Upper Yarra
7 Tuesday, 6 June, 2017
Men’s Health week
5
Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire
Helmeted Honeyeaters thriving
A Mail News Group publication
24-25
Best in local sport
Phone: 5957 3700 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808
Icon in ruins
HOUSE FIRES
Get Yours Serviced Now ARC 36010
PIC 41936
Ph: 5966 9999
& Ga den
FOR ALL YOUR GARDEN & LANDSCAPING NEEDS -SAND-SOIL-MULCH-ROCKS-SLEEPERS-PAVERSPIPES-GATES-CEMENT-POTTING MIX, ETC. DELIVERY ALL AREAS
Warburton Highway, Wesburn 3799
5967 1367
The friendly team at Valley Dental would like to offer a winter special of $160 for check up clean and x-rays.
Your Local Dentist in Wandin.
We also accept Medicare CDBS scheme for eligible children 2-17 at no out of pocket costs.
Picture: KATH GANNAWAY
New Look Made
By Wattyl New Look Ceiling White Kid tough, resists mould & mildew is also low VOC 4Lt $55 & Low Odour 4Lt $45 Low Sheen
Computer Colour Matching OPEN: MON-FRI 6.30am-5.00pm•SAT 8.00am-12.00noon
9737 6833
24d John St., LILYDALE
We also have a gentle bleaching option for people with sensitive teeth and gums. A take home pack for just $200 With custom made bleach trays.
Ebony Waterson from Mount Evelyn had to look no further for inspiration than a cute little cousin named Ollie when it came to a name for the larger-than-life owl at the Upper Yarra Museum. Ollie the Owl just had a certain ring to it. Ebony said her twoyear-old cousin, Ollie, is both cute and smart, so it seemed a natural fit. It was a popular choice too with another nomination for ‘Ollie’ coming from Nina, a pre-schooler at All Saints Pre-School in Yarra Junction. The competition to name the owl which was carved by chainsaw sculptor Robbie Bast, was part of the annual Crank Up festival at the museum in April. Ollie now imparts his silent wisdom at the top of the access ramp at the museum, and with a plaque to go on the sculpture very soon, everyone will know his name.
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Ollie Owl and Ebony. 169198.
YARRA VALLEY
GAS HEAT & COOL
Faulty Heaters
By Kath Gannaway
Phone 5967 2001 2874 Warburton Hwy Wesburn Please call for appointment
5964 2129 6B/2UnionRd,WandinNth•1stFlaboveVicStrawberryAssoc
12353966-PB23-17
YARRA RANGES
Ollie the Owl all the way
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An iconic Warburton building is descending into ruin at the hands of vandals, and on account of a lack of maintenance and the inability of government bodies to resolve its future. The Cerini Centre was handed back to the Education Department in 2015 when the community-driven committee of management was no longer able to maintain it, and bids to have the building transferred to community ownership stalled. Warburton resident Ivor Wolstencroft believes the centre has the potential to be a great community resource, but said with three interested parties involved in its ownership, it was complicated. “I belong to the Warburton Makers Group - a group that would love to use such a site,” Mr Wolstencroft told the Mail last week. He said there were other community groups who might be interested in using the building as well as the potential for the site to be used as professional rooms. The centre is in Park Road, adjacent to Warburton Primary School, and Mr Wolstencroft said the road way into the centre was used by school children to access the school and by dog walkers and local residents at other times. He said the building was now unsecured with recent vandalism highlighting the urgent need for action. The lack of power to the building, the absence of a security alarm and the lack of regular maintenance all contribute to the deterioration of the building. “It is sad to see such a building with strong local links decline,” Mr Wolstencroft said. The only real outcome of the 2015 call for action was unanimous agreement that the issue was indeed ‘complicated’. The Education Department, the Roman Catholic Trusts Corporation and Yarra Ranges Council all have an interest
in the land on which the centre sits, or abutting it. The circular building has a unique history. It was built by Father Charles Cerini in 1952 to provide a Catholic school for Upper Yarra students. It closed in 1992 when the new St Joseph’s school was built in Yarra Junction and was home to VCAL and Step Ahead programs run by Upper Yarra Community House for eight years leading up to its 2015 closure. While the Mail has not received a response from the Education Department in relation to inquiries made last week as to the current situation, a spokesperson told the Mail in 2015 that significant works would be required to bring the building up to a reasonable standard. He said that the cost of transferring the land on which the building stood would be substantial and that if it were no longer required for educational purposes, it must be sold. Yarra Ranges Council said at the time that it owned only less than 25 per cent of the land but was unable to comment on its future or local historical significance. The Catholic Archdiocese’s role revolves around an unsealed road that is registered as a public road and is owned by the local parish. Manager for Property Services, Dermot Cannon, said last week that the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne remained committed to assisting in determining a resolution that provided a net community benefit. “The building is only partly built on land owned by the Church, of which is a private road and hence our interest in that respect is more around regularising this matter,” Mr Cannon said. “We have attempted in the past to rectify this situation with council, and also the Department of Education’s consideration to the excision of land surrounding the centre, and would be willing to participate in any future dialogue in this regard,” he said.
1191831-HM30-15
By Kath Gannaway