Vic

Kirstin Nicholson. “I’d like to say I was elated, but the reality is, with everything that’s been going on, even after we had booked them, I still wasn’t necessarily sure that we would end up on a flight. You try not to get your hopes up because in this whole thing there is no guarantee,” says Kate Slater.

In just a few short years, a small, simple event, designed to celebrate the powerful role sport can have in the lives of indigenous people – and to educate the non-indigenous about Barapa Barapa culture – has blossomed into something much, much more. Last weekend, the Golden Rivers Football Netball League celebrated indigenous round, which has its roots at the small, pioneering club of Macorna.

Timber Towns Victoria calls on the Victorian Government to provide clarity and certainty for the timber industry, workers and communities following a recently announced Government review of the Timber Code of Practice (Vic).

The Victorian Government’s long-deferred decision to announce more National Parks in the West of Victoria last week dodges the real challenges of managing and conserving these forests. The Mt Cole – Pyrenees, Wombat, and Wellsford forests have all been re-assigned after an investigation by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) completed in June 2019.

The Manna Gums on the Malmsbury-Daylesford Road in Daylesford is the site for an Aboriginal Peoples Memorial Avenue, opened at the conclusion of NAIDOC Week. Mayor, Cr Lesley Hewitt, said the memorial is an opportunity to honour the loss of lives, the sacrifice and suffering inflicted on Aboriginal people during the frontier wars.

Chris Oldfield. A bounty on feral deer similar to Victoria’s bounty on foxes was suggested at the Naracoorte Lucindale Council’s June 22 meeting ... Landscape SA chief Steve Bourne said of the feral deer problem, "It's huge. There is a recent senate inquiry report which shows that we are still in the very early stages of deer emerging in Australia as a pest. Fallow deer could take over the bottom half of Australia. We need to get on top of it."

The winning jockey of the 2020 Melbourne Cup, Jye McNeil, is getting behind the fundraiser, ‘We’re Here for Langy,’ to assist hometown boy James Lang and his family. James was left paralysed from the waist down as a result of a motorbike accident earlier this year. Jye is donating all proceeds from the auction of a limited edition 2020 Melbourne Cup – Twilight Payment framed display to the fund.

Kayakers and those wanting to explore the Loddon River around Kerang will have greater opportunities to do so following the recent installation of a kayak launch within the Kerang Regional Park.

This article may trigger strong emotions. To clarify, COVID-19 as an infection does pose serious health risks to vulnerable people. That being said, I believe we must still discuss the issues affecting our nation and communities in an open and transparent manner ... We now see state-wide restrictions and lockdowns as a result of low case numbers. At the time of printing, there is one person in ICU in Australia with COVID-19 and a total of 54 in hospital, from a nation of 25,360,000 people. Yes, COVID-19 is a risk, but so are lockdowns. The trigger for these lockdowns is the numbers of positive PCR tests. What if a PCR test didn’t accurately reflect live virus but instead Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) of dead virus?

Kirstin Nicholson. A Cohuna vet has taken out the Agricultural Student of the Year award. Amy Munro received the award at a ceremony held at Parliament House in Canberra on June 17. Amy, who grew up on her family farm at Cumnock in New South Wales, is an associate veterinary surgeon at Clavin Rogers and Associates. She moved here in August last year after graduating from university.

Kirstin Nicholson. It was a moment of mayham that had people looking on in disbelief – a pig waltzing down King George Street, Cohuna. Well, it wasn’t quite that glamourous, but it was definitely a pig.

Murrindindi Shire Council is thrilled to announce the completion of the Lake Eildon ‘Floating Cities’ Project. The project has delivered important upgrades to the entrance road to the Lake Eildon Marina, off Sugarloaf Road, which will make access for houseboats much easier. It has also delivered a new, environmentally-friendly wash-bay facility, which will accommodate minor houseboat maintenance, mandatory houseboat inspections and allow easier access for larger houseboats.

Gabrielle Duykers. An Edenhope trained kelpie fetched more than $35,000 at a recent auction for his superb herding abilities, smashing the world record for the purchase of a working dog. The two-year-old dog named Hoover was sold to a Victorian sheep and cattle grazier at the Casterton Kelpie Association’s 25th Annual Working Dog auction on June 13.

Last Wednesday a group of 40 local sheep producers attended a Lamb Marking Best Practice workshop organised by Western Murray Land Improvement Group (WMLIG) and Central Murray Sheep Producer at “Glenbar” in Mallan. The workshop was facilitated by Geoff Duddy from Sheep Solutions who has dedicated the last 30 years to improving sheep producers’ and enterprises’ skills and knowledge base across all areas of sheep production. Whilst recent wet weather has not been ideal for marking, the dry day offered up the opportunity for farmers to learn and recognise best practice.