’s golf competitions this week with sunny weather greeting those who ventured out.

The rain on Wednesday did make the course a little tougher on Thursday, but it finally seems to be drying out a little.

On Tuesday a good field of 31 turned out to play in a stableford competition with Geoff Brown having a great round scoring 39 points (h/c 9) with Alan Parrott finishing in second place on 35 points (h/c 16) and the ever consistent Rob Healy finishing third with a score of 34 points (h/c 17)

Thursday’s stableford competition had a good turnout with 37 playing.

Maurice Walsh was the winner (again) with a score of 37 points (h/c 10) from Rod Sargent who had a great round with 36 points (h/c 1).

Brendan Egan came third on 35 points (h/c 15), beating Geoff Brown Ian Jones and Rob Fankhauser who all had 35 points.

It was a big week for Browny who not only won on Tuesday, but also had an eagle on the 17th hole and won the eagles nest.

Saturday was a beautiful day with 32 greeting the starters gun in great conditions.

Shaun Wade came out victorious with a score of 37 points (h/c 7) winning from John Koraus on 34 points (h/c 16).

behind with 31 and Sheryl Sargent with 30.

Nearest the Pins were won by Millie Cumming and Glenis Skinner.

Meanwhile, three ladies had headed off to the Sandgreen Championships in Talbot and they did us proud.

Sam Bailey won the A Grade 36 hole Nett trophy and Millie Cumming was runner up in B Grade,

only missing out the major prize on a countback.

Sam and Lesley Anderson each also won nearest the pins. Well done ladies.

In the opposite direction of the state, were three teams of ladies competing in a 4BBB at Shepparton and Susan Kinloch and Jenny Koraus came third with a great score of 44, which easily could have been a winning score on any other day.

NORTH East Bushrangers Basketball (NEBB) is a collaboration between local North East basketball associations with the commitment of “Creating Realistic Pathways for all North East Athletes”

Eleven NEBB junior teams compete in the Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL) - the highest level junior competition in Victoria.

One NEBB Youth League Men’s (YLM) team competes in the semi-professional Big V competition.

Big V & VJBL consist of teams from both metropolitan and regional Victoria.

RESULTS:

PRELIMINARY

(Top Scorers: Ella Mercieca 17, Scarlett Van Schaik 6, Lily Purss 5)

(Top Scorers: Dashiell Smith 17, Connor Breheny 13, Blake Newton 11) PRELIMINARY

(Top Scorers: Brayden Lincoln 8, Lenny Lonergan 5, Harry Pople 4)

(Top Scorers: Sophia Kotzur 7, Amelia Frazer 5, Lily Moffatt 5)

(Top Scorers: Lochie Harvey 23, Coen Ainsworth 17, Benjamin Skalic 8)

Meanwhile six of us off on a jaunt to WA had a fabulous time playing 4 of their top courses around Mandurah and had a lot of laughs.

Now it is time for the NE District Women’s Championships being held in Benalla this week and we hope all that good form will continue for the large contingent of our ladies who are attending.

Watch this space next week.

Ben Millott finished third with 33 points (h/c 2) beating Rod Sargent and Ian Jones on a countback.

A reminder to members that the PGA Scramble will be played on Thursday 14th of September with a shotgun start at 12.30, that will be preceded by a BBQ Lunch.

There are some terrific prizes on offer and members are encouraged to form a team of four and sign up.

TEEING OFF: Sheryl Sargent on the 18th hole.

LADIES GOLF

Last round of winter comp

TENNIS

By RHONDA CARPENTER

BLUE skies and beautiful

balmy weather greeted the players for the last round of winter competition in Mansfield last Monday.

Blue played Black, and Red hosted Seven Creeks for their final match.

In Euroa the top four teams played each other.

Euroa faced Terip in a

bold battle for ladder supremacy sharing the sets in each pairing.

Lyndall Bigland, Sue Vaughan, Ros Doxey and Julie Brook took it right up to Terip winning three sets.

Terip’s Cindy Hayes combined superbly with Rebecca Lyttle in their set to take it 8-1 which made the difference in games.

Terip won 3/38 to 3/35 in their toughest contest to

date.

Seven Creek’s Rowena Ellis and Rosie Cameron began strongly against Red’s Carolyn Murray and Jo O’Brien winning 8-0, but Loretta Armitage and Deb McCormack won theirs against Kerry Hewlett and Triona King in a tiebreaker.

Seven Creeks were solid in the remaining sets and won 5/47 to 1/17 to close out their season.

Fourth placed Benalla faced third placed Moglonemby whose Judy Sands and Marlene Hanrahan defeated Kate Campbell and Bev Gill in high quality set tiebreaker.

Benalla narrowly took the next two sets, and the teams shared the last two.

Benalla’s Claire Sharpe was player of the day and won all her sets.

Benalla won 4/44 to 2/27

and will relish the opportunity to take on the top team in the semifinal.

Mansfield Blue’s Michelle Pigdon, Peta Kelly, Clare Beecham, and Sophie Yencken were all in fine form against Mansfield Black, both teams working hard in lengthy rallies.

Black’s Di Ellis and Jenny Smith took theirs to a tiebreaker, but Blue were convincing in every other set.

The top four teams will again tough it out against each other to see who will play in the Grand Final.

The semi-finals held at Mansfield start at 10:30am and spectators are welcome to watch the action.

Terip will play Benalla and Euroa will meet Moglonemby.

The grand final will be played in Euroa on September 11.

Sun shines on MPS athletics carnival

ATHLETICS

By ASHTON PROSSER and MANNIX PECK, grade six student Mansfield Primary School

ON Friday August 25, the grade three to six students had their athletics carnival which was held at the main oval.

The sun was out, and we had a super fun day as all the students got the chance to compete in different events.

Students had the opportunity to compete in the high jump, 100m and 200m race, hurdles, discus, shot put and ended the day with a house relay and a teachers versus grade six relay. The students who came in the top five from all the events get to go to District Athletics. Well done to all students who challenged themselves and to those who made it through to the next round.

Throughout the event, house points were awarded and at the end of the day, Howitt came 4th, Stirling in 3rd, Buller in 2nd and in first place was Cobbler.

A big thank you to Miss Driessen for putting together the Athletics Carnival, and all the teachers and staff who helped run different events and support students on the day.

FUN DAY: Howitt House came fourth at the athletics carnival.

HELLO YELLOW: Stirling House team were third in the final scores for the day.

GREEN IS GO: Winning house Cobbler team were all smiles.

GO TEAM: Buller House team were strong contenders coning in second one the day.

READY TO RUN: Mille Kamba and Scout Gardner wore their colours proud for Howitt.

Mansfield Black: Jenny Smith, Liza Karras, Rhonda Carpenter, and Di Ellis.

PHOTO: Michelle Pigdon

Mansfield Blue: Clare Beecham, Sophie Yencken, Michelle Pigdon and Peta Kelly.

PHOTO: Rhonda Carpenter

Juniors end season with a bang

By MICHAEL BRETHERTON

AFTER postponing the under 10’s and 12’s grand final due to inclement weather, the games were rescheduled under clear blue skies on Wednesday, August 23.

The under 10’s hit the ground first in a great battle between the Hawks and the Eagles.

For the Hawks, consistent performers all year Hunter Day, Charlie Howie and Cruz Heath all had terrific ends to their seasons leading and contributing all over the ground, while Sam Hunt had his best game for the year in the big dance.

For the Eagles, it was again consistent performers in Roy Mercieca, Angus Spiers, Dom Picone and Billy Briggs who stood out in the grand final bringing their teammates into the game.

Beau Anstee was also a focal point for the Eagles with many clean passages of play and forward attacks.

The under 12’s took to the ground under lights and really put on a show for the big crowd.

For the Eagles, Levi McCoombe racked up possessions all over ground, while Henry Chandler put on a strong aerial display with many strong marks linking up with Cooper Martin who continued his fine form supplying multiple opportunities for the Eagles forwards.

Jay Kynnersley was again prominent at the contested ball, providing plenty of run and carry.

The Blues had a huge night in the last game of the year, playing some very attacking football and putting both opposition sides under immense pressure.

Mac Watson’s attack on the ball was again significant, as was the attack of the half back line from Dean Mercieca.

Hudson George and Levi Stevenson showed plenty of pace of the wings they have owned

all year, while Oscar Pigdon also continued his fine form right through the year.

The Bombers also had a terrific night on the park with a whole of team performance, each and every player doing their job, and in the words of Eagles senior coach Chad Owens, “did the simple things well”.

Jax Heath jumped out of the blocks in the first quarter and was all over the ground gathering many possessions and was joined by Mitch Howe who was a big presence up forward kicking three goals for the night.

Jake Hoskin, Jack Clydesdale and Crosby Bretherton continued their good form with many linkages in play and using the ball well amongst teammates, bringing all into the game.

Lachy Roberts and Ben Bruce showed plenty of dash and attack and Hamish Brown and Riley Sutherland again put in solid games.

The Bombers teamwork was a real positive on the night in what was their best team performance for the year.

On behalf of the Mansfield Junior Football Club, the committee would like to thank all of the coaches and support crew who enable our juniors to play each week.

Without coaches, umpires, first aiders, time keepers, goal umpires and scorers our kids would not be able to enjoy this great game.

It is the community and family spirit of the club that maintains its longevity and ensures a safe, welcoming and fun environment for the kids to develop their skills and prosper both on and off the field.

We thank the supporters and families of all the players, the smiles on the kids’ faces when they turn to you in the crowd after kicking a goal or taking a mark is priceless and what it is all about.

We would also like to thank the senior football club for the support they have shown the juniors this year.

Playing on the ‘big’ ground many times throughout the season has been a real privilege for the kids and Chad Owens and the senior players commitment and dedication to maintaining the link between the senior and junior clubs has been tremendous and will go a long way in ensuring the kids aspire to wearing the blue and gold one day into the future.

A special thanks to the committee for all their hard work behind the scenes, in particular Nick Berry who has been the figurehead of the junior club for many years and a key reason as to why our junior club is so strong and a great place for our kids to be.

We look forward to bigger and better things next year as we continue to watch the kids grow and develop their craft

AWARDS LIST

Under 10’s Demons award winners:

Mansfield Footy Club Best on: Morgan

Kent

Most Improved: Cody Place

Night Series: Parker Darby

Best 1st year: Luis Owens

Bonnie Doon Best on: Will Camilleri

Coaches Award: Noah Heaysman

Under 10’s Eagles Award Winners

Mansfield Footy Club Best on: Billy

Briggs

Night Series: Roy Mercieca

Best 1st year: Zac Klingsporn

Bonnie Doon Best on: Max Strong

Coaches Award: Charlie Howie

Most Improved: Leo Hoffrichter

Under 10 Hawks Award Winners

Most Improved: Angus Spiers

Best 1st year: Koby Gridley

Night Series: Dom Picone

Mansfield Footy Club Best on: Cruz

Heath

Coaches Award: Hunter Day

Bonnie Doon Best on: Cooper

Hoenbergen (Absent)

Under 12 Blues Award Winners

Most Improved: Levi Stevenson

Best 1st year: Nathan Mongelli

Night Series: Oscar Pigdon

Bonnie Doon Best on: Zac Borg

Mansfield Footy Club Best on: Billy

Turner

Coaches Award: Mac Watson

Under 12 Eagles Award Winners

Bonnie Doon Best on: Ashton Prosser

Mansfield Footy Club Best on: Jay

Kynnersley

Night Series: Cooper Martin

Best 1st year: Angus Vasey

Most Improved: Miller McCormick

Coaches Award: Reeve Purday

Under 12 Bombers Award Winners

Coaches Award: Jack Clydesdale

Mansfield Footy Club Best on: Lachlan Roberts

Most Improved: Heath Shevlin

Best 1st year: Crosby Bretherton

Night Series: Jake Hoskin

Bonnie Doon Best on: Ben Bruce

U12 BOMBERS: Jack Clydesdale, Lachlan Roberts, Heath Shevlin, Crosby Bretherton, : Jake Hoskin and Ben Bruce.

U12 EAGLES: Ashton Prosser, Jay Kynnersley, Cooper Martin, Angus Vasey, Miller McCormick and Reeve Purday.

U12 BLUES: Levi Stevenson, Nathan Mongelli, Oscar Pigdon, Zac Borg, Billy Turner and Mac Watson.

U10 HAWKS: Angus Spiers, Koby Gridley, Dom Picone, Cruz Heath, Hunter Day.

U10 EAGLES: Winners Billy Briggs, Roy Mercieca, Zac Klingsporn, Max Strong, Charlie Howie, and Leo Hoffrichter.

U10 DEMONS: Morgan Kent, Cody Place, Parker Darby, Luis Owens, Will Camilleri and Noah Heaysman.

TBR’s Harlem takes top honours at Interschools

By PAM ZIERK-MAHONEY

TEAM Buller Rider, Harlem

Pec, has excelled at the recent Mogul Interschools competitions taking out first places in each event for skiing and snowboarding in the Division 5 boys sections and could go on to be Buller’s next Olympian.

Posted on Instagram following the event Harlem said: “What an amazing few days of interschools…didn’t think I would take out 1st place in each event for

out 1st in each event for skiing and snowboarding for 2023

DIV 5 boys

“Along with taking out 1st place as a team in both DIV 5 snowboarding events with my mates @jjfangaz Lenny & River. @bellbraeprimaryschool

“I was especially proud of getting the Mt Buller Cup, Outstanding Achievement in Snow Sports!”

Harlem congratulated all compe p titors who took part this year “ “With Nationals called off for

2023 …I’m making the most of what we have left this season,”

Harlem said.

Harlem attends Bellbrae Primary School.

Team manager of TBR Andrew

Pattison said last week “Once I realised what he (Harlem) had achieved, I made sure I passed it on to all the Winter Olympians I have worked with over the past 20 years working at the Olympic Winter Institute.

“The standout TBR athlete was Harlem Pec, who won every-

thing,” Andrew said

y

“The records aren’t great, but I believe this has n never been done in the history of the event.

“Ski Cross and Snowboard Cross must have come in around 20 years ago thinking off the top of my head.

“Harlem recorded - 1st Alpine GS; 1st Ski Cross; 1st Mogul Skiing; 1st Snowboard Cross; and 1st Snowboard GS “ This is incredible when you consider he was on a snowboard

only five days this season for fun against kids who do the sport full time year round.”

The Interschool Snowsport Championships provide an opportunity for Australian school students of all ages to experience snowsport and to participate at either a recreational or competitive level.

From Interschools, many students have gone on to professional instructing, coaching, and competing in higher-level competitions, including World Cups and

CHAMPION: Harlem Pec proudly displays the Buller Cup which was presented to him as overall champion winning his events in Division 5 boyss, , both skiing and snowboardi d ng.

the Olympics.

More than 80 Australian Olympians and Paralympians have begun their competition days in the Interschools Snowsport Championships.

Overall results were:

1: Melbourne Grammar School –Grimwade 193pts;

2: Mansfield/Mt Buller PS 122;

3: Geelong Grammar School –Junior 78.

Overall Primary School girls schools: Melbourne Girls Grammar School 111; St Catherine’s

School 81; Haileybury Girls College 55.

Overall Primary School Boys: Scotch College Junior School 148; Brighton Grammar School 25; Haileybury College 22.

Secondary Co-ed schools (team results): Geelong Grammar School (senior) 218; Caulfield Grammar School 100; Wesley College 96.

Secondary girls school: Melbourne Girls Grammar 198; St Catherine’s School 154; MLC 140.

ALL DONE: Friends Laura Bryne (Toorak College) and Holly Rice (Lauriston) caught up after finishing their Giant Slalom run and returning to their home base.

World Cups and ,gp mar School 111; St Catherines ; school team yy results: Melbourne Grammar School 224; Scotch College 200; Brighton Grammar School 84.

Secondary boys school team

and Isla Burrell were thankful their runs went well.

Alpine Grand Slalom event.

PHOTOS: Tony Harrington

TEAM EFFORT: Bellbrae Primary School’s Division 5 boys took out the championship cup for teams which included overall champion Harlem Pec (centre), with team mates Lenny Perry, Max Murray and River Isaac.

OUR CHAMP: Harlem Pec was the outstanding skier and snowboarder with his swag of medals and championship cups.

ABOVE THE RUN: Hunter Ward took a lot of ‘air’ during his event at the Interschools.

TOP SCORE: Team Buller Rider, Harlem Pec, lands safely during his moguls event –taking out first place.

PHOTO: Pam Zierk-Mahoney

ROUND THE GATE: Eric Wang of Scotch College takes a fine turn around the gate during the Moguls event.

PHOTO: Pam Zierk-Mahoney

“Foggy mornings and jarred fingers” –Bonnie Doon makes finals seven times

O&KFNL

By SAMUEL O’BRIEN

THIS season has been a bumper one for the Bonnie Doon Bombers, who have managed to take all seven of their teams to the final rounds of the Ovens and King Football and Netball League (O&KFNL).

The senior football side has had a stellar year, finishing on top of the ladder in a tight competition, with the likes of Greta and Bright putting up serious challenges.

The reserves football side has had a variety of highs and lows this season, finishing third on the final tally – equal with the Benalla All Blacks.

The A grade netball side finished in fourth in an intense competition, finishing with the same number of wins as Tarrawingee (14).

The B grade team did slightly better, making it to third overall on the ladder but will have to fight undefeated Milawa for the championship.

B reserve, the under 17s and under 15s sides finished on top this season, only losing once in a tight competition.

Club president Luke Jenkins was proud of the improvement from last year’s incredibly successful run.

“Coming off the back of the 2022 season where five teams made the grand final, we were driven very hard for 2023 to try our hardest to push for another successful year,” he said.

“The interest and numbers during pre-season were the best we have had for many years and all players and coaches were determined to put in a competitive season.

“It is great for all seven teams to make finals, coming from where we were five years ago; only having one football team and just staying afloat.

“It is very rare for a club to have all seven teams make finals and to be a part of that as the first time in our history to do so is a fantastic feeling.

“It is a credit to all BDFNC coaching staff across all grades for working hard the last few years with recruiting and training to get where we are now.”

This dedication was reflected in last month’s Ovens and King presentations, where Bonnie Doon represented heavily.

Netball Head Coach Michelle Tanner said the work the club had put in was paying off

“Although we are five teams we are a whole unit with our systems and processes used across all grades and as the coaching group all work together with all players

we all have the same goal,” she said.

“We have fantastic team unity and that itself is one of the hardest things to achieve.

“Instead of coaching a team of individuals the girls play for each other, they each know their role in the team and all want what’s best for the team and the Bonnie Doon Netball Club.

“It means everything to have all teams playing finals; it is what everyone that has played/coached has built towards.

“It has come from hard work and determination and lots of conver-

sations, cold rainy nights, foggy mornings and jarred fingers.”

The A grade netball side making finals has been a long time in the making.

“We have never seen A grade make finals; last year they missed out by percentage only,” Ms Tanner said.

“This year they are the strongest they have ever been; they have earnt this.

“Every team and player has earnt the opportunity to finish the 2023 season with a trophy in hand so hopefully we can do that and make our community proud.”

NETBALL SCORESSCOREBOARD RESERVES RESULTS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

A GRADE:

Greta 48 def Milawa 42

B GRADE:

Milawa 54 def Benalla All Blacks 51

B RESERVE:

Bonnie Doon 55 def Milawa 33

C GRADE:

Bonnie Doon 44 def Bright 30

UNDER 15s:

Bonnie Doon 29 def Greta 28

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

A GRADE:

Tarrawingeee 61 def Bonnie Doon 54

B GRADE:

Bonnie Doon 51 def King Valley 38

B RESERVE:

Benalla All Blacks def Bruight 36

C GRADE:

Greta 44 def Benalla All Blacks 42

UNDER 15s:

Whorouly 24 def Benalla All Blacks 23

FINALS

PRELIMINARY FINAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

GRAND

FINAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

SEMI FINAL 1

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 @ TARRAWINGEE RECREATION RESERVE

BONNIE DOON 3.1 5.5 9.7 10.11.71

GRETA 2.0 4.2 7.2 10.6.66

GOALS: BONNIE DOON: Al Bennett 2, Will Foster 2, Luke Murray 2, Campbell Smedley 2, Matthew Hedin 1, James Law 1. GRETA: Frazer Judd 4, Daniel Cassidy 2, Tyler Arrowsmith 1, Joshua Bell 1, James McClounan 1, Ned Rohrt 1. BEST: BONNIE DOON: Connor Heaslip, Jayjay Curtin, Campbell Smedley, Joel Sanford, Earl Ree-Goodings, Matthew Hedin. GRETA: Mark Wettern, James McClounan, Lachie Kennett, Paul Fruzynski, Bryce Ralph, Bradley Whinray.

SEMI FINAL SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 @ NORTH WANGARATTA SPORTS RESERVE

Goals and best players unavailable at

Bright

12.9.81 def Greta 8.6.54

BEST: BRIGHT: Paul Harrison, Nick Howell, Myles Jamieson, Thomas Mullane-Grant, Thomas Gray, Brodie Brain. GRETA: Joshua Cleeland, Osbert Ramage, Corie Hooper, Damiun Cassidy, Campbell McClounan, Luke Arrowsmith. Bonnie Doon

5.3.33 def by Benalla All Blacks 9.15.69

BEST: BONNIE DOON: Jackson Sole, Trent Smith, Julian Mahon, Ben Hedin, Andrew hill, Luke Jenkins. BENALLA ALL BLACKS: Michael Kelly, Ian Holohan, Thomas Grimes, John Hughes, Eoin Fitzgerald, Thomas Whitty.

time of print.

EXEMPLAR: Charlotte Atherton (pictured) won the under 17 Best and Fairest award.

REPRESENTING THE CLUB: Christina Blunt (pictured) won the B grade Best and Fairest award.

ON GOAL: Cobie McCormack (pictured) won the under 17s Goal Shooting award.

SHINING BRIGHT: (From left) Michelle and Mia Tanner celebraing their wins at the O&KFNL awards night. Michelle won the Goal Shooting award and was equal runner-up MVP. Mia was awarded A grade Best and Fairerst and Rising Star.

MATCH REVIEWS

Bombers’ finals success

O&KFNL NETBALL

ALL three teams who played Saturday will progress straight through to the grand final after some hard fought and heart stopping netball with the B grade side off to play against Benalla next week.

UNDER 15S

Bonnie Doon 29 def Greta 28

THE baby bomberettes won by a single goal for our first game of the day after a see-sawing goal for goal contest against Greta. The team of youngsters held their nerve and continued to play their brand of netball with some stand out performances from Bella Neale, Amy Cash and Gemma Revell.

Although Greta led at the

last break, Doon was able to score off a few crucial intercepts and bring home the win.

UNDER 17S

Bonnie Doon 44 def Bright 30

IN probably the most physical game of the day the 17’s Doon team knew Bright would be tough competition having defeated the Bombers in their last match up but Bonnie Doon came out firing leading at half time by 10.

The hits came hard and fast from the girls from Bright, however Doon played a clean team game and stuck to what worked for them and managed to capitalise on the numerous from league best and fairest Charlotte.

Charlotte along with

Demi Murray and Cobie McCormack were amongst Doon’s best on Saturday however it was the small one per cent’s from the entire team that held off Bright’s late run and took the game 44-30.

B RESERVE

Bonnie Doon 55 def Milawa 33

B RESERVE booked a spot in the grand final for the second year running after a slow start they smashed Milawa by a 22 goal margin. The ball was hard to get as Milawa continued to play an aggressive style of netball however each player dominated their role and out played the demons to get the win.

Chrissy Blunt was outstanding piling on 41 games for the game and was

unstoppable under the post.

Amy Clapham and Cass Turner rounded out Doon’s best for the day and were a constant thorn in the side of Milawa’s attackers with their relentless defence.

B GRADE

Bonnie Doon 51 def King Valley 38

FOR our first appearance on Sunday B grade once again got a strong start leading at the first break by seven.

This held them in good stead for the next quarter as King Valley came in and capitalised on our mistakes and closed the margin to just five.

After a few changes it was all Doon in the second half with Tara Murray earning

herself best on for the day as she had the attack end all to herself.

Cass Mack took some crucial intercepts on the outside of the ring and forced the Valley to make some changes that worked in our favour and the girls stormed home by thirteen goals.

Rounding out our best on court was Jess Armstrong who the opposition mistakenly underestimated she was the link Doon needed to score and progress through to meet Benalla next week.

A GRADE

Bonnie Doon 54 def by Tarra 61

HEARTBREAKINGLY A grade’s finals campaign has come to an end after losing to Tarra in overtime.

The game was tightly contested all day with a draw at the first break.

Tarra led at the main break by one however Doon took the lead in the third setting up a fantastic battle in the last.

Although Doon had a handy five goal lead through the final quarter it was Tarra’s final experience that upset the flow and as the game progressed into overtime unfortunately the Bombers couldn’t hold on.

The whole club is incredibly proud of what this team has accomplished being the first A grade team to make finals and to progress as far as what they did is a testament to what an amazing bunch of players they are.

Best for Doon on Sunday were Shannon Cameron, Mia Tanner and Portia Keatch.

Bombers through to O&K Grand Final

■ From back page

Coach Ken was impressed by the game, having not seen the two sides clash earlier in the year.

“I was away when we last played them but the team hasn’t changed significantly from last year in personnel,” he said.

“I was aware of who they had and I felt confident that we would be able to match up with them.

“As it turned out it was quite a tight contest.

“To our boys’ credit, they worked really hard and found a way to win.”

There were injuries aplen-

ty throughout the game, with Patrick Smith’s knee injury from the final quarter still in question.

“It is really unfortunate for him to go down late in the game which puts his chances for playing finals heavily in jeopardy,” said Coach Ken.

Teamwork was essential to the win and Coach Ken was happy with how all the players performed.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of individual brilliance anywhere in particular,” he said.

“It was just a really tough and contested game which

is what you expect in finals footy.

“There was lots of big little moments that set the tone for the game and they came from both sides.”

The reserves side were not quite as lucky facing off against Benalla in North Wangaratta.

The team started off strong, developing a healthy lead in the first half.

Unfortunately Benalla got the better of the Bombers in the second half, not allowing Doon to score many points while roaring ahead.

Bonnie Doon 5.3 (33) were defeated by Benalla 9.15 (69)

and will not be progressing in the finals any further.

After a week’s break, the Bonnie Doon seniors will be playing in the Grand Final on September 16 against the winner of the game between Greta and Bright.

Coach Ken said he is ready for a clash against either side.

“You’ve got three or four sides that are all really closely matched and there is no real absolute stand-out side,” he said.

“We consider ourselves a very good chance but a lot has to go right to win a Grand Final.”

Greta coach Greg Newbold said his team was eager to take another crack at the Bombers if they meet in the decider.

“I’ve got no problems with us rebounding back,” he said.

“We’ll be strong next week, we’ll just go about playing another game of footy, do what we’ve got to do.

“Our guys are terrifically brave, they fought hard all day – we’d lost our entire bench by half-time, two ankles and a hamstring.

“It was really disappointing to lose, but it was an in-

credibly brave and resilient performance by our blokes, they did really well.”

Bonnie Doon is excited and ready to bring their best to the Grand Final.

“Anytime you find your way into the last game of the season, it’s a significant achieving just to make it,” said Coach Ken.

“The team is very aware how hard the Grand Final is to win after last year’s loss.

“They are very hungry and very keen to go one step further this year.

“We’ll try and keep training as normal as we can these next two weeks.”

MATCH WINNER: The Bombers converge on Luke Murray after he scored the winning goal

WORKHORSE: Guy Murray charges through traffic.

PHOTOS: Bailey Zimmermann

ON YOUR TAIL: Ned Rohrt puts the ball on his boot before Earl Ree-Goodings can bring him down.

MATCH REVIEWS

MAKING HISTORY: The u15s side the first junior team from Mansfield to make finals in GVL.

Under 15s through to next round

GVFNL NETBALL

By LEONIE BERRY

Mansfield

39

def Kyabram 24

Best on Court – Jaspa

Robinson

Coaches Awards – Sienna

Kynnersley and Esher Berry

WITH spring upon us and the u15 team making history by being the first junior team to make finals in GVL, there was lots of excitement and nervous energy in the air.

The team travelled to Benalla to face off against fourth-placed Kyabram.

Coach Berry took the opportunity to chat to the team prior to warm up, letting them know they had done

the preparation and all the hard work throughout the season so the only thing left to do was to enjoy the moment, have fun and trust that everything will come together.

With the crowd building and plenty of spectators in blue and yellow ready to cheer this amazing team on, the girls took some deep breaths and made their way out onto court.

At the sound of the first whistle you could tell the Eagles meant business, focused and ready to continue their finals journey beyond week one.

Jaspa Robinson and Leah Storer were formidable in defence and no matter what Kyabram threw at them this duo had an answer for it the whole game.

Mansfield Football Netball Club are seeking expressions of interest for Netball Coaches for season 2024.

Teams: A Grade, B Grade, B Reserve, 17 & Under, 15 & Under.

Training Tuesdays & Thursday & Saturday Games.

Minimum Foundation Coaching level through VNA required.

Applications close Friday 6th October ‘23.

Intercept after intercept kept coming in our defence end and was credited to the two workhorses out front Jacoba Tanner and Ava Mahoney.

Their hands over, first ball pressure and ability to delay/dictate the movements of their opponents forced many Kyabram errors.

In attack Annie Thomson and Sienna Kynnersley were combing beautifully in the ring and were slotting goals left right and centre.

The confidence these two showed in not only themselves but each other was outstanding, leaving the Kyabram defenders to question what they should do next to try and stop them.

When Kyabram were given the rare opportunity of sending the ball back to

their attack end Mansfield had other ideas.

The transition of our attackers into defence was amazing and allowed Eagles to regain possession of the ball time and time again.

Esher Berry at WA was quick to capitalise on these positive gains with her strong drives onto circle edge and patient passes into the goalers.

With some extra close attention from her opponent she worked tirelessly to get in front and demanded the ball when free.

At half time the team had their nose in front but knew they had to step it up even more in the third quarter and this is exactly what they did.

Dominating all over the court the team played precision netball with perfect

passes, great timing of leads and balance of the court.

Kyabram tried everything to stop our momentum but our lead just kept increasing to allow us to go into the final term with a 10 goal lead.

Even though we could start to smell victory we were conscious that Kyabram were not going to give up easily and would do whatever they could to turn the game around.

With some more deep breaths and the supporters cheering louder and louder each quarter the team drew on all their determination and passion for MFNC in last 15 minutes to extend their lead and finished the game strongly with an extraordinary win.

We couldn’t have got this win without the support

of our interchange players Kiara Brackman, Maddie Clarke, Emma Snell and Harper Smith.

Their words of encouragement and cheering to lift the seven players on court and high fives was outstanding.

To have such talent ready at the drop of a hat to take the court is what gets teams to finals.

Next Sunday we take on the Shepparton Bears at Tatura and welcome back to the team Eva Clydesdale and Emma Edwards.

Big thank you to our team officials Bianna Kelly, Jen Clydesdale, Bec Adams and Alicia Langlands and of course all our supporters. We hope to see you courtside cheering us on in Tatura.

LEAN: GD Jaspa Robinson holding beautifully over Kyabram’s GA.

PASS: GS Annie Thomson receiving a pass in the goal circle from C Jacoba Tanner.

DEFENSIVE TEAM: Jaspa Robison (right) moves in for an intercept as Leah Storer (left) holds strong on Kyabram’s GS.

Mansfield’s three footy teams say farewell to finals

■ From back page Eagles seniors coach Chad Owens praised his team’s herculean efforts describing it as “the best game of footy I’ve seen in my three years here”.

“I was super proud of the guys, they did nothing wrong and executed the exact game plan we described,” he said.

“Kyabram took a few chances and we let them off the leash a little bit, but overall we didn’t have a player who didn’t perform their role brilliantly.

“Unfortunately sometimes in sport you don’t get the result you deserve, but it was a seriously good game of footy.”

Coach Owens criticised some questionable tackles from their opposition.

“Thomas Holman tunneled Dirk Koenen which was seriously dangerous,” he said.

“There was some questionable umpiring at times

and cases where there should have been some free kicks.

“But overall Kyabram were the better team and they march on to the finals.”

Coach Owens commended the teams’ younger players and forecasted a strong 2024 season.

“We’ve got a decent amount of players who are all under 20, so there’s plenty of developing talent,” he said.

Coach Owens extended his sincere thanks to the Mansfield Football and Netball Club and the wider community for their support over the past three years.

He is stepping down as coach and will move to the Gold Coast with his family.

“We have just loved our time in Mansfield and really want to thank everyone who welcomed us,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ve left the club in a better place.”

NETBALL RESULTS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

Elimination Final

A Grade: Echuca 60 def Shepparton 44; Tatura 57 def Seymour 30.

B Grade: Rochester 42 def Mooroopna 38; Seymour 50 def Shepp Swans 45.

B Reserve: Mooroopna 50 def Rochester 32;

Shepp Swans 50 def Kyabram 36.

17 & Under: Kyabram 49 def Echuca 35;

Shepp Swans 50 def Shepp Utd 36.

15 & Under: Kyabram 24 def by Mansfield 39; Mooroopna 43 def Shepp Swans 14.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

Qualifying Final

A Grade: Euroa 38 def by Mooroopna 44

B Grade: Echuca 46 def Shepparton 38

B Reserve: Echuca 47 def Seymour 41

17 & Under: Mooroopna 35 def by Shepparton 43

15 & Under: Shepparton 35 def by Echuca 57

The Eagles seniors premiership dreams now lie on the shoulders of 2024 coach, Jack Hutchins.

Hailing from Mansfield, Jack played for the Eagles juniors before being recruited by

FINALS

Second Semi Finals Saturday, September 9

– Memorial Oval

A Grade 2:15pm Echuca v Mooroopna

B

1:00pm Echuca v Seymour

B Res 11:45am Echuca v Shepp Swans

17 & U 10:30am Shepp v Shepp Swans

15 & U 9:15am Echuca v Mooroopna

FOOTBALL

Under 18 9:30am Echuca v Shepp Swans

Reserves 12:00pm Seymour v Shepp Utd

Seniors 2:30pm Echuca v Kyabram

First Semi Finals Sunday, September 10 Tatura Park

NETBALL

A Grade 2:15pm Euroa v Tatura

B Grade 1:00pm Shepparton v Rochester

B Res 11:45am Seymour v Mooroopna

17 & U 10:30am Mooroopna v Kyabram

15 & U 9:15am Shepparton v Mansfield

FOOTBALL

Under 18 9:30am Shepparton v Kyabram

Reserves 12:00pm Euroa v Kyabram

Seniors 2:30pm Seymour v Euroa

Gold Coast Football Club. He debuted with the Gold Coast Suns in 2011 and later captained the Casey Scorpions in the VFL.

Jack recently returned to Mansfield and has been

a key player for the Eagles seniors.

Coach Owens has full faith in his successor.

The Eagles reserves also suffered a crushing elimination defeat to Shepparton United at Mooroopna last Saturday

The dominant Demons came out firing, launching three goals and stunting Mansfield’s weary defence.

Follow-up goals from powerhouse Robbie Mifka pushed Shepparton United’s margin out further in the second, while the Eagles’ midfield continued to struggle.

Mansfield’s pressure picked up in the third, with brilliant marks from Jack Christopher.

But the Demons took Mansfield’s brief comeback in their stride, slotting another five goals in the third quarter.

Their onslaught continued in the fourth, with a

SENIOR FOOTBALL RESULTS

ECHUCA 1.6 4.9 10.11 13.17.95

SEYMOUR 3.2 4.2 9.3 10.3.63

further six goals, reducing Mansfield to a measly three points.

Final scores saw the Demons win 17.12 (114) to Mansfield’s 5.7 (37).

Mansfield’s misfortune also spread to the U18s, with a brutal 25-point loss to Shepparton.

The Eagles started strong and matched the Swans goal for goal in the first 15 minutes.

Mansfield’s Captain Max Mahoney delivered his usual brilliance with two goals and some terrific contests.

Anyone could have been forgiven for presuming the match belonged to Mansfield by three quarter time.

A stunning upset proved otherwise.

Shepparton roared back in the final quarter, slotting four goals and overwhelming a bewildered Mansfield.

Final scores saw the Eagles lose 6.7 (43) to the Swans 10.8 (68).

RESERVES RESULTS

GOALS: ECHUCA Angus Byrne 4, Samuel Reid 2, Liam Tenace 2, Corbin Anderson 1, Joe Guiney 1, Mitchell Kemp 1, Jack Mchale 1, Jackson Stewart 1. SEYMOUR: No goal scorers have been added.

BEST: ECHUCA: No best players have been selected. SEYMOUR: No best players have been selected.

KYABRAM

MANSFIELD

GOALS: KYABRAM: Kyle Mueller 3, Rhys Clark 2, Anthony DePasquale 2, Will Golds 2, Thomas Holman 2, Thomas Burnett 1, Kaine Herbert 1, Bradley Mangan 1.  MANSFIELD: Ben Christopher 3, Cameron Arnold 2, Nathan Buchanan 2, Ari Croxford-Demasi 1, Dylan Lowry 1, Brett Mahoney 1, Lachlan Murphy-Dale 1, Sam Thomson 1.

BEST: KYABRAM: No best players have been selected. MANSFIELD: No best players have been selected.

RESULTS

GOALS: EUROA: Jett Trotter 4, Nathan Stewart 3, Lachlan Hill 2, Tristan Davies 1, Jacob Gleeson 1, Jd Hayes 1, Ryan Hill 1, Matthew Ivill 1. MOOROOPNA: Jackson Trengove 4, Campbell McElhinney 2, Ben Hicks 1, Daniel Johnston 1, Jed Woods 1.

BEST: EUROA: Jd Hayes, Will Hayes, Nathan Stewart, Jett Trotter, Andrew Bell. MOOROOPNA: Isaac Dowling, Bryce Rutherford, Jackson Trengove, Kai Madgwick, Dom Gugliotti.

EFFORTLESS: Ben Les had a brilliant game for the Eagles.

Bombers through to Grand Final

the Ovens & King Grand Final

O&KFNL FOOTBALL

THE air is buzzing in Bonnie Doon.

Over the weekend, the seniors football side won their game against rivals Greta 10.11 (71) to 10.6 (66), catapulting the team into the Grand Final in two weeks’ time.

The match was a tight one, with the Bombers and the Blues not able to build a solid lead against each other at any point during the game.

Bonnie Doon started with their signature start but Greta resisted, not allowing the Bombers to build a strong lead the way they normally do.

The majority of the game remained close, with both sides scoring roughly equal points each quarter.

Bonnie Doon remained ahead however, inching their lead further and further from Greta.

It was the final quarter that was their undoing, tightening the game and leading to a thrilling down-tothe wire finish.

Bonnie Doon Coach Ken Murray noted his side let things go a little bit for about ten minutes,

BY SAMUEL O’BRIEN sobrien@ nemedia.com.au

which gave Greta the window of opportunity.

“I thought we had the better of them for the most of the day but there was a little bit of a lapse and we let them right back in,” he said.

“They hit the front and looked like they could have gone on with it.”

The few unanswered goals gave Greta the lead, but a defensive error from the Blues’ side allowed Luke Murray to snag the winning goal from the pocket.

As the final siren sounded, Bonnie Doon 10.11 (71) had bested Greta 10.6 (66) for the first time this year.

Best: Connor Heaslip, Jayjay Curtin, Campbell Smedley, Joel Sanford, Earl Ree-Goodings, Matthew Hedin. Goals: Al Bennett 2, Will Foster 2, Luke Murray 2, Campbell Smedley 2, Matthew Hedin, James Law.

■ Continued page 37

Mansfield’s three footy teams say farewell to finals

By HANNAH KENNELLY

THE Mansfield Eagles seniors’ season has finished, courtesy of a 16-point loss to Kyabram Bombers over the weekend.

The elimination final at Mooroopna Recreation reserve was a brilliant display of sheer grit, four-quarter pressure and all-around great footy.

The Bombers showed their third-place ranking finesse from the very start, dominating the

first 25 minutes with multiples stoppages and contests.

Mansfield refused to flinch and tightened their defence to trail just 11-points behind at the end of the first quarter.

The always dependable Cam

Arnold came to life in the second, moving effortlessly through the wing and slotting a much needed goal for the Eagles.

His efforts were matched by Kyabram’s Will Golds who breezed past Mansfield’s de-

fence to even the scoreboard.

A brilliant third quarter effort from Ben Christopher launched the Eagles in front by a slim margin, much to the delight of the roaring crowd.

But Kyabram increased their intensity and two last-minute goals from Thomas Holman and Kyle Muller sealed their victory.

Final scores saw the Eagles lose 12.11 (83) to Kyabram ‘s 14.15 (99).

■ Continued page 39

UP TOP: Jack Christopher delivered non-stop pressure for the Eagles reserves.

PHOTO: Paul Martin