Lily blooms at long last
Kyabram’s octogenarian Fay Shaw has received a Christmas present seven years in the making.
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It’s a Gymea lily, which Fay is admiring in the photo at her Munro Cres home.
A Gymea lily can take up to 10 years to produce its first bloom, but once it has flowered it will then flower annually.
Fay’s Gymea lily flowered this spring for the first time after a wait of seven years.
First Nations people roasted the young stems of Gymea lily for eating.
They also roasted the roots to make a kind of cake.
Fibres from the leaves were also used for making brushes and matting.
Sharing the love
Just a week after a Kyabram couple walked into Kyabram’s Ky Lotto and Toys and asked owner Miles Gould to wipe the slate clean for anyone who had kids’ toys on lay-by for Christmas, a Good Samaritan bobbed up in Deniliquin.
A former local who returned to the town three months ago and wanted only to be named as ‘‘John’’, started handing out $50 notes outside some of the town’s busiest businesses and bidding people a merry Christmas.
He said he was inspired to spread a message of peace and love to each other ‘‘because people are doing it tough at the moment.’’
Rain just below average
Kyabram Weather Station received 5.2mm of rain in a violent storm last Sunday morning, but other areas had a lot more and some less.
It took Kyabram’s December total to 19.8mm and the yearly amount to 436.8mm, just below the yearly average of 446mm.
Historic sail-pass
Kyabram-raised Lou Innaconie wants a mega sail-pass to christen the new Echuca-Moama bridge when it opens mid next year.
The successful Echuca businessman, who owns the paddle steamer Amphibious, wants to form the largest fleet of paddleboats and paddle-steamers possible to be involved in the historic event.
Interested boat owners can contact Lou on 0409 570 989.
Tattslotto winners
There’s been a sequel to that November 20 Tattslotto draw in which a Benalla outlet, Priceline Pharmacy, incredibly sold two of the seven winning tickets.
One winner, a syndicate, was quick to claim the $831,613 division one prize but the other winners, a local couple, only found out last week about the windfall so it’s been a nice surprise for Christmas.
Publican’s not guilty plea
Echuca pub owner Trevor Andrews has pleaded not guilty to allegedly defying public health orders and opening while Victoria was in a COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year.
Andrews runs the Pastoral Hotel and the matter has been adjourned to February.
Stars at Deni Ute Muster
American country singing superstar Brad Paisley and Aussie pop star Jessica Mauboy have been booked to be the headline acts at next year’s iconic Deni Ute Muster.
The undercard is also mouth-watering with the likes of John Williamson, Troy Cassar-Daley, Shannon Noll and Sara Storer among the entertainers.
Bookings are now open for the muster to be conducted on Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1, 2022.
Visitors welcomed back
Visitors were welcomed back to Rochester Elmore District Health Service’s aged care facility last week for the first time since a COVID-19 outbreak closed the facility on November 18.
Five staff and 10 patients were infected and had completed their isolation period by Monday of last week.
Warning for campers
Campers who are heading for the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers during the festive period are urged to check the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) website because of possible flooding along these waterways and their tributaries.
With water storages at capacity, low to moderate flooding is expected if more rain falls.
Sleeping centurion’s hobby
Not a bad answer from Benalla’s Milton “Bill’’ Gregory who recently turned 100 and lives independently.
When asked what his hobbies were, Bill shot back ‘‘sleeping.’’
There must be something in the water over at Benalla as Alfred ‘‘Ormy’’ Hall was another local to recently chalk up a century.
Car rental option
Seymour and Kilmore Toyota have launched KINTO Rent.
The service, which has been up and running since March this year in Melbourne and in some Toyota dealerships, allows people to rent vehicles for an hour, or a year, and any length of time in between.
Katunga South closes
A country school with 141 years of history has closed its doors forever.
Katunga South Primary School was opened in 1880 after residents lobbied for a school in the Katunga Parish.
Originally named North Katunga Primary School, it had to be moved seven years after it opened to make way for the construction of a rail link between Numurkah and Cobram.
The present school was completed in 1907 and by the 1950s it boasted 66 students.
Bridges upgrade
Three bridges on Murchison Goulburn Weir Rd are currently being upgraded by Goulburn-Murray Water.
Work on two of the bridges is expected to be finished by Christmas and third in mid-January.
Square dinkum
G’day
T’was the night before Christmas in Kyabram – you know,
Where the spirit of Christmas was alive and on show.
Asleep in their houses were the children of Ky,
Dreaming of Santa and will he come by.
Pillow slips hanging at the foot of their beds,
Good thoughts of Christmas alive in their heads.
When all of a sudden from the still of the night,
There came such a ruckus it gave them a fright.
Across the sky like a shot from a gun,
A loaded up ute coming down on a run.
The driver was whistling and shouting at will.
Six big kangaroos he drove with great skill.
He yelled to the roos to set down to the right,
‘‘There’s many more miles for you boys tonight.’’
The driver, in thongs and a shirt that was red,
Had a worn out Akubra on top of his head.
He stepped from the ute, he was really a sight,
His beard, so long — and curly — and white.
He burst into the houses and children awoke,
All so astonished, not one of them spoke.
He filled pillow slips with such presents galore,
That no-one could think of a single thing more.
When the children recovered the use of their jaws,
They asked in a whisper, ‘Are you Santa Claus?’
‘‘Am I the real Santa, well, what do you think?’’
And he smiled as he gave a mysterious wink.
He climbed into the ute, looking back with a call,
To the folks of Kyabram,
“Merry Christmas to all!”
Hooroo!!!