Forest saved – February 2019 in review

Water is life – Thursday, 7 February edition

WITH a deepening water crisis facing communities along the Darling River in New South Wales, Darlene Rumler decided to do something to help.

The public servant and 20-year Ballarat resident set up drinking water drop off points all over the city, collected up 2000 litres before heading to communities along the river, picking up another 1200 litres on the way.

Ms Rumler and her team distributed the water to people across the region, describing it as a bizarre scenario where “fish are getting news, but the people aren’t.

“It’s heartbreaking. It brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “It was their third week of dire straits.

“We had community members meet us in Menindee and personally took us to people’s homes. There was one elderly lady that guided us in in tears.

“It was like watching a little child’s face light up for Christmas and seeing Santa coming.

“We went on our merry way… we were four blocks down and she tracked us down to thank us again.

 

Maher moves in – Thursday, 14 February edition

While Darren Weir’s time and Dowling Forest came to an abrupt and somewhat unexpected end, the team at the Ballarat Turf Club weren’t going to sit around and let the departure of the facility’s anchor tenant ruin everything that had been built.

Then BTC CEO Lachlan McKenzie and the team got to work on finding a new trainer to take the helm of Weir’s considerable operations, and that person was Ciaron Maher.

“We could have sat on our hands, and just say ‘well, Darren Weir Racing has got to comply with the sanctions, and his advisors can sell the property,’ but we just thought by becoming involved we could speed up that process and save jobs,” Mr McKenzie said.

“A couple of days after the raid I phoned Ciaron Maher and asked if he’s interested in leasing the facility. Ciaron was the first person called because in my view he is like a younger version of Darren Weir in his horse training ability.

“He’s got that freakish sixth sense when it comes to horses.”

 

Mighty pens – Thursday, 14 February edition

Always busy creating, with an eye to helping others, the crafts people at the Ballarat Woodworkers Guild unveiled a special gift for Anzac Day.

Over 100 pens, made from reclaimed wood that once grew as tress along the Ballarat Avenue of Honour, were unveiled before shipping to serving troops overseas.

“Every troop member, whether it’s army, navy or air force, will get a pen from Victoria” said guild president Ross Holst.

“Each [guild] member has made between five and 10.”

 

Ready to respond – Thursday, 21 February

Despite being a fair distance from the suburb, the newly christened Lucas Fire Station got its official opening.

Staffed by 32 career firefighters and support crew, the station had actually been handing call outs since November 2018.

Facilities available at the centre include a truck maintenance space, a drying room to keep equipment serviceable during colder months, a large yard for drills and truck set up, and a locker area with separate change rooms for both male and female staff.

“I can see the incredible benefits of having this as an emergency services hub,” said emergency services minister Lisa Neville.

“We needed to have a career station based here 24 hours a day to service the growing community, making sure we get the response times that they need.”

 

Phase one done – Thursday, 28 February

Parking in and around Ballarat Station got slightly easier at the end of February as the site’s three story covered carpark was officially opened.

The first phase of the $32 million station precinct redevelopment project delivered 405 spaces.

State member for Wendouree, Julian Addison, said the opening of the new spaces addressed a long-term need.

“For decades parking at the train station has been neglected,” she said. “It was pretty random, you’d turn up try and find a spot for your car, it was unstructured and very ad-hoc.”