50 years ago, August 1976

Ten young ladies who were presented to His Lordship, the Bishop of Sandhurst, Rev Dr D. B. Stewart, on making their debut at the Elmore Catholic Ball, which was held in the Elmore Memorial Hall, on Friday, August 6, were trained by Mr and Mrs John Holmberg.

The young ladies and their partners danced the ‘Marie-etta’ after their presentation. They were chaperoned by Mrs K. Mann.

The debutantes were Pauline Comer, Eva Rosaia, Suzanne Carboon, Marlene Holmberg, Gabrielle Mann, Colleen Dunn; Debbie Tobin, Ann Brewer, Angela Tuohey and Louise Bonfigli.

***

One of the last public engagements for retiring Huntly Shire councillor E. R. K. Shotton was to officially open the Elderly People’s flats in Elmore.

The units, stage one of a four stage plan to build 21 flats for elderly people in Elmore, were constructed by Phelan Industries Pty Ltd of Maryborough, at a cost of $58,589.

Construction of stage two of the units has commenced, and the work is being carried out by Stawell Timber Industries. The expected cost of the second stage is $46,658.

Work on stage one of the units commenced late in 1974, and the units are situated in Jeffrey St, Elmore.

***

The ‘New Games' area at the Rochester High School is continuing to develop, and outside organisations are already starting to make use of the equipment and expertise available at the school in this field.

Mr M. Bell and a team of teachers recently ran a ‘New Games’ day at Colbinabbin, involving about 200 people connected with the Girl Guides Association.

The day was an outstanding success.

Special thanks go to Mr Bell and his support team for their enthusiasm and willingness to give of their own time to run days such as this.

25 years ago, August 2001

Eight of 17 acute hospital beds were closed on Friday at the Rochester and Elmore District Health Service after a breakdown in talks concerning the statewide dispute over nursing-patient ratios.

The Australian Nurses Federation called members at the Rochester hospital to close beds in support of their claims that the Victorian Government had gone back on its word to continue funding improvements to nurse-patient ratios.

Rochester members have chosen to close five acute hospital beds, with a further three beds in reserve in cases of emergency admissions.

If the dispute goes on, the health service’s seven aged care beds are also likely to be affected, as beds will be closed if they become available through transfer or a death of a patient.

However, with talks today hopeful of bringing about a resolution, REDHS director of nursing Judith Pellas said yesterday it was decided to go ahead with today’s surgery list.

***

After 25 years of teaching, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Primary School teacher Leonie Strauch is still enthusiastic about watching children learn.

The Elmore teacher’s work with children has been recognised with a nomination for the National Excellence in Teaching Award.

The national awards are organised by the National Excellence in Teaching Awards Foundation and are held to recognise excellent teachers and highlight the work they are completing as individuals and within a team.

***

Lockington farmers Donald and Sheelagh Watson are reaping the rewards of their long-term desire to save water on their property.

After nine years of actively working to reduce the farm’s problems with poor drainage, loss of irrigation water and a rising water table, the Watsons are now enjoying the benefits of improved production and long-term viability for their farm.

However, the difficult task of achieving their objectives began in 1993 when a private drainage system was installed, which included a siphon under the irrigation channel so the water run-off could be directed into the recycle system, which was mainly used for drainage of the cow shed effluent.

The recycle system, which was installed in 1993, covers eight hectares and has been turned into a wildlife and wetland sanctuary that consists of two interconnecting dams with four islands, and now after improvements can hold around eight megalitres of water.

10 years ago, August 2016

D-day has arrived for four outdoor swimming pools in Campaspe Shire.

And it is not looking good for the communities hoping to keep their pools open.

Council will meet tonight to decide whether to demolish pools in Lockington, Tongala, Stanhope and Colbinabbin.

On Friday, council officers released the agenda for tonight’s meeting, reaffirming their recommendation for councillors to shut the pools.

Lockington pool representative Kylie Floyd said it had been an ‘‘intense’’ four months trying to convince council to keep the pool open, but she remained quietly optimistic the pendulum would swing in the town’s favour.

‘‘All of us are really hopeful that what we’ve been doing has had an impact,’’ she said.

‘‘I think council would be surprised by how many people care about the pools, even if they are not high-end users.’’

***

Rochester’s Dylan Cuttriss and Todd Woodfine will head up the next step of the AFL Goulburn Murray Academy next year.

Cuttriss and GM regional development manager Trevor Mellington were out and about at Sunday’s Goulburn Campaspe Lightning Premiership for under-12 players and said the new under-13 intake would support the existing under-14 and under-15 systems introduced this season.

‘‘The plan is we get around to look at all the under-12 sides, discuss things with club and interleague coaches and form a squad of around 20 to 25 who come into our pathway program,’’ Cuttriss said.

***

Campaspe CFA members feel like they have been kicked in the guts by the Victorian Government after the CFA board approved the United Firefighters’ Union’s controversial EBA on Friday.

It was deemed a ‘‘day of infamy that will burn into the memory of every CFA volunteer’’ by Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria chief executive Andrew Ford on the weekend.

Rochester CFA members said they were disappointed with the outcome — which saw the preferences of about 1200 staff favoured above 60,000 volunteers’ — but it would not let low morale get in the way of the job.

Campaspe News Google News Panels

Monday, 10th May 2027

Your Afternoon Headlines

Select Stories

Publish Panels