Warracknabeal Herald » News

An experience to remember

superadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:57:09 +0000

WARRACKNABEAL Secondary College student Madison Jeffery was thrilled to take part in the exclusive UBS Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Sydney recently.
As one of 50 young women from across Australia, selected to take part in the academy Madison said it was one of the most rewarding experiences she had ever participated in.
“It wasn’t anything like I expected, I thought it would be ‘hardcore’ learning but it was more relaxed, with the mentors giving us tips on university, interview techniques and tips on first jobs,” Madison said.
“Along with making lots of new lifetime friends, I learnt about different types of leadership styles, how to be a good leader, how to present myself, how to make a good presentation and how to make achievable goals,” she said.
“One of the most important things I learnt during my weekend in Sydney was that you never say no to anything, you say yes and then decline later, once you have thought about it.”
Madison said the range of girls who attended the academy was extremely diverse.
“The majority of them came from schools much bigger than what we have in the country and there were so many girls of different nationalities and personal backgrounds,” Madison said.
“It was also a wonderful opportunity to see what university life will be like, because we stayed in university dorm rooms, and ate the majority of our meals there as well,” she said.
“One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the Archibald exhibition at the New South Wales Art Gallery, which was amazing, as was seeing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.”
“I would encourage everyone to try hard at whatever they do, because when opportunities present themselves, doors will open for you”.

Disaster averted but warning… Don’t overheat woodheaters

superadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:47:57 +0000

AN Antwerp family narrowly avoided losing their second home to a woodheater flue fire during the early hours of Sunday morning.
The Eastwell family had previously, virtually lost a home in Molyneaux-st Warracknabeal several years ago, which was being rented while they were living in Karratha, and were devastated that they almost lost their second.
Both fires started under similar circumstances with the wood fire vent door being left open causing a dramatic draft in the fire, and the flue to burn red hot and ignite the roof cavity.
Terry Eastwell (a former fireman), said his daughter had cleaned out the ash-pan and latched the vent door when she had finished however, it must have popped open.
“My wife kept saying that the fire seemed to be burning a lot of wood but we couldn’t work out the reason for it, as a door covers the vent opening” he said.
“At about 12.45am I woke up and thought I could smell something hot. I heard a bump in the roof but couldn’t see fire or smell smoke in the house, not even the smoke detectors went off.”
“Upon further investigation, I discovered the roof cavity completely engulfed in flames, so I got my daughter to ring the fire brigade while I attempted to put the fire out with a garden hose, which was initially too short. We ran and found another length of hose to join together, but it was split so the girls had wrap a glove around it and hold it to give me enough pressure to extinguish the fire in the roof space, while they stood soaked in the cold night air”, Mr Eastwell said.
“It took quite some work to put it out and the smoke was seriously choking. I thought I had it out but then it flared up again on the other side of the chimney.
He said it was fortunate that he had been able to put the fire out before the fire brigade arrived.
“We later discovered that the wood heater flue, which is situated in a brick fireplace with a brick chimney, had a six to eight inch section at the top which is exposed, where the brickwork was removed under the roofing iron,” he said.
“This means that because the vent is drawing in air, acting like a blast furnace, it was heating up the flue which was burning red hot, causing the timbers in the roof to spontaneously ignite.”
We are extremely thankful for all of the assistance and support provided by Hindmarsh Shire Council and the members of the Antwerp and Dimboola Fire Brigades.
“This is an important message for all homes that have a wood heater, people need to ensure that they close the vent door and not allow too much air into the wood heater.”
“At this stage we have no idea what the cost of damage from the fire is, insurance assessors are still to evaluate the damage, we are fortunate that our family is able to continue to reside in our home, although the shire kindly organised temporary accommodation for us for the first couple of nights, until electricity was reconnected,” he said.
“It is nice to have a roaring fire, but it is much better not to have your house burn down”.

– Police news –

superadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:47:16 +0000

A WARRACKNABEAL man received a penalty notice for careless driving after he collided with a powerpole in Craig-ave on Sunday.
Acting Sergeant Chris Van Buuren said a male driver, 24 collided with the powerpole, knocking it completely out of the ground, and causing damage to the vehicle.
“The male was uninjured and was interviewed in relation to the matter, later issued with a penalty notice for careless driving,” Acting Sgt Van Buuren said.
“The powerpole was replaced with a concrete one,” he said.
Patrolling
Acting Sgt Van Buuren said residents may have noticed an increased police presence in and around Warracknabeal during the past week, with traffic police patrolling the area as part of a joint VicRoads operation targeting trucks.
Careful
After receiving several complaints from residents about youths riding along the footpaths in Warracknabeal, including almost colliding with children, Acting Sgt Van Buuren has issued a plea to cyclists to be careful of others.
“Please slow down and be careful of other footpath users,” he said.
Disorderly
Acting Sgt Van Buuren has expressed his disappointment about seeing extremely intoxicated youths engaging in disorderly behaviour in recent weeks.
“A few weeks back it was disappointing to see extremely intoxicated youths unable to stand at parties in the area,” he said.
“In areas around the town, patches of vomit littered the streets, a testament to excessive drinking and a lack of control.”
“It was also disappointing to see trees pulled out at the roots. It appears people have lost their dignity and respect, both for themselves and the community of Warracknabeal.”
Acting Sgt Van Buuren said any person witnessed vomiting by police will automatically receive a $563 penalty notice for being drunk, or drunk and disorderly in a public place.
“Any person seen pulling out trees will be arrested and charged with criminal damage, and face anything from a fine to imprisonment,” he said.
“People need to start taking pride in themselves, and the community in which they live”.

Planned burning starts

superadmin — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:55:34 +0000

MALLEE residents may see smoke in the air in coming weeks with the Department of Environment and Primary Industries starting its autumn planned burning program on public land.
DEPI Mallee Land and Fire district manager, Phillip Murdoch, said the Department’s planned burning program is part of an integrated plan to reduce bushfire risk to people, property and communities.
“Crews have been monitoring fuel conditions across the district to take advantage of opportunities to burn as they arise,” Mr Murdoch said.
Wyperfeld National Park’s Nine Mile Square Track West 502 hectare fuel reduction burn is 42 kilometres south of Underbool, and 18 kilometres west south west of Patchewollock.
The aim of the planned burn is to slow down the spread of any future bushfires in the park by creating a strategic fuel reduced corridor.
The Birdcage Flora and Fauna Reserve, Broadies Track West 376 hectare fuel reduction burn is 19 kilometres west of Rainbow.
The aim of the planned burn is to create a strategic fuel reduced corridor against the spread of wildfire in State Forest adjacent to the Flora and Fauna Reserve.
“We know that seeing smoke, especially for people who have previously experienced bushfires, can cause concern,” Mr Murdoch said.
“We want to assure people that while planned burning does have risks, with careful planning preparation and management, led by experienced staff, few burns cause problems,” he said.
“We work closely with the Bureau of Meteorology and will only start a burn when we assess the fuel moisture and weather conditions, such as humidity, temperature and wind speed, as suitable.”
“It is vital we undertake planned burns whenever the weather is right to reduce fuel loads, and the best opportunities tend to be in autumn when conditions are most stable.”
“A planned burn won’t always stop a bushfire, but it can help slow down the spread of fires and reduce their size and intensity,” he said.

Interference at Minyip

superadmin — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:49:00 +0000

MINYIP residents are becoming increasingly frustrated by interference to their phone service, with many believing illegal repeaters are to blame.
The Warracknabeal Herald was approached a fortnight ago by a concerned resident, who said the interference had been affecting residents, in some cases completely stopping their service, since March 7 with no response received from Telstra.
A repeater is a device for the automatic re-transmission or amplification of an electrically transmitted message, and to get to the bottom of the interference, Minyip woman Jess Adler complained on Telstra’s Facebook page.
A response from “Dingo” confirmed that there was interference to the Minyip telephone tower.
The response reads, in part: “There has been an increase in the interference at the exchange that is degrading the signal strength”.
“This is not a normal issue that can be easily fixed and we are trying to locate the cause of the interference so it can be reduced”.
Telstra Corporate Affairs media relations’ Scott Whiffin said: “The current service issues at Minyip appear to be because of interference from some, as yet, unknown source.”
“There can be a range of things which cause interference in our mobile networks, these include faulty and illegal repeaters or ‘signal boosters’, but other causes also exist,” he said.
“We’re trying to pin down the source of the problem, but this is complicated by the variable nature of the interference, that is, it comes and goes.”
“Interference with our radio signal can potentially disable an entire cell site. It can prevent the wanted signals from our customers being properly decoded which results in failed calls and blocked access to the site.”
Mr Whiffin said people found causing interference into the licensed radio frequency bands an operator uses to run their mobile networks may be subject to criminal prosecution or civil action by the licensed network operator.
“If we believe there is a cause of interference we send technicians into the area and attempt to track down the source using a range of tools,” he said.
“Generally, alerting the person who owns the equipment interfering with the network that they are inadvertently causing an issue resolves the problem.”

Marketing your business

superadmin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:11:44 +0000

AS an established business owner, are you interested in taking it to the next level and improving your business prospects, if so Yarriambiack Shire Council is hosting the perfect workshop for you.
Learn to improve your communication, identify new ways to promote your business and gain a greater understanding of your target market in this interactive workshop.
You will spend time developing your marketing plan and pick up practical tips on how to build relationships with your customers to keep them coming back.
At the workshop you will learn how to launch new products, how to perform effective market research and develop marketing strategies that generate sales and referrals to keep your business growing year after year.
It is important to find out what makes your customers happy and how to keep them coming back.
By attending the workshop offered by Yarriambiack Shire Council in conjunction with Horsham Business Enterprise Centre you will receive a comprehensive workbook full of references, resources and tips that will make marketing your business a breeze.
The workbook will also have easy-to-use templates and worksheets to help you create an effective marketing plan, business plan and SWOT analysis.
The workshop will allow you the opportunity to meet, network and interact with like-minded people in a variety of industries, across the district.
Yarriambiack Shire Council manager community, business and economic development Jaye Macumber said council has been listening to businesses throughout the district and are trying to bring ideas to help businesses and farmers create avenues to improve their revenue.
“These workshops offered in conjunction with Horsham BEC are the perfect opportunity to do this,” Mr Macumber said.
Horsham BEC staff will offer the workshop on April 15 at Yarriambiack Shire Council from 6pm, at $30 per person.
To book your ticket for this fantastic workshop telephone Caylie Price or Rachel Hateley on 5381 3033 or email info@wimmerabusinesscentre.com.au.

McLean leads highway committee

superadmin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:07:48 +0000

SUNRAYSIA Highway Improvement committee has elected a new chairman following the passing of former chairman, Northern Grampians Shire Councillor Ray Hewitt in 2012.
Yarriambiack Shire Councillor Andrew McLean will lead the committee assisted by deputy chairman John Higgins, a community representative from Pyrenees Shire Council.
Cr McLean has served on the committee since it came out of recession about five years ago and said he is looking forward to the challenge.
Cr McLean said the committee meets tri monthly at the Birchip office of Buloke Shire Council and is made up of representatives from the six councils along the Sunraysia Highway .
“We intend to have Driscoll Engineering review our current list of priorities to see what we can achieve,” Cr McLean said.
“Unfortunately, because our traffic counts have been reasonably low, there is not much funding available for them,” he said.
“VicRoads has one barrel of money and I would like to see extra funds allocated to less travelled roads.”
“The Sunraysia Highway has a lot of vehicles that travel along it for tourism reasons, as well as grain harvesting and transporting.”
“An example of this is the Graincorp site at Woomelang, which has grown considerably and is now causing road safety issues.”

Shaving for a cure at WMFD

superadmin — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:02:30 +0000

WIMMERA Machinery Field Days site holders Bayer EverGol Prime are urging field days attendees to support the cause and join them in the World’s Greatest Shave.
Bayer EverGol prime have set themselves a fundraising target of $10,000 this year, as part of their 150th anniversary.
Accounts manager Stepahnie Larkin said the company hopes to shave or colour 150 heads during 2013.
“Bayer’s Give program will donate $50 for every head coloured or shaved this year to the Leukemia Foundation,” Ms Larkin said.
Bayer’s site will be located in the Alan Heard Pavilion and during the field days they will be hosting a celebrity shave each day in the Field Days Auditorium, involving well known regional identities and other key supporters.
Ms Larkin said they had chosen the Leukemia Foundation to support the launch of the new seed treatment program, EverGol Prime.
“EverGol Prime is a product used to treat rhizoctonia, which causes bare patches in crops, so shaving your head also relates to baldness, hence the decision,” Ms Larkin said.
“Our message is have a bare patch on your head not in your crop,” she said.
Bayer CropScience SeedGrowth product manager James Catherall said field trials of EverGol Prime are showing a good performance against rhizoctonia root disease, with additional yield benefits.
“With EverGol Prime, we are inviting farmers to take the problem seriously and ‘rise up against rhizoctonia’,” Mr Catherall said.
Bayer CropScience brand manager Rachel Audige said: “How could we resist taking this parallel, between bare patches in crops and balding, one step further and back a worthy cause.”
“We aim to drum up enthusiasm across the country at various grower days and have growers, colleagues and friends ‘shave for a cure’,” Ms Audige said.
For those who can’t make it to the WMFD there will be other events hosted around the country, or people can simply support others or have their head shaved and send in a photo.
To register or donate, visit my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/bayer150.

Multi million dollar showcase

superadmin — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:01:31 +0000

The 2013 Wimmera Machinery Field Days on March 5, 6 and 7 is one of the state’s biggest annual events.
Drawing exhibitors from across the country the field days site at the Wimmera Events Centre is transformed for a two week period into the largest mass gathering of agricultural machinery, farming equipment and regional business in southern Australia.
With more than $300 million dollars of brand new agricultural machinery on site, the Wimmera Machinery field days becomes the economic hot zone in the Wimmera.
Estimates of up to $50 million dollars in trade is predicted more than three days with several million dollars being injected directly into the regional economy as a result of the field days.
Along with this there is well over a million dollars worth of large marquees and exhibition equipment on site and the field days site itself boasts nearly 1.5 acres of modern purpose built permanent undercover fully air conditioned pavilions all at capacity this year.
Field days manager Murray Wilson said “during field days week our site is fast becoming known as the second largest ‘city’ in the region with more than half of the Wimmera’s population coming to the field days.”
“It is fantastic to have such a massive event in this part of Victoria, the benefits are outstanding and it is now one of Australia’s major agricultural field days”.
The Wimmera Machinery field days is a not for profit community based organisation made up of regional volunteer members from farming and agricultural backgrounds. In its 51st, year the field days have been in the first week of March every year since 1963.
The Wimmera Field Days on March 5, 6 and 7 are held at the Wimmera Events Centre at Longerenong just 10 minutes from Horsham. Gates will be open between 8.30am and 5pm. Adults $18, secondary students $5 under 12 free.

Date set for redevelopment

superadmin — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:56:51 +0000

RURAL Northwest Health has announced plans to complete the innovative new $8.8 million stage of its Warracknabeal campus by May 2015.
RNH chief executive officer Catherine Morley said significant progress had already been made through the planning stages.
“I’m extremely excited about the progress we have made and I have been assured the work can be completed by May 2015,” Ms Morley said.
The Project Control Group which includes representatives from the Department of Health, RNH board chairman Leo Casey, board member Patty Kinnersley and Ms Morley are currently appointing the key roles of architect, project manager and quantity surveyor.
Ms Morley said that process will be finalised by the end of March.
Initiative
“The Project Control Group is pleased to invite community members to apply to join our new initiative, the Warracknabeal Reference Group,” Ms Morley said.
The group will support the Project Control Group and the consultants to design an innovative building that will support Rural Northwest Health to deliver:
• A sustainable building that allows flexibility across 72 aged and acute medical beds, two urgent care beds and community and allied health rooms that will allow services to continue to develop, expand and adapt to the changing needs of the community.
• A building which allows community members to access services easily from the car park, and from other service divisions on the campus, including a medical clinic, and for staff to be able to support each other and be efficient.
• A building that is built on time and budget, which will meet the health needs of the community for the next 10, 15, 30 years.
Regular
Ms Morley said reference group members will need to meet regularly during the next seven months at a mutually agreeable time.
“Meetings will have to be regular so we can invest time and energy into getting the design right,” she said.
Interested community members are invited to contact Ms Morley to discuss joining the committee, or Sharon Murphy on 5396 1221 to access an application form.