Free Press Flashbacks

Another major stumbling block was the decision would mean some councillors would be paid more than others.

– Another incident on McKenzie’s corner – the intersection of Graham and Curr Rds – in which seven people were injured on a Sunday afternoon led to Deakin council install larger intersection signs on both signs and painting signs on the road.

The word “slow” was painted on the road and the owner of the adjacent property had been asked to remove some trees which obscured driver’s views of oncoming traffic.

1980

Front page news of the May 23 edition of the Kyabram Free Press was the expected “comeback” of Richmond star Dick Clay, who was expected to line-up with the Bombers against Lemnos a week later.

Kyabram Football Club was chartering a flight out of Melbourne to bring Clay to Kyabram weekly. He had played more than 200 senior VFL games and played in four Richmond premierships.

Before leaving, Clay had kicked 116 goals for Kyabram and was the first player to win the GVL’s Morrison Medal from full-forward.

The 35-year-old hadn’t played since finishing as coach of VFA club Prahran in 1977.

Bomber officials Alan Bowers and Gary Moffatt had made a mid-week trip to Melbourne to secure a clearance for the Richmond and Kyabram great.

Clay had always told the club he would return to end his career with Kyabram.

– Kyabram’s Drainage Action Committee, a residents’ action group formed during the 1974 floods, was revived to oppose a council draining scheme.

Eight members met for two hours to determine a plan of action in the face of the scheme that would drain a new sub-division into the Lake Rd sump.

Fears that the sump would be overloaded had brought chairman Don Anderson and his group back from semi-retirement. The growth of Kyabram had meant significantly more water was in the Kyabram town system and the group was concerned about the scheme causing future flood events in the nearby streets – where they all lived.

– Thirteen debutantes were part of the St James Anglican Debutante Ball at Tongala.

Trained by Bruce Fentham and presented to Archdeacon Beattie, the entrance theme was from the space age movie Star Wars and the debutantes danced with their partners to the Irene waltz, after which the group performed Disco Locomotion.

Flowergirl was Neva Ross and page boy was Matthew Makin.

– In the first four months of 1980, 5098 paying visitors had been through the Kyabram Fauna Park.

Park manager Ron Pope said the figure was a 48 per cent increase on the same period last year and at a time when most large tourist attractions like the park were down 10-20 per cent it was a great result.

During a very busy Easter, 1000 paid to see the community owned tourist development

– The Carag Carag school, near Stanhope, was closed, and its seven pupils were being relocated to new schools in the area.

Parents and the school council had been told two weeks before hand that the school would be unstaffed shortly and Stanhope Primary School was preparing for the students to be part of its population.

The school had opened on March 13, 1878 and the current school had been built 10 years earlier for $7170.

– Mother’s Day gifts are always welcome and Troy Auld was the ultimate present for his parents, arriving on Mother’s Day at the Kyabram Hospital.

Troy’s parents Eileen and Brian Auld were the centre of attention as the eight pound arrival became a brother for Dearna. He had the attention of Glenice Campbell and Elizabeth Hickingbotham, attending the hospital during Mothering Week in their capacity as Nursing Mothers Group leaders.

1990

Joel Parr made the front page of the Free Press when he was one of three young boys to make Kyabram netball history.

Joel and three other netballers were the first males ever to play in the Kyabram junior association. Joel and Craig McMaster also play for Haslem St, coached by Wendy Murley, who explained they were among 300 girls in the competition and it didn’t bother them in the slightest.

Secretary of the association Jenny Hocking said some mothers had expressed concerned about their girls playing against boys.

She explained that is why teams had been restricted to having two boys in their teams.

– Kyabram’s Maryborough Knitting Mills factory announced it would not be affected by cuts at its headquarters.

Production of Jockey brand underwear in Kyabram was going to continue with the same workforce, despite the company dismissing 46 workers from its Maryborough factory only a week earlier.

Company director Alan Goodfellow said Kyabram men could help to maintain the factory and its employees by wearing Jockey products.

2000

Lancaster born Frank West celebrated his 99th birthday at the Koraleigh Nursing Home in Tongala. He shared many stories at his birthday, including the story of a Kyabram footballer named Bill James who played in a Wednesday competition premiership with Kyabram and then a few days later kicked a goal for Richmond to land it the VFL grand final win in 1920.

Later, Frank became Bill’s brother-in-law.

Frank and his late wife Vera raised two sons and two daughters, Lynette, Val, Noel and Kelvin. At the time he had 12 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren.

– Tongala’s Christian Jenner was a 31-year-old motor mechanic apprentice who appeared on the front page of the Kyabram Free Press after winning the best fourth year apprentice award.

He worked with McColls Transports and gained the nod for the award ahead of 500 other fourth year heavy vehicle mechanics.

It was his second try and a mechanical premiership, having admitted he went off the rails a bit as a 16-year-old when he first attempted to earn his mechanical ticket.

– Seventeen-year-old aspiring model Kerry French won the prestigious Barbara Permezel Award for Modelling at Victoria University.

She was about to be involved in her biggest modelling role, a two-day event at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. She was hoping to head overseas in the next 12 months to tackle the catwalks of Europe.