Infrastructure

Nhill's town water storage tank burst on Wednesday, March 12, at approximately 6:40 a.m. when a low-level water storage facility failed on George Street. A spokesperson for GWMWater confirmed that no injuries were reported but said a small number of nearby residential properties experienced water damage.

Horsham Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating a series of significant copper thefts targeting rail infrastructure in northern Victoria. Unknown offenders have been cutting lengths of copper wire, up to kilometres at a time, and stealing the product with more than 30 reported incidents occurring between Buangor and Serviceton since February 2024.

Joanna Tucker. Last week, about 25,000 Yorke Peninsula residents were without electricity for almost 20 hours ... SA Power Networks said ElectraNet, South Australia’s main transmission network service provider, advised them that insulator pollution had caused a fault at its Hummocks substation.

Rachel Hagan. Businesses across Yorke Peninsula went dark and many closed their doors on Friday, March 14, after the peninsula was hit with a complete power and phone outage. However, some managed to stay open with the use of back-up generators and some out-of-the-box thinking.

Despite the Victorian Minister for Health, Mary-Anne Thomas, turning a deaf ear to their pleas, regional councils and medical workers will continue their campaign for a greenfield site for a new Albury Wodonga hospital, which would service outlying areas including the Upper Murray.

Victoria has long faced the devastating impact of powerline-related bushfires, with outdated Single Wire Earth Return powerlines responsible for 30 to 40 fires each year. Despite almost ten years of successful trials, partially funded by the Victorian Government, which prove that early fault detectors for powerlines can prevent bushfires, the technology has yet to be widely rolled out ... ARR.News asked some further questions of IND.T CEO, Professor Alan Wong.

Rockhampton Regional Council has reached the final stage of establishing a recreational fossicking area on the land surrounding Mount Morgan No 7 Dam, after Councillors voted to formally request the creation of a General Permission Area (GPA) from the State Government.

Kate Stapleton. Rainbow Power Company (RPC) has been working collaboratively with two local schools this year to help keep schools powering on. The Rainbow Ridge Steiner School and Tuntable Falls Primary School received funding ... both schools have batteries and solar, it means they can continue to operate when the power goes out.

Member for Barwon Roy Butler MP has moved a notice of motion at the most recent sitting of NSW Parliament. In a statement made on social media Mr Barwon said weirs are integral in Western NSW.

Dr Fiona Walsh. Why do we continue to allow and accept the deaths of animals on our roads? ... I’ve recently driven more than 6,000 km in a loop from Mparntwe Alice Springs to the east coast and home again. My first holiday in eight years. I saw animals killed on roads in the NT, SA, Victoria and southern NSW.

The excitement was palpable at the re-opening of the iconic Roxy Community Theatre on Saturday night as the community was welcomed back officially into Leeton's 'Palace of Dreams'.

Joanna Tucker. Berth owners at the Copper Cove Marina, Wallaroo, have agreed to fund major mooring upgrades, totalling $800,000. Voting at a general meeting of berth owners and residents on February 19 was almost unanimous to privately fund the project.

It’s been a long time coming – the last time there was opera at the Casino Civic Hall was in 2017. The upgraded civic hall will again host a night of country music and opera in May.

Works on a stretch of the Sturt Highway west of Hay are under threat as claims that Aboriginal sites have been destroyed have been levelled at Transport for NSW. “We aren’t going to let it rest,” Hay Local Aboriginal Land Council (Hay LALC) CEO Ian Woods said. “We’ll take it all the way to the Environment Court if we have to.”

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has welcomed today’s announcement that the Federal Government has committed to introducing a Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation (UOMO). If enshrined by legislation, the world-first proposal means telecommunications companies will be legally bound to guarantee basic, outdoor voice and text mobile coverage across every corner of Australia.  

GWMWater has received a critical planning approval which will allow work to commence in zone four of the East Grampians Rural Pipeline Project. Zone four will extend rural water supply to landholders in Willaura and Moyston.

Kookaburra read with astonishment that the Treasurer, our own Sonny Jim, has headed off to the USA to ask for tariff concessions whilst spruiking the possibility of Australian super funds applying some of their $US2.8 trillion in holdings to investment in US infrastructure.

The phrase ‘learning curve’ suggests a gentle incline, but when Jan Elliott and Lee Mead talk about their journey to becoming Postmistresses, they describe a very steep slope indeed. They have recently been reflecting upon their six years running Maldon Post Office, between 2006 and 2012, in light of the repaint of the Main Street pillar box.