08.Sep09

No. 110 ISSN:1444.1608 Published by Traf News Inc PRICELESS September 2009

Other stories:• Trafalgar to Trafalgar Square, page 6• Eira from Finland, page 16 • Mission accom plished, centre pages• 'Arts alive', page 24• New playgroup, page 25

Mervyn Erbs is 90M

ore than 90 guests, span-

ning four generations,

attended a party held

recently in the Trafalgar Community

Centre to celebrate the 90th birthday

of Mervyn William Erbs. Particularly

pleasing was the number of friends

and relatives of his vintage who were

able to attend. There must be a "long

liver" gene in there somewhere!

In addition to his three siblings,

Hazel Carne, Beryl Duncanson and

Graeme Erbs, all his "Erbs" cousins

who are still with us were also there,

namely: Isabelle Derbyshire, Jean

Wilson, Arthur Erbs, Allan Erbs,

Freda Matheson and Max Erbs.

Ladies from the Lioness Club of

Trafalgar did the catering and did it

well; thanks!

Mervyn was born at Trafalgar on

17 July 1919, being the first of four

children born to Bill and Grace (nee

Jolly) Erbs. The family lived on the

property "Fairview", bounded by

North Canal Rd, Seven Mile Rd and

what is now Bilson Rd.

Mervyn had a natural talent with

machinery and his favourite uncle

was Jack Lamont. Continued on page 3

Australian road cyclists trav-

elled through Baw Baw Shire

during the recent Tour of

Gippsland in July on Thursday, 30

July.

The exciting cycling spectacle of

up to 100 top class cyclists from

across Australia visited Trafalgar,

Walhalla and other local districts.

The Tour of Gippsland touched

down in Trafalgar on Thursday, 30

July with cyclists completing 30 laps

on a 950 metre closed circuit criteri-

um near the Trafalgar Primary School

and Trafalgar High School.

The afternoon saw the field set off

on a 75.3 kilometre road race from

Trafalgar to Walhalla via Willow

Grove, Blue Rock Lake, Tanjil South,

Moondarra, Erica and Rawson.

Baw Baw last played host to the

Tour of Gippsland in 2005 and 2006

with stages in Trafalgar, Walhalla and

Warragul.

Race director John Craven said

the tour was delighted to be returning

to the Baw Baw region.

“It is a wonderful area for cycle

racing and the competitors are always

keen to compete there,” said Mr

Craven. “We can promise a wonder-

ful spectacle of cycling and we look

forward to great local crowds sup-

porting the competitors”.

SBS covered the event, and a half

hour documentary was screened

nationally on Sunday, 9 August.

The fifth Tour of Gippsland was

held from 29 July to 2 August, cover-

ing four Gippsland municipalities in

five days.

The highly respected road cycling

classic started in Traralgon and took

in bushfire affected communities such

as Boolarra and Traralgon South

before traversing through the Tarra

Bulga National Park.

The 491km tour concluded in

Paynesville. The Tour of Gippsland is

the first event in the Scody Cup Series,

a breeding ground for future champi-

ons. Source: Warragul Gazzette

The Tour of Gippsland Criterium peleton at the intersection of Cross Street and School Road

Cyclists race through Traf

Tell 'em you saw it in the TRAF NEWS! September 2009 p3

Secure your investment with a local company

Kestrel Temporary Fencing

For prompt and efficient service phone Simon on 0418 317 531

Mervyn Erbs is 90 ...

Continued from page 1.

Jack Lamont was a blacksmith with a workshop on the west corner of

Waterloo Rd and Seven Mile Road.

As a young man he wasted no time getting his driver's licence and

attended most local dances, a cool dude driving his father's Ford V8 and

carrying a car load of friends (nothing chang-

es!)

At one dance, he met Joyce Annie Savige

(from Thorpdale) who was then a teacher at

Trafalgar East. Mervyn and Joyce were married

in 1942 and they had three children, Noel, Jeff

and Annette (now Marslen).

In 1949, Mervyn and Bill bought a largely

undeveloped property at Willow Grove. This

block was bounded by Blue Rock Rd,, the Main

Rd., the road to Old Tanjil and the Tanjil River.

Mervyn and Joyce moved to live at Willow

Grove in 1952. They ran crossbred ewes for fat

lamb production in the early years and steadily

worked to improve the farm. The last scrub pad-

dock was cleared and sown down to pasture in

the early 1960's. By then he was running beef

cattle - initially breeders but later on he bought

store steers to be fattened.

He was a member of Trafalgar Rotary Club

for many years, being president once, and he

also served a part term on Narracan Shire Council following the untimely

death of the elected representative for the riding, John Cougle.

Mervyn was self sufficient with his farm machinery, usually buying, fixing

and improving used items and making useful implements from what others

thought was just scrap.

In about 1981, the lower 75% of the farm was compulsorily acquired by

the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission to become part of the storage

basin and buffer zone for the Blue Rock Dam. With no wish to stay on and

watch the water slowly rise and flood 'their' land, Mervyn and Joyce retired

a bit earlier than planned and built a house in Drouin (complete with a

shed), overlooking the park.

They travelled to China and to England and regularly did some interstate

caravanning.

Surprise, surprise, Mervyn continued tinkering and inventing in his new

workshop.

He even had a part time job assisting the maintenance engineer at the feed

mill in Officer from the mid 1980's to the early 1990's. When he finally

retired they were sad to lose him and gave him the gold watch he never got

farming! Even these days, he loves the challenge of solving technical prob-

lems and is not afraid to put on a boiler suit and get his hands dirty.

Since Joyce died in 1995, Mervyn has lived independently, keeping good

health. He was a member of the Drouin Bowling Club for a number of years,

which is where his 80th birthday party was held. He has also been an active

member of a dancing club and from time to time reports yet another success-

ful dancing entertainment afternoon for residents at Lyrebird, Andrews

House, or wherever.

We might be a bit biased, but we reckon he is a pretty special bloke.

Noel, Jeff and Annette.

Mervyn cutting his cake

Four generations - Mervyn Erbs (Centre) surrounded by his happy crew

p2 September 2009 Trafalgar - the most livable town.

D E A D L I N E SEditorial closes: 6pm, 16th of each month. Advertising closes: 9th of each month.

Editorial can be accepted via email ([email protected]) and advertisements at [email protected]. Both may be placed into the contributions box at the Trafalgar

Supermarket, Princes Highway, Trafalgar or posted to PO Box 25, Trafalgar 3824. Folding of Traf News is Wednesday 30 September 2009 from 7.30pm at the Trafalgar SCOUT HALL, Kitchener

Street, Trafalgar. Everyone is welcome.

Traf News is a monthly publication aimed at provid-ing news, entertainment and information to the people of

Trafalgar.

Traf News is published by Traf News Inc

2200 copies of Traf News are distributed each month

ARTICLESKirsty Richards

Mobile: 0409 192 [email protected]

ADVERTISING SALESRod Dixon5633 2737

Mobile: 0458 031 [email protected]

EDITOR Mick Bourke

AH: 5633 2269Mobile: 0409 512 [email protected]

SUB-EDITOR, COMPOSITING Robin Sefton 5633 1574

[email protected]

PRINTINGLeone West5633 1181

[email protected]

TREASURERKathy O’Connell

5633 [email protected]

Address mail to:Traf News, PO Box 25

Trafalgar, 3824.Email: [email protected]

Website:www.trafalgar.org.au

Traf News wishes to advise that the views or

remarks expressed in this publication are not

necessarily the views of Traf News editorial or

production staff and no endorsement or

service is implied by the listing of advertisers,

sponsors or contributors. Although every effort is

taken in reproducing and printing

advertisements correctly, we take no responsibility

for errors.

©Traf News 2009

Quote of the month

From the Editor's deskEditorial

I recently attended the Gippsland

Business Awards Finalist Breakfast,

sponsored by the Bendigo Bank

and its Community Bank Branch

partners of which the Trafalgar

branch is one.

Since then the winners will have

been announced between the time of

writing this editorial and the Traf

News publication.

I was impressed by the diversity

of the finalists, businesses from all

parts of Gippsland.

I was also aware that there are

many businesses in Trafalgar which I

believe would be worthy nominees

for this prestigious award.

Hopefully some will consider

nominating themselves for next

year's award.

Pugsley's Picture Poser

Where in Traf

is this?

Answer p. 31

Photo by Bob

Pugsley

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided

missiles and misguided men: Martin Luther King, Jr


5 McCrorey Street Trafalgar Phone 5633 1124

Barney's BBQ BangersEvery Saturday Morning

Come and support your local community groups by purchasing one of Barney's BBQ Bangers

Under the big top in the carpark!

Foodworks TrafalgarProudly Supporting our Community

Potato farmers in the

Thorpdale area want greater

water security.

A socio economic snapshot, pre-

pared on the basis of a survey of

farmers in the district, has been

released titled Farming in the

Thorpdale Irrigation District.

While the majority of survey

responses indicated current water

access was sufficient, more than half

indicated they would need additional

water over the next three years.

Farmers have identified signifi-

cant opportunities for improved

water access including: dam enlarge-

ment without impacting environ-

mental flows; and, identifying sites

for new dams, which could provide

summer/winter flows.

The farmers also have called for

more timely processing by SRW for

water licence transfers.

But Southern Rural Water has

indicated some of the expectations

released in the report were “unreal-

istic in drought conditions”.

Potato farmers want water securityBy Yvette Brand

Thorpdale VFF branch executive

members including presi-

dent David Hotchkin, vice

president David Blackshaw

and secretary/treasurer

James Fahey, presented

the report to Baw Baw

Shire’s recent briefing

sessions committee meet-

ing in Trafalgar.

Mr Hotchkin said the report was

initiated because a number of farm-

ers had a number of water issues

and concerns with SRW.

“We wanted to have more of a

voice so the idea was to get a survey

done of the farmers...we got a 69 per

cent response.

“We wanted to work out the cur-

rent and future water needs of the

industry,” he said.

The report said 5591 megalitres

of water was used to generate the

industry’s $53.4 million turnover in

Thorpdale in the 2007/08 year.

The majority of water was used

for irrigating potatoes (82 per cent),

followed by onions (four per cent).

“While the majority of

farmers (63 per cent)

indicated that they cur-

rently had enough water to

perform normal farm

operations, many farmers

(54 per cent) indicated

that they would require

additional water over the

next three years.

“Common responses to the

impact of inadequate access to water

included the need to reduce produc-

tion, greater limits on business

growth and reduced employment.

“In order for Thorpdale’s agri-

cultural industry to survive and

flourish, the community requires

adequate access to irrigation water

and services required to support

efficient and effective water use.

“Specifically, irrigators require

more flexibility with the water stored

on their own land to ensure the best

possible crop outcomes while meet-

ing requirements for environmental

flows,” the report said.

Mr Hotchkin said water availabil-

ity provided a long term threat to the

Thorpdale potato industry.

He said many growers accessing

the Ten Mile and Narracan Creeks

faced 92 per cent increase in their

water licences last year.

While welcoming the Thorpdale

VFF’s survey and report, SRW said

some of the expectations were unre-

alistic in drought conditions.

Responding to calls for a capped

catchment, SRW groundwater and

rivers' manager Craig Parker said

that given the current drought condi-

tions, farmers’ expectations about

increasing dam licences or trades in

Thorpdale were unrealistic.

“The catchment is capped, with

no new water available,” he said.

“We have clearly communicated

over a long period of time to local

farmers that no new dams, or

enlarged dams, will be allowed in

the area."

Source: Warragul Gazette


Community Bank support Willow Grove and ThorpdaleT

rafalgar and District

Community Bank Branch

recently approved funding

to assist the communities within the

Bank's catchment area.

Funding was made available to

the Willow Grove CFA to purchase a

high speed water pump to assist the

Brigades endeavours to ensure the

community’s safety for the upcoming

and future fire seasons.

The Bank also assisted the

Thorpdale Kindergarten acquire a

new picnic setting in order that the

children can appreciate the spring

weather and enjoy their recess

breaks outdoors.

Please note the Trafalgar and

District Community Bank Branch

has recently altered it sponsorship

policy. For information on how your

group can apply for sponsorship

please contact the Branch on 5633

2783.

Branch Manager Bryan Leaf presenting Willow Grove CFA Captain Andrew

Balfour and other members with the cheque.

Branch Manager Bryan Leaf with the children of Thorpdale Kindergarten enjoy-

ing their morning break at the new picnic setting


BARNEY'S BBQ CHICKENBONUS CARD

ASK AT THE DELI

5 McCrorey Street Trafalgar Phone 5633 1124

Trafalgar to Trafalgar Square ...Continued from page 6

One such trip was on the sleeper

bus from Hoi An to Hue in Vietnam.

This bus is rather like a travelling

youth hostel dormitory with three

rows of double bunks where one lies

prone with one’s head slightly elevat-

ed over the feet of the person behind.

These are clearly designed for short

people with small feet.

The other bus trip, from Hanoi to

Nanning, was actually two trips of

four hours each with a longish stop at

the Chinese border. A different bus

operates on the Chinese side and

anything left in the Vietnamese bus is

gone. My Ghan souvenir cap - gone.

For some reason, the train journey

takes four hours longer than the bus

trip.

Our next leg by train was from

Nanning to Shanghai. China once

prided itself on its classless society.

However there were always two

classes of train travel, soft and hard.

Hard class is cheap and cheerful but

soft sleeper class is characterised by

luxuries such as lace covers on the

beds and an endless supply of hot

water for tea and coffee.

The train to Shanghai was com-

fortable, clean and took the best part

of twenty four hours. We were again

the only English-speaking foreigners

on this train.

Shanghai is a huge city with more

skyscrapers than Manhatten and

strong echoes of its past as a western/

colonial point of entry to China. The

French Concession area is a delight

with French restaurants and wide and

cool leafy streets.

Taizhou, three hours from

Shanghai by bus, is the sister city of

the City of Latrobe. This remarkable

city is fortunate in that it is the home

town of Hu Yaobang, the current

Chinese Prime Minister.

Amongst other things, the Chinese

Government has seen fit to establish

the city as a Medical City with many

hospitals, universities and pharma-

ceutical companies. The city hopes

to attract foreigners and as foreigners

like golf courses, one is being built by

Australians. Taizhou, once a small

town, has 1.5 million inhabitants.

It is planned to double in the next

three years. New buildings are rising

everywhere, not just in the cities but

throughout. Good quality apart-

ments, office blocks, schools, what-

ever, are appearing rapidly.

The Chinese railway system is

being completely overhauled and

many new lines are being built. The

new railway stations are like airport

terminals. Fast trains are linking

more and more cities.

By the start of next year the cur-

rent twelve hour train trip between

Shanghai and Beijing will be cut to

four hours.

The trip from the centre of

Shanghai to the airport now takes

seven minutes by magnetic levitation

train. Seven minutes - to cover a

greater distance than from Melbourne

to Tullamarine.

Our train to Beijing was brand

new, ultra clean and very comforta-

ble. We were in soft sleeper class and

every seat and bed on the train was

occupied.

Somehow we had formed the

notion that many people in China

spoke English. A few do, perhaps

that number is growing but even in

hotels we had difficulty finding an

English speaker. Not to worry,

though. Sign language, smiles, a few

Chinese words and most situations

can be covered. Apparently foreign

travel has fallen right away. The glo-

bal financial crisis and fear of H1N1

influenza seem largely to blame.

Mongolia is a delight. Like many

former workers’ paradises, the coun-

try’s infrastructure is decrepit and the

roads are atrocious. The people,

however are hospitable and friendly,

particularly the nomadic people on

the steppes..

The Trans Mongolian train from

Ulan Baataar to Irkutsk is in reality

only two carriages that are attached

to local trains. After travelling all

night, we awoke to an eerie silence at

6.00am.

We had stopped at a remote sid-

ing and we discovered that we were

in the only two carriages there. At

nine o’clock the Mongolian customs

and immigration people came and

cheerfully completed our paper-

work.

At 11.00am, a locomotive took us

across the border and promptly dis-

appeared. Continued on page 21


Immunisation dates

Infanrix IPV, Measles/Mumps/Rubella, Adult Diptheria/ Tetanus,

Adult/Adolescent diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis Vaccine (Boostrix)

(Year 9/10 students) the Boostrix vaccine is recommended for new

parents, child care workers - cost $25, Childhood Pneumococcal

Vaccine (selected groups), Haemophilus Influenza B (Pedvax),

Comvax (Hepatitis B/Hib), Meningococcal C (free for 12 mths - 19

years), Chickenpox Vaccine (free for Year 7 students and children at

18 months of age) - Cost $45, Hepatitis B (free for Year 7 students and

infants) - Cost $30.

Trafalgar: Community Service Centre

(Senior Citizens Hall), Princes Highway

Warragul: Warragul Senior Citizens Hall,

Cnr Mason & Barkly Street

Drouin: Uniting Church Hall,

Sinclair Street.For further information

phone Robyn Duffy 5624 2411.

DATE DAY TIME CENTRE

Centres

9 September Wednesday 5.30pm to 6.30pm Warragul

18 September Friday 10.00am to 11.00am Drouin

18 September Friday 12.30pm to 1.30pm Trafalgar

23 September Wednesday 5.30pm to 6.30pm Trafalgar

3 October Saturday 10.00am to 11.00am Warragul

Vaccines available

Trafalgar Open Space Planning

The quality of lives of people depends upon the quality

and character of their environment.

Quality open spaces contribute socially, environmentally

and economically to a community.

In response to local open space improvement demands

and the newly developed Baw Baw Active by Design Guidelines

a walkshop is proposed to collectively identify improvement

opportunities and possible solutions for the Trafalgar open

spaces.

Your involvement would be of great value to this process.

To book in or for further information please don’t hesitate to

contact me on the below details

When: 24/9/09

Where: Trafalgar Technology Centre

Time: 4.30pm - 6.30pm

RSVP: Kerry Irwin - 56242468

or [email protected]

Trafalgar to Trafalgar SquarePeter Cooke and Isabel

Robertson are travelling by train

((as much as possible) from

Trafalgar to Trafalgar Square.

They write from Moscow after hav-

ing completed the Trans Mongolian

and Trans Siberian legs of their

journey.

To Moscow

We have discovered that the

degree of difficulty in travelling

increased as we moved further

north. Singapore was a breeze. The

traffic actually stops for red lights,

people stay on the correct side of the

road, they don’t toot their horns all

the time and crossing the road is

nothing like a near-death experi-

ence.

Whilst Malaysia’s traffic is pulse

stirring, Vietnam’s is beyond descrip-

tion. There, the motorbike is king of

both the road and the footpath. On

one occasion in Saigon, the traffic

was so horrendous that a sympa-

thetic cyclist took pity on us and

pushed his contraption out into the

road to stop the traffic so that we

could cross.

Our train in Vietnam was Chinese-

built and comfortable with soft

sleeper bunks, four to a cabin.

We shared with two Vietnamese

men as we were given to understand

that if we tried any namby pamby

western tricks such as booking all

four berths we would be wasting our

time, as the conductors, and there

was a horde of them, would quickly

move other passengers into the

empty berths.

Our few trips in buses quickly

made us realise that trains are the

best way to travel.

Continued on page 7

Main Street, Ulaan Baataar, Mongolia

By Peter Cooke


Can you help?Volunteers are required to

assist in the production of

the Traf News.

While experience is good,

training will be provided.

Help is needed in the

following areas:

• Layout and design

• Printing/collating

• Advertising sales

• News reporting

If you would like to help

please contact Mick Bourke

on 0409 512 672 or

5633 2269(AH).

The Original Levi's, 501

in stock now atTrafalgar Men &

Boys Wear

16 Contingent StreetTrafalgar 56331129 Phone 5633 1788

Shop 23 Contingent Street

Trafalgar

For all your Hair and Beauty

needs

Businesses within Baw Baw

Shire region in general seem

to be faring better than most

other areas, despite a reported

strong leap in unemployment rate

for Gippsland, for the month of June

2009, according to statistics released

by the Australian bureau of

Statistics.

Statistics released recently show

a leap in unemployment levels for

the Gippsland region from 3.6% in

May 2009 to 7.1% in June 2009, a

far worse result than Victorian and

national trends. Council's Economic

Development Coordinator, Peter

Kulich, stated that the figures seemed

to contradict past trends and other

data collected by Council.

The last detailed analysis of Baw

Baw's labour statistics were provid-

ed for the December 2008 quarter

and showed a workforce increasing

to 21,057, up from 20,641 a year

earlier and at the same time an

unemployment rate dropping from

4.1% in December 2007 to 3.2%, in

December 2008.

The Gippsland unemployment

rate was recorded as being 4.3% for

December 2008. Mr Kulich advised

that he was surprised that the unem-

ployment levels had dropped in the

three months to December 2008

from 3.5% to 3.2% given that

Council's other data indicated a drop

in job advertisements for the period.

Baw Baw businesses show confidence about the futureCouncil undertakes an on-going

count of print job advertisements in

the Warragul & Drouin Gazette and

have historical data covering a

number of years.

This data which records the

number and type of positions adver-

tised shows that for the period

January to June 2009 advertised jobs

in the Warragul & Drouin Gazette

had decreased 18.5% over the same

period in the previous year, com-

pared to a reduction across Victoria

of 53.9% and an Australia wide

reduction of 52%.

Baw Baw Shire Council Mayor Cr

Ruth McGowan pointed out that in

fact the number of job ads for June

2009 was almost identical to that of

June 2008 which was the highest on

record for that month and hopefully

showed an increase in confidence in

the business sector.

During the period from December

2008 to March 2009 there was also

an increase in ABN registrations for

Baw Baw Shire taking the number of

registered businesses from 9,396 to

9,480.

Cr McGowan also advised that the

recently completed Baw Baw Shire

Economic Sentiment Study (May

2009) revealed that 72% of busi-

nesses expected business to get bet-

ter in the next 12 months, 45%

advised they would be investing fur-

ther into their businesses over the

next 12 months and 32% would be

increasing staff over the next 12

months compared to 10.6% who

indicated that they would probably

reduce staff (mainly casuals and

part-time positions).

Further information is available

on the business statistics section of

Council's website www.bawbawshire.

vic.gov.au, or by contacting Council's

Economic Development Coordinator

on 5624 2523.

The SP AusNet 2009 Baw Baw Business Excellence

Awards

The SP AusNet 2009 Baw Baw Business Excellence Awards are now

open, and one of this year’s new categories is the People’s Choice

Award.

Mayor Cr Ruth McGowan said, “This award gives community an opportu-

nity to nominate the business which, in their opinion, provides excellent

customer service or product in Baw Baw Shire." The voting coupons are

available from all Baw Baw Shire Customer Service centres and the Warragul

and Drouin Gazette, or vote online at www.bawbawshire.vic.gov.au

Enter for your favourite business now!

In 1898 (fourteen years prior to the Titanic tragedy), Morgan Robertson wrote a novel

called Futility. The plot of the novel focussed on the largest ship ever built hitting an iceberg

in the Atlantic on a cold April night.

Did You Know?

Fencing

Your Local Man For: • Farm Fencing

• Cattle Yards

• Grass Slashing/ Mulching • Front End Loader

• Blade Work

• Tip Truck Hire

Ph: 0408 547 513

Ph/Fax:

5633 2013

Farrell

Darren


Available now from:

Trafalgar Pharmacy75 Princes Hwy, Trafalgar

Phone 5633 1155

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TyreService

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Phone: 5633 1097Mobile: 0428 149 757

Toyo Tyres

Peter & Deidre Griffi n

Following in the footsteps of Dr. James Brown, Councillors Bill

Harrington and John Durrant will face questions in an informal meet-

ing under the Trafalgar Discussion Group banner, to be held Sunday

13 September 2009 at 7.00pm in Trafalgar Primary School.

It is expected that questions will focus on their views on life and on gen-

eral subjects such as "convictions and values" and "dilemmas faced in poli-

tics", rather than on them answering any personal issues.

The Trafalgar Discussion Group is sponsored by Thorpdale Wesleyan

Methodist Church and is a direct result of a survey of the town over the 2009

Australia Day weekend.

Any enquiries should be addressed to Frank Lees 5633 2758 or on www.

twmc.org.au

Trafalgar Pharmacy invites all 2009 Guardian Angel knitters to a

celebratory morning tea at 10.00am on Monday, 14 September.

The morning tea will be held at the Trafalgar Community Centre

and we would love to see all our knitters to thank them for their wonderful

efforts again this year.

To assist us with catering please confirm your attendance to Trafalgar

Pharmacy (5633 1155) by 11 September.

Once again, for the opening of the Battle of Trafalgar Festival,

Trafalgar Amateur Drama Society (TADS) is proud to present

"Nursery Crimes" which will be a dinner-theatre evening, held in

the Trafalgar Public Hall on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 October, and as

always, it will be an evening too good to be missed.

Dress up in your favourite nursery rhyme character and become part of

the fun. Prizes will be awarded on the night for the best costumes.

Tickets are $35 per head, including a two course meal and will be avail-

able for purchase from 1 September at the Trafalgar Vet Centre and Café

Obsession. Good food, lots of laughs, with local identities, including quite a

few new TADS members, hamming it up for your entertainment, so don't miss

out on a most enjoyable and entertaining evening.

Movie Fundraiser NightFriday, 11 September 2009

Warragul CinemaTickets $15.00 including supper

Charlie& Boots

An "Audience with local

politicians" is to go ahead in

September

Calling all guardian angels

China's Beijing Duck Restaurant can seat nine thousand people at one time

Did You Know?

Charlie & Boots is a funny and heartfelt movie with wonderful Australian characters. paul Hogan plays Charlie McFarland and Shane

Jacobson plays his estranged son, Boots. After a family tragedy Charlie and Boots try and put their differences aside and head off on the road

trip of a lifetime.

For tickets contact Esis on 0421 330 230


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An Expat returns to Oz D

usty, our Golden Retriever,

is nudging my arm to

force more face hugs,

while I type this retrospective about

my time back here in Oz. How do I

leave this wonderful pet a second

time?

With enormous personal pleas-

ure I took Dusty to visit the Trafalgar

Primary School, to share their Red

Hill bush cookery day then again to

present myself in my black abaaya

and hejab to talk at the school

assembly about my life in Dubai.

While it was a treat for me to

witness a crowd of Aussie chil-

dren's faces again, I was especially

impressed with the thoughtfulness

of their many questions and the

genuine interest they seemed to

show. Then came that cutting ques-

tion, "Aren't you coming back?"

So what's the answer?

I must agree that this lifestyle

change to an overseas international

school suits me very well at this

time. I thoroughly enjoy teaching

art, with a full time assistant and

twelve hours non-contact time to

prepare lessons and displays.

I have so much travel yet to

experience from Dubai's central

vantage point on our amazing plan-

et. I can indulge in fitness and rec-

reational activities so available in

Dubai, due to very limited demands

on my personal time.

Also, the teaching contract can

be ongoing for many more years to

come. I have a growing network of

friends who include me in their

social ventures.

Yet how do I substitute for fam-

ily and old friends and also for the

obvious pleasures of the Aussie

landscape and climate?

The whirlwind of social gather-

ings these last six weeks has caught

me by surprise. So many people

have taken extra efforts to catch up

with me, either at fabulous gather-

ings, in their homes or individually

over coffee or a street chat.

To condense my life into such a

short time frame has been so much

fun and obviously a little surreal. I

really do miss the ambience of an

open fire and shared meal time

conversations.

As for the lush greenery and

occasional rain here, I've indulged

with awe! It was very appropriate to

start my visit here by holidaying at

Bermagui, surrounded by bush bird

song, gum trees and seascapes. I

drove back from Yarrawonga

through lush green countryside,

taking photos at every turn.

I visited Marysville to witness the

aftermath of those horrific fires and

felt inspired by the regrowth and

human effort to restore some order.

The desert will never catch my

breath the same way.

I realise that to continue with my

repatriate life I will have to be con-

tent to see my children annually. I

have appreciated time now with

Allister here in Victoria and am

about to fly to Toronto to visit

Sarah. We are each building our

own lives at this time but thank

goodness for the internet, the life

line for me again for another year

(or two or more?)

Please continue to include me in

the local happenings and thank you

everyone for your genuine interest

in my adventure. The Traf News is

obviously well read, as a few epi-

sodes I experienced and wrote

about have been happily quoted

back to me with further questions!

I’ll keep you informed!

Cheers for now, while I hear the

rain and wind outside at last. A

novelty for us all I realise.

Judy B

PS

I must add that on my first day

back in Trafalgar I was delighted to

visit the new supermarket. The fruit

and vegetables on display looked so

enticing compared to the quality

available in Dubai.

While there is a very wide range

of varieties in the supermarkets

there, I have found the freshness

and flavour to be seriously lacking

compared to the seasonal fresh

foods here. Enjoy.

By Judy Bishop

Judy and friend Dusty


Local Government Community satisfaction surveyT

he Department of Planning

and Communi t y

Development recently

released the Local Government

Community Satisfaction Survey for

2009. This survey is conducted by

Wallis Consulting Group to provide

a valuable overview of how com-

munities view the performance of

councils across Victoria.

For Baw Baw Shire Council there

were a number of key areas out-

lined for improvement. The most

significant area identified by the

community and having the highest

importance is town-planning policy

and approvals.

Forty three percent of respond-

ents this year and forty two percent

last year, cited town-planning policy

and approval as one of the highest

needs for improvement.

Baw Baw Shire Council Mayor

Cr Ruth McGowan said, "Although

we are disappointed that town-

planning has again received the

highest score for improvement, it is

a clear message from the commu-

nity that change around strategic

planning is required.

"Hence the Council took the

significant step of introducing the

'Shaping the Future' initiative which

will assist to tighten and strengthen

planning rules supporting the com-

munity's vision for development in

the Shire."

Within the service delivery area,

Baw Baw Shire Council's perform-

ance was similar to the governance

area, in that some scores were

slightly down but within the areas of

health and human services and

waste management there was an

improvement of performance and

with both appearance of public

areas and traffic management and

parking having no change in score

from 2008.

Mayor Cr Ruth McGowan said,

"This report is useful as a resource

so we can track resident's views on

Council's performance over time.

We acknowledge there are a number

of areas requiring improvement

and we will continue to work on

these."

Cr McGowan continued, "The

survey also outlined that Baw Baw

performs better than other councils

in its group on a number of key

areas, including health and human

services and the appearance of

public areas.

"Although local roads and foot-

paths is an area that requires

improvement, Baw Baw's perform-

ance continues to be higher than

other councils in its group."

Other areas for improvement

include Traffic Management and

Parking Facilities with forty four

percent of respondents considering

this to be an area in need of

improvement.

The individual results give

Councils information about our

performance as rated by residents

enabling trends in community satis-

faction to be monitored and areas

for both celebration and improve-

ment to be highlighted.

The questions refer to broad

areas of governance and service

delivery. Governance is covered by

overall council performance, advo-

cacy, council contact and commu-

nity.

Service delivery is captured by

nine key service areas ranging from

town planning and economic devel-

opment to local laws and waste

management.

This is the twelfth year that the

survey has been conducted and

Baw Baw Shire Council has partici-

pated in all twelve surveys.

A sample size of 350 Baw Baw

Shire residents was interviewed.

Additional information:

The overall performance •

indexed mean score of gov-

ernance is 62 a slight drop

from 66 in 2008.

Advocacy had an indexed •

mean score of 63 slightly

down from 66 in 2008

Community engagement •

indexed mean score of 60

down slightly from 61 in 2008

Customer contact received an •

indexed mean score of 71

down slightly from 72 in 2008

For further information, the

Statewide Research Results

Summary Report is available on the

following website, www.localgov-

ernment.vic.gov.au

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New 'No Standing' signs

have been erected in

McCrorey Street Trafalgar

in front of the new supermarket.

Chief Executive Officer, Mr David

Powell said, "We are keen to main-

tain community safety and encour-

age people not to park in this area

as Council's community compliance

officers will be patrolling the area at

random intervals."

For further information on this

media release please contact

Sharon Coffey, Communications

Coordinator on 5624 2441 or 0428

132 025

Reminder of new signage in McCrorey Street Trafalgar


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GERF hands over buses for community groups I

t was with great pleasure that

Baw Baw Shire Council was

able to link Gippsland

Emergency Relief Fund (GERF) with

two Baw Baw Shire community

groups to receive donated commut-

er buses.

GERF board member Cr David

Balfour said, "The buses were

donated by Agnew Gold Mining

Company of Leinster (368km north

of Kalgoorlie), Western Australia.

Agnew Gold Mining, through its own

links with Gippsland, generously

donated the buses to GERF as part of

their emergency relief donation.

Both buses were driven by Agnew

Mining staff from the mine at

Leinster to Albroy's Car Centre in

Traralgon, where they were cleaned,

serviced and given a road worthy, all

of which were services donated by

Albroy's Car Centre and GERF.

The 11 seater buses had been

used to transport mining staff

around various sites within the

mine.

Baw Baw Shire Council Municipal

Recovery Manager, Robyn Duffy

said, "We are really pleased that

Jindivick Progress Association and

the Neerim District Health Service

Inc are the recipients of the donat-

ed buses."

Liz Duell, Secretary of Jindivick

Progress Association said, "We are

really thankful to GERF, Agnew

Mining, Albroys and Alan Wilson

Insurance, who provided 12 months

comprehensive insurance for the

bus.

Our community will make very

good use of this bus primarily to

assist both Jindivick and

Labertouche residents with travel,

in the wake of the bushfires, and

then to be used by community

groups such as the cricket club, the

landcare group, the Progress

Association, Jindivick Primary

School, Jindi Playgroup and to

transport our senior citizens."

GERF Board Member Baw Baw Shire Councillor David Balfour, GERF Secretary

Andy Teggart, Derek Buridge of Jindivick Progress Association and Mark Hoppe,

Albroys Car Centre Service.

Sustainable network living forumF

ollowing the article from last

month's Traf News, the fol-

lowing letter has been

received.

"Re: the article in “Traf News”,

August 2009. The article says

“Globally, if greenhouse gas emis-

sions are not reduced dramatically,

then the planet is headed for cata-

strophic climate change, and sooner

rather than later.”

I have seen a number of state-

ments like that, but not seen one

referenced. Can you give me the ref-

erence for the paper on which this

one is based?

I certainly agree with buying local,

buying Australian made(we have left

it very, very late for this one, one is

hard put to find much that is

Australian made). I take a “green

bag” full of used plastic bags and

reuse them until they are too soiled.

Planned obsolescence bothers

me, I see all these recycle bins full of

cardboard every fortnight. I find

things are built to wear out quicker

and quicker, for a classic example,

printers. Does your group have any

thoughts on this topic?

Regards, Don Auchterlonie."

Firstly I would like to thank Don

for his letter Now I know at least one

person reads the column!

Most of the information regarding

climate change for this column is

taken from 'Climate Change' by Paul

Holper (who manages CSIRO's

involvement in the Australian Climate

Change Science Program) and Simon

Torok (who works in the CSIRO's

division of Marine and Atmospheric

Research).

The statement in question is the

inescapable conclusion reached in

the book which contains pages and

pages of convincing scientific

research, including a thorough anal-

ysis of climatic trends, Antarctic ice

cores (to establish historical carbon

dioxide atmospheric concentra-

tions), positive feedback systems and

much more.

The authors also present key

aspects of the International Panel of

Climate Change (IPCC an intergov-

ernmental body drawing on the

research of thousands of volunteer

scientists) to substantiate their case.

Well done on your plastic bag

initiatives. Regarding items not being

built to last, I think we'll find as natu-

ral resources are diminished, par-

ticularly oil which is used to make

plastic and many other substances,

prices will go up and consumers will

be demanding more robust products

that will last longer. It also gets back

to the first tenet of sustainable living,

reduce (from 'reduce, reuse, recy-

cle').

For example it is better to reuse a

cardboard box, plastic water bottle

or plastic take-away food container

many times than to recycle it after a

single use.

The ETS (Emissions Trading

Scheme) has been in the news lately

and an effective ETS would see more

of the true cost of environmental

impact built into the price of prod-

ucts, and this may also lead to higher

prices and less consumer demand

for 'disposable' products.

The next meeting of the Baw Baw

Sustainability Network is on 24

September at 7.30pm at the Baw Baw

Technology Centre. All welcome.

By Craig Holmes


For all your Real Estate & Property Management requirements

Fax: 5633 2389. Web: www.jollyrealestate.com.au

Our service, your satisfaction

TRAFALGAR5633 1666

79 Princes Highway WW

ILLIAMS

ASTE14 Melaleuca Drive,Trafalgar East

Mobile: 0418 560 171Phone/Fax: 03 5633 1991

Liquid Waste Specialists

We have received a

request for information

regarding Mr Archibald

Stanley McPherson.

He was born at Willow Grove in

1891 and was living in the area when

he enlisted in the AIF in 1916 and

served with the 5th Batallion.

He was married in London in

1919.

We are looking, in particular for a

scan of a contemporary photo, if pos-

sible.

It seems Mr McPherson was

instrumental in the capture of a

German anti-tank gun during the sec-

With the upcoming launch

of the 'Real Men Wear

Pink' campaign the

NBCF is focusing on the men in our

lives and how breast cancer affects

them.

With 13,698 new diagnoses

expected this year it is now as impor-

tant as ever to donate to breast cancer

research. For each of those cases

there will be at least one man whose

life will dramatically change with a

positive diagnosis as a husband,

brother, father or son. When a woman

is diagnosed with breast cancer the

men in her life help her through it.

But of those 13,698 new breast

cancer cases in 2009, 106 of those

will be men, a little known risk but a

statistic that is on the increase and a

disease that can reach men young or

old.

Something NBCF Speaker's Bureau

ambassadors Bev and Barry Wilson

know only too well after they lost their

son aged just 32 and diagnosed at age

26.

The advice for everyone, men and

women alike "Get to know your own

body, recognise any changes and if

you are a man, be a man, and see a

doctor, if you have any doubt".

Local Traf involvement:

A reminder that on Sunday, 18

October it will be the second time the

Pink Ribbon Breakfast is held. Last

year the inaugural Pink Ribbon

Breakfast was organised by the then,

recently formed Traf Sheila's

Committee, and supported by the

Battle of Trafalgar Festival. We will be

involved again this year and there will

be pink, pink and more pink.

So men, get your pink gear into

the act and come along.

Earlier on in the season Trafalgar

Football Netball Club had its annual

fund-raising day and evening. A good

pink time was had by all.

During the day the football and

netball umpires wore pink, both

teams used pink balls and the main

fund-raising night upstairs at the club

had lots of pink, for example, people

in fancy pink outfits, pink drink, etc.

I had feedback that one of my

nephews looked really 'hot' in pink!

Sorry you will have to guess which

nephew as I have several associated

with the football club.

Trafalgar and the surrounding dis-

trict has a history of community

involvement and many local busi-

nesses and private people donated

items to raffle. People included family,

friends, work colleagues, neighbours

and many others in our community.

Thank you all for this and we will

soon be around knocking on your

door for this upcoming event. This

year we plan to have a venue with

wheelchair access.

Marge is the Coordinator of

Trafalgar Pink Ribbon Breakfast

email: [email protected]

Real men wear pink

ond battle of Amiens and was award-

ed the MM for his courage in this

action.

Our enquirer is currently involved

in the restoration of the gun and the

preparation of display material relat-

ed to its capture and history.

If you can provide any assistance

or suggest anyone else who may be of

assistance this would be very much

appreciated.

Please direct any information to

Ross Torrington

5 Chester Rd

Turramurra

Ph 02 9402 5466

Can you help?

Cumming~Harrison Heidi Elizabeth was born on

Thursday 14 May 2009 at the Mercy for Women Hospital to Ben and Sarah of Trafalgar.

BirthsI N S H O R T

Eerhard~MarslenCharlise Morgan was born

on Monday 27 July 2009 at the West Gippsland Hospital to Leigh and Kylee of Trafalgar.

Galley~Storer Jade Tayla was born on

Friday 24 July 2009 at the West Gipsland Hospital to Rhett and Emma of Yarragon.Ricado~Johnson

Tess Joy was born on Wednesday 22 July at the West gippsland Hospital to Stuart and Gemma of Trafalgar.

Around the WardAn Indian Call Centre worker

froze a bank customer's account

from England and changed the cus-

tomer's identity as revenge for being

criticised. The English customer's

identity, was changed to a Ugandan

divorcee, ten years his senior, after

calling the centre worker 'rude and

arrogant'. The bank has refused to

say whether disciplinary action has

been taken against the worker.

A study has found that the world's

population is steadily becoming

greyer, with the number of people

aged over 65 on course to overtake

the number of infants for the first

time in history.

With every passing month, anoth-

er 870,000 people turn 65 and the

world's population of pensioners

becomes larger still. Thanks to ris-

ing life expectations, their ranks will

soon be growing by almost two mil-

lion a month, and by 2040, will have

doubled to 1.3 billion.

A group of English pensioners

were last year branded an 'anti-so-

cial nuisance' for sitting on a bench

and chatting to each other. The

seven pensioners, including a

96-year-old, were told that the four

benches they sit on could be removed

unless they talk more quietly outside

their flats .

By Marge O'Donnell


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of coolrooms.

Sales and Installation of Carrier Air Conditioners.Established 40 years in local area.

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Lions Club hosts exchangeesT

he Lions Club of Trafalgar

recently hosted two

International Exchangees,

Veronika Neuhauser and Marlene

Seelmaier from Austria. They are

both close to completing their

University studies.

Marlene was studying Russian

and Spanish and had previously

travelled to Italy, Hawaii and Japan.

Marlene stayed with Lions, Steve

and Chris Munro.

Veronika was studying Physics

and Italian and had previously trav-

elled to Switzerland, Italy and USA.

She stayed with Lions, Alan und

Nola Clark.

Both Veronika and Marlene were

studying at the same University in

Austria but had never met until they

arrived here for the exchange.

In contrast to their previous air

travels, they commented on how

long the flight to Australia was!

They had left summer in Austria

and they had been led to believe it

was usually hot in Australia. Our

cold rainy weather in winter came

as a surprise to both of them!

Veronica was not very impressed

with the tiny show of snow on Baw

Baw as she was used to serious

snow on their mountains and snow

on the ground for six months of the

year at home.

Both these young ladies had a

most impressive command of spo-

ken English which they put to good

use, when at a Lions Dinner Meeting,

they each presented a personal

thumbnail sketch and their impres-

sions of their brief time in

Australia.

They each presented Lions

President Diana Cook with banner-

ettes from their home Lions Clubs

and in return Diana presented them

with Trafalgar Club bannerettes and

mementos to remember their time

in Trafalgar.

Thanks to Lion Bob Hoare, who

coordinates the Lions Club of

Veronika, Lions Club of Trafalgar President Diana Cook, Bob Hoare and

Marlene

Alan Clark, Marlene, Veronika, Nola Clark Marlene, Steve and Chris Munro, Veronika

Trafalgar Youth Exchange Program,

the host families, who take these

young adventurers into their homes,

and to those Lions Club members

who took them on day trips to vari-

ous places of interest. The girls had

a wonderful stay with us.


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Trafalgar Lions Club held its

Changeover Dinner on July 1

2009.

Diana Cook was handed the gong

and gavel by Immediate Past President

Kevin Dewsbury with Vice District

Governor Shirley Higman officiating.

Diana congratulated Kevin on his

successful year of leadership.

Chris Munro has taken on the

role of Secretary while Steve Munro

is Treasurer for the coming year.

Community Contributions

The Trafalgar Community sup-

ported the work of our members,

allowing the Trafalgar Lions Club to

distribute over $35,000 throughout

the community in the past twelve

months, including the Bushfire

Appeal donation of $20,300.

Fundraising included our annual

Swap Meet, Mardi Gras, Wine and

Cheese night, and Christmas Cakes,

as well as firewood sales and regular

raffles.

Diana Cook to lead Lions in 2009-2010

Officiating Lion, Vice District Governor Shirley Higman with President Diana Cook and Past President Kevin Dewsbury

New Board of Directors; back row: Glenn Rodda, Marianne Tyler, Kevin Dewsbury, Neil Grimshaw, Merv Moon, Ian Bosma, Noel Erbs, Bob Hoare.

Front row: Olive Morrison, Chris Munro, Diana Cook, Steve Munro, Vice District Governor Shirley Higman.


Phone Cathy McCulloch

5633 2486 or 0417 135 991

Driver Training TrafalgarCovering Trafalgar and surrounding towns

Certificate III qualified Instructor

On the benchBy Lehane

Hello there, you’re not looking your best

Are you unwell? You appear quite crook.

I went to a party last night and ended up

abbreviated

So I feel absolutely as bad as I look.

I’m suffering a hangover and splitting headache.

Why does my discomfort make you smile?

I’m sorry, but you said abbreviated instead of

inebriated,

And I haven’t heard a “malapropism” for awhile.

Did I say that? Shows how bad I am.

What was that big word you just used?

Malapropism? It means the mixing up of words

Ones that sound alike and can be confused.

Whether through ignorance or a slip of the tongue

People misuse words, especially those that rhyme.

A character in an 18th century play

Became famous for doing this all the time.

A French term “mal a` propos” meaning inappropriate,

Inspired the author to invent the name

Of Mrs Malaprop for this character

And she soon gained widespread fame.

So much so that a new word “malapropism”

Can now be found in the English Dictionary’s pages

This is one of the ways our language evolves

And has been continuously doing so over the ages.

No matter how smart you are,

Sometimes a brief lapse of the mind

Can result in the wrong word being uttered.

It’s happened to most people you will find.

So I suppose it’s even happened to you?

Me! Are you incinerating I would misannounce a word?

I pride myself on my elegance.

You just said three then. Oh! Don’t be absurd.

You will never hear me utter malapropisms,

I take great care in the way I talk.

Well, you certainly do plenty of it,

See you later I’m off for a walk.

Fancy a spot of rain?

The graph below compares the monthly rainfall received in

Trafalgar in 2009 with the 2008 monthly rainfall.

July rainfall in Trafalgar was 99.4mm.

Old Wives Tales

Albert’s Corner

Anyone who has never made a

mistake has never tried anything new

Albert Einstein


Criterion Hotel

Princes Highway Trafalgar Phone: 5633 1055

Open 7 days for Lunch and Dinner

TAB facilities available

Eira - all the way from Finland

Girl from the land of Nokia liv-

ing in Trafalgar

About a year ago Eira Hurskainen

from Oulu, Finland applied to be a

Rotary Exchange student so that she

could discover a different way of life

somewhere else in the world. She

beat ten other applicants for the

position.

The selection process involved

the allocation of students to families

and clubs in many foreign lands

around the globe, and that is how a

teenager from the freezing land of

Nokia and Santa Claus, finds herself

in Trafalgar, Victoria, Australia.

"Probably, my biggest dream ever

came true, when I discovered I

would be living in Australia, which is

almost as far away from home as I

could imagine. It is so far away that

I never even ventured to think that

sometime I really would be able to

live here," Eira said.

"Finland lies above the Arctic

Circle and our population is only

about 5.3 million. It is about twice

the size of Victoria. Nevertheless,

Finland is a country with a high GDP

and a very good standard of living

and education.

We have two official languages,

Finnish and Swedish. English

becomes a compulsory subject in

Year Three and is taught until the

end of secondary school. The biggest

differences between Australia and

Finland are no doubt the languages

and the climate. I've found out that

my name is extremely challenging

for the Aussies to pronounce and

our ideas of winter are a bit differ-

ent," Eira observed.

Eira was asked about sports and

activities for families and young peo-

ple in Finland.

She replied, "Instead of netball

and footy, Finnish children prefer

sports such as soccer and ice hock-

ey, which is also considered as one

of the national games in Finland. We

also have a Finnish version of base-

ball as a national game.

Travelling inside the European

Union is also an easy way to spend

spare time. Cruises to Sweden and

Estonia, cheap flights to Central

Europe and Inter rail-cards are most

popular ways to explore Europe."

Commenting on her expectations

for the coming year, Eira said,

"Former exchange students I've met

have told me that the coming eleven

months are going to be the best but

also the hardest time of my life.

Sounds a bit complicated but I

believe that I'm ambitious enough to

manage this task.

There are plenty of things I'd like

to do and plenty of places I'd love to

visit during my stay but in a way I left

home with no expectations. I want to

Eira Hurskainen

Road Safety in Rural

Communities

As part of Baw Baw Shire

Council’s road safety strategy,

Council sent out a road traffic and

safety survey to Thorpdale seeking

input from residents.

The survey was conducted to

identify and highlight road safety

Traffic and Safety Survey issues and hot spots in rural towns.

Mayor Cr Ruth McGowan said

“The survey was being conducted

because we wanted to know the

issues on road safety in our rural

towns. We encouraged residents

from the rural towns to help build

consensus amongst the towns and

communities to find constructive

solutions to road safety issues.”

Mayor Cr McGowan continued,

“The aim of the project was to iden-

tify road safety problems, conduct

traffic reviews and generally improve

the road safety for all road users,

drivers, mototcyclists, cyclists and

pedestrians in rural towns and rural

areas.”

Cr McGowan continued, “Some

of the issues that we do know about

are speeding through towns, safe

road crossing points, rural intersec-

tions and safe footpaths. With the

survey results we can build on this

information to finalise a road safety

strategy for improved road safety.”

be open-minded and ready to face

everything this year has to offer."

"I'm sure that next July, when it

comes time to go home, I can hon-

estly say that I've experienced all the

things I've ever wanted and I expect

things I couldn't even dream of, will

be included in my report."

that slept the four of us. Well, we did

want an adventure!

The next morning we left at

5.00am in order to beat the trucks.

We did, but also found ourselves rid-

ing our bikes through knee-deep

mud. All of us were concentrating so

hard on getting through that none of

us stopped to take a photo, so you

will just have to take our word for it.

As we climbed higher we could

start to feel ourselves working harder

to breathe and on our first night at

altitude, Phil suffered slightly from

altitude sickness, which was a com-

bination of severe headache, nausea

and dizziness. However for the rest of

the trip, he seemed to acclimatise

and the rest of us had no problems

the whole way.

We got to Leh, which is a town of

28,000 people but again mostly

deserted in winter. We based our-

selves here for a few days while we

organised permits and did some side

trips.

The first was a two day trip to

Pangong Tso which is a lake 135 km

long at an altitude of 4250 metres

that completely freezes over in win-

ter. The road into the lake closes at

1.00pm due to the snowmelt that

swells creeks to the extent that you

can't get through. The lake was beau-

tiful and certainly one of the high-

lights of the trip, with its stunning

blue colour surrounded by huge

rocky mountains.

To get there we had to cross the

third highest motorable pass, Chang

Pangong Tso is one of the largest inland lakes in the world.

La and on the way in it was quite

warm up at the top, but on our way

out the day was overcast and it was

freezing at the summit.

We spent many hours either going

up a mountain pass or going down

but either way it was very slow going

due to the extremely rough road

conditions and the inevitable truck

or bus coming around the next cor-

ner on the wrong side of the road.

All of us at one stage or another

had very close calls with the, as

James called them, "suicide truck

drivers". It was quite common for us

to see truck or bus wrecks a thou-

sand metres below in a ravine, and

with no barriers on the roads we felt

very vulnerable when passing trucks

on narrow sections of road. Just a

little bump and it was goodbye!

It was also at this stage where

James and I had picked up a nasty

bug, and after enduring it for a few

days we started on some antibiotics

to rid ourselves of this problem. A

problem that was really impossible

not to have, with the lack of hygiene

in food preparation in the moun-

tains.

The second highlight of the trip

was our ride up to the highest road in

the world Khardung La at 5602

metres, well over twice as high as

Australia's highest peak, Mt

Kosciuszko, at 2228 metres.

The road was good, although

when we arrived at the police check

point, Dick realised he had left his

passport back at the hotel but as luck

would have it, I had a photo copy,

which the police accepted.

James and I crested the summit

riding side by side and were very

excited to have accomplished some-

thing we had been planning for two

and a half years. When Phil and Dick

arrived there were high fives and

hugs all round, and the weather

really put on a great clear and sunny

day for us.

We asked a lovely Indian girl, who

is a trainee commercial pilot, to take

a group photo of us and had a good

chat with her and her dad who is an

Army helicopter pilot. James and I

decided to walk a further 50 metres

up to a look-out to take some photos

and I have never been so exhausted

from walking 50 metres, but well

worth while.

From Leh we travelled west into

Kashmir against the advice of the

Australian Government. However,

our advice from a couple of our

Indian contacts was that it was safe to

travel through Kashmir as long as we

didn't stop in one location for too

long. At one stage one of the bikes

got a flat tyre, and we had to stop and

fix it. As we were preparing to fix it,

someone yelled out from further up

the hill, telling us not to trust a cou-

ple of guys hanging around but just

then a couple of Indian soldiers

turned up dressed in full battle gear

and carrying semi automatic weap-

ons.

They told us that we should not be

stopping and that they would stay

with us until we were able to get mov-

ing again. The military presence in

Kashmir is everywhere you look, with

soldiers patrolling the roads on foot,

machine gun posts on all high ground

and an endless stream of army con-

voys, which in itself can be intimidat-

ing.

We arrived in Srinigar and had

organised with the owner of a hotel

we had stayed in the night before to

rent his houseboat for a night. The

deal was 3000 rupees ($90

Australian) for dinner bed and

breakfast for the four of us, which

sounded just too good to be true.

The houseboat was a bit shabby

on the outside but on the inside was

filled with old colonial English furni-

ture and had lots of carved wooden

panels, quite a surprise for all of us.

Continued on page 20

At the snow line of a mountain pass. From left: James Brown, Dick Campbell, Marcus Barker and Phil Campbell.

Riding the highest road in the world

You might remember seeing

in a previous edition of the

Traf News myself and James

Brown and two friends Dick and Phil

Campbell were off to ride Royal

Enfield motorbikes over the highest

motorable road in the world. Well we

can say, 'Mission Accomplished'!

After a very long flight to Delhi, we

arrived at 2.30am to a hot and steamy

Indian morning. We all piled our-

selves and gear into a taxi and headed

off to our hotel.

Now there are no such things as

street signs or Melways and our taxi

driver had no idea where the hotel

was but after asking quite a few peo-

ple we eventually made it to the

hotel.

After about three hours sleep we

woke to start the process of hiring

the Royal Enfields (Motor bikes) in

Karol Bagh. However we were also to

find out that Dick had left a bag at the

airport, so James and I made a dash

back to find his bag and were suc-

cessful after tackling a heap of red

tape.

Then it was back to hiring the

bikes, and we did this through a leg-

end of the industry in a great guy by

the name of Lalli Singh. His bikes

were of a very high standard and he

assured us that within 24 hours they

would be prepared mechanically and

also fitted with luggage racks, spares

and tools ready for the 3000 km

journey through the Himalayas.

So to fill in the next 24 hours we

took a taxi from Delhi to Agra where

the Taj Mahal is. This was just an

incredible structure and was main-

tained to a high standard unlike a lot

of India's landmarks.

When we arrived back in Delhi

that afternoon the bikes were ready

Phil, Dick, Marcus and James on the highest motorable road in the world.

and we were invited to take them for

a test ride. James was very nervous

about this and didn't want to make a

fool of himself but as we were to find

out on the trip he took the test ride in

his stride and managed to keep the

rubber side down!

The following morning we left

Delhi at 5.00am with the intention of

beating the morning traffic snarl, and

apart from having a couple of issues

of which way to go we managed to get

out unscathed.

The first day's ride was a long one

mainly on dual lane highway and was

a good introduction to the Indian way

of driving. That is, one finger on the

horn at all times, one beep to let

them know you're there and lots of

beeps to let them know you're pass-

ing.

Very few vehicles have mirrors so

the horn is the most important piece

of equipment. We encountered

numerous vehicles coming straight

for us on the wrong side of the dual

lane highway and this is quite acc-

ceptable In India!

The first night was at Shimla. We

had just started to climb into the

foothills of the Himalayas and at this

stage it was like travelling through

the Victorian High Country but with

many suicide drivers intent on killing

themselves, their family, passengers

and not to mention us as well.

The next morning James got us

hopelessly lost but some how man-

aged to swing the blame round on to

me, but I have broad shoulders so

took the blame.

We were moving further up into

the hills and stayed the night in

Mandi where we had a great night

being entertained by a descendant of

the region's Raj who longed for a

return of the old days.

The food we had encountered so

far was quite good and consisted of

different curries, most being vegetar-

ian, chicken or mutton served with

rice and naan bread. At local road-

side stalls we were often able to get

samosas, which were very nice.

However, in the mountains the

choice was rice and Dahl or go hun-

gry because very little food is trucked

in. So if nothing is grown locally its

rice and Dahl! The local beer

'Kingfisher', was a fine drop to wash

the curries down with but if you

checked the alcohol level it stated it

was between 3.5% and 5.5%, no two

brews were the same I guess. The

other choice in some locations was

'Godfather' beer, which was about

9% and really got us going.

We soon came to our first real

mountain pass, Rotang La, and were

confronted with land slides and deep

mud and because of this we also had

to contend with a log jam of trucks

and buses all trying to get through,

in the end "choking" the whole

mountain.

It was the worst traffic jam I had

ever seen or could even imagine,

with hundreds of trucks and buses

going nowhere and not likely to in

the near future. It took us quite a few

hours just to go a few kilometres

weaving in and out of the parked

vehicles, and at times having to go

very close to the edge to get past.

That night we were stuck half way

up, at a little village called Marhi,

which is only used in summer. We

stayed in the only accommodation in

the village, a tiny hut with one big bed

On the Rotang La road showing bumper to bumper traffic.

By Marcus Barker


Trafalgar to Trafalgar Square ...

Continued from page 7

The Russian officials inspected

our luggage, checked the carriage,

stamped our passports and left.

Then began a bizarre couple of

hours of seemingly pointless shunt-

ing, back and forth, for several

hours. Sufficient to keep us on the

train for fear of missing its depar-

ture. We need not have worried.

Our crossing of the border from

Mongolia to Russia eventually took

eleven hours.

After another night on the train

we arrived at Irkutsk in eastern

Siberia. Nearby, the astonishingly

deep Lake Baikal is stunningly beau-

tiful, and holds one fifth of the

world’s fresh water.

The "Baikal" train from Irkutsk

to Moscow takes three days. This

train is by far the best on which we

travelled. Brand new, sound-proof,

twin berth cabins, kept spotlessly

clean by fussy cleaners and with

comfortable settees that become

comfortable beds at night.

The 9000 km from Moscow to

Vladivostok is completely electrified,

on concrete sleepers and of mostly

welded rail. The Ghan, our favourite

train until this point, suddenly

looked very shabby, cramped and

over-priced by comparison.

After three nights crossing Siberia

and European Russia, we arrived in

Moscow. To this point we had trav-

elled over 15,000 km by train. Ahead

lie 2,000 km to Berlin. London is a

week away.

Crossing the Siberian Steppes

The Drouin Lions Club is holding its annual Baw

Baw Garden Expo and Home Show at Lardner Park

Field Days site on Saturday, 10 and Sunday, 11

October during the hours 9.00am to 4.00pm each day.

The club aims to make this Expo a large regional event

that is a great family outing, which becomes a means for

the Drouin Lions Club to raise money for community ben-

efit.

Last year, the club donated $20,000 for a glucose

monitoring system for Juvenile Diabetes. This year's

profit will go to Lyrebird Village for a much needed

hydro pool and winch.

There will be 150 exhibits with sales, extensive

catering, children's activities including face painting

and free potting of a plant.

Admission is $6.00 for adults and children under

16 free. Parking is free. For enquiries, contact 5625

4589 or 5625 3040.

Spring to Garden Expo"Just Don’t" - sign in Chinese park


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89 Princes Highway,

Trafalgar

Real Estate and Livestock sales

Ph: 5633 1934 Fax: 5633 1870AH Joe Gunn: 5633 2323 or 0418 594 141

Riding the highest road in the world...

exile along with many Tibetan peo-

ple who I found to be very friendly

and would love to have spent more

time there.

Taking only three weeks to do

this trip, we did at times regret it

when we found a spot that needed

more time to explore. Maybe this

just means we will have to return

some time.

From there we headed off to

Ludhiana where we had arranged to

stay with the parents of a friend who

lives in Darnum. On the way there

we first came to a washed out bridge

and had to do a 40km detour. We

then got lost and had trouble finding

our way back on track. Then we had

to ride our bikes through a festival

that had thousands of people filling

the road for 100kms or more.

We were down to about 20kmh

for all that distance and so didn't get


While enjoying a great sunset we

had quite a few boats come up to the

back of the houseboat trying to sell

us anything from cookies, choco-

lates, flowers to souvenirs. We

couldn't resist the cookies and choc-

olates after all there is only so much

rice and Dahl one can eat!

The dinner they put on was a buf-

fet of yummy curries and being a dry

town they even found us some beer

although at $7.50 for a tall bottle

was somewhat expensive. Breakfast

the next day was porridge and in my

opinion no one makes porridge, as

good as the Indians. I think we had

it for breakfast everyday.

Leaving Kashmir, we were about

30 kms from Srinigar when I thought

we might stop at a roadside Chai

shop, but again two soldiers pulled

up and told us to keep moving

because we were putting ourselves at

risk of being kidnapped.

So we didn't take much convinc-

ing and didn't stop until we had gone

through the 2.5km long Jawahar

tunnel and by then we were clear of

Kashmir.

India can be quite a dirty place

and we could never quite under-

stand why they didn't take more

pride in their hygiene and the clean-

liness of their surroundings.

For instance, we stopped at a

roadside stall for lunch one day and

within a radius of one metre of my

bike there were three human faeces

and for some reason neither Dick or

Phil ate lunch that day. Rubbish is

just discarded in the street, and

open sewers are common but even

in hotel grounds the rubbish was

piled up and no one seemed to

care.

We spent a night at McLeodganj

which is were the Dalai Lama lives in

Negotiating a snow melt on one of the mountain passes.

into Ludhiana until after dark. Our

host, Jagmohan met us and led us to

his house. He then took us into his

bar where he pulled out 4 tall bottles

of Kingfisher from his freezer and

boy, they were the best beers we had

the fortune to have in India.

The next day Jagmohan gave us a

tour of his farm, which was planted

with poplar trees for matchstick

production, baby corn for the

European market, wheat and sor-

ghum.

From Ludhiana it was a long

straight ride back to Delhi most of

the way in torrential monsoon

rains.

For the two weeks before we left

Australia I had a constant stream of

people coming into Nelson's asking

me to make sure James would return

safely. The pressure on me to return

James in one piece was immense,

but I had a great time with him and

had many laughs, not to mention

handing out daily hugs when the

going was getting a bit tough for

him.

After all, James was not what you

would call a very experienced motor

bike rider who considered 'heavy

traffic' as riding his motor bike past

the schools at 3.30pm and a long

journey was to the Warragul Hospital

and back!

This was a fantastic experience,

but not one for the faint hearted. I

would recommend it to anyone who

has an adventurous streak in them.

James and I would be happy to lead

an expedition!

Anyone who wants to have a look

at the full ride report and photos can

see it at this web address http://www.

advrider.com/forums/showthread.

php?t=493085


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Tanjil Valley Garden Group The calendar revealed that

Monday August 3 was the day the

Tanjil Valley Garden Group would

substitute a garden outing for an

at-home quiz/games afternoon at

one of the member's homes.

About fifteen arrived; each

member found a seat not far from

two wonderfully warm fires (kept

well stoked by a pretty competent

man on hand) and settled to a little

sociable conversation. Good atmos-

phere, good company and looking

forward to testing our skills, the

assembled garden-lovers finally

slipped into competition mode.

Our very talented member, the

charming Claire Lee, gently chal-

lenged our knowledge, our memo-

ry, our jig-saw skills, and our ability

to turn a simple piece of orange

paper into an acceptable represen-

tation of the super-healthy vegeta-

ble, a carrot.

There were prizes galore, heaps

of winners, and oodles of satisfac-

tion as we discovered two things:

the joy of competing, and just a tad

of 'the child' in each of us wanting

to be a winner. It was a great way

to spend a couple of hours on a

cold August afternoon.

I believe we all added something

special to our day as we journeyed

down the rusty-memory-path trying

By Jan Austin-Hart to recall things we know we know

but just can't quite remember; well

not instantly, but with the patience

all seniors must possess, the mem-

ory is tweaked and the answers

arrive, eventually.

For your time and lots of

thoughtful preparation a special

thank you from all of us Claire; it

was such a lovely day.

Our very own skilled photogra-

pher Diane had two photo-filled

CDs available which provided a

myriad of lovely images from previ-

ous garden outings; the journey

down memory lane unobtrusively

ran on two screens in the back-

ground, eliciting the occasional

'where was that?' or 'oh, I remem-

ber'.

Thank you Diane, it was lovely

to re-experience the gardens, the

plants, and the people, from past

excursions.

September and October will see

us visiting a home garden at Hill

End and another at Yarragon.

November 9 - Earimil Gardens

at Mt Eliza. The group is taking an

all day coach trip. Enquiries: If

you're interested in joining us, con-

tact Jan on 5633 2916.

Garden Group enquiries wel-

come:

Claire Lee 5635 4227 or

Jan Austin-Hart 5633 2916

Mount Worth MattersCr John Durrant

Mobile: 0408 124 445 Fax: 5622 3654

Cr Bill Harrington

Mobile: 0428 637 714 Fax: 5634 8348

Community Cabinet in

Trafalgar

At the recent Community Cabinet

Meeting in Trafalgar, a number of

presentations were made by com-

munity representatives. Roger's Road

resident, John Hart, acknowledged

and publically thanked Council for

the work they did in 2008, closing an

unused road he now uses as his

driveway.

Gwen Hunter, President of the

Yarragon District Community

Association spoke on the issues sur-

rounding the parkland in Yarragon

that is beside the highway. The

Association would like to see a fence

installed for safety.

David Hotchkin and David

Blackshaw from the Victorian

Farmers Federation, Thorpdale

Branch, provided an update on the

PCN (Potato Cyst Nematode) discov-

ery, and its devastating effects on the

Thorpdale community. The normal

scheduled Council Meeting followed.

Support for Potato Farmers

Following a request from the

Thorpdale Branch of the VFF at the

recent Council Meeting at Trafalgar,

Council has agreed to write to the

Federal and State Members for

Agriculture, requesting the urgent

implementation of the Potato Cyst

Nematode Management Plan. This

will hopefully provide a more equita-

ble marketing system for potatoes

across Australia.

Community Assistance Grants

There are a large and diverse

range of community groups within

our Shire, from sporting clubs to arts

groups, reserve and hall committees

to senior citizens to youth organisa-

tions, all contributing in some way to

a vibrant and healthy community.

Each group relies on volunteers,

committed community members to

not only operate, but indeed survive.

To assist many of these needy

groups, the Council has approved

$341,501 of Community Assistance

Grants. There were a total of 169

applications received this year with

85 of these successfully receiving a

grant, 23 in the Mount Worth Ward.

Congratulations to these 23 organisa-

tions! You will be invited to a special

presentation function shortly.

Amusement Parlour

There is a proposal for an existing

gift shop at 99 Princes Highway,

Trafalgar, to use the property for an

amusement parlour. At this stage, it is

proposed to offer video rentals and

seven amusement machines. The

applicant also owns BK’s Take Away

next door. The amusement parlour is

proposed to be accessed via that food

outlet and in a separate room at the

rear.

Notification of this application is

attached to the window of the premis-

es with details how to lodge a sub-

mission or objection.

Trafalgar Councillor Office

A reminder that one of your local

councillors will be available each

Friday between 10am and 12.30pm

at the Trafalgar Customer Service

Centre. Please call 5633 1911 if you

wish to make an appointment.


A day in the life of Jo Porter

I am aged 38 and my occupation

is as a lecturer at the Monash

University Gippsland Campus

I am married to Greg Porter and

have four Children, Nic aged 10,

Haylea (7), Izaak (5) and Joshua

aged 2.

I have lived in Trafalgar all my

life, having been born here.

What is a typical day?

As I begin to note down what a

typical day is for me I would guess

that there will be many readers who

will not think it humanly possible to

cram in as much as I do into a day.

The secret to my success, work-

ing full time as an academic for

Monash University in the School of

Nursing and Midwifery, mother of

four very active children, keeping

food on the table and studying

towards my PhD is, don’t sleep and

move your mother in next door.

I start the day with a run, (5-10

km) you may have seen a com-

pletely crazy women running the

streets with a small golden dog

(that’s Charlie) at 7.00am.

It’s the best time of the day to see

Traf. Home to get the kids ready for

school, Nic and Haylea go to

Trafalgar Primary, Izaak goes to

Trafalgar Kinder and then off I go to

Churchill with the youngest in tow to

the childcare centre.

I start work at 9.00am and before

I started my current position I

worked in the nursing emergency

department at Warragul.

I’m an emergency nurse by pro-

fession and have a passion for look-

ing after patients who are scared

and injured; it is a rare privilege. I

have worked in nursing since

1992.

For the past seven years I have

been working out of Monash

University teaching Emergency and

Intensive care students, involved in

the third year of the undergraduate

program, preparing new nurses for

practice and as the clinical coordi-

nator.

The Clinical Coordinator is the

person responsible for getting all

480 undergraduate students out on

clinical practice from aged care set-

tings to ambulance, prison sector,

mental health and in to both region-

al and metropolitan hospitals. This

is a great role that means travelling

to all the various hospitals to arrange

for placement and visiting the stu-

dents.

Teaching at Monash brings with

it both challenges and great rewards.

I recently taught via live video link

up to a small town near Christchurch

in NZ, and have had the opportunity

to travel and teach in PNG and

Malaysia.

I’m currently studying towards

my PhD with an interest in family

presence during resuscitation in the

emergency department. You’re wel-

come to ask me about it, I’m just

getting started.

In my spare time and just for fun

I am the Producer / Director of the

Trafalgar Amateur Drama Society

(TADS) which is putting on a dinner

theatre night in October, show cas-

ing our local talent in a comedy play

called "Nursery Crimes."

There are 17 cast members and

a production team of five so rehears-

als are getting to the serious end of

business as we get ready to light up

the stage in the Trafalgar Public Hall

during the Battle of Trafalgar cele-

brations.

After work are the after school

activities, swimming, tennis, sports,

baseball training then it's home in

the evening to cook tea, reading

with the kids, bath time and bed.

TADS rehearsal at my house. Catch

up on the washing which never

seems to stop and then around

10.00pm I will fire up the computer

to prepare for a teaching session for

the next day.

Occasionally I see my dear hus-

band Greg in between his shift work

as an electrician at Fonterra.

It’s a busy life but together we

seem to get everything done and still

find time to enjoy baseball on the

weekends.

Trafalgar is the centre of the

universe, a great place to live and a

wonderful place to bring up chil-

dren.

Jo Porter

Bookings taken on 5633 1730Find us at 15 Contingent Street, Trafalgar

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Looking for a great gift for Dad on Fathers day?


On Sunday, 9 August at

2.00pm, an 'Arts Alive'

concert was held at St

Mark's Anglican Church in Yarragon

to celebrate the musical talent of our

children and to raise funds for the

'Arts Alive' Chaplaincy Benefit concert

local school chaplains.

The program included three

items from the Yarragon School

Choir. We loved their puppets which

joined in the singing too! There was

a diverse range of items from stu-

Annual District Skit Night a highlight for Traf Cubs

The 1st Trafalgar Cub Scouts

have been very busy this

term with a welcome back

games night, a formal dress

MacDonald's fine dining night, com-

bining with the Scout Troup, and a

dress up pirate night just to name a

few.

The highlight so far was on Friday

night, 7 August, when we participat-

ed in the Annual District Skit Night,

which this year was held at the

Thorpdale Public Hall. All the cubs

from Trafalgar and surrounding dis-

tricts including Thorpdale, Nerrim,

Mountain Rivers, Warragul, Drouin,

Newborough and Moe, each per-

formed a wide variety of entertaining

skits.

Trafalgar performed a rendition

of Snow White and the Seven

Dwarves, with a very enthusiastic

cast. The children were great per-

formers, remembering all of their

lines and looking like amateur thes-

pians in their costumes.

The night started at 7.00pm with

a packed hall and a very delicious

supper provided by parents and

friends. A great night was again had

by all and we look forward to doing

something different next year.

These performances accredit a

component of the Entertainers

Badge, like this and other achieve-

ment badges. All Cub Scout activities

facilitate the further development of

any potential abilities hidden within

the child.

Recently we have had a few

changes within our group. Our Cub

Leader Shazelle has moved to the

Scout Troup to be the Assistant Scout

Leader, to help with the growing

Troup. We have about five cubs that

will soon be linking up to Scouts as

well as our new members.

We are all very grateful to Shazelle

for all she has done with the Cub

Pack and we know the transition to

Scouts, for the Cubs, will be a lot

easier knowing she is there to greet

them.

We have also started prepara-

tions for our up and coming

Centenary Celebrations for 2010.

We are still looking for any old pho-

tos that we could copy, old uniforms

or memorabilia that we could dis-

play.

If you think you may be able to

help out, please contact either Tiffany

on 5633 1929 or Jenny on 5633

2353.

dents of one of our instrumental

music teachers, Mr Norman Cottrell-

from Djembe to ukuleles and 1930's

swing!

Chaplain of Trafalgar and

Yarragon Primary schools, Mrs Linda

Neave, sang a couple of songs and

played her guitar too.

It was also wonderful to hear

'Ben and the Boards' featuring local

Mr Ben Smith (Music and IT teacher

at TPS) and the talented Board fam-

ily from Yarragon, Jess, Emily and

Daniel. Another concert will be held

in Trafalgar; look out for a report

next month!

With donations and sales of after-

noon tea, the concert raised $330. If

you are interested in making a tax

deductible donation to support the

valuable support and counselling

work of Chaplaincy at our local gov-

ernment schools, speak to Rev Sue

Jacka, 5633 1021 or the treasurer

Mr Walter Sholl 5633 1047.


Special Day for Grandparents at St JosephsS

pecial celebrations for our grandparents were held

recently and once again the day was a wonderful

occasion where we gathered to celebrate and give

thanks for our grandparents.

Grandparents are very special people who have given so

much and who continue to love and care for us in so many

ways. They are an important part of who we are and we thank

them for their generosity and wisdom.

The day started over at the Church with every grade

contributing to the special liturgy thanking God for our

grandparents. This was followed by a delicious lunch in our

newly refurbished assembly area and then finally all

grandparents spent time in classrooms looking at all the

great work that the children had done.

There was a great turn out with over 120 visitors to the

school and all agreed the day was another outstanding

success.

The new playgroup in Trafalgar,

Lil' Ships is now up and running at

the Trafalgar Cricket Club.

We encourage new families to

come along and try our activities. It

is a small, friendly group who enjoy

a cuppa and a chat while the chil-

dren have loads of fun.

Children aged from babies to

four years old enjoy our various

exciting and educational activities.

This term, the activities have been

mask making, cooking, musical

instruments, seed planting and door

hangers.

The children are also learning to

sit together for morning tea and

story/sing time which has been

encouraging.

We also have free play each ses-

Local school boy Lachlan Wyatt

(16) will compete as part of

the Victorian State Squad in

Perth next month, at the Australian

Schools National Swimming

Championships.

The Year 10 Trafalgar High stu-

dent has earned his place in the

Victorian team through a rigorous

swimming process, seeing him qual-

ify from school through to district

area, and finally state champion-

ships, to be named part of the

Victorian squad.

Lachlan will compete in a number

of events ranging from distance free-

style to 50 metre breaststroke and

New Playgroup in Trafalgarsion where the children can play

with our climbing equipment, tents

and tunnels and dress ups. On a

sunny day, we also end the session

with fun on the outdoor play equip-

ment.

Other activities we will run this

term include Father's Day pressies,

smiley face biscuits, making bird

feeders and a super AFL term break

up party.

If you have any enquiries, please

do not hesitate to contact Gretta on

0413 847 107.

Our session is on Thursday at

10.00am until 12 noon at the

Trafalgar Cricket Club at the

Recreation Reserve. We hope to

meet you and your family soon.

Lachlan chosen for Schools National Swimming Championshipsrelays and has his eyes on finals and

perhaps even a medal.

He has increased his training

regime to ensure he is in top form

for the championships, although still

manages to fit in his Trafalgar soccer

commitments where he plays mid-

field for the Under 16's and goal-

keeper for the Men's Seniors.

The former NSW state medallist

and national age finalist moved from

the western suburbs of Sydney with

his parents, four brothers and grand-

mother last September, and hasn't

looked back.

"I am really keen to be part of the

Victorian squad for the first time and

to represent my school. I can't wait

to get in the water to see what I can

achieve," Lachlan said.

Lachlan flies out on 13 September

for a week of tough competition,

then on return, flies out to Runaway

Bay, to compete as part of the

Gippsland Academy of Sport Target

Squad. All this comes at a large

financial cost, so Lachlan is seeking

sponsorship to assist with the

expenses, which costs into the thou-

sands of dollars.

If you can help please contact

Lachlan on 5634 2638 and any sup-

port would be gratefully appreciat-

ed.


R e m e m b e r w h e n . . .

‘Remember When’ is compiled by Jack McDonald from newspapers held in the Trafalgar and District Historical Society Archives.

Around the Society

The 'Yarragon, Trafalgar & Moe Settlement News',

September 19194 September - Empire Society Welcome Home

Under the auspices of the Trafalgar and District Empire Society a 'wel-

come home' will be tendered to all soldiers who have returned since the last

welcome. The welcome home will be held in the Trafalgar Mechanics'

Institute (Public Hall) on Friday evening, 5 September.

The returned soldiers are - Lieut. W Purcell, D.C.M, Sgt. Major AE Gibson,

Cpl. F Braithwaite, Cpl. R L Dowie, Gunner R H Gibson, Gunner Harold

Perrior, Sglr. O Lucas, Tpr. J J Griffiths, Pte. W Duggan, Pte. J Braithwaite,

M.M, Pte. J Pugh, Pte. B Riley.

It is the duty of all citizens to show their appreciation of our Victorious

Soldiers by according them a suitable Home Coming.

Aeroplane Over Trafalgar

Former Trafalgar man Capt. Chas. Matheson will pilot an aeroplane over

Yarragon at 3.15 and Trafalgar at 3.30, tomorrow, Friday, 5 September. He

will drop leaflets in support of the Peace Loan.

The 'Gippsland News', September 19491 September - With the Anglers

The annual smoke social of the Trafalgar Angling Club was held in the

Scout hall last Thursday evening, the president, Mr V Magnuson, presiding

over the evenings proceedings.

The president, in responding to the toast of the Trafalgar Angling Club,

proposed by Mr H Robins, said that the membership of the club was growing,

and he was pleased to see so many young men taking an interest in the

sport.

"There is no better fun to be had than a good fishing trip," he said.

8 September - Home Nurse Training

The Red Cross of Australia is aiming to train one person of every house-

hold as a home nurse. The Yarragon Red Cross Emergency Service Company

proposes to arrange to conduct the Home Nursing Course.

All interested are invited to attend a meeting in the billiard room of the

Public Hall on 13 September at 2.30 pm.

Trafalgar Youth Club

Next Monday night, 12 September, the recently-formed Trafalgar Youth

Club will have its first opening night in the Trafalgar Public Hall, and the

secretary, Constable Tuckwell, expects a big attendance.

Classes will begin at 7.00 pm. for children from ten to 14 years of age,

and at 8.00 pm. for 15 years and over. An interesting program has been

arranged for those who attend.

29 September - Trafalgar Tennis Club

The annual general meeting of the Trafalgar Tennis Club was held on

Thursday night, 22 September, with the president Mr T Shanahan, in the

chair. After new members in Messrs. Truman, Tuckwell, Satchell and Jones

had been welcomed by the president, the balance sheet for season 1948/49

was read and duly received and adopted.

Office bearers for the ensuing season were appointed as follows:

President: Mr R Crockett, Vice-president: Mr T Shanahan, Secretary: Mr S M

Jones, Treasurer: Mr L Satchell, Auditor: Mr L Symons. Selection committee:

Messrs. R Crockett, S M Jones, G Kraft, B Baillie and Mrs H Hayes.

Prizes at Show

In the Ayrshire section at the Royal Melbourne Show, W Battley and Sons,

of Trafalgar, gained the following prizes: Bull four years old and over: third,

Heifer born between 28 February, and 1 September, 1948: second. Novice

classes: Ayrshire Derby Sweepstakes (special), first.

Band News

The annual Band Week, conducted by the Narracan Shire Brass Band,

which concluded on Friday last, again proved a success, both financially and

socially. The success of the 'Week' can be attributed mainly to the fine work

done by the Ladies' Auxiliary. The ladies were tireless in their efforts, and a

full measure of thanks is due to them.

The 'Trafalgar News', September 19795 September - Blitz Nets 100 Drivers

More than 100 drivers were booked for speeding in Trafalgar during

August, and police have promised more blitzes to come. A total of 104 driv-

ers were caught speeding in the town during two amphometer blitzes, Senior

Constable Craig Jennings, of Trafalgar police revealed yesterday.

Legacy Honour

A member of Trafalgar Legacy, Mr Paddy Ryan, has been presented with a

special Legacy certificate in appreciation of his work for the group over many

years. For the past 11 years Mr Ryan has organised the supply of potatoes to

Melbourne Legacy residences. The residences were built for country children

seeking an education in Melbourne.

Mr Ryan appeals for the potatoes in the Thorpdale and Trafalgar districts.

Golfers Applaud Champ

Trafalgar golfers are still applauding their club-mate and 1979 Victorian

country golf champion, Leighton Gibson. He was toasted at a special club

function last Sunday night and has been the recipient of many congratulatory

cards and calls over the past week.

Gibson, six times Trafalgar club champion, says winning the title at

Commonwealth, was the 'thrill of a life time'.

19 September - Fairview Units Opened

Nine little keys were presented on Tuesday, keys which unlock the results

of many years of hard work by a number of people in the community.

The keys opened the doors of the nine new Fairview flats for the aged in

Chapmans Road. They were handed over by the Housing Commission who

was responsible for the construction of the flats, during a ceremony attended

by many of the community members behind the project.

26 September - Yarragon Honours Ladies

Yarragon Football Club has honoured six members of its Ladies Auxiliary

with life membership.

They are: Mesdames Margaret Rankin, Belle Bowers, Irene Knight,

Thelma Cleversley, Mel Blake and Dot King.

A special honour board bearing their names will be placed in the Dowton

Park pavilion.

We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of

Mr L Williams, who passed away on 7 August. Len was an interested and

interesting member of our society with his tales of his early life in the timber

industry. Although he was unable to be an active member in recent years, he

will be sadly missed by many of our members.


The main news at the Medical

Centre is that I am winning

the footy tipping competi-

tion. I would like to thank all the

other participants and commend

them for their gallant efforts.

We say good bye to Jess our

intern and welcome Nisha Makkar.

Nisha will be with us for 10 weeks.

We will also be joined by Dr Manny

Heer. He will arrive newly married. I

have worked with Manny before and

I look forward to his fun and know

he has a good skill set.

When some is good, more is not

necessarily better.

Humans have quite a tendency to

conclude that just because some is

good, more is better. We see this in

the current consumption of vitamins

and bottled water. One hundred and

fifty years ago it was realised that for

healthy living we require small

amounts of particular nutrients in

our diet.

These nutrients became known

as vitamins. The setting was the

prevalence of diets made up of only

sugars and starches. We however

only need trace amounts of these

vitamins in our diet, a balanced diet

will contain an ample quantity of

vitamins without the need for sup-

plements.

The necessity to have small

amounts of vitamins in our diet how-

ever has translated in our society to

many believing that large amounts of

vitamins are better. This belief is

fuelled by the pharmaceutical indus-

try that makes enormous profits by

selling vitamins which are now

-a-days the largest market in ‘medi-

cines’.

Ironically they are marketed as

natural although it is far from natu-

ral to take such quantities of these

chemicals.

The current obsession with bot-

tled water is very similar. Humans

spent most of their history without

containers to drink from. We are

designed to manage on an occa-

sional intake of water. The aborigi-

nals, when travelling through the

dessert, could in fact manage two

days without water.

This obsession with water is in at

times hazardous. It is now believed

that some of the recent deaths on the

Kakoda trail were due to water

intoxication. Bodily fluids are salty

and if you drink too much water you

can dilute the minerals in your body

which can become dangerous and

even fatal.

A healthy human who is not phys-

ically stressed can dispose of excess

water intake with their kidneys. In

disposing of excess water our kid-

neys need to undertake a complex

process that enables the water to be

excreted without losing the bodily

salts that would normally dissolve in

that water.

That is why when you drink a lot

of water you urinate large amounts

of pale urine. If however you are

ageing, your kidneys are frail or you

are under considerable heat stress

such as rigorous exercise, your kid-

ney’s may not be able to dispose of

excess water. This is a dangerous

situation.

Generally speaking humans

should drink when they are thirsty.

When exercising you can choose to

anticipate your thirst by drinking in

moderation before you become

thirsty.

This is often recommended for

those undertaking long distance

running or cycling.

It is advice however that needs to

be taken with ‘a grain of salt’ both

metaphorically and literally! The bet-

ter advice is to exercise in modera-

tion and not to excess!

The most important time to

encourage fluids is when a human is

unwell with vomiting and diarrhoea.

The best fluid to use in this situation

is a fluid containing electrolytes such

as gastrolyte.

On a more philosophical slant, I

think that it is a human tendency to

resort to oral solutions like tablet

popping and water drinking for bet-

ter living instead of examining how

they live in terms of their relation-

ships and their work leisure bal-

ance.

Ticks and Paralysis Ticks

Ticks are a common parasite in

rural Victoria. They crawl through

the animal's fur and then dive down

through the undercoat and begin to

burrow into the skin. They burrow

deep down so that their entire head

can be beneath the skin's surface.

They sit there and inject anti-coagu-

lant saliva and suck blood.

Most ticks are quite harmless

considering they are blood sucker-

ing parasites - they attach, feed and

when they are full after a few days of

sucking, they fall off. They do cause

irritation at the site of attachment

and do leave craters in the skin once

they fall off.

Ticks can be removed, however

you do need to be careful that you

don't just pull the body off and leave

the tiny little head buried in the skin

of your pet!

The paralysis tick (Ixodes holo-

cyclus) behaves like any other tick,

however mixed in with its saliva is a

dangerous poison. When this tick

attaches to suck blood, he injects his

poisonous saliva into your pet.

It only takes one tick to poison a

dog. The paralysis tick is known to

live east of Bairnsdale and up the

east coast of Australia. It is not in

Trafalgar, but please keep in mind

that ticks can travel.

There have been cases of owners

holidaying away, leaving their pet

safe in boarding kennels, only to

return home, bringing the stowaway

tick home with them to attach to

their pet.

Paralysis ticks usually take three

days to produce their toxin, so you

have three whole days to find that

Trafalgar Veterinary Clinic News

By Dr Kerrie Piper

Trafalgar Medical Centre News

By Dr James Brown

tick before your pet falls ill.

Tick searches every day as well as

using topical tick treatments (such

as Frontline, tick collars or Advantix)

are the best protection for your pet.

75 to 80% of ticks attach in front of

the shoulders and like particularly to

hide under the ears, eyelids and in

the lip folds as well as armpits and

groin areas.

Signs of tick paralysis can be

seen in both dogs and cats. Initial

signs are hind leg wobbliness, raspy

breathing and a change in the way

his bark or meow sounds. The wob-

bliness progresses until the animal

can't stand up.

Eventually the breathing muscles

also become paralysed. Once signs

of paralysis are noticed, it can

progress very quickly, so if in doubt

it is best to get your pet to the near-

est vet right away.

Treatment involves injecting the

anti-venom, however due to the

nature of the tick poison, treatment

is not always successful. Tick paral-

ysis is most certainly one of those

times where prevention is better

than treatment.

Remember that unfortunately,

there is not one topical anti-tick

preparation that is 100% reliable on

its own.

Never ever trust your pet's life to

a commercial tick product alone -

always use these preventatives in

conjunction with a thorough tick

search daily.

If you are holidaying east or

north of Trafalgar with your pet,

please drop into your vet for advice

on how to tick search properly.


C H U R C H N E W S

Every Sunday: 10.00am

Sunday School: (During service)

Youth group: Saturdays at 7.00pm

Bible studies: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings

Thorpdale Wesleyan

Methodist ChurchPastor Frank Lees (Phone 5634 6413)

St John’s Trafalgar, 54 Waterloo RoadVigil Mass: 6.00pm (Saturday)

First Saturday Devotions: Mass at 9.30am. Exposition and

reconciliation 10.00am - 11.00am

Sunday Mass: 10.30am

Weekday Masses: 9.30am (Tuesday to Friday)

Each Wednesday after Mass: Exposition

Second Wednesday Devotions: Exposition, reconciliation and Anointing

of the sick, after Mass.

St Jarlath’s Yarragon, Rollo StreetSunday Mass: 9.00am

TrafalgarCatholic Parish Father Bernie Krotwaar

(Phone: 5633 1166)

Gippsland Christian

Church - Trafalgar

Meets: First Sunday of each month

Time: From 5.00pm

Venue: Traf Park Bowls Club,

Ashby Street, Trafalgar

Pastor Phil Kennedy

(Phone 5126 1647)

Transport availability

If 'you', or 'someone else' you know needs transport for mass, shopping,

or medical, please let Julianne know at the parish office for transport to be

organised - phone 5633 1166.

Neighbourhood Outreach

If you know of any Catholic newcomer(s) to Trafalgar or Yarragon - single

or family - please let Julianne know for a welcome visit to be arranged -

phone 5633 1166.

Home visiting

If you know of anyone sick, lonely, bereaved, grieving, etc, or if you would

like a visit - please let Julianne know at the parish office for a visit to be

arranged - phone 5633 1166.

St Mark’s Church, ThorpdaleFirst and third Sundays of the month: 8.00am

Breakfast after first Sunday service.

Second and fourth Sundays of the month: 11.00am

Second Sunday is a combined service with the Uniting Church

St Mark’s Church, YarragonFirst and third Sundays of the month: 11.00am

Morning tea at 10.30am on 1st Sunday

Second and fourth Sundays of the month: 8.30am

St Mary’s Church, TrafalgarEvery Sunday: 9.30am

Family service followed by morning tea

Wednesdays: Holy Communion 10.00am

Cuppa and conversation 10.45am

Meditation Group meets 7.00pm Wednesday evenings-contact Rev Sue

Jacka 5633 1021, 0409 757 170 or [email protected]

Note: Every fifth Sunday of the month is a combined Anglican/Uniting

service at St Mary’s Church, Trafalgar 10.00am (This is the only church serv-

ice for that day.)

Anglican ChurchRev. Sue Jacka (Phone 5633 1021;

Fax 5633 1041)

Back to Church

Sometimes people say to me, "I'd quite like to go to church, but I haven't

been for so long that I'd feel awkward. I wouldn't know what to do."

This in fact, is a quite common feeling, so the Anglican Church has

arranged a 'Back to Church' Sunday on 13 September. Across the state,

churches will hold their usual services with special efforts made to make the

experience easily accessible and enjoyable for people who may not have

attended for a long time. There's no pressure to 'sign up' or to make greater

commitments, just a warm welcome and some good worship and fellowship.

Local service times for 13 September are 8.30am at Yarragon, 9.30am at

Trafalgar and 11.00am at Thorpdale. If you've been thinking of reconnecting

with Church, why not make this the time?

Men's Breakfasts

On the first Saturday of the month at 8.00am, men are invited to get

together for a cooked breakfast and hear about something that a local has

been up to. We've seen collections, heard about footy careers and the path-

ways to getting an invention from the concept to a marketable product. On 5

September, the speaker will be Ben Jackson speaking about his bicycle rac-

ing. It's a great time to get to know some of the people who you might just

smile at down the street. Cost $5 covers a BBQ breakfast. Contact Ross Jacka

5633 1021.

Our Beloved One.Forever missed by your

loving family

In MemoriamChojnicki, George 28.9.2002


Uniting ChurchPastor Walter Sholl

(Phone 5633 1047)

St Andrew’s Uniting Church,Trafalgar

Service times 9.15am

Thorpdale Uniting ChurchService times 11.00am

Bible study 7.30pm each Thursday

Willow Grove Faith CommunityMeet for devotions and fellowship at 7.30pm on the second Thursday of

each month. Phone 5635 2210 for location.

Pastor Walter Sholl moves on

The Trafalgar Parish of the Uniting Church recently received a request

from the Presbytery of Gippsland for the Parish Council to release Pastor

Walter Sholl from his placement in the Parish so that he may serve as a chap-

lain to the victims of the bush-

fires in the Labertouche and

Calignee areas. In this role

Walter would work in conjunc-

tion with an Anglican chaplain

to assist in the restoration of

communities ravaged by the

disastrous fires and to assist

people with their personal

problems.

The Presbytery considered

Walter to be an ideal choice for

this task as he had already had

experience as a chaplain in

hospitals and other areas and was keen to take on this new challenge.

The Parish Council had no hesitation in acceding to Presbytery’s request

in that, as much as we were sorry to lose Walter, it was agreed that the needs

of the fire victims were so great it would be wrong for us to stand in the

way.

During his three years as Minister of the Parish, both Walter and Eileen

have settled in well in both the church and the local community. Walter has

been instrumental in the formation of the Men’s Shed and the chaplaincies at

Trafalgar High School and Trafalgar and Yarragon primary schools and

Eileen has taken Religious Education classes in the primary schools and the

children’s holiday programmes.

We wish them every blessing in their new task.

The needs of the Parish will be looked after by a Supply Minister, Rev.

Graham Reid, who will commence on 20 September. Worship services and

times will continue as usual.

Reducing weed risk

after Gippsland

firesThe Department of Primary

Industries (DPI) is alerting

landowners affected by the

recent bushfires in Gippsland to the

increased risks of weed invasion

and the impact on farms and the

environment during the recovery

period after wildfire.

"The activities that pose the

greatest risk of weed invasion after

fire is the movement and importa-

tion of fodder onto farmland and

the introduction of new stock,' DPI

Gippsland Catchment Coordinator -

Pest Management, Bob Wilson,

said.

"The movement of weeds can

often be overlooked while property

owners are dealing with other

pressing fire issues and it may not

be until some months after fire that

it is noticed that weed impact maybe

a costly legacy left by fire to the

farmer."

To minimise this risk, farmers

and land managers are being asked

to implement some simple actions

which may save money, environ-

mental values and avoid future

stress while recovering from fire.

Farmers are encouraged to

develop measures such as:

Checking the origin of feed or •

hay, to make sure it doesn't

contain weeds or come from

known weed infested areas.

Feeding out in a confined area •

away from drainage lines.

Be suspicious of unfamiliar •

plants that germinate in the

areas where introduced fod-

der has been fed out.

Securing fodder loads during •

transit.

Cleaning vehicles after deliver-•

ies of fodder in a designated

area where weed seeds can't

disperse, ensuring future weed

germination can be easily

detected and weeds

destroyed.

Confining new stock, prefera-•

bly shorn, to one paddock for

at least a week after arrival.

Avoiding travel through known •

weed infestations when mov-

ing stock along roadsides.

Ensuring that contractor's •

vehicles and equipment are

clean and free of weeds before

entering properties.

Utilising weed identification •

skills to identify suspect plants.

Seek advice from neighbours,

community groups and indus-

try experts on the identifica-

tion of unfamiliar plants.

For further information on mini-

mising weed spread, weed identifi-

cation and control:

Contact your local DPI Pest

Management Officer at Ellinbank

on 5624 2222 or Leongatha on

5662 9900; or call the Customer

Service Centre on 136 186. Continued on page 30

FARM

NEWS

Call Andrew King on (03) 5633 206230 Salesyards Road, Trafalgar Vic. 3824

PARTS, WORKSHOP & ON SITE SERVICE

• Auto Electrical

• Auto Air Conditioning

• Lubricants & Filters

AUTO ELECTRICSTRAFALGARlockington BUSINESS SERVICES

PO Box 442 Trafalgar, Vic 3824f 03 5635 2342 | e [email protected]

Suzanne Lockwood0409 338 213

Software Consulting & Training - Software SalesFinancial | Farming | General Business

Pastor Walter and Eileen Sholl


A C T I V I T Y P A G E

How many words of four let-

ters or more can you make from

these letters? Every word must

contain the centre letter (F ). No

letter may be used more than

once in any word. No names,

foreign words, acronyms or

abbreviations. There must be one

word containing all nine letters.

Target: 26 words good;

30 words very good; 34 words

excellent.

Q u i c k C r o s s w o r d N o . 5 8

FC N

TI

A AE

S

Word Wheel

Solution to Quick Crossword No. 57

The Quizmaster

1. United States

2. Yes

3. A Galaxy

4. A billion

5. 7

6. Sydney Harbour Bridge

Solutions

Solution for August Word Wheel

Enroot, enter, erne, kern, kero, KONOMETER, krone, mere, meter,

metre, metro, moor, moort, more, moreen, morn, moron, mort, motor,

norm, reek, remote, rent, tenor, term, tern, tore, torn, tree, trek.

Questions1. What country has the record for chewing the most gum?

2. Are bulls really colour blind?

3. What do you call a huge group of stars that are close together?

4. What number has 9 zeros?

5. A dolphin has an I.Q. of a child at what age?

6. What is nicknamed the 'coathanger' in Sydney?

19. Metal20. Myself21. Deform24. For example25. Measure of sound27. United28. Rapt29. Person who lacks panache31. And so on

34. Ruthenium (Chem.)35. Eerie38. Erbium (Chem.)39. Land measure41. Regret42. Compass point43. Pledge45. Greek letter46. Singer47. Gallium (Chem.)

48. Didymium (Chem.)49. Snuggle50. ConferDOWN1. Inter2. Man’s name3. Devil4. Glossy fabric5. Gadget6. Fret7. Tight8. Fruit12. Fencing sword14. Space traveller16. Bearing

22. Musical instru-ment23. Plant secretion26. Limb27. Lyric poem29. Mythical animal30. Emanation32. Exam33. Mestizo36. Country37. Under40. Urges42. Moved easily44. Consume46. Say further

Pugsley's Picture Poser (see page 2)

Answer: Entrance to the former Methodist Church at

Trafalgar. Corner of Anzac Road and Main Street.

ACROSS1. Carve5. Cavern9. Hah!10. Sun god11. School session13. Australian state (Abbrev.)15. Mountain lion17. Choose18. Doctrine


For ALL your farm machinery needs

72 Waterloo Road, Trafalgar. 3824Phone: 03 5633 1588. Fax: 03 5633 1948

Email: [email protected]

For all yourFertiliser requirements

Incitec Pivot agent: Custom Blending, Bulk Spreading,

Field Bin Service, 1 tonne Bulka Bags, all types of Aglime and

Gypsum, Nutrient Advantage Soil Sampling.

No job too large or too small. Call us for a free no obligation quote

87 Waterloo Road, Trafalgar

Phone: (03) 5633 2265 orFax: (03) 5633 2704A.B.N. 33 055 836 907

Take the stress out of animal handling

Like humans and other ani-

mals, livestock such as sheep

and cattle are sentient beings

with the ability to evaluate the actions

of others in relation to themselves

and third parties.

Livestock also have a degree of

awareness and are capable of

remembering some of their own

actions and consequences, assessing

risks, as well as experiencing feel-

ings and emotions such as fear, hap-

piness, pain and distress.

Most farmers understand and

can identify the effects that poor

feed, water and husbandry have on

the welfare of their animals, but are

sometimes unaware of the adverse

impacts that they can have.

Inappropriate handling can lead

to fear of humans and, in turn,

depending on the regularity of con-

tact and handling, chronic stress

responses can burn up energy which

could otherwise be used to produce

meat, wool or milk.

Highly stressed animals translate

in economic terms to decreased

production, reproduction and

growth.

Research has shown that inap-

propriate handling can result in up

to a 20 per cent variation in produc-

tivity, reproduction and product

quality, especially in more intensively

handled livestock such as pigs and

dairy cattle.

Understanding the behaviour of

stock and how they perceive humans

is a key factor in ensuring stock

handlers act in ways that will not

initiate a fear response.

While fear is a normal and adap-

tive response designed to prevent

injury, chronic fear in animals can

cause long term stress responses

making routine handling very diffi-

cult.

When moving livestock, the key

skill to low stress stock handling is

to apply "pressure" to the flight zone

of an animal to make it move, then

releasing that pressure when the

required movement has been

achieved. The most common mis-

take made is to continue to apply

pressure when movement in the

desired direction has already start-

ed.

Canny producers generally use

their knowledge of livestock behav-

iour to advantage in all aspects of

livestock production and manage-

ment.

For example, by helping stock to

become familiar with humans in a

neutral setting, such as a paddock,

can help to reduce the impact of

negative procedures that are neces-

sary as part of normal animal hus-

bandry.

Having properly designed facili-

ties and yards also helps with labour

efficiency and allows easy movement

of livestock.

It's worth noting that livestock

have long memories, especially with

respect to unpleasant experiences

and will try hard to avoid places

where they have had bad experienc-

es, even if there are no stock han-

dlers present.

However, the good news is, live-

stock also learn from and remember

good experiences, for example

lambs fed supplementary feed with

their mothers will consistently come

to a feed trail later in life.

Livestock are fearful of loud nois-

es, yelling and barking. As a natural

defence, they see dogs and humans

as predators and will generally try to

get away from them. Working an

understanding of animal behaviours

into your livestock handling tech-

niques will increase productivity. If

your livestock are happy, you will be

happy too.

For more information, contact

your nearest Animal Health at DPI

Ellinbank on 5624 2222.

FARMING DIARY

Fire Relief Community Planting

Day

Community help is sought to help

sow 10,000 indigenous plants in

areas affected by the 2009 Bunyip

Ridge bushfires on Sunday, 26 July

2009 from 9.00 am onwards.

The event which includes lunch

at 1.00pm will be coordinated from

the Labertouche Hall, Cnr

Labertouche and Forest Road,

Labertouche.

Interested helpers are asked to

bring gloves, a bucket for watering,

sturdy shoes and wet weather cloth-

ing.

This event is supported by the

Cardinia Environment Coalition,

Western Port Catchment Landcare

Network, Planet Art - National Tree

Day and Landcare Australia.

For more information and cater-

ing purposes, please contact

Bridgette McCallum on 5941 8446.

Milk Price Discussion Forum

A dairy forum entitled "Lower

Milk Prices - options for this sea-

son", will be held on Tuesday, 28

July, 2009 at the Macalister

Demonstration Farm from 11.00 am

to 1.00 pm.

Topics to be covered include:

Selling colostrum, a farmers •

perspective;

Options for your bobby •

calves;

Selling yearlings overseas;•

Short term finance; and•

Nitrogen and silage.•

A farmer-led discussion panel

will focus on future options for a

traditionally high, medium, low and

zero input dairyfarms and a BBQ

lunch will be provided.

For more information or to RSVP,

please contact DPI Maffra on 5147

0800.

FARM

NEWS


Trafalgar Basketball season 2 has played three rounds and this season

appears to be an interesting one. Women's A Grade on Tuesday

nights has all teams winning at least one game. Red Devils and

Mighty Bloods are the only undefeated teams. New players in teams will settle

down and all teams are competitive. Wanderers are not competing this sea-

son after many years at Trafalgar. Seven teams have entered Women's A.

Women's B Grade has nine teams entered. This grade is wide open again,

as it was last season. Desperate Housewives and Satan's Angels are off to a

good start, winning all three games so far. Challengers will come from all

teams.

Ladders

Women's A Grade % Points

Red Devils 248 12

Mighty Bloods 208 12

Super Six 83 9

Meatlovers 115 6

Ragers 83 6

Black Betty 82 6

Rough Diamonds 49 6

Women's B Grade % Points

Desperate Housewives 209 12

Satanís Angels 164 12

Rebels 242 9

Titanics 70 9

Civic 59 9

Chargers 151 6

Shockers 88 6

V.B. Chicks 74 6

Big Dogs 27 3

Trafalgar Basketball ReportBy Frank Gridley


Letters of support can be sent to

Mr Garry Blackwood at 3/24 Mason

Street, Warragul, Vic, 3820.

Alternatively, email your letters

to Gary.Blackwood@parliament.

vic.gov.au Please support your local

club.

Trivia Night a Hit

The Trafalgar Victory FC

Fundraising Committee held its

inaugural Trivia Night on Saturday

15 August. The evening was enjoyed

by all in attendance and those

present were tested on topics rang-

ing from American geography to the

finer points of the French lan-

guage.

Around seventy people attended

the event and organizers Melissa,

Ashley and Miriam were extremely

pleased with how the event unfold-

ed. With numerous raffle and door

prizes drawn, all were kept enter-

tained and involved with the evening

from start to stop.

The "trivia" section of the

evening was a fiercely competitive

affair, with all tables having their

moments of glory and celebration.

At the end of the evening, team

"Delicious" was announced the

winner for the night. The event

raised $1000.00 for the club and

on behalf of all associated with

TVFC I thank the generosity of the

numerous local sponsors and par-

ticularly the organization and hard

work of our Fundraising

Committee.

Upcoming Events

Trafalgar Victory FC held its

Junior Presentation on Saturday 29

August at the Football Club club-

rooms.

During the afternoon trophies

were presented to the players,

matches between players and par-

ents will take place and a BBQ

provided.

Details will be in the next edi-

tion. A reminder to all soccer fans

that Trafalgar Victory FC will once

again be running a 5-A-Side Soccer

Tournament as part of the Battle of

Trafalgar Festival.

The tournament will be held on

Sunday, 18 October and consist of

the following categories: Open

Women's, Open Men's, Under 16s

and Under 10s.

Entry details will be advertised

in next month's Traf News, or can

be located on the club's website

www.tvfc.com.au which is proudly

Trafalgar Victory F.C. News ...

sponsored by DCSI.

TVFCs Newest Sponsor

The Optus Small Sided Football

Under 8 team recently received

their Optus pack, including a back

pack, ball and T-shirt. The Under 9

team too looked great in their new

Trafalgar Victory FC strips which

were purchased by our newest

sponsor, CM & MF Builders. The

SSF kids, parents and club commit-

tee thank Craig and Melanie White

sincerely, for their generous spon-

sorship.

The SSF shirts now take the

number of teams with new shirts

this season to four, with the ladies

new strip soon on the way too.

The committee decided at the

start of this season to secure new

strips for all teams by the end of the

2010 season, and we are well on

the way.

Currently, only two junior teams

remain without new strips. So if

you wish to get great advertising

upon a TVFC shirt next season, get

in early and don't miss out!

Mark Judd is the President of

the Trafalgar Victory FC

Players wearing their CM and MF White Builder's sponsered shirts


Trafalgar Victory F.C. NewsBaw Baw Shire Backs Trafalgar

Victory FC

Whoever said "A week's a long

time in football", must have spent

some time at Trafalgar Victory FC. In

fact, over the past four weeks since

my last article, numerous develop-

ments have occurred and Trafalgar

Victory FC finds itself in a much

more buoyant position than this time

a month ago.

The most significant news was

the announcement from the Baw

Baw Shire that they will be resubmit-

ting the Major Facilities application

- Stage 1 development of the Trafalgar

Recreation Precinct (soccer facili-

ties) to the State Government by the

end of August. If successful, this

grant will be worth $300,000 and be

matched dollar for dollar by the

Shire. This is indeed most excellent

news. However, I wish to remind

members and supporters that this

does not guarantee state funding as

many nominations will be forwarded

statewide.

In further good news, the Baw

Baw Shire has also advised Trafalgar

Victory FC they were successful in

two of the three Community

Development Grant applications

submitted earlier this year. The club

was granted $20000.00 for Facility

Upgrade, namely the change rooms.

They also received $2400.00 for the

running of the Small Sided Football

Optus SSF players Grace Judd, Laura Sampson and Michael Judd

Supporters enjoying the Trivia evening

tournament which takes place as

part of the Battle of Trafalgar

Festival.

I have, over the past few months,

attempted to highlight the desperate

and genuine needs of our soccer

club via the printed media and WIN

TV. As part of this promotion I have

publically called upon the Baw Baw

Shire to offer greater assistance to

our club.

At the risk of sounding hypocriti-

cal, I now wish to publically thank

the councilors who have shown, via

their actions, support towards our

club. I thank them for selecting our

club for funding and assure them we

are a worthy and most grateful

recipient.

Public Support Wanted

Members and supporters of

Trafalgar Victory FC are urged to

place their support behind their club

and put pen to paper. Whether you

are a player, coach, team manager,

committee member, parent, sponsor

or just a supporter, now is your

chance to get behind our club's

push for new grounds, via our relo-

cation to the Trafalgar Recreation

Precinct.

Mr Gary Blackwood (MLA) has

requested that all supporters of

Trafalgar Victory FC write to him to

express:

Concerns about current 1.

grounds and facilities

Support for the relocation 2.

to the Trafalgar Recreation

Precinct

Mr Blackwood will then forward

these letters to Mr James Merlino,

the State Minister for Sport and

Recreation, who is currently consid-

ering the Baw Baw Shire's applica-

tion for a Major Capital grant for

soccer facilities. Continued on page 33

By Mark Judd


Traf Golf Club recognises Ray DaveyT

he Davey Family has been

synonymous with the

Trafalgar Golf Club for

well over half a century and this

relationship has continued to

flourish. Ray Davey's 57 years of

membership has been recognized

by the placement of large wooden

seat beside the first tee. As players

begin their game and when they

conclude their match they will be

reminded of Ray as they sit down

to count up their final score.

Ray's brother Laurie Davey

bequeathed an amount of money

to the club for improvements to

the course. The club has used this

money to reconstruct the 12th tee,

where a memorial plaque has

been placed and to place two bun-

kers around the fifth hole.

The tee has been finished and

the bunkers are not far away from

completion. The club is indebted

to the Davey Family for their great

contribution to the course and

their dedication to the club.

By publication time, the

Privilege Cup will have been run

over two Saturdays and won.

The winner will be able to

approach all club members once

throughout the coming year to ask

them to provide a drink. This is

one of the most sought after tro-

phies. September sees the men

start with the Slater & Gordon

Monthly Medal before moving into

the 36 hole 4BBB Stableford

championship played over two

Saturdays.

Meanwhile the Ladies have

their Monthly Medal on Wed. 2nd,

the Fisher & Paykel Day (9th) and

their 27 hole Foursomes champi-

onship (16th). The Juniors also

play for the George Munro Open

Junior Tournament (Sun. 20th)

By Bill Taylor

Ray Daviey’s seat

Laurie Davey’s plaque

The Trafalgar Bowls Club

recently held its annual

committee meetings. The

elections to the board of manage-

ment were: Chairperson: Norman

Thompson, Deputy Chairperson: Joy

Richardson, Secretary: Betty Williams

and Treasurer: Bruce Marino. The

Trafalgar Bowls Club News

MISURACAPLUMBING SERVICE P/L

Licence Number 21947

General plumbing, Roofing & Gutter, New Houses, Renovations, Water Re-use,

Gasfitting, Central Heating Po Box 264 Trafalgar, 3824

Phone: 5633 1370 Mobile: 0418 515 582

BUSINESS & HOME SYSTEMS

Television, Video, Audio repairs & serviceCall and see Ed, Heather & Glen at

Edcomp Computer Services 1 Contingent Street Trafalgar 3824

Phone 5633 1344Enjoy the privileges of shopping locally

Check out prices on PCs and a full range of notebooks and Business Servers

committee includes Anthony Dawson,

Stephen Dawson, and Elaine Payne.

In the Affiliates section, the

President elected was Michael Ralls,

Vice President: Bruce Marino,

Secretary: Norman Thompson and

committee members: Frank Farrugia,

Bruce Giles and Peter Holden.

By Keith Sewell

In the Ladies section, the

President elected was Margaret Lane,

Vice President: Anne Kenny,

Secretary: Helen Perry and Committee

members: Violet Helmuth, Helen

Robertson and Betty Williams.

The bowling season starts at

Trafalgar on September 5 with the

opening of the M.G.B.A at 1.00pm.

This is followed on 12 September

with the opening of the Trafalgar

Bowls Club season.


Carpet Bowls

The monthly carpet bowls tourna-

ment was held with all mats full to

capacity on Saturday, 25 July 2009.

The winning team was from Warragul,

and comprised of Freda Lay, Doreen

Porter, Malcolm Porter and Fred

Rowsell (skipper).

Social carpet bowls is played each

Saturday night at Trafalgar Park. Just

turn up by 7.15pm if you would like

to play. Visitors are made most wel-

come.

Lawn Bowls Opening Day

Opening Day is scheduled for

Sunday, 6 September 2009 starting at

1.00pm. All past and intending new

players will have a game of bowls

before partaking in afternoon tea.

Twilight Bowls

On the second and fourth Thursday

of each month, twilight bowls is held

at Trafalgar Park. Twilight bowls for

this season will kick off on 10

September 2009. Meals are served at

Trafalgar Park Bowls Club NewsBy Keith Sewell

Recently we were privileged

to have Master Charles Tsui-

Po "Tai Chi" Director from

the Golden Lion Academy at Berwick

attended the Tai Chi classes in

Trafalgar.

Local Instructor Lynne Byrne said

Master Charles Tsui-Po with some of the students from the Golden Lion in Trafalgar.

"Tai Chi" Master Visits Traf

Trafalgar tennis courts have

been spray cleaned over the

winter months and every-

thing is now in readiness for the new

season which kicks off in the next

few weeks.

As mentioned in our last report,

all players should have already con-

tacted the club if they wish to play

this coming summer season.

Social tennis is held every Monday

starting at 1.30pm if you would like

a hit of tennis.

Trafalgar Tennis Club By Keith Sewell

Bowls ClubReminder

It’s your turn!folding night

for August issue is Wednesday 30th September 7.30pmMany hands make light work - all welcome

6.00pm and bowls commences at

6.30pm. If the weather happens to be

wet, then carpet bowls will be played

instead.

A hot meal, sweets, tea or coffee

will cost you $5.00 and it is $4.00 to

play bowls.

Children are charged half price

for meals and bowls. New players are

very welcome to participate and the

club will supply you with a set of

bowls for the night. Don't worry if you

have never played before. Our mem-

bers will show you how to play, and

all that you need are flat soled shoes.

To enter, please contact Keith Sewell

on 5633 1892 to record your name.

To add interest to the twilight

bowls, we have continued our Club

Championship format, whereby play-

ers in the winning team on the night

receive three points, whilst players in

the runners up team receive two

points then all other players receive

one point each for just participating.

At the end of the season, the points

are totalled to judge the winners.

Mixed Pairs

On the first Wednesday of each

month, Trafalgar Park holds a mixed

pairs tournament starting at 9.30am

and finishing at about lunchtime.

Players from other clubs are usually

in attendance and this event is popu-

lar with many bowlers.

The first mixed pairs for this sea-

son is scheduled for Wednesday 7

October 2009.

Please contact tournament direc-

tor Keith Sewell on 5633 1892 if you

would like to play.

the Term visits from Master Charles

were designed to enhance the

instruction and further the interest

in Tai Chi in the Valley.

Master Charles is a highly quali-

fied Coach of Australian, New

Zealand and National Champions as

well as an International Judge of the

Martial Art of Wu Shu.

Each term he comes up and con-

ducts the class with insight given to

the history, philosophy, and move-

ment of this beautiful art. Term 4 will

be commencing on Monday 5

October in Trafalgar and 6 October

in Moe.

Any persons interested in joining

to learn this lifestyle of health, would

be made very welcome and should

direct their inquiry's to Lynne Byrne

on 5633 1831.

By Lyn Byrne

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

MaryJane Heenan 0432 155 775

73 Princes Hwy, Trafalgar

SALES

Scott Hoare 0413 319 410

www.stockdaleleggo.com.au(03) 5633 2858

We sell your home as if it’s our own.

Stockdale & Leggo

11 Hazelwood St, Trafalgar East $195 pw • Freshly refurbished 3BR home w/dbl LUG, c/port & garden shed.

2/4 Centenary Drv, Trafalgar $220 pw• Well presented 3BR townhouse, BIR’s in all BRs.

53b School Rd, Trafalgar $225 pw• T’fully refurb 3BR Californian bung. Polished floors throughout,

lounge with split system and ceiling fan, separate dining with

gas log heater, kitchen with d/w, garden shed.

11 Neptune Lane, Trafalgar $250 pw• 3BR t/house has all the features: lge master BR w/ ensuite

and WIR. BIR’s in remain BRs. Polished floorboards, duct heat,

dbl garage and encl. yard.

This three bedroom brick veneer home on corner allotment in prime

position close to schools and C.B.D. Features separate dining room, pol-

ished floor boards, large bedrooms all with built in robes, double lock up

garage with carport.

18 Davey Road, Trafalgar

Rental List

$399,000 $325,000

$235,000

8 Orchard Road, Yulungah

Everything has been thought of in this three year old home. Spacious

master bedroom with walk in robe and ensuite including spa bath, three

generous sized bedrooms with built in robes (fully fitted with drawers and

shelves). Well appointed kitchen with oversized oven and glass splash backs,

open living area and separate dining area, formal lounge and rumpus room

with access to rear alfresco (semi enclosed) which features decking and

outdoor spa bath. Garage under roof line with rear roller door plus 12m x

6m Colour bond garage with concrete floor, power and toilet. Landscaped

gardens with quality paths and edging.

5.9 acre farmlet which consists of a three bedroom home with country

style kitchen, solid fuel heating, two toilets, double garage with workshop,

yards and races, split into three main paddocks, dam, sundry shedding, good

fencing, various fruit trees and great views of the Baw Baw Rangers. This

property is only 5 minutes from the Trafalgar township.

31 Anzac Road, Trafalgar

Documents

08.Sep09