Estelle Close’s pic of the week is an aerial photo of the opal mine shafts, White Cliffs. NSW.
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Historic bridge to stay
Historic Kirwins bridge may live to tell some more stories.
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The crossing – the longest wooden bridge crossing in the state – over the Goulburn River has received state grant funding along with Ruffy to establish a Local Emergency Action Plan, courtesy of the Victorian Government.
Stathbogie Shire Council is to collaborate with the already formed Kirwin bridge community to create a LEAP to outline the actions and responsibilities stake owners can undertake to better prepare, respond and recover from local emergencies.
But at this stage there is no push to have the bridge restored or replaced.
The 310m-long bridge near Nagambie was opened in 1890.
The only comparable timber bridge in Victoria in terms of length is the 1927-built Barwon Heads bridge, which is 308m long.
Kirwins bridge has been closed since the October 2022 floods, after an engineering report received by Strathbogie Shire Council found it was unsafe to open to traffic without extensive structural repairs or strengthening works.
Lifelong passion
Wakiti Creek resident Noel Wiltshire has been responsible for some timely publicity for the Moora Draught Horses Rushworth Easter Festival.
Training some mules for the occasion in the high country on the Howqua River was a feature article in last week’s farmers bible, the Weekly Times.
Noel reckons training mules is a lot more challenging than training horses, which has been his lifelong profession.
Late for tea
There’s an old saying that goes ‘‘better late than never’’.
Just who was that former Kyabram businessman who was wondering why there weren’t more well-wishers around for the recent Gus Underwood ‘’thank you’’ function was due to start.
The simple answer was he was a day late for the celebrations.
Gus has excused you JL.
No falls in Ky
It did rain in the district overnight Sunday but Kyabram missed out again.
That means Kyabram was received just 19.6mm for the year so far, with 18.8mm of this total recorded in January.
The long-time average fall at this stage of the year is 93mm.
While it hasn’t been wet, it has been warm, with six days up to Monday in March experiencing temperatures between 32ºC and 35ºC.
Carriages moved on
Vandalised retired train carriages at Echuca have been relocated.
The final set of classic fleet carriages were recently moved to the Bendigo Rail workshops.
Classic fleet rolling stock has been progressively retired and replaced by modern V/Locity trains on its network.
State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh has been campaigning to have the eyesores removed since they were left in Echuca and became prime targets for vandals.
State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh with a graffitied train carriage at Echuca railway station.
New owners
Murchison’s Railway Hotel has changed hands.
The popular watering hole near the Murchison railway station will be run in future by new owners Vipin Jaswl and Rupinder ‘Rupi’ Sidhu.
The pub has been run for the past seven years by Paul and Emilia Golding.
New chief
Murray River Council has named a new chief executive following an extensive recruitment process.
An Echuca-Moama local, Stacy Williams, had landed the job and comes with 19 years of experience in regional local government.
She will be on her new job from Monday, April 14.
Stay safe
Some 129 people have suffered a snake bite in Victoria over the yearly period December 1, 2024 to 2025.
Metro Melbourne has reported 33 cases, Hume region 28, 24 in Loddon Mallee, 16 in Barwon South West, 21 in Gippsland and seven in the Grampians.
Square dinkum
G’day
As part of my new diet, I removed all the bad food from the house ... ‘‘it was delicious.’’
24°C