Rain that swept across Victoria on Saturday night and Sunday morning was generally welcomed.
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Kyabram’s weather station reported 27.6mm in the 24 hours from midday Saturday to midday Sunday.
Croppers have welcomed the break, but tomato growers still with crops to be harvested did not, particularly with crops down an estimated 60 per cent on last year’s harvest.
Kyabram’s April total rainfall has now exceeded the long-term April average of 38.3mm and the total for 2023 is now 117.3mm.
The wettest April on record belongs to 1939 when 160mm was recorded.
Long-serving police
Two former Kyabram policemen have retired and another honoured recently with Victoria Police long-service awards in recent weeks.
Simon Hutchings has been recognised for 40 year’s service.
The 59-year-old has spent the past six years as Dookie’s sole policeman was raised in Kyabram and was dux of the P-12 college in Year 12. He married a Kyabram girl, Kylie Holden.
Leading Senior Constable Hutchings loves life in Dookie and is in no hurry to retire.
Several of his predecessors spent their last days in the force at Dookie before retiring and he is only the 46th officer to work there since the station was established in 1872.
Simon had two stints in Kyabram in the 1990s and early 2000s and his is advice to any budding law enforcers “there are moments of hard times, but stick at”.
Another Kyabram-raised police officer Ross Normington has also reached a milestone in the Victorian Police force.
He is on long-service leave before retirement after 43 years in the force, the past 27 of these years spent at Shepparton and the past 15 years in charge of the Crime Scene Service at the Shepparton Police Station.
Another former popular Kyabram policeman Pat Storer recently retired from the force after 45 years.
He has been stationed at Violet Town for the past 15 years since leaving Kyabram in 2008.
Games back half an hour
Ky footy fans are reminded GVL games against Shepparton at Kyabram this Saturday have been put back half an hour to cater for an Anzac Day ceremony.
The ceremony will be held at 2.15pm. In football the thirds game starts at 10.30am, the reserves at 12.30pm and the seniors at 2.30pm.
The A-grade netballers will take the court at 2.30pm.
Murchison medical plan
A lot of towns and communities would be a bit envious of this news.
Murchison is to get a doctor/doctors and the doctor behind the move, Dr Harasha Aluthge, has purchased the Murchison Medical Clinic.
He has even predicted the clinic will have up to six doctors and is looking to purchase a home in Murchison where a permanent doctor will be based to get to know the community better.
Dr Aluthge has spent the past decade purchasing practices across Victoria in DPA (Distribution Priority Areas) areas and said: “everyone deserves quick and good access to health practitioners.”
Shepparton ‘waste debate’
The great waste debate is still very much alive in Greater Shepparton’s City Council.
Following a recommendation that included ASX-listed company Cleanaway being awarded the contract estimated to be worth $75 million over 15 years, council has now decided, on a split decision, to enter into a new tender process.
At a meeting last week Mayor Shane Sali had to use his casting vote to support a move for council to scrap its current tender process in awarding waste and recycling contracts and pursue a new one.
There was a lot of backlash over a recommendation Cleanaway being awarded the tender in preference to a local contractor.
Famous nurse honoured
The hamlet of Devenish will further honour a famous local nurse at its Anzac Day service this Saturday.
A new plaque commemorating local nurse Vivian Bullwinkel will be unveiled.
The Australian Nurses Memorial Centre has donated the plaque, which will be added to several others already below the stunning silo artwork in the town.
Vivian Bullwinkel was a young army nursing sister who was sole survivor of a World War II massacre by the Japanese.
A book written by Norman Manners details her ordeal in the Sumatran jungle POW camps and her determination to survive.
Late trains resume
Train services between Shepparton and Seymour resumed on Easter Saturday, a day later than planned.
This was because Rail Projects Victoria wanted to complete the upgrade of the line and everything now is back to a normal timetable.
Heritage festival
Those people into history are counting the days to the start of the 2023 Australian Heritage Festival.
It is to be held in Benalla from Wednesday, May 3, to Sunday, May 7.
The festive theme is “Shared Stories” and full details are available at www.nationaltrust.org.au/ahf/vic/
Mathoura used as ‘hideout’
Mathoura is a sleepy little town, but has had a bit going on since Easter.
Its footy team rolled out Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan for a one-off game on Easter Saturday and along with its Easter Fair drew huge numbers.
But things got a lot more serious last week when police arrested a local man on outstanding warrants after he had swam the Edward River and was later arrested hiding in the cavity of a home in the town.
The same day a Tocumwal man, wanted for break-ins at a Mathoura business during Easter, was found hiding in a toilet block in the town.
Both men were refused bail in Deniliquin Court and will appear again at later date.
Did you know
Just like human babies suck their thumbs, baby elephants sometimes suck on their trunks. They can also stand within 20 minutes of birth (though they can't see for a while, and instead sense their mothers through sound and smell).
Elephants are also the only mammal that cannot jump.
Crows can recognise human faces — and remember them for their entire lives. They’ve also been known to leave gifts for humans.
The name of a group of lemurs is (wait for it) a “conspiracy”. This is because they often work together in their social groups to outsmart prey.
Believe it or not, wombat poop is cube-shaped. This apparently has to do with their digestive process and various bodily contractions.
Ky Famous People File
Joe Langtry
Joseph Ignatius Langtry was an Australian politician born in Kyabram on Sepember 2, 1880.
He received a primary education before becoming a teamster and moved to Barellan in NSW where he became a wheat farmer and publican.
In 1940, he was the Labor candidate for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Riverina.
He was successful in this, defeating Country Party member Horace Nock. He held the seat until 1949, when he was defeated by Country candidate Hugh Roberton. Langtry died in 1951 in Griffith.
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