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Patricia Gill. Kingsley Gibson was elected unopposed as shire president at the Denmark Shire Council’s special meeting on Monday night. Councillor Gibson has served on the council for six years and for the past two years as deputy shire president to Ceinwen Gearon who did not seek re-election to the council. Jan Lewis is the new deputy shire president ...

West Wimmera Shire Council has named Harrow’s Ralph Zwar as the 2023 Senior Citizen of the Year ... Mr Zwar has worked with many different organisations and committees, making a significant contribution to the well-being of the Harrow and Edenhope communities.

Australian Soccer legend, Paul Wade, has been in Koondrook Barham this week delivering a life skills program to kids at the towns’ schools. Paul competed for Australia in the 1988 Olympic Games, captained the Socceroos from 1990-1996, representing the country in 118 international games including two World Cup campaigns and also had great success back home with two National Soccer League Championships and 1988 National Soccer League player of the year. 

Meet Lionel Marr, a proud Bunuba man, who always felt a calling to return from the city back to his childhood home of Fitzroy Crossing. He wanted to know more about his country, his people and his culture and became a trainee ranger with the Parks and Wildlife Service, earning a coxswain skippers ticket. Lionel’s efforts during the Kimberley floods of January 2023, despite losing his family home, and his commitment to his job, earned him special recognition.

Talented local singer and songwriter Lee ann Weekes has released her first single and it has already brought her some success. Lee ann lives at West Haldon and her first single, Don’t Talk to Strangers is a song she wrote paying tribute to the beauty of her aunt’s unconditional love for her husband (Lee ann’s uncle), who courageously battled the effects of dementia before his passing in 2022.

Corryong College teacher, Stephen Learmonth ... has undertaken his own project to record the biographies of other servicemen from the region and the Corryong Courier will be printing a selection of these stories in the lead up to Remembrance Day this year on November 11 ... Frank Leslie Butler was born on the 13th of April, 1919 at Tallangatta, Victoria.

Karin Donaldson asked well-known artist and teacher Uncle Eddy Harris how his life as an artist developed ... " In 1988, I started painting lizards and turtles on sandshoes. People who were interested in Aboriginal people and our practices were interested in what I was doing and they started buying them."

In the realm of artistic expression, Linda Gallus stands as a luminary whose work transcends conventional boundaries, inviting audiences to perceive the world through her unique lens ... In a style reminiscent of the iconic Sydney Nolan, Gallus seeks to weave elements of mystique and unpredictability into her art.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland Section) is marking the momentous 80-year anniversary of its Charleville Base this October. Established in 1943, the Charleville Base services a waiting room of more than 622,000 square kilometres, connecting the residents of this significant South-West Queensland region to leading, and often lifesaving, health services ... As part of the 80-year anniversary, the RFDS (Qld) will also celebrate the individual 20-year anniversary of two of its nurses, Joanne Mahony and Diane Dowrick.

Many know Dianne Barnes as the successful para dressage rider, but there is so much more to the story. With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, Dianne and her mount Sorena are on a path to compete on the para dressage team, but this is just the latest chapter in a varied and successful riding career.

One of Australia’s oldest checkout chicks is our own sprightly 81 year old, Judy Biggins of Naracoorte. “I love my job!” says Judy, while packing and sorting groceries as they pass through her checkout, and her customers love her.

Maldon’s own Andrew Fedorowicz was last week formally appointed to the Greater Bendigo Heritage Advisory Committee. He will join one other architect, as well as the Greater Bendigo councillors, heritage advisors and town planners who make up the committee of around 10 members. 

Councillor Greg Marlow was voted in as Deputy Mayor at Barkly Regional Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday. The newly-appointed Deputy Mayor takes over from Cr Russell O’Donnell who has served in the role for a year.

Kaniva A&P Society’s Louise Hobbs, representing the Wimmera Agricultural Society, has won the 2023 Victorian Agricultural Society’s Rural Youth Ambassador Award ... The award is given to a 20-30-year old with outstanding participation in their local community and show, acting as an ambassador for the agricultural shows movement.

At a special meeting last Tuesday, Toowoomba Regional Council selected Edwina Farquhar to be new the Councillor over 22 other candidates. Ms Farquhar is a businesswoman in Toowoomba who operates several businesses.

Sally Higgins (daughter of Sue and Phil Higgins) has been awarded a Nuffield Scholarship for 2024, supported by Agrifutures ... From now until December 2024, Sally will travel across the world, exploring the most effective government, industry and farm business models for prioritizing land uses that meet multiple objectives.

Fin Hansen. Kadina’s Stephanie Talbot is already eyeing a return to the court just six months after rupturing her ACL. The 29-year-old Adelaide Lightning captain will miss the majority of the 2023-24 Women’s National Basketball League season following the knee injury in her side’s third-to-last game of last season.

On page 15 of North-Central League’s giant-sized grand final “Recorder”, distributed at Boort on Saturday, is a list of 25 people who, since the resumption of football after World War II, have given outstanding service to the development of the game in this part of the State. Among them is Donald’s Frank O’Shea, widely recognized for his coaching of junior teams, and for his newspaper reporting of North-Central football.

“We took over The Kangaroo Hotel on March the sixth 2020, and we got closed down on March the 28th. And it’s been ‘fluid’ every day since. Every week things change, but that’s business since Covid. You plan something, but it doesn’t go to plan...."

Nancy Whittaker. There is yet another little gallery called Cut it Out, which opened last Friday in Maldon, in the Post Office Residence in High Street. Artist and Curator Lisa Speed is complementing her This Little Piggy cooking skills with artwork in an exhibition titled ADH…ME!?, featuring the work of Jacki Irwin.

Patricia Gill. Shire president Ceinwen Gearon will resign after seven years in the job firm of the opinion that achievements over the time are not hers but the community’s. Dr Gearon says ‘her’ achievements have been a collaboration between the community, the Denmark Shire Council and Shire administration officers.

Jess Liddy. Imogen McDonnell initially took up boxing for her fitness, but her love of the sport has taken her to places she could have never imagined. Originally from Minlaton, McDonnell, a 25-year-old nurse and trackwork rider, began boxing competitively in 2022.