Sunday, March 26, 2023

The Buloke Times


Established 1875.

Published Tuesdays and Fridays.

Circulating throughout the Buloke Shire and the districts of Birchip, Charlton, Donald, St. Arnaud, Watchem and Wycheproof.

Print and digital editions.

Digital edition available to subscribers.

Website with online news and digital edition.

The Buloke Times articles

Latest articles

Moving in the Morning

Traditionally in small rural communities there is very limited opportunities for people to be physically active outside of mainstream sports and this is particularly problematic for women and girls.

Government admission on regional aged care

The Federal Labor Government has been forced to admit it won’t reach its target of 24/7 Registered Nurses in all Aged Care homes, which is an acknowledgement for battling smaller regional aged care facilities. Earlier this week, Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells, revealed to media not every facility would be fully staffed by July 1, following months of pressure and advocacy from the Coalition on behalf of smaller aged care facilities.

“Nine Australians a week commit suicide”

Alyssa Walker. Of those nine, according to the findings of the ongoing Royal Commission, at least one of them is a veteran. "They tell us to look for the warning signs," Charlton RSL head, Bill Freeman, says; "but there are no signs." And how can there be signs, really, when the people themselves feel lost? As it can be with all major turning points in life, with surety and sense of self shaken, there can come danger.

Vote for our community: Buloke’s Paddock Run

The Paddock Run flood initiative, which was driven by the Buloke community, has been nominated for the Disaster Preparedness category in the 2023 National Awards for Local Government ... Council partnered with over 45 food businesses and grain receival sites across the shire to deliver flood support and assistance information to the paddock, truck, tractor, harvester, ute etc., using a less conventional, but more practical delivery method – via their stomachs.

Earlier articles

Students enjoy work experience

Donald High School. After a two-year break, Year 11 students undertook a week’s work experience last week. Fifteen students travelled to Ballarat to work at a variety of workplaces, and two students stayed in Donald. Students worked in the fields of aged care, education, hairdressing, fitness, tourism, civil engineering, accountancy, building and construction, steel fabrication, and agriculture.

Art at Mali Heart Festival

The Labour Day long weekend saw the Birchip community celebrating its many talents and services at the Mali Heart Festival, as the most recent Mali Heart Art piece nears completion on the Historical Society wall.

From Metropolitan Munich to the Buloke Bushlands

To be more precise, the two young ladies, both nineteen, are from Furstenfeldbruck, within the Munich (now Munchen) area of Germany. In their Travellers Autobarn camper van, they have motored down Australia’s east coast, arriving at the Donald caravan park in time for the out-of-town Esoteric Festival.

Esoteric a sellout success

Seven years in the making and interrupted by a Covid cancellation, Donald’s 2023 Esoteric festival, “Wild Wastelands”, proved to be a sell-out, with a gathering of 7,500 paying patrons converging on the site, just north of Donald for the five day event. Local promoter, Sam Goldsmith, has invested heavily in the continued development of the location, spending months upgrading infrastructure for this year’s event.

District rifleman in Australian team

Alyssa Walker. Alister Lamour is a Charlton man who, according to some mates of his who wished to remain anonymous, "is impossible to dislike" He is also an incredibly humble man and doesn’t like talking about himself. This is unfortunate for him, because there are a lot of people who would love to hear about how he’s representing Australia in the F-Class Open World Championships in South Africa.

Proudly locally owned and operated, serving local communities and employing local people.

The “Buloke Times” has its origins in the “Donald Times”, founded in Donald in 1875, by Mr Godfrey Morgan. In 1865, Godfrey conducted the “Landsborough Times”, but in 1875, seeing the possibilities inherently in the rise of agricultural and pastoral activities as more viable than gold prospecting, he chose Donald as the place in which to start this district’s first newspaper, the “Donald Times”.

Moving the necessary plant and part of an office building by bullock waggon was symbolic of the hard grind that was to follow, but he and his wife (formerly Miss Mary Elizabeth Williamson, of Landsborough) were of true pioneering material, and saw their enterprise gradually rewarded.

The first edition of the “Donald Times” was produced on July 29, 1875.

Between 1908 and 1970, the “Donald Times” Office was located at 46 Woods Street, before relocating to larger premises at 6 McCulloch Street (formerly Bolden’s Garage).

On January 9, 1973, the first edition of the “Donald-Birchip” Times” was printed, following the amalgamation of the “Donald Times” and “Birchip Guardian”.

In 1987, at the time of his death, Godfrey William (G.W.) Letts, had completed 66 unbroken years as editor of the “Times”, having joined the newspaper in 1921, from Kalgoorlie, W.A., at the invitation of his uncle, W.A. Morgan (son of the newspaper’s founder). He is believed to be the longest serving editor of a newspaper anywhere in the world.

In 1995, in line with council amalgamations and the restructure of local government, the “Donald-Birchip Times” changed its name to the “Buloke Times”, to better represent its expanding readership, which now included residents of Donald, Birchip, Charlton, Watchem and Wycheproof.

The first edition was published on January 17, 1995.

Current editor of the “Buloke Times”, Robin Letts, son of the late G.W. Letts, has occupied the role since his father’s death. The newspaper is owned and operated by business partners David Letts (son of Robin and great-great-grandson of the founder), who joined the printing staff in 1980, and Shane O’Shea, who started a hand and machine compositor’s apprenticeship in 1972.

The Buloke Times

6 McCulloch Street, Donald Vic 3480
PO Box 55, Donald Vic 3480

Phone: 03 5497 1222
Email: admin@buloketimes.com  I  buloket@iinet.net.au

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