Mail - Mountain Views Star Mail - 15th June 2021

Mountain Views

Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

Mail

Yarra Valley’s reclassification plea

Storm lashes the Valley

OAM honour for former MP

Wheeling her way to success

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PAGES 6-7

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‘Russian roulette’

By Jed Lanyon A Yarra Junction man says he’s “extremely lucky” to be alive after a falling gum tree smashed into his car along the Warburton Highway during the storms of Wednesday 9 June.

Seamus McKenzie, was on his way home from work in Montrose. Mr McKenzie, a healthcare worker, was cautious of the extreme weather event that was unfolding and called his wife, Narelle, and questioned how he should get home.

“We were all wishing each other a safe trip home. I normally go Clegg Road past Mt Evelyn, but we were worried about trees falling there,” he said. “I decided at the last minute to go through the Warburton Highway, thinking it’d be the safer route and the only other option going to Yarra Junction.”

Unfortunately for Mr McKenzie, the “safer route” proved just as dangerous as a tree crushed his jeep near the Lilydale Pine Hill Caravan Park about 10.30pm.

“You were playing Russian roulette with whatever road you took on that night,” he said.

Thankfully for Mr Mckenzie, an ambulance had been travelling behind him and attended the scene of the accident, where he suffered whiplash. Speaking to Star Mail five days after the incident, he said he is still suffering from pains to the left side of his body, throbbing

headaches and psychological trauma from the accident. Making matters worse, Mr McKenzie’s wife was still on the speaker phone to him at the time of the tree falling, leaving her to wonder what had happened to her husband.

“She panicked and went into a complete meltdown,” Mr Mckenzie said.

“The ambulance driver said if I had been going 4km/h faster, I’d have been under the tree. The roof rack on top of my Jeep definitely saved my life.

“It’s pitch black, you’re watching the road and suddenly, bang, you don’t have time to react. It’s instantaneous… If I had been killed I would have no idea what had happened.”

Despite still recovering from his injuries, Mr McKenzie’s attention now turns to trying to make an insurance claim from the incident as his provider refuses to compensate him.

“I was a bit surprised they turned around to me and said I’m not covered. It should be in every insurance policy… It’s completely out of my pocket. We were going to get the bathroom re-done, now it’s all gone.”

Mr McKenzie hopes the relevant authorities move to make Yarra Valley roads safer following his incident.

“You think it should be safe out there, but it’s not. We’re in the 21st century, it shouldn’t be happening.”

More on the storms on pages 4, 6 and 7

The remains of Seamus McKenzie’s Jeep.

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Best winery in Australia

By Jed Lanyon Yarra Yering has been awarded Australia’s Best Winery by The Real Review and wine critic Huon Hooke.

The Gruyere winery topped the list of 52 of Australia’s best wineries, while several Yarra Valley wineries were chosen amongst over 1000 entries.

Yarra Yering winemaker and general manager Sarah Crowe said the recognition came as a “very pleasant surprise.”

“I was actually tasting wine at the time; I was a little bit distracted and almost didn’t take the call, so I was pretty happy when I did and couldn’t wait to tell everybody here at work,” Ms Crowe said.

Yarra Yering’s 2018 Carrodus shiraz scored the maximum 99 points, closely followed by their 2018 Dry Red No. 11 and several other wines Mr Huon described as “impressive”.

Ms Crowe said the announcement came with “lots of smiles” at Yarra Yering, who like many Victorian wineries, have been suffering from having their cellar doors closed during lockdown. She said the announcement saw a nice boost in online sales, but the win came as a “morale booster” for the winery in a difficult time.

“You can tell when people are happy, they have a spring in their step and they walk lightly. It was nice to see that, particularly when being in lockdown, so it’s nice to have some good news to lift everyone’s spirits,” she said.

“For me, I guess it’s nice to see that across all the wineries who submitted wines, that we’ve ranked the best at number one. It makes all the hard work and that internal turmoil you have about whether or not blends are right or how they are looking.

“For Yarra Yering, it’s nice to have a third party endorsement where all we do is send our wines in to be reviewed, so there’s no bias in-

Sarah Crowe, winemaker and general manager of Yarra Yering. volved at all. It gives people faith in our wines and the faith that they can purchase them and are going to be happy.”

Eight Yarra Valley wineries featured on the list of 52 with Tarrawarra Estate earning 19th place, followed closely by De Bortoli at

21 and Yering Station at 22. Oakridge listed at number 28, while Yeringberg, Giant Steps and Levantine Hill featured at 33, 41 and 45 respectively.

Ms Crowe said she was happy to see the Yarra Valley well represented among the list

of Australia’s best wineries.

“For me, that’s as good as us being number one. To see my friends and colleagues across the region being recognised for their beautiful wines and attention to detail and commitment to making really delicious drinks.”

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On the mend.

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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IN BRIEF

Bugler’s big honour

By Jed Lanyon

John Stanhope received an Order of Australia Medal. 203438 and Reveille for an Anzac service in 1975. Previously the RSL had played recordings of the bugle at their services.

“I was starting a nursery up the east end of Healesville. I was setting it up and a guy came in one day and said, ‘Ray Donkin sent me in’, and he used to own that site… They said, ‘we believe you’re a bugler?’ and I thought, not really, I’m a trumpet player. I wanted to be thought of as a bit more than a bugler.”

47 years later and Mr Stanhope is still performing as bugler and has become a staple of Healesville RSL’s Anzac service, one that has grown from a few “die hard members” to now involve the wider township and local schools.

“It’s become bigger than Ben-Hur now,” he said.

Picture: DEREK SCHLENNSTEDT

“I think it’s good if you can do something for the returned serviceman. I think it’s good if you can do something for these guys to make their day a bit more memorable. So I’m happy to do it.

“It’s nice to get the award, but I get satisfaction in seeing these guys happy for me to do that service for them.”

Being a business owner and the town’s bugler for Anzac services at the RSL as well as at schools and nursing homes has made Mr Stanhope a recognised figure in the community.

“I like Healesville, I’d never leave Healesville. I like the people and I know just about everyone here. You can’t go down the street without someone saying hello to you.”

No response to reclassification plea Yarra Ranges Council’s request for nonurban townships of the Yarra Valley to be reclassified as regional remains in limbo as the State Government is yet to respond to the issue.

Council recently wrote to Acting-Premier James Merlino pushing for changes that would see restrictions ease in smaller towns such as Warburton, Yarra Junction, Healesville and Yarra Glen.

These townships have continued to be burdened with heavier Metropolitan Melbourne restrictions despite consistently highlighting low case numbers since the beginning of the pandemic, in line with other regional areas.

The State Government did not respond to Star Mail’s request for comment, while Yarra Ranges Council confirmed they had yet to receive a reply over a week after making the request in lockdown.

The easing of restrictions in Melbourne was met with some relief locally but the 25km bubble limit in place over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend meant that local

traders missed out on hosting patrons who would have enjoyed a day trip to the Valley.

If you’re a business owner in Warburton, you aren’t allowed to welcome guests from Mt Evelyn, Yarra Glen or Lilydale which all come within the same local government area.

Healesville barista, James, of The Mare Coffee Co. said the 25km bubble might be suitable for inner city suburbs, but it would hurt fringe towns in the Yarra Valley. Speaking prior to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, the cafe owners were mulling over whether to open for trade throughout the three day period.

“You’ve got a 25km limit on a weekend where penalty rates run all the way

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through… Personally I don’t really see it as a step forward,” he said. “I’m a bit dubious about it. I don’t know how many businesses will actually open.”

James said the business would weigh up the incentive to open with “limited traffic” and the ability to keep staff engaged in employment.

“It’s open, but then again, not really for us. I think this would benefit places in the inner city as they have a much greater density.”

Despite many cafes and restaurants being allowed to open for takeaway trading, some decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and closed their doors over the last week.

Eildon MP Cindy McLeish said many local residents had contacted her about the regional/metro lockdown restrictions.

“It is not fair for residents or businesses who live a country life in non-urban areas of the Yarra Ranges to abide by Stage Four restrictions,” she said. “If you live in Warburton, Healesville, Powelltown, or Gladysdale, you wouldn’t think you live in metropolitan Melbourne.”

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By Jed Lanyon

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Healesville RSL’s bugler John Stanhope was “chuffed” to receive an Order of Australia Medal as part of the Queen’s Birthday honours for his service to the community of Healesville.

“I feel really humbled by it. All I’ve done is play the bugle for the local RSL for the last 47 years.”

And last year’s Covid-19 lockdown didn’t stop Mr Stanhope from fulfilling his duty for the community.

“Even last year in lockdown, I still did it at home in our street and all residents in the street came out. I actually played the trumpet that day and it was good because we’re on a hill and the sound of the trumpet going over the hill was unreal at six o’clock in the morning.”

The longtime Healesville resident and former proprietor of the Black Spur Nursery was quick to thank his wife, Annette, for his achievement. He managed to keep his Queen’s Birthday honour as a surprise to her.

“It’s a joint award. My wife needs a bit of recognition because she makes sure I’m up at five o’clock each Anzac morning to make sure I get there by six o’clock for the service.

“I started learning the trumpet when I was about eight. That’s how Annette and I met. We met in an orchestra and she played the clarinet.”

Mr Stanhope has received awards and recognition from Yarra Ranges Council, Healesville Rotary Club and Casey MP Tony Smith.

“This is another one! You wonder what can happen next,” he joked.

Mr Stanhope recalls when local RSL members first requested him to play The Last Post

Community members can continue to access showers, power and food drop-off points this week, as Council works with agencies to clear access to isolated areas of the Yarra Ranges.

Council, the State Government and agencies are working to clear debris and restore power and phone access in the Yarra Ranges after last week’s storm, which resulted in hundreds of fallen trees, widespread infrastructure damage and flooding.

Yarra Ranges Mayor, Fiona McAllister, said that crews were working to clear trees and debris, and provide access for services across the Dandenongs, where the storm hit the hardest.

“We’ve received more than 640 drainage and tree-related requests from community members as a result of the storms, but we’re also mindful that many people are still without power and phone connections to contact us,” Cr McAllister said.

“Over the coming weeks and months we’ll continue to see the impact of these storms unfold, and we’ll be working with AusNet Services, the State Government and other agencies to help clear up debris, provide safe access to community members’ homes and restore services.

“You may notice large piles of wood on roadsides and in reserves – this will be picked up and disposed of once our priority works have been completed.

“We’ve activated power and shower facilities across the Yarra Ranges and provided some bins for emergency food waste disposal.

Please check yarraranges.vic.gov.au for the latest information about these services and what support may be available, and, please, pass on information to anyone you know who may not have internet access back.”

Power and shower facilities have been set up at Olinda Recreation Reserve, Lilydale Heights Secondary College, Yarra Junction Sporting Pavilion, Yarra Glen Memorial Hall (charging facilities and triage only), Belgrave Community Hub and Queens Park in Healesville.

Drop-off points have also been set up with additional bins for community members at Kalorama Football Club, the Olinda public toilets on Monash Avenue and at the rear of the Healesville Community Link, where spoiled food can be disposed of.

Check the Council website or call 1300 368 333 for more information on these services, as locations and times are being updated daily.

“It’s been heartening to see the community banding together during this emergency – from those offering services, equipment, food and power, right through to our emergency services members who have been working constantly since Wednesday night to respond to these storms.

“I’d like to thank everyone who put their hand up to help someone else in the community – it never goes unnoticed and it makes a world of difference to the people you’re helping.

“There has been and will be significant impacts on mental health in the community from these storms. We know people have been struggling with the pandemic and restrictions and we still have many people cut off from power, services and phone reception.

“Feeling distressed is normal during times like these. Please reach out to people around you, to your GP or to LifeLine on 13 11 14 if you need help.”

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NEWS

Blackout in the worst way

By Seth Lukas Hynes A catastrophic rainstorm swept through Victoria on Wednesday 9 June, causing widespread flooding, power outages and (at time of writing) two confirmed deaths.

I fear this may sound flippant after such a tragedy, but last week’s Yarra Ranges blackout was one of the most stressful events in my life so far.

With no electricity, our house in Badger Creek was bitterly cold; we have a gas fireplace, but need power to light it and run the fan.

I fretted on what I would eat over the coming days; we have a respectable store of canned goods, but we could only eat so much of our fresh perishables before they spoiled.

With our landline phone running through our inert modem, and with Telstra mobile services down, we couldn’t make phone-calls of any kind for the first couple of days or learn about the outside world, save for snippets of detail from the car radio.

With Telstra down, so too was Eftpos; with the banks closed, I’m sure many people didn’t have enough cash at hand to buy supplies; with the petrol stations closed, driving further afield was a risky prospect.

I came to dread the night, when our cold house grew even colder, time stretched unbearably and we went to bed unreasonably early because it was too dark to read or do anything.

The situation felt a little like the onset of a war. If a coordinated attack took out our infrastructure, we would be plunged into a similar state of tense ignorance. The overall mood was of listlessness and isolation, almost paralysis.

And yet, on Thursday, the first full day of no power, I made my mother laugh. I made a ‘Damn it, Klaatu’ remark, which she found very funny.

Of course, this blackout wasn’t exactly like the events of 1951 sci-fi classic The Day The

Healesville - Koo Wee Rup Rd, Woori Yallock.

Earth Stood Still. There was no alien emissary behind the power outages; just the chaotic elements. The stilling was confined to vast swathes of Victoria, not the whole Earth. Mobile phones, tablets, laptops and devices with batteries still ran on their internal charge (although I’m sure that if smartphones existed in the fifties, Klaatu would have a way of disabling them).

The laugh I got from my Klaatu remark showed that levity was still possible under the circumstances, and from then on I found as many positives as I could.

I finished writing an article for my upcoming book, and my overall experiences formed the seeds for this cathartic article.

I took plenty of photos of the rain-drenched environment.

Badger Creek was higher, faster and louder than I’d ever seen it before, scouring away soft ground in some areas and forming new offshoots and ponds. I found an ironic “No Camping!” sign surrounded by near-ankledeep water, and a displaced metal lawn sculpture that looked like a marooned robot. The grass on our property was seemingly combed all in one direction by the water coursing under our house on Wednesday. Waves from the

Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS bloated Creek section near the Healesville Sanctuary offices crashed rhythmically against the predator and debris-proof fence.

I came across a football tangled up in muck and plant matter, which struck me as a very Aussie version of how the fall of civilisation might look.

I walked to Healesville on Friday to perform reconnaissance: to see if anywhere had power, and to hopefully use the payphone to check on my no-doubt worried grandparents. Little did my family and I realise that while landline phones are generally powered independently of the electrical grid, a payphone still needs the grid to run. Still, as I walked to town and back, getting plenty of exercise and enjoying the weather as it shifted from an uncomfortably cold morning to a sunny and comfortably cold afternoon, I was able to tune out the local disaster for a couple of hours.

I cuddled our cats at night, which did them and me a lot of good. My family and I eating dinner together by candlelight had a certain rustic appeal. Many places in Healesville had diesel generators, which filled the air with an intriguing animal-like rumble. Having a hot bath and dressing in good clothes (my ward-

robe is divided into good-quality going-out attire and scruffier at-home attire) restored some sense of normality. Entering Lilydale was like finding Shangri-La: I almost thought buildings in this region with real mains power and decent mobile reception were a myth.

The fact that our gas was working but little else reminded me of the 1998 Canadian dark comedy Last Night. The film follows several characters as they approach an undefined midnight apocalypse in different ways: an introvert must endure an awkward dinner party, his friend wants to have as many diverse and interesting adult experiences before world’s end, and a businesswoman is desperate to get home to fulfil a suicide pact with her husband.

A charming motif concerns Duncan, a gentle gas company employee who spends most of the last day calling his customers to tell them that they’ll keep the gas running right to the end.

These experiences and musings kept me going, even as the powerlessness and despair of not knowing for certain when it would end threatened to consume me.

Rumours put the restore time at Sunday June 13 or Monday June 14, which was corroborated by the AusNet electrical service website, but an ominous statement from the privy local butcher put it at Wednesday June 16, which was devastating to hear.

And yet power returned to our Badger Creek neighbourhood, and much of the Healesville township, earlier than expected: around 5.30pm on Saturday 12 June.

I’m sure we were all immensely relieved as power finally returned to our communities.

I certainly was.

The long, distressing blackout was over, and I’m glad I had enough to keep me sane during the days when the Yarra Ranges stood still.

Of course, many regions in Victoria still lack power, and I hope their power is restored as soon as possible.

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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NEWS

All eyes on the regional border for long weekend

By Jed Lanyon

The remains of the Woori Yallock family’s shed.

Thanks to responders Today marks Thank A First Responder Day, and CFA is taking the opportunity to not only thank its members, but also those emergency service responders who work alongside them.

CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said CFA volunteers work as one with police, paramedics, SES volunteers, and many other first responders to help their communities.

“Our volunteers don’t sign up for recognition, but simply saying ‘thank you’ is an easy way to acknowledge their incredible efforts,” said CO Heffernan.

“We would also like to extend that gratitude to our first responder partners who work tirelessly to support their communities in emergency situations.”

Monique is one community member who reached out to show her appreciation of first responders after a recent fire at her family’s Woori Yallock property on 31 May. “It happened at about 12.30pm. Mum was in our house making her lunch and she looked out the back window and noticed something didn’t look right at the shed, which sits higher on our property.”

She first thought it was mist as it had been

a foggy morning and when she walked to the back door and saw up closer to the shed, she noticed it was smoke and called triple zero.

Monique shared the fire was caused by an electrical fault to the old shed. The family lost their shed, stables, a wood shed and their hay shed but were thankful for the response by firefighters to prevent the blaze from spreading to their home.

“There were 11 fire trucks as well as ambulance and SES.” “I really want to emphasise how appreciative our family is, especially for the four brigades that came out to help, but also made the effort of coming out the following day to check if my parents were OK,” she said.

My mum felt very relieved that she was no longer alone, and she said the firefighters were so supportive and so nice, and really put her mind at ease.

“It could have been a lot worse and we’re thankful no one was hurt and grateful the CFA and SES were so quick to respond to help when we needed them.”

CFA encourages all Victorians to reach out today and Thank A First Responder.

Victoria Police set up a mobile CCTV unit outside of Healesville near entrance points of the metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria border.

The mobile camera was placed at an intersection on Yarra Glen - Healesville Road and Chum Creek Road prior to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

Keen eyed locals spotted Victoria Police setting up the equipment and posted to social media claiming the cameras would monitor the movement of Victorians as they pass through the metropolitan and regional boundary at the edge of the Shire of Yarra Ranges.

A Victoria Police spokesperson wouldn’t confirm to Star Mail whether the cameras had been set up to catch Victorians flouting Covid-19 restrictions.

“Victoria Police owns and has liaised with a number of councils across Victoria to utilise Victoria Police and council-owned mobile CCTV units in public spaces,” the spokesperson said.

“The cameras can help to capture and deter crimes in certain areas and can be used in response to community safety issues.”

“For operational reasons we will not be providing commentary on how many of these units are being used or where and when they are positioned.”

It came as Operation Regal, a four-day police operation targeting high-risk driving behaviour on roads was launched. Victoria Police said it would include the “targeted deployment” of mobile speed cameras and automated number plate recognition vehicles.

While people living in metropolitan Melbourne were banned from travelling into regional Victoria over the long weekend, Victoria Police said they prepared for regional Victorians to hit the road in high numbers.

Operation Regal saw police targeting speed, alcohol and drug impaired driving, fatigue, driver distraction and a failure to wear seatbelts.

The mobile camera site outside of Healesville.

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MAIL 5

NEWS

Healesville-Kooweerup Road, Woori Yallock / Launching Place had major flood waters. 240519

Power out but doors open at Healesville Pharmacy. 240519

Storm rages across region

By Jed Lanyon, Mikayla van Loon and Taylah Eastwell Wild weather lashed Victoria on Wednesday 9 June as the Yarra Ranges was hit with some of the worst damage from across the state.

As of 10am on Thursday 10 June nearly 4400 calls had been made to the SES across the state, the highest number of calls for assistance in many years.

Lilydale SES Unit Controller Shaun Caulfield said every three to four years emergency service crews see 700 to 800 calls for assistance in one night across the state.

Usually crews from both the suburbs and regional towns can respond and clear the damage in two days but this has been beyond anything they have seen in a long time.

“We don’t often see the whole state being smashed,” Mr Caulfield said.

Having received over 650 requests for assistance as of 10am Thursday 10 June and responding to 30 rescues for people trapped in their houses by trees, Mr Caulfield described the previous 24 hours as “busy.”

There were major road closures across the Yarra Valley including the Black Spur between Healesville and Narbethong and the Maroondah Highway in Coldstream, according to VicRoads.

Coldstream CFA worked as part of a task force, working their way to clear roads to allow ambulances and other emergency services access to people in need.

Captain Sean Bethell said the Mount Dandenong region was heavily impacted by fallen trees.

“There’s quite a few trees that have come down across houses with people in them at the time… The Dandenongs have been hit really hard.”

Mr Bethell said that high winds coming from a south-eastern direction made a significant difference as the area typically receives south-westerly winds, which may have caused more trees to uproot.

Kalorama experienced some of the worst damage, with SES crews needing to chainsaw their way into an address where a number of people were injured.

Mr Caulfield said due to the fallen trees and debris, it was taking crews between one and a half to two hours to get to people.

“There are no small trees in Kalorama, they are all big trees,” he said.

“We had a very, very near miss, one of the four wheel drives from Emerald [SES] had a tree fall on it and the crew was standing very close. The car has been written off but the crew is all ok.”

After this incident CFA and SES crews made the decision to only respond to life threatening calls.

Belgrave police officers walked one and a half kilometres into the Dandenong Ranges to rescue an injured and trapped mother and her son after a tree fell on their Olinda home on Wednesday night. The pair were separated from one another in the home due to the large tree.

While isolated themselves due to fallen trees, the officers made their way on foot through the ranges to the injured pair to render assistance.

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

Trees down on Monbulk Road, Monbulk. Just one of the many roads blocked and closed by fallen trees. 240519 With the help of SES who cleared roads, the mother and son were taken to Maroondah Hospital via ambulance.

Winds of up to 100km per hour are to blame for the destruction across the mountain and throughout the Yarra Ranges.

Mt Dandenong Tourist Road will be closed for quite some time as crews clear the damage and hundreds of trees over the roads.

Excavators and other heavy duty equipment are being used to remove trees from the roads after arriving onsite at 3am on Thursday 10 June.

The roof of the Monbulk Aquatic Centre was also crushed during the wild weather on Wednesday evening.

Monbulk Aquatic Centre manager Scott Gamble described the blow as “devastating”.

“For other 12 months we have been dealing with the opens and closures of Covid-19 and now to have this happen, I’m not sure what words to use,” he said.

Mr Gamble found out about the damage about 8.30am Thursday morning after a passer-by spotted the tree thru the roof.

The local swim centre has suffered “significant damage”, with further structural damage yet to be assessed.

With local SES units run off their feet with callouts, the tree was still laying across the roof as of Friday, as the centre awaited assistance.

“The tree is still there and is likely to be there for a while as I am sure the SES have a lot more trees to deal with,” Mr Gamble said.

“No one was hurt which was great and no one was in danger, so those things are priority moving forward,” he said.

In the Valley, the Coldstream crew responded to several incidents across Chirnside Park, Lilydale and Wonga Park, including a ruptured gas line in Cobden Crescent, Lilydale.

Healesville SES controller Andrew Worley said his unit responded to many calls of traffic hazards and flooded houses.

“We probably started just before midday yesterday (9 June) and finished up before 3am… We had some outstanding jobs and we’re back at it again this morning.

“Lots of people’s houses flooded so we did a lot of sandbagging.”

Healesville SES responded to a landslide on Myers Creek Road and assisted Lilydale SES in helping two motorists whose cars became stuck in flood waters along River Street.

“It’s never a good idea to drive through flood water, even if you think you can see the road, you don’t know what’s underneath or what’s happened to the road.”

He urged motorists to try and avoid going out on the roads unless absolutely necessary following extreme weather conditions as emergency services attempt to clear roads.

Power outages affected many traffic lights and over 10,000 homes in suburbs including in Mount Evelyn, Croydon, Chirnside Park, Mooroolbark, Lilydale, Ringwood and more.

Lilydale CFA attended a house fire in the early hours of the morning on Friday 11 June.

The blaze was allegedly caused by a burning candle on a bedside table on the second storey of the home.

Lilydale CFA lieutenant Paul Simpson said luckily the residents awoke to the smoke and all three family members made it to safety.

Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS

CFA units from Bayswater, Chirnside Park, Coldstream, Mooroolbark and Mount Evelyn were able to contain the fire to the first level and no damage occurred at ground level.

Mr Simpson said it is important for people to check and test their smoke detectors regularly, changing batteries over every 12 months.

Without any power, the residents of the home were without alarm but back up batteries should have been working in their two smoke detectors.

Unfortunately Mr Simpson said dysfunctioning smoke detectors are far too common.

Although Mr Simpson said Lilydale CFA were busy with power lines causing tree fires and burst gas mains, he said “it was nothing compared to the hills.”

Mr Caulfield said it is now a joint effort between Yarra Ranges Council, VicRoads, CFA, SES, Victoria Police and power lines people to restore roads, power and safety to the area.

The SES is asking people to be patient as they work their way through calls and jobs, they are doing their best to get to everyone as soon as they can.

If damage has occurred, Mr Caulfield asked people to be proactive in calling their insurance company and not to wait for SES to respond.

Insurance companies may be able to provide temporary accommodation, otherwise Yarra Ranges Council is also able to relocate people in times of natural disaster.

The heavy winds and rain proved timely coinciding with Thank a First Responder Day, highlighting the crucial role emergency services play in keeping the area safe. mailcommunity.com.au

NEWS

Lights out in Lilydale meant cars had to approach the intersection carefully. 240519

Power lines down in Mount Evelyn. 240519

Lillydale Lake flooded. 240519

Man begins to cut up a fallen tree on Cameron Road, Mount Evelyn, after the storm. 240519

Coronation Park, Healesville, suffered from trees down and major flooding. 240519

Uprooted trees at Lillydale Lake. 240519

mailcommunity.com.au

Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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MAIL 7

NEWS

Ex-MP Varty OAM honour

By Jed Lanyon Former state MP, Rosemary Varty has been awarded with an Order of Australia Medal for her service to the community and the sport of lawn bowls.

The Seville resident served as state MP for the former Nunawading province from 19851992 and then for the former Silvan province from 1992-1999. In this time, Ms Varty was shadow cabinet secretary and then parliamentary secretary of cabinet (PSOC).

Her role as PSOC saw her lead a group to bring cabinet and legislative process from the 18th century to the 20th century by introducing electronic processing to parliament and the legislation document management system.

Ms Varty made a spectacular entrance into state politics when her crucial election ballot resulted in a tie vote.

“The 1985 one was unusual in that it was a tied vote and we had to go to the court of disputed returns and it was declared null and void, so there was a fresh election.

“The thing about it was, it was the seat that decided who could control the upper house and it became a fairly critical seat. So anything after that was relatively easy.”

Prior to her stint as a state MP, Ms Varty served as a councillor for the city of Box Hill (now Whitehorse Council).

Ms Varty grew up locally, attending Seville Primary School in 1939-1944 and Lilydale Higher Elementary School (now Lilydale High School) in 1945-1949.

She said she enjoyed playing sports and

Rosemary Varty received Queen’s Birthday Honours. served as a director and president of Bowls Victoria, where she orchestrated the merging of the Victorian Lawn Bowls Association and the Royal Victorian Lawn Bowls Association into the single state organisation.

She also served as an official for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games for the sport of fencing.

“It was the first use of the electronic tips on

Picture: JED LANYON

the end of the foils,” she said.

“It was fantastic, there were people who came from all over the world… The most wonderful part of that was the opening ceremony.

Because all the officials were at the MCG, and to see Ron Clarke run in with the flame, around the track that had been installed there, up the steps and stand up the top to light the cauldron. That was the most fantastic thing, I can

still see it as plain as plain, because it was a beautiful day.”

Ms Varty has had a tremendous impact within the Yarra Valley community in helping design Healesville Hospital’s sanctuary garden and worked to establish the committee that brought in the concept of the Water Play Park to replace the Seville pool.

She said recognition for the community work should have gone to the volunteers involved in the projects locally.

“If I was able to help them, then that’s good.

But they’re the ones who really do the work, they’re the ones who really should be getting the honours.”

From 1999-2018 Ms Varty was a member of the Mont De Lancey Historical Trust and worked as a guide and board member.

“I enjoyed being able to show people around. It’s an encapsulation of about ten years in the life of the local community. Being able to explain to people what happened, I always got a lot of pleasure doing that.”

Ms Varty now lives on her great-grandfather’s farm in Seville, a 150 year old property where she grew up.

“When I was a youngster, girls weren’t allowed to be farmers. The farm was for the boys but my niece now owns the farm.

“When I was married I had to move away from the farm… I came back to live in Seville in 1993 and back here (on the farm) for 11 years. I never wanted to go away from here, but that’s the way it was in those days.

“It’s a lovely part of the world. There’s no place like the Yarra Valley.”

More support from government for Victorians in need The Victorian Government is providing a boost to hardship payments and emergency food relief for our state’s most vulnerable.

The government announced an additional $30 million package to ensure this critical help – including food and financial support – is made available to communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

More support will be delivered to Victorians struggling to put a meal on the table with a $4.5 million boost to expand the capacity of community food relief organisations.

Minister for Health Martin Foley said, “No Victorian should be left behind as we fight this pandemic – we’re ensuring we all make it through together.”

This includes supporting new partnerships between food relief organisations and local restaurants, cafes and hospitality businesses – enabling them to rapidly purchase raw produce and prepared meals for Victorians in need.

The package expands Foodbank Victoria’s mobile food van service across the state, reaching vulnerable groups such as casual workers and students, as well as extending

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are often most at-risk from the pandemic, including temporary and undocumented migrants and those on temporary and pro-

visional visas, with a $13.5 million boost to emergency financial assistance, information, referrals and complex casework support.

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Foodbank’s pop-up international student supermarket in the Melbourne CBD until December.

Ensuring multicultural Victorians can continue to access culturally appropriate emergency support and vital public health information, the package delivers $12.1 million to expand the critical work of the CALD Communities Taskforce.

This includes a $5 million funding boost to the Priority Response to Multicultural Communities grants program, which helps local organisations deliver emergency relief, including culturally appropriate food.

More than $7 million will ensure culturally and linguistically diverse Victorians have the information they need to stay safe, with targeted communications, translation and direct engagement, including support for organisations at a local level.

The Extreme Hardship Support Program has also been extended, ensuring continued assistance for Victorians who are not eligible for income support from the Commonwealth Government.

This includes help for Victorians who

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HISTORY

The White Dog Hotel was always painted white.

Crowds gathered outside the hotel.

See you at the White Dog

By Mikayla Van Loon Being a publican was the family business when Fred Bramich was young and so naturally he wanted nothing to do with it.

But coming from a long line of publicans, it was hard to escape it.

Mr Bramich is the grandson of former Lilydale Hotel owner Joanna Connelly.

Although not there for too long in the early 1920s, Ms Connelly acquired the ownership and licence for the Lilydale Hotel in 1921.

“My mum used to say ‘we came there when Sister Olive won the Melbourne Cup’ and that was 1921,” Mr Bramich said.

“In 1926 grandma and my mum and my aunt were able to get back into the White Dog and about that time the Silvan Dam started up which was a major project for the area and it brought lots of migrant workers into the area and business really boomed from then on.”

The hotel did so well in fact, Ms Connelly was able to purchase The Crown Hotel as well in 1938.

“So they did pretty well once the Silvan Dam came into existence,” Mr Bramich said.

But as three women running a working man’s pub, it was decided that a white bull mastiff would help keep things in order.

“Duke [the dog] would be sort of patrolling around. Grandma, my mum and my aunt thought they better have a savage dog to help them keep law and order particularly with these burly guys who were working on the Silvan Dam. “A lot of them were migrants without a lot of English and when they had knocked off work they would agree to meet at the pub.

“So instead of saying ‘we’ll meet you at the Lilydale Hotel’ they’d just say something like ‘see you at white dog’. So it seemed to get its name from that workforce there, the workers at the Silvan Dam.” Since then the pub has been known as The White Dog Hotel and Duke became the much loved mascot, featuring on t-shirts, jumpers and coasters.

“Somewhere down the track mum got married in 1933. My dad [Cyril Bramich] had been a customer at the White Dog. “By 1944 grandma had passed away and there was a question about what to do with the pubs. Mum had a brother and two sisters and no one else was interested in stepping into the breach and running them, so dad decided he would leave the SCC and become a publican.”

By that point the The White Dog was being leased by someone else and so, the family moved into The Crown Hotel which they ran for 17 years until Cyril Bramich decided to retire in 1961.

“After a few months he was that restless I think he was driving mum crazy and she said ‘you can’t go back into The Crown that’s leased but you’ve just got a manager in the White Dog, let’s go there’. So we got back into business in the White Dog,” Mr Bramich said.

Until his death in September 1972, Cyril Bramich operated The White Dog Hotel.

From there it fell into the hands of his son Fred Bramich.

“I’d been doing my level best to stay out of hotelkeeping because it was going on all around and I thought there’s gotta be a better mailcommunity.com.au

The original wrought iron balustrades were a feature of The White Dog throughout the 1920s.

The pub was a popular place for locals.

Fred Bramich’s mum and aunt with Duke the white bull mastiff.

way in life,” he said.

Wanting to do more in life, Mr Bramich went to Dookie College before dairy farming on a small property in Lilydale.

Even then that wasn’t enough, so he went back to his studies and became a secondary school teacher which saw him move to Wodonga and then back to teach at Lilydale High School.

“I had five years there but in my fifth year my dad passed away in the September of that year and so we had to make some temporary arrangements to keep the pub running but by the end of that year I was free and I took it on,” Mr Bramich said.

For the next 21 years Mr Bramich owned The White Dog, bringing it to life.

“It was a good business for a long time, it was affected a bit by the recession we had to have in the very late ‘80s and that slowed it down a bit and I guess the other pubs carried out works and geared themselves up for poker machines and so forth, so the White Dog got left behind a bit.”

“It was fun for a fair bit of the time but here and there you might get somebody that has just come in to make trouble and might cause a fight.”

Even with some of the ruckus that goes on at pubs, Mr Bramich was still able to recall all the wonderful memories and moments that happened throughout the years.

During the ‘70s Mr Bramich said his good friend, the late Michael Jordan, an Irishman with lots of character, would be a regular entertainer at The White Dog. “Just about every Irishman from here to Tipperary would roll up to the White Dog on

a Saturday night, so they were really happy times,” Mr Bramich said.

“Apart from being a good entertainer himself, he would run a kind of talent quest and invite people up out of the audience, so that was great fun.”

Also around that same time, The White Dog would host regular bingo nights to raise money for the local Catholic primary school and Mr Bramich would invite celebrity callers to come along.

“There was a Collingwood footballer who lived in Lilydale from ‘77 to ‘82, his name was Phil Carman and they called him ‘fabulous Phil’.

“While he was with Essendon he had an altercation with a boundary umpire and got disqualified for 20 weeks and I remember him calling the bingo and he got to number 18 and he said ‘18, 18 to go’, 18 weeks before he could play again.

“He was a very entertaining customer insofar as even though he was high profile, he’d come in and he’d mix with the ordinary working guys, so he was a great personality.”

Mr Bramich said the community was what made the pub welcoming and a good place to be.

People would always roll up in big numbers on special gala days or days like St Patrick’s Day. “They were a great communal group for sure and a lot of them were ordinary working people and it wasn’t so much a business man’s pub.

“I think the bank managers and others who went to work in suits were more inclined to go to the other places which was fair enough too but we were very happy with the ordinary, humble working people, they put bread on

Pictures: SUPPLIED

our table so we were grateful for their loyal patronage.”

Mr Bramich said with all that history, he is sad and disappointed to see the pub the way it is now.

“I can’t be too critical because perhaps I could have done something myself but I was really running it without any family members.”

“We always kept the place tidy and I had three regular customers. One was my carpenter, one was my plumber, one was my painter and the painter, his job was to always keep the White Dog looking white and bright and he did that faithfully.”

Although always keeping the exterior white, Mr Bramich said it looked better in the 1920s.

“The front looked better in the ‘20s because it had wrought iron along the balcony and along the verandah,” he said.

“I’m only guessing but I think by the late ‘30s with the war coming on [the wrought iron] might have gone for armaments for bullets or something like that.”

For 30 years Mr Bramich lived at The White Dog Hotel and until February 1994 he ran it wholeheartedly before finally leasing it and selling shortly after.

“I was a bit sad to leave it in the finish but I was getting a bit worn out and so I just jumped although I didn’t have any real plan,” Mr Bramich said.

“But I couldn’t get pubs out of my system for a while and I used to go up and help out at the Woori Yallock pub which existed until about four or five years ago until it got burnt down.”

More on the history and current state of The White Dog Hotel in next week’s edition.

Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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MAIL 9

OPINION

Peeling and pruning lives Peeling off life’s layers Before the latest lockdown I had been writing about the heart: that wonderful body organ and the seat of affection and emotions.

This week, I want to talk a little about the rest of our bodies and about a peeling away of what our bodies were formerly capable of.

As we age, the normal experience is that we either lose, or have peeled away, many of our former physical abilities and functions.

Like many I found that I was losing my sharp eyesight at around 50, and struggled to wear glasses.

Added to these are likely to be hair and hearing loss, diminishing sexual potency and more frequent visits to the doctor.

However, even those approaching 40 may be facing a set of losses that are crippling as well. That age is where a lot of relationships are breaking down, and men in particular, often find themselves without their children and in a diminished dwelling, and have a financial

Focal Point

Graeme Dawson

burden of legal costs regarding custody.

As well as that, those who are arriving at 40 are starting to find it hard to get ready employment. Sadly this mix of loss and emotional pain, in a flood, becomes too much to bear.

I have walked with too many families and friends of the departed to know something of their pain.

Growing old or feeling redundant, need not be an end in itself, as many are finding a new lease on life as they age: caravanning, loving their grandchildren, fishing and golf and for

Clever forest management The threat of climate change means that forest management must become much cleverer in determining when to do fuel reduction burns, according to a Gippsland fire expert.

Garry Squires, a former Gippsland forest manager who is now a consultant, said there was a lot of talk about climate change and the reduced window of opportunity for burning.

“The climate change issue means we must be smarter in finding that window of opportunity,” he said, citing one example.

“If you are going to burn in March and things are drier than they used to be, then instead lighting at 2 o’clock in the afternoon you light at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”

Mr Squires was addressing a group tour of East Gippsland’s forests which were burnt in the huge 2019-20 bushfires. The group consisted of architects/builders, forest growers, community activists and fire managers. The tour was organised by the Institute of Foresters of Australia/Australian Forest Growers, which regards the fuel reduction lessons from East Gippsland as relevant to the native forests in the rest of Gippsland, the state’s north-east and Yarra Valley.

The group stopped at one patch of State Forest near Orbost that had had regular fuel reduction, the last burn about six years ago.

The understorey was mainly grasses and low shrubs between the tall, straight trees, which were clearly visible. It was cited as an ideal example of the benefits of fuel reduction. This compared to some long unburnt private property in the area that had a heavy understorey shrub layer.

Mr Squires said this fuel reduction site could easily have a burn - a regular cool burn - every two, three or four years.

“This will be very easy to burn; you could

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viticulture in particular, to draw parallels with our relational life with Him. He records Jesus speaking of His work, and the work of His Father in us. He said, “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me (that could be you or me) that bears no fruit and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be more fruitful”.

Of course the fruit He was talking about was the fruit of the Spirit that God wants us to produce. It is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’.

How many of those fruits are growing on your tree?

(Feedback, questions and need for support can be fielded to my email, csrsmokey@ gmail.com) Graeme Dawson Chaplain to Community

CARTOON

Deep

Dive Philip Hopkins

Freelance Journalist have low key fire today (two weeks after Easter),” he said.

However universally - in East Gippsland anyway - fuel reduction burning seemed to cease about Easter. “Why aren’t we cool burning now, and right through the winter at sites like this?” he said.

“To me, that’s part of the change in thinking that DELWP (Department of Environment, Lands, Water and Planning) have to have about widening the window of opportunity in what is in many people’s eyes a changing climate that’s making it drier.”

Mr Squires said it was a matter of being “smart and adaptable” to burn in winter.

“The local staff must have the ability to make the decision on the spot and burn when they know conditions are right” he said, without going through layers of bureaucracy.

“You mut have a site like this on the burn plans, so when the local staff say it’s right to go, they just do it.”

Staffing levels were part of the Easter issue. “The summer crew go off about that time and so they are down to smaller staffing,” he said. “But you only need a couple of people to do this burning, two people to light up kilometres and kilometres of ridge tops. It’s just a matter of changing thinking in my view.”

Disaster recovery funding Disaster Recovery Funding Assistance (DRFA) is now available to communities affected by the recent flooding and storms across Victoria, including for Yarra Ranges residents.

Minister for Emergency Management, David Littleproud said the jointly funded Commonwealth-state DRFA will assist with damaged properties, councils with the costs of road and infrastructure repairs and clean-up, and recovery efforts in affected communities.

The joint Australian, state and territory government Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements provide a range of financial assistance to the natural disaster-declared areas in each state or territory.

Information on disaster assistance is available on the Australian Government’s website at www.disasterassist.gov.au and the Vic Emergency website www.emergency.vic.gov.au/ relief

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some, a men’s shed.

The good thing that I dwell on is that we are the only created beings on earth with a soul that does not die.

However when we move through that last door, we need to have our ‘passports’ in order, so to speak, so we can answer with confidence, the big question, “Tell me why I should let you in”.

I know this is a big jump in thinking, but I find so many people with big plans for life, but none for life after death.

Pruning – a Painful part of Peeling I’m a self-confessed prune-aholic, yet I find the harder I prune the more fruit or flowers I have.

However when it comes to the pruning times in my own life it is often quite painful.

I believe it is God who is the gardener who only prunes for better fruit.

The Apostle John, who recorded the life of Jesus, detailed Jesus’ picture of His gardening -

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NEWS

IN BRIEF Testing disruptions Local Covid-19 clinics were forced closed due to power outages across the Yarra Ranges on Thursday 10 June.

Health and support service EACH announced their Covid-19 screening facilities in Emerald, Yarra Junction and Lilydale.

“A number of our centres will be closed today due to power outages,” an EACH statement reads.

“We apologise for any inconvenience and any disruption to services.”

Fortunately EACH clinics in Ferntree Gully and Ringwood remain open for testing.

For more information, EACH asks residents to contact their EACH service directly or their service access team on 1300 003 224.

Sheepstation Creek Road Reserve

Learnt from the best

Tourism support Yarra Ranges Council will extend its partnership agreement with Yarra Ranges Tourism for another 12 months, providing $489,016 in funding to the tourism body.

Council has supported Yarra Ranges Tourism through a partnership agreement since 2006. Through this partnership, Council works with Yarra Ranges Tourism, the Yarra Valley Wine Growers Association and the Yarra Valley Regional Food Group to promote the Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges and Warburton Valley as premier tourist destinations.

At the 8 June council meeting, councillors endorsed the tourism body, whose groups have demonstrated, through achieving key performance indicators in their funding agreement, that they are successfully leading the development of a strong local tourism industry, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Waste management plan

to yourself, which is what I say to my students.

“Everyone can paint. The magic is that everyone does it differently because we all see life through our own prism.”

Ms Hayes is currently exhibiting at Healesville’s Malka Studio, and holding a watercolour class there on June 17, pending Covid restrictions.

“In the past I’ve been exhibited at wellknown Melbourne and international galleries.

“Choosing Malka Studio is part of relaunching myself as a full time artist and about authenticity and being unique and being part of the local community I live in, which personifies unique and authentic.”

A detailed account of post-war injustice During the course of the Second World War, Great Britain and their allies captured approximately 400,000 Italian troops in the Middle East and North Africa. These were sent to prisoner-of-war camps all over the world, including Australia. Between 1941 and 1945, Australia received custody of 18,420 Italian POWs. In Victoria, one of such camps was in Rowville. We are fortunate that local author Darren Arnott devoted a considerable amount of time and efforts to researching the Italians and their daily life in the Rowville camp, which opened in December 1944 on the south-west corner of Stud Road and Wellington Road.

As the subtitle of Arnott’s book No Regard for the Truth suggests, his research reveals not just “friendship and kindness” but also “tragedy and injustice” in the Rowville camp.

Specifically, Arnott’s investigation focuses on a man from Florence named Rodolfo Bartoli, who was shot and killed by Captain John Walker Waterston, the camp’s commander.

Like any storyteller, Arnott, who grew up in Rowville in the 1970s and 1980s, begins mailcommunity.com.au

his investigation by asking who Bartoli was, what this young man was doing so far away from home, and why this Italian died at the hands of an Australian.

Having studied a huge amount of government and military correspondence, transcripts of court cases and inquiries, and camp documents including maps, diaries and letters by both Australian officials and Italian internees, Arnott is able to reconstruct what happened on that fateful day in March 1946.

Readers are presented with two stories.

One is of a 26-year-old man “with dark curly hair and a beautiful smile” who was tall, hard-working, terribly homesick and madly in love with a local girl. The other is of a career soldier with a history of “drunkenness, prisoner assaults, theft of property, the reckless firing of weapons and a desire to brush away the facts”.

Large sections of transcripts of the police investigation, Military Court of Inquiry, Coroner’s Inquest, Government Inquiry and the subsequent court-martial hearings of the Bartoli case are included in No Regard

for the Truth to illustrate how truth was disregarded and concealed. While the details may be dry and confusing, their presence is necessary in the author’s attempt to demonstrate the amount of bureaucracy and legal mumbo-jumbo in which all efforts to pursue and reveal justice were smothered at the time.

Meanwhile, the author’s use of media reports, personal accounts, photographs and especially the written correspondence between Bartoli’s parents and members of the Gearon Family – on whose farm the young Italian had worked and whose love and support he had earned – is touching.

These materials help readers comprehend how tragic cases such as Bartoli’s have a long-lasting impact on individual lives then and now.

And, from our society’s perspective, investigations of historical cases such as Bartoli’s help us right the wrongs of the past and shape a path towards a future based on truth and facts. Books like No Regard for the Truth ensure that even one man’s voice can be heard.

Yarra Ranges Council is seeking community feedback on its Draft Wastewater Management Plan, which aims to help ensure prevention of public health, environmental and local amenity issues related to wastewater systems in Yarra Ranges.

The plan, and related action plan, identifies the risks and outlines the criteria and processes for inspections and assessments of new applications for onsite septic systems.

Yarra Ranges Mayor, Fiona McAllister, said that the draft plan would help strengthen Council’s ability to manage these systems, as well as the issuing of permits and assessing land development applications in relation to wastewater.

“Our municipality contains approximately 22,000 active wastewater systems, which is the second largest amount of any council in the state,” Cr McAllister said.

Community members have until Wednesday, 30 June to provide feedback on the draft documents, which can be viewed at https:// shaping.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/draft-wastewater-management-plan

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Chum Creek artist Janet Hayes was taught by one of the world’s top pastellists, the late Daniel Greene, former instructor of painting at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York.

Ms Hayes credits the master pastellist with “flicking on a light bulb” in her regarding the use of colour and tone.

“He did an exercise about portraiture and suddenly I could see colour I’d never even imagined,” she said.

The lineage of Mr Greene’s teachers stretch back to Paul Cezanne.

But despite acknowledging her time with Mr Greene as a turning point, Hayes opted not to adopt his teaching style; instead evolving her own technique, which her students say is unique in its ability to foster the inner artist.

“I describe myself as a very gentle teacher.

Rigidity kills individuality and creativity, which is the basis of art. I aim to impart skills that enable my students to cultivate their vision and bring it to fruition.

“Daniel Greene was very tough-minded on what he expected us to produce. His style was very formulaic. When I teach I want people to express what they feel. I don’t want to produce carbon copies of myself,” she said.

“Everyone is different so if I see someone doing something different to what I have asked I will encourage them because they’re injecting themselves into their art.”

Ms Hayes, a multi award-winning artist, who has a reputation as a great colourist and whose preferred medium is pastels because the colours are so true, confesses she has to deal with well meaning friends offering advice to switch permanently to oils because “it sells”.

“I tell them, actually you’re wrong. I need to do what comes from me,” she said.

“The real magic happens when you stay true

A public meeting will take place at the Sheepstation Creek Road Reserve, 1765 Healesville Koo Wee Rup Road, Yellingo on Sunday 20 June 2pm.

The purpose of the meeting is to nominate three or more persons as the committee of management for the reserve for a term of three years. Nominations from all genders, diverse cultures, age and abilities are encouraged.

Further enquiries can be directed to secretary Merril Brunt on 0409 979 825.

The Star Mail is published by Paul Thomas for Star News Group Pty Ltd ABN 98 238 557 339. All material is copyright to Star News Group Pty Ltd. All significant errors will be corrected as soon as possible. Distribution numbers, areas and coverage are estimates only. For terms and conditions please visit www.mailcommunity.com.au Print Post Number PP33445700014.

Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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MAIL 11

A BEAUTIFUL ENTERTAINER IF you imagine pristine parklands near your door, picturesque treetop outlooks, and plenty of space to entertain as top features of your next family home, this is the property for you.

Set upon a sealed drive with single carport and single garage with workshop situated near beautiful Belgrave Lake Park, you won’t believe your luck that you found this brilliant home.

A wrap-around deck welcomes you into this wonderful residence. The open concept layout with a warm wood fire in the lounge and sunny skylight in the dining area take pride of place as the hub of the home.

The adjoining gourmet kitchen with Bosch dishwasher, Smeg freestanding cooker, and stylish benchtops will please the most discerning chef.

With a second living area adorned with a private bathroom and WIR, plus bright family bedrooms and an elegant main bedroom with modern ensuite, WIR, and deck access, this floorplan can be configured to fit your needs.

Bonus features including ducted heating, private patio, garden shed, gated rear garden access, and the charming sounds of Puffing Billy in the background ensure this is the idyllic place to experience Hills living. This home won’t last on the market for long, so plan your viewing today. ●

HOME ESSENTIALS Address: 66 Park Drive, Belgrave Description: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 garage Price: $890,000 - $970,000 Contact: Sam Adamson 0421 023 760 or Suzie Brannelly 0490 506 910, CHANDLER & CO REAL ESTATE 97546888

12 MAIL

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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PROPERTY NEWS

A GUIDE TO VICTORIA’S RENTAL CHANGES CHANGES to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) in Victoria are significant, and it’s critical for landlords to get across them according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

Symbolic of the sweeping reforms is a title change for landlords following the 29 March 2021 introduction of the new act.

Llandlords are now known as Residential Rental Providers, and with that new label came 132 changes to the tenant/owner relationship, including increased cost, obligation and consequences for the owner.

While many of the reforms are reasonable, and indeed are requirements that smart and reasonable investors already obliging on, it’s the volume of change occurring at once that could be overwhelming. The fact that they arrive after an extremely difficult 12 months, courtesy of Covid-19 and its rental moratorium, makes things more challenging for some investors.

Concerned with supporting everyday property investors, the REIV has prepared a guide to help ensure property owners are up to date on the raft of changes.

Leasing a property: Restrictions apply on the information requested from applicants. Some restrictions will help to avoid discrimination, while others could hide material information, such as bond history. Talk to your agent about strong reference checks as a counter measure.

Modifications: Renters are able to make prescribed minor modifications, like fixtures and fittings, without your consent. Consent will still be required for structural modifications, though some requests cannot be reasonably refused, and may need to be carried out by a suitably qualified person.

As a landlord, you have the right to ask for any changes to be restored at the end

of the tenancy, and it’s still the renter’s duty to redress any resulting damage to the property. A restoration bond can also be requested to cover the future removal of fixtures for more extensive or impactful modifications.

Property conditions and maintenance: You need to ensure rented premises are provided and maintained in good repair, and in a reasonably fit condition for occupation.

This is irrespective of whether the renter

knew about any disrepair before signing the lease, amount of rent paid, or the age and character of the building.

Make sure you get up to date on the minimum standards and guidelines on wear and tear, energy efficiency ratings and ventilation checks, as detailed in the regulations. It’s also important to look into the ongoing service requirements for appliances such as air conditioning units and heaters.

Mark Gunther

LD

SO

During the period of the lease, it’s a renter’s responsibility to provide you with notice of any damage or faults immediately.

Notice to vacate: A notice to vacate can still be given for a valid reason, including the property’s sale, change of use or demolition, or if you’re intending on moving into the property. If a renter intentionally or recklessly causes damage to the property, endangers or threatens you, an agent, a neighbour, or contractor, you can provide them with a notice to vacate.

There are substantial changes to these laws and impacted owners should reach out to their property managers to discuss.

Renter-initiated bond claim: Bond claims can now be made individually by the renter or owner. If a bond claim is made individually, the Residential Tenancy Bond Authority must notify the other party, but if no response is claimed, the bond will be paid out to the applicant.

To ensure any property damage is paid for by the renter, it’s important that you work with your agent to ensure end of lease inspections are conducted promptly, and bond claims completed in the required time frame.

Penalties: The new reforms see some fines more than double, while other penalties will sit at ten and even up to 24 times the previous fine cost.

Timing: Some of the new requirements only apply to tenancy agreements entered into on or after the 29 March 2021 Residential rental providers, in particular, would be wise to work with their property manager to understand the new requirements to help ensure they continue to get value and enjoyment out of their property investment. ●

5962 3030

markgunther.com.au 189 Maroondah Highway, Healesville

LISTINGS WANTED! r

LOW

e STRONG FOR SALE

HIGH

Healesville 2/10 St Leonards Road First Home or Smart Investment Here is a great opportunity for you to get into the market. With some imagination & a bit of hard work, you could transform this home into something great. Ideally located, this home could make a great B&B, investment or first home. Set within a quiet complex of 3 units, this one offers 2 bedrooms, open plan living & dining, polished timber floors & a courtyard garden.

mailcommunity.com.au

2A 1B 1C JUST SOLD | OFF-LINE Agent Gary Lucas 0407 595 113

ur

Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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MAIL 13

With nearly 20 years’ experience helping families find their home. realestateview.com.au is the trusted source for property

VISIT US TODAY

12500317-HC25-21

14 MAIL

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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PUZZLES SUDOKU

No. 033

To solve a Sudoku puzzle, every number from 1 to 9 must appear in: each of the nine vertical columns, each of the nine horizontal rows and each of the nine 3 x 3 boxes. Remember, no number can occur more than once in any row, column or box.

easy

6 9 2 8 5 4 8 3 6 9 1 2 3 1 2 3 8 3 5 4 6

1 8 6 5 9

4

4 5 1 2 3 medium

5 4

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS Highways (5) Best features (9) Paintings of people (9) Gap (5) Prefix meaning new (3) Bigotry (11) Female stage performer (7) It causes a bad reaction (7) Acrobat (7) Journeys (7) Focus (11) Enemy (3) Former US president (5) Provided safe-haven (9) Levels (of quality) (9) Short literary composition (5)

1 4 9 10 11 12 13 15 17 20 23 25 26 27 28 29

3 4 5 6 7 8 14 16 18 19 21 22 23 24

No. 033

Endure (7) Type of garment (5) Subsequent (9) Nose hole (7) Coach (7) Part of a play (5) Injured player carrier (9) Preceding day (9) US state (7) On the sheltered side (7) Great (7) Attempts (7) Cuts (wood) (5) Land measures (5)

DOWN Contrite (9) Transport hub (7)

1 2

DECODER

No. 033

5 8 9

2 5 3 7 2 3 4 2 3 7 9 9 2 6 9 6 2 6 5 1 3 4 hard

5 2 4 6 1 4 5 9 1 5 2 7 9 3 4

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9-LETTER WORD Using the nine letters in the grid, how many words of four letters or more can you list? The centre letter must be included and each letter may only be used once.

No colloquial or foreign words. No capitalised nouns, apostrophes or plural words ending in “s”.

M

Today’s Aim: 10 words: Good 15 words: Very good 21 words: Excellent

T

O

E

C

F D

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4 LETTERS ARES ARID BABY DESK GALS GASP GEED GLAD GOAD GRID HOOK SEWS SLUG TROT

5 LETTERS ABETS ABYSS ACRID ADORE AGILE ALONE AMISS ARCED AREN'T AROSE ASSET AWARE BADLY BARBS BEGIN BRINE COMMA DARNS DIGIT GALES

No. 033

GENES GOUGE GRILL IDEAL IMAGE INANE LEEKS LOYAL METRO MINOR PORES RAGER REAPS REMIT REUSE SAUTÉ SENDS SHEDS SHOWY SINEW SLIDE

SNEAK SNORE STEEL STEMS STEPS TOWED TUNES TWEED UTERI 6 LETTERS ROASTS SLEWED SONATA TEETER

7 LETTERS ERASURE EYEBALL EYESORE IDEALLY NEUTRAL ORIENTS 8 LETTERS ELECTRON ENTWINES PARALYSE SHERRIES

comfort, COMFORTED, croft, deform, deft, food, foot, footed, footer, force, forced, ford, fore, form, formed, fort, forte, fret, from, roof, roofed

6 4 1 7 2 8 3 9 5

7 4 1 8 6 3 9 2 5

3 5 2 7 1 9 6 4 8

6 8 9 5 4 2 1 7 3

8 9 6 1 2 5 7 3 4

2 1 7 6 3 4 5 8 9

5 3 4 9 7 8 2 6 1

4 6 8 2 9 1 3 5 7

9 7 5 3 8 6 4 1 2

1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 6

9 8 3 4 6 5 2 1 7

2 7 5 9 3 1 4 6 8

8 3 6 1 7 4 5 2 9

5 9 2 3 8 6 1 7 4

4 1 7 5 9 2 8 3 6

3 2 4 6 5 9 7 8 1

7 5 9 8 1 3 6 4 2

1 6 8 2 4 7 9 5 3

6 8 1 9 7 2 4 5 3

7 9 4 1 3 5 2 8 6

3 2 5 8 4 6 1 9 7

1 4 3 5 8 7 9 6 2

8 6 7 2 9 3 5 1 4

9 5 2 6 1 4 7 3 8

2 7 8 3 5 1 6 4 9

5 3 6 4 2 9 8 7 1

4 1 9 7 6 8 3 2 5

Puzzles and pagination © Pagemasters | pagemasters.com

16

hard

15

medium

14

easy

3 LETTERS AWE DAB DEN ELF END ERA EYE FAN GEM HUH IRE IRS LOB LSD MEN NAG ORE RAN SEA TEA TIP TOT USE WIG

QRWE Y N I AH F P B U

6

G S Z T D CMX K VO L J G S

6 9 8 6 8 3 1 3 4

WORDFIT

18-06-21

This week’s crossword proudly sponsored by

The Heritage Family

HERITAGE & HERITAGE FUNERALS Lilydale 9739 7799 Healesville 5962 1600 HERITAGE PIONEERS CHAPEL 1414 Healesville/Koo Wee Rup Road, Woori Yallock 5964 6500 Head Office: 733 Boronia Road, Wantirna 9800 3000 info@ heritagefunerals.com.au www.heritagefunerals.com.au 1157336-CB40-14

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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MAIL 15

networkclassifieds.com.au Trades & Services

www.networkclassifieds.com.au

Place your ad in print and online

V Deadline

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V Heating

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BLINDS & SECURITY DOORS Proprietor ProprietorChris ChrisBurley Burley

5962 4060 0409 889 507 0409 889 507

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Hour ฀

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1202250-KC42-15

Jason 13

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00 644 6

PIC: 38148 REC: 17042 AU: 06212

0433 223 796

Ricky Prest: yr.landscaping@hotmail.com

IAN HARRIS Painting

98

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Reliable service Over 20 years’ experience Healesville, Yarra valley & Surrounding Areas

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12453512-RC29-20

V Fencing & Gates

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section of Network Classifieds.

฀฀฀฀ ฀฀฀฀

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฀0418 515 414

J.L. Hutt Electrical ฀

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12438941-CG04-20

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24 HOUR SERVICE ฀

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Jason 1300 644 698

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D.G. & V.M. CLINCH

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR *Domestic *Commercial *New Installations *Maintenance Ph: 0418 172 328

5966 9141 R.E.C. 8864

1211217-PB51-15

12368209-HM42-17

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• Domestic/Commercial Glazing/Repairs • Manufacture of Frameless/Semiframeless & Fully Framed Shower Screens • Double Glazing & Laminated Glass • Glass cut to size - Pick up or Delivery • Insurance Work Handled • Free Quotes or just some advice • New Colours and Styles in Splashbacks • Qualified Tradesman

The Re-Roof Man

Call your local Glass Supplier Ph/Fax: 5962 2888 Mobile: 0418 102 370 Prop. DAVID DUNCAN 24HRS - 7DAYS 16 HUNTER ROAD, HEALESVILLE

All types of Roofs

All major credit cards accepted

V Furniture Removals

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RIDGELINE GLASS & GLAZING

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1194040-KC32-15

Employment

฀

section of Network Classifieds.

Boxes and packaging material for sale Local, country and metro All Household Maintenance Available

Phone Dean 5962 1090 Mobile: 0412 086 471

Find what your looking for in our

General Notices section of Network Classifieds.

STEVENS GLASS

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Paul 0418 570 231

paulnobes@live.com.au

Lic. 25035

375 Maroondah Highway, North Croydon

Showroom open Mon - Fri, 8am - 5pm (8 - 12 Saturdays)

• Household & Shopfront Glass Repairs • Insurance Work • Commercial & Domestic Glazing • Mirrors

฀ ฀ ฀ ฀

12402861-RA44-18

KELLY’S FENCING & TIMBER ฀฀฀฀ ฀฀฀฀

฀

General Classifieds

V Glass/Glazing

V Roofing

Call Steve 0417 192 009

฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀

Ian 0412 814 298 Jake 0402 913 197

• Frameless/Semi-frameless shower screens • Frameless balustrading • Splashbacks • Cut to size while you wait

Phone: 9726 6488

1118763-RC07-14

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12409424-CG04-19

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Specialising In: • All Aspects of Stonework • Paving • Retaining Walls • Driveways • Landscape Construction • 3 Tonne Excavator with Augers

V Painters/Decorators

Call 1300 666 808 12358958-PB30-17

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HEATING & COOLING www.fairbairns.com.au Est. 1982

V Landscaping

“Since advertising in the local Mail papers our enquiries have increased immensely and we continue to get great results” ă 'DPLDQ

V Builders & Building Services

Small Job Specialist

FAIRBAIRNS

Leak detection & repair Valleys replaced Pensioner discount

Rebedding & pointing Skylight resealing Written guarantee

Call Chris 0412 099 142 23 years in roofing leaks

12462305-LB39-20

2214155v11

Roof Restoration Specialists

One call, We do it all!

đŏ ((ŏ(! 'ŏ.!, %./ŏđŏ ++"ŏ /$%*#ŏđŏ ++"ŏ %*0%*# đŏ (!4%ġ,+%*0%*#ŏđŏ % #!ŏ0%(!ŏ.!ġ ! %*# đŏ ((!5ŏ $ *#%*#ŏđŏ 100!.ŏ (! *%*#ŏ".+)ŏĸāĂĀ đŏ ((ŏ05,!/ŏ+"ŏ.++ü*#ŏ * ŏ .,!*0.5

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Healesville Blinds

24 HOUR

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Speak to our classified team and find out how easy it is to advertise. Start building your brand today and be seen every week in Network Classifieds Trades and Services.

9870 7059

YARRA RIDGE

12493755-SN19-21

From plumbers to pest control, carpet cleaning to building services, dry cleaning to computer repairs, lawn mowing and more, Network Classifieds has been connecting local businesses with the local community with our Trades and Services each week.

V Awnings, Blinds & Curtains

• Blinds and Awnings of all types • Security Doors and Screens • Competitive Rates and Free Measure and Quote

12485952-DL11-21

TRADES & SERVICES

(1.5% credit card processing fee applies.)

Deadline for all classifications is 4pm Friday.

(Terms & Conditions Apply)

C1074785-KK7-13

VISA/MASTERCARD/EFTPOS/BANK TRANSFER

12334723-EPJ02-17

We accept payment by:

Gas Ducted Changeovers Split Systems Ducted Refrig

LANDSCAPING

(include your name, address and phone number)

10 year Guarantee.

Call now for a FREE quote: 0405 817 173

12454729-SG29-20

16 MAIL

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

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Trades & Services

Employment V Tree Lopping/Surgery

Ph: 0400 627 644 V Septic Tanks

Casual role in accommodation sector in Lilydale.

Experienced with customer relations and booking system.

5962 4841

C936869-KK25-11

• Septic Tanks • Treatment Plants • Grease Traps • EPA Licence • Portable Toilets

9735 3700

Mobile 0419 131 958 SERVICING ALL AREAS BOB WALLACE AND SONS

Must be available alternate weekends.

Endorsed Nurses (ENs) Casual

FULLY INSURED

YARRA VALLEY SEPTIC TANK CLEANING

V Positions Vacant

RECEPTIONIST

30 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE

DIN TREE SERVICE WA•N TREES PRUNED, LOPPED, FELLED AND REMOVED • WOODCHIPPING AND STUMPGRINDING • QUALIFIED ARBORIST FREE • PROMPT RELIABLE SERVICE QUOTES • EXCELLENT RATES

12499475-CG25-21

Over 20 years experience in all aspects of Roof Tiling.

• Roofing Repairs • Leak Detection • Re-Bed and Point • Roof Restoration • Re-Roofs • Extensions Call Ross now for a no Obligation free quote.

Personalised and Professional Service Guaranteed

V Medical/Nursing

12386568-ACM19-18

C1047556-KG35-12

V Roofing

0473 326 333 Employment

Immediate start.

AdventCare is a ‘not for profit’ organisation offering aged care that embraces Christian values. We are seeking applications from Endorsed Enrolled Nurses for our Yarra Ranges Facility in Warburton.

Email resume to: admin@wescombegroup.com.au

On offer: • Casual position, with the option to become a permanent staff member • Immediate start • Salary sacrifice

MECHANIC WANTED IF YOU ARE A GOOD QUALIFIED MECHANIC WITH ENERGY AND SKILLS!

The successful applicant/s will have: • Experience in residential aged care • Knowledge of ACFI and Aged Care Standards and Accreditation requirements.

• Wound Management Experience • Positions subject to a successful Police Check • Flu Vaccination

TALK TO US BECAUSE

WE NEED A GOOD MECHANIC WE WILL GIVE THE RIGHT MECHANIC THE PAY AND INCENTIVES TO WORK WITH US!

Please email yarra.ranges@adventcare.org.au or call (03) 5966 4400 for a position description or if you have any queries.

section of Network Classifieds.

12495729-NG21-21

ENJOY A VARIETY OF WORK, WORK LOCAL AND SAVE TRAVEL TIME AND PETROL!

General Notices V Firewood V Public Notices and Event

Delivered

0407 307 432

The Minister for Planning has approved Amendment C187 to the Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme.

V For Sale

The Amendment came into operation on 28 May 2021, the date the notice was published in the Victoria Government Gazette.

BED Queen size base and mattress, good condition, clean. Madison brand. $250. 0437 701 939.

The amendment rezones surplus government land at 13 Green Street, Healesville, from Public Use Zone 4 – Transport (PUZ4) to Commercial 1 Zone (C1Z) and applies the Environmental Audit Overlay (EAO) and the Specific Controls Overlay (SCO15) to the whole of the site. It introduces 13 Green Street, Healesville, Incorporated Document December 2020 into the Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme.

V Massage Therapists ADVERTISERS in this section are qualified practitioners and offer nonsexual services.

A copy of the Amendment can be inspected, free of charge, at the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website at www.planning.vic.gov. au/public-inspection or by contacting 1800 789 386 and free of charge, at the Yarra Ranges Council website, www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/C187.

Professionals section of Network Classifieds.

Information about the dates of Council meetings during 2021, how these will operate during this time and how members of the community can still participate, is available on our website at https://www. yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Council/Council-meetings Tammi Rose Chief Executive Officer

12500315-NG25-21

Motoring section of Network Classifieds.

Find local work with an advert in the

Trades & Services section of Network Classifieds.

mailcommunity.com.au

V Firewood

FIREWOOD Split & Dry Undercover Redgum and Bushwood Redgum pickup or delivery Weights and measures approved.

Provider of work cover and human services Credit card available LumbaJack

Are you experienced in sales and enjoy dealing with customers over the phone?

The successful applicant/s will have: • Experience in residential aged care • Knowledge of ACFI and Aged Care Standards and Accreditation requirements.

• Experience in Quality Improvement systems • Positions subject to a successful Police Check

TELEPHONE SALES Inbound/Outbound

V Positions Vacant

Our Classifieds team is looking for a motivated, passionate and reliable individual who loves a challenge and enjoys a fast paced team environment.

Work close to home with free onsite parking at our office in Pakenham. Your day will be kept busy servicing existing clients and making cold outbound calls to gain new business.

Experience in advertising sales is an advantage, but not essential.

The world has changed, and we need compassionate and bold people to make a life change and move to Gippsland.

To apply send your resume with covering letter to: Classified Advertising Manager sales@networkclassifieds.com.au

Please email yarra.ranges@adventcare.org.au or call (03) 5966 4400 for a position description or if you have any queries.

12498563-JW24-21

Be empowered to inspire people, enliven communities and confront social injustice.

We have multiple opportunities in community services ranging from:

Maintenance Coordinator

• Caseworkers • AOD & Youth Residential workers • Manager positions Work with us and enjoy a positive and supportive culture, training opportunities and rewarding work. We will also offer relocation costs for successful applicants.

Learn more about the roles on offer and rewarding lifestyle you can live in Gippsland.

Call Wenda Donaldson, General Manager, South & East Victoria on 0419 992 160 or email wenda.donaldson@vt.uniting.org Please also visit our website: www.unitingvictas.org.au/careers/

0409 184 802 Please leave a message if phone unattended, call will be returned.

Real Estate V Wanted To Rent

www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au

Anyone advertising a puppy, dog, kitten or cat in Victoria for sale or re-homing will need a source number from the Pet Exchange Register and a microchip identification number.

It is now an offence to advertise unless the source number and microchip identification number is included in the advertisement or notice.

For further information, call 136 186 or visit animalwelfare.vic.gov.au

12492429-HC18-21

In order to ensure the health and safety of Councillors, staff and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the public are not able to attend council meetings in person. Instead, our community is encouraged to live stream the proceedings via Council’s website.

On offer: We are looking for an experienced RN or EN to work 2-3 days a week. The role would involve quality support to the coordinator.

12499093-AV24-21

Advertise in the

The meeting will commence at 7pm, unless otherwise advertised, and will be broadcast live on Council’s website.

AdventCare is a ‘not for profit’ organisation offering aged care that embraces Christian values. We are seeking applications from RNs or ENs for our Yarra Ranges Facility in Warburton.

ADVERTISERS PLEASE NOTE

12423634-SN31-19

12500193-AV25-21

www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au

Notice is hereby given that an additional meeting of Council will be held on Tuesday 29 June 2021.

RN/EN Part-Time position QUALITY

V Pets & Services

JOHN LUPPINO Acting Director State Planning Services Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

NOTICE OF ADDITIONAL COUNCIL MEETING

For more details: Ph: 0408 521 174

HEALESVILLE area. Comfy bungalow wanted in Chalet Road for professional chef working nearby. Willing to pay up to $200 per week. Must be fully self contained and wood heating preferred. Trustworthy, Charismatic, likes area and full references supplied. Phone Kris 0417 263 494

12479876-SG05-21

$200 per metre

Planning and Environment Act 1987 YARRA RANGES PLANNING SCHEME Notice of Approval of Amendment Amendment C187

12455472-LB31-20

REDGUM FIREWOOD

Personal Care Attendant (PCA) (Casual Positions) AdventCare is a ‘not for profit’ organisation offering aged care that embraces Christian values. We are seeking applications from Personal Care Attendants for our Yarra Ranges Facility in Warburton, who are looking for casual work.

On offer: • Casual position, with an option for permanent part time employment • Immediate start • Salary sacrifice The successful applicant/s will have: • Certificate III in Aged Care or higher • Excellent interpersonal and written/verbal communication skills • Experience in residential aged care • Positions subject to a successful Police Check Please email yarra.ranges@adventcare.org.au or call (03) 5966 4400 for a position description or if you have any queries.

12498564-JW24-21

AdventCare is a ‘not for profit’ organisation offering aged care that embraces Christian values. We are seeking applications for a person with general maintenance abilities to work at our Warburton site. The position will require 3 days a week at our Aged Care facility and 1 day a week at out Independent living units.

The Maintenance Coordinator is responsible for the implementation, co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of an efficient and effective preventative and corrective maintenance program for buildings, equipment and grounds.

The successful applicant/s will have: • Experience in residential aged care – (preferred) • Must have current successful Police Check (mandatory) • General maintenance/gardening and/or painting skills • Knowledge and or experience in establishing, and co-ordinating a programmed maintenance program Please email yarra.ranges@adventcare.org.au or call (03) 5966 4400 for a position description or if you have any queries.

12497847-SN23-21

ADVERTISE with us and get better results CALL 1300 666 808 Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

|

MAIL 17

SPORT

Wheeling her way to award success

By Mikayla van Loon As someone who was never interested in sport, Isabel Martin, 22, has been making headway in the Victorian and Australian basketball scene as Basketball Victoria’s Wheelchair Athlete of the Year for 2020.

Not knowing she had been nominated for the award, Ms Martin said it came as a surprise.

“It was really cool. It was unexpected and I guess in 2020, it was a hard year, there was a lot of work but not really any gain.

“We weren’t playing and we weren’t having tournaments and everything was being cancelled and you were still expected to be training and working in lockdown so it was nice to be recognised.”

Ms Martin said even though she wasn’t able to play last year, to still be recognised was an honour.

“It was definitely a hard year and the fact that we weren’t playing and no end in sight really, it was mentally hard to keep going and looking back I’m proud of that, so it does mean a lot,” she said.

Ms Martin played with the Kilsyth Cobras’ WNWBL team for a number of years but unfortunately, believed to be due to a lack of funding, the wheelchair basketball team was cut last year.

Having been pushed by her mum in 2014 to attend a basketball ‘come and try day’, Ms Martin said from that day on she really enjoyed the sport.

“It was something that I needed to be pushed to do and she knew it would benefit me in the end.”

By 2015 Ms Martin was involved in the state basketball program and went to her first tournament with the Victorian team.

“That was a really good learning opportunity and I’ve just loved it ever since,” she said.

Setting her goals even higher, by the end of 2016 Ms Martin was training and playing in friendly games with the Australian Gliders.

Now she has her hopes set on being selected for the 2021 Paralympic team.

“Since I started basketball, I’ve been looking at the Australian Gliders as the ultimate goal and it was so exciting to be involved with them for the first time,” Ms Martin said.

Isabel Martin has been awarded the 2020 Charles Ryan Wheelchair Athlete of the Year award.

Picture: SUPPLIED “I think the paralympics is the pinnacle and so it’s exciting to even just be considered for selection regardless of whichever way it goes.”

All being well with Covid-19 restrictions, Ms Martin said a selection camp for the Australian Gliders team will happen in three weeks.

Grateful for all the support and guidance her coach has given her, as well as everyone

else who has believed in her, Ms Martin said she just wants to make those people proud.

“It’s a really great community and all the people at Basketball Victoria and everyone working to give wheelchair basketball a platform and give opportunities to players, I’m very grateful to them and it has been a good program to be a part of.”

Clean-up continues, but back to the course After another Covid break we were finally able to get back on the course at Healesville.

The course, unfortunately, was very boggy after the recent downpours but a few brave souls ventured out to see what they could still do with a golf ball.

Playing Double Par, Grant Handasyde (5) managed to come first with a 0 thereby equaling his handicap. Next, to keep it in the family was his grandson Tom Handasyde (20) with a -1.

Karl Hradsky (10) came third with a -2.

Nearest the pins were hit by Karl Hradsky, Tom Handasyde and two to Grant Handasyde. Tom Handasyde also won the Secret Holes competition with a +2 over the four holes.

- Karl Hradksy Healesville golf When the rumour that the easing the lockdown might come through; it was received with relief, particularly from die hard RACV Golfing Members. Electric golf buggies and carts were put on charge, but then came the rain.

Nearly five inches in old measurements, but the destruction was not expected and we’ve all had to live through the result; a ‘storm event’ the flashing signs about town told us, No kidding!

Thankfully the rain and wind had abated

by Thursday 10 June and it was time to check the golf course. Like everywhere else in the Val18 MAIL

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Tuesday, 15 June, 2021

ley, surely it had coped a beating too. Walking about the course the kangaroos were found on higher ground lazing about the 5th and 6th tee.

On the back nine much of the sand had been washed from bunkers and trees were down. One beside the 15th fairway had taken out power lines on Chum Creek Rd. Water flow down the burn had been so strong that many previously lost golf balls had been swept down 17th fairway; 15 of them trapped against the

boundary fence and the short course had become part of Lake Healesville.

By the Friday, ground staff had pulled off a miracle, the course was wet but ready for play, so who might be first back on the course?

The uncoiling of the swing into the balanced follow through seemed familiar but the crisp sound of the ball strike was unmistakable. On his own enjoying the solitude was Glenn Newberry; who could blame him?

- Ian Callen

Senior lifts the bar

By Taylah Eastwell Yarra Ranges resident Robert Frost is lifting the bar for seniors.

At 72-years of age, the powerlifting champion is preparing to compete in yet another Australian Masters Games in Perth, where he aims to achieve an “Australian first“ in his weight and age class in the one deadlift.

After discovering the gym in 2006, Mr Frost has never looked back, having previously taken out first place for his age category at the 2015 Adelaide Masters Games and numerous other titles.

“I began competing when my wife was very ill and I was caring for her. I realised I needed to be strong to do that, so I thought, if you get your body strong first the mind will follow. So I used to go very early and train in Broadmeadows, which got me through the caring role,” he said.

The Broadmeadows gym was run by a lady Mr Frost’s age, and had people attending in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

“Power lifting is very safe. It’s the safety that appeals to me. We were all there in the gym three times a week so I got to know people in the power lifting system and from there it began at Eleiko, a weightlifting centre in Hawthorn,” Mr Frost said.

Now, Mr Frost can’t get enough, having fallen in love with the entire competing process.

“My message is anyone can do this, they just need to have a go. If you’re coming in new, be careful. Build up to it, there is nothing you can’t do. Anyone can run a marathon, it just might take some people more time,” he said.

While Mr Frost normally begins training 8-10 weeks out from a comp, the uncertainty with Covid-19 lockdowns has seen him in the gym training 30 weeks out.

“I train five times a week. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday is my deadlifting day so I always have a break the day after. Then I do Thursday and Friday, and rest again on Saturday,” he said.

Training at Monbulk Aquatic Centre, he has gained much support from the local team in the gym.

And with the games not until October, Mr Frost is placing himself in good stead to smash his latest goal.

“Lifting keeps you disciplined. You care about when and what you eat, when you sleep. You just feel sharper, fitter all round,“ he said.

“It’s a very rewarding lift. It’s the opposite to running or rowing in that you exercise for 10 seconds and rest for four or five. I enjoy it because I can socialise in the gym or relax and watch videos in the rest time,” he laughed.

When his not in the gym, Mr Frost enjoys volunteering as a local school crossing supervisor.

“I think most older people want to have an activity every day that doesn’t stress you too much but it’s there,” he said.

His advice to seniors – “just do what you like doing. Anyone can do anything”.

Robert Frost from Monbulk will compete in the 2021 Australian Masters Games in Perth in October. mailcommunity.com.au

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