Ladies and gentlemen are preparing their finest outfits for the highly-anticipated Oaks Day Luncheon, set to make its grand return to Kilmore next week.
The day at Kilmore Trackside on November 9 will feature a three-course luncheon, a silent auction, and live music by Whittlesea’s Shanae Watson, who most recently appeared on television program The Voice.
The keenly-awaited raffle will leave attendees crossing their fingers to win this year’s major prize – a stocked wine fridge.
With awards up for grabs for the best-dressed lady and gentleman, the event provides an excuse for residents to dress up in their finest and feel part of ladies’ day at Flemington without having to travel to Melbourne.
Tracy Crane, Heather Hawkins and Marlene Drummond enjoy a past iteration of Oaks Day at Kilmore Trackside in 2019.
Organiser Bev Carman, who is a Northern Health Foundation patron, has hosted Oaks Day at Kilmore Trackside since 2010 to raise money for Northern Health in Epping, providing the hospital with funding to support its cancer patients.
Past instalments have raised funds for specialty medical equipment, chemotherapy chairs, wig libraries, storage cabinets and freezer caps for patients to keep their hair, among other items.
The money raised this year will potentially support the implementation of a wellness centre at the hospital.
Bev Carman, left, is once again hosting Oaks Day at Kilmore Trackside on November 9 to raise funds for Northern Health.
Ms Carman most recently hosted the annual race day at Kilmore Trackside, which raised $11,000 that went towards upgrading a section of the outdoor garden area in the palliative care unit at Northern Health, to be dubbed ‘Kilmore’s corner’.
Ms Carman is hopeful the day will be a success, with tickets still available to fill the room.
“Some of the girls have been coming ever since I started and I’m very grateful to them, but it is lovely to see new people starting to come as well,” she said.
“You don’t have to buy a table – you can just buy a seat.”
Tickets are $80 per person, including sparkling wine on arrival and a three-course luncheon.
People can purchase a seat by calling Kilmore Trackside on 5783 0700.
THE Department of Transport and Planning, DTP, will consider closing Seymour’s Chittick Place at the Oak Street and Anzac Avenue intersection for a traffic diversion experiment.
Mitchell Shire Council unanimously voted to write to the DTP seeking a report on the closure of the intersection at this month’s meeting.
In a meeting regarding the Anzac Avenue Masterplan in September, there was discussion regarding pedestrian cycling and vehicular traffic with a focus on safety mitigation.
Due to the high risk, the recommendation identified closing Chittick Place at the Oak Street and Anzac Avenue intersection with the public still having vehicular access into Chittick Place through Pollard Street.
Access would be maintained for council services, such as garbage collection, and public parking.
The closure would be initially temporary, evaluating the benefit or otherwise of the closure and upon completion of a review a further recommendation would be put forward for council’s consideration.
A community consultation process would need to be undertaken prior to council deciding to implement the closure or not.
Cr Rhonda Sanderson said the area had been identified as a risk area.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the report from the Department of Transport and Planning on this area,” she said.
Cr David Lowe said dealing with the high-risk intersection was good.
“It’s a very strange junction and the idea of rationalising it somewhat is intrinsically good,” he said.
“It is to be noted that the community consultation process will need to be undertaken prior to making a decision to affect this or not and this motion should set all this in motion.”
SENIORS across Mitchell Shire bonded over morning tea with Nexus Primary Health staff on Tuesday, celebrating this month’s Victorian Seniors Festival.
The morning tea at Nexus GP Superclinic Wallan included a great turnout of seniors, some of whom attended through arranged transport at Nexus Primary Health.
This year’s Victorian Senior Festival theme was ‘Learn, Love, Live’ – a motto embraced at the morning tea with cards and posters made by Little Steps Early Education and Care in Kilmore.
Community engagement coordinator Alice Linklater said it was the first time Nexus had celebrated the Victorian Seniors Festival.
“It’s to get everybody together – a lot of people have reduced their social connection with many members of the community and also many groups,” she said.
“We’re bringing people back, getting people connected, making sure that they’re active – which is great for their bodies, heart and mind.
“I think many people here didn’t know each other and you have different people talking to one another and finding new friends, finding new peers, having this connection.
“It’s just the most beautiful, heartwarming morning and lovely to give back to these people that have given so much to us.”
Anne Johnson, left, Marlene Owsianny and Helen Smith enjoying each other’s company at the morning tea as part of the Victorian Seniors Festival.
Seniors had the chance to learn about services dedicated to improving the lives of older vulnerable residents within and outside their homes.
Nexus Primary Health care finder Paul Clark informed seniors about the care finder program, which links older people to My Aged Care or other services in the community that arranges homecare.
Mr Clark said there were many people unaware of care finders.
“We find that there’s a lot of people out there aren’t aware that there’s people like me, and other care finders out there to help support them to navigate the My Aged Care system,” he said.
Other speakers included social support coordinator Nicole Carmody, who discussed opportunities of social support groups offering a range of outings that residents can book.
Chief executive Amanda Mullins also spoke at the event, acknowledging the services to Mitchell, Murrindindi and Strathbogie shires and welcoming residents to submit feedback.
The morning tea concluded with several seniors winning vouchers from Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses in Wallan and a free gym swim pass at Kilmore Leisure Centre.
Nexus Primary Health is recruiting volunteers for the Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme and Clients transport program.
If interested, people can contact Nexus and ask to speak to volunteer coordinator Kevin Twan.
A ROMSEY waste facility and a youth leader in the City of Whittlesea are winners in their categories at this year’s Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria Tidy Towns and Cities Sustainability Awards.
The awards, which celebrate environmental achievements and community spirit of individuals, community groups and councils across Victoria, announced its recipients at Zinc, Federation Square, on October 23.
Kettlewell’s Green Waste Site, a Macedon Ranges Shire Council initiative, was acknowledged for its recycling efforts in the EPA Waste Prevention and Reduction category.
The council-managed facility in Romsey was first developed to respond to the severe destruction caused by storms in June 2021, focusing on reducing green waste by creating repurposed products for impacted communities and councils.
Since then, the facility has processed more than 65,000 tonnes of tree and storm debris and has returned recycled or repurposed products back to impacted communities, with a total market value of more than $35 million.
It is the facility’s third award, following recognition in the Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards and the 2023 LGPro Awards for Excellence.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council chief executive Bernie O’Sullivan said council was excited to receive another award that highlighted the benefits on a regional scale.
“This invaluable project was made possible through a strong collaboration between council and a number of hard-working council staff, Emergency Recovery Victoria and the community,” he said.
“We were not only able to act swiftly to solve a major problem in a very practical and cost-effective way, but the most pleasing thing is to have been able to give back to affected communities.
“The facility sets a new standard for post-disaster clean up and is a model that could be easily replicated anywhere, so hopefully our learnings will also help give other councils an idea for a practical solution for emergency recovery, should they ever need it.”
In the Young Legends category, City of Whittlesea resident Tanya Sharma was awarded for her dedication to protecting the planet.
The young leader initiated a project acknowledging the environmental impact of cigarette butt litter in the community and created a petition gathering community support to request council’s action on education and installing specialised bins in schools and parks.
Ms Sharma also interacted with other councils and reached out to the Prime Minister, joining a United Nations environment program to support her cause.
Determined to make an impact, her environmental commitments went further in tackling palm oil usage and tree planting in her hometown in India, receiving acknowledgement as a semi-finalist for an environmental award.
To find out more about the Tidy Towns winners, people can visit www.kabvic.org.au/2023-winners.
THE artistic talents of students from St Mary’s Primary School in Lancefield took centre stage at the annual Visual Arts Showcase that unfolded earlier in term four.
Last month’s event celebrated the artistic journey of students from prep to grade six, highlighting their creativity, dedication and the vibrant display of their imaginative works that were created during terms one to three.
Art teacher Brenda Sammut said the event left a lasting impression on all who attended.
The youngest artists in the school, the prep students, displayed a wide range of creativity that included ripped paper bears and parable lamps, inspired by literature, and showed their connection to Australian Indigenous culture by crafting textiles and dot-painted boomerangs.
Ms Sammut said grade one and two students engaged in mixed media collages, which included their Easter collages that featured lit crosses.
“Additionally, the students also explored shape and emotions through lines and colours in their paintings and demonstrated their hand-sewing prowess by crafting pillow friends using felt and wadding,” she said.
Taking a different route, the grade three and four students created textile wall art inspired by the works of prominent textile artist Sheila Hicks.
Ms Sammut said the grade three and four students created captivating bush medicine paintings, while the grade five and six students embarked on a journey through the world of candy artist and sculptor Peter Anton, crafting large candy sculptures out of clay, adding a sweet twist to their art.
The exploration for the older students did not just stop at expressing their personal stories through Indigenous symbols and traditional dot paintings, the students also had the opportunity to create textured art on canvas.
A study into gender disadvantage in Seymour has highlighted the numerous factors limiting opportunities for women and affecting their economic security.
The Flip It report, written last year by Dr Dina Bowman and Dr Margaret Kabare, investigated the financial wellbeing of women living in regional areas and used Seymour and its residents as the focus of the study.
The 28-page report was officially marked as complete and tabled in Parliament this month, and is now available to the public.
As part of the report, 15 women and seven community workers were asked to share the positive and challenging aspects of living in Seymour and detail the issues affecting women’s economic security.
Key findings included ‘a big divide between the rich and the poor’, that residents felt Seymour was being ‘forgotten’ by Mitchell Shire Council and that limited opportunities in Seymour constricted women’s independent financial security.
Women face disadvantage
The report highlighted that Seymour residents experience ‘multilayered and persistent disadvantage’, and that women encountered the most significant challenges to achieving economic security.
Limited suitable employment opportunities, poor access to specialised medical care for women, the scarcity of family violence services and transport challenges were commonly identified issues.
Some participants said the poor access to public transport and limited childcare options created barriers for women to employment.
Seymour is classified as a ‘childcare desert’, where there is only one place available at childcare for every three children in the area.
Some participants said limited childcare options created barriers for women to employment.
Participants mentioned the lengthy wait list to Seymour’s one long-daycare centre and the childcare responsibility often fell upon the mother when out-of-home care could not be sourced.
“In the absence of these conditions, opportunities are constrained for women, even if jobs appear to be available,” the report said.
‘Old school’ gender attitudes
The report found the barriers to employment ‘reinforced the prevalence of old school gender attitudes’, which manifested into high rates of family violence.
Interviews highlighted the ‘culture of mateship’ often resulted in family violence being ignored, posing a barrier for women facing abuse.
“People turn a blind eye to what their friends do,” one participant said.
“Therefore, men accused of perpetrating domestic violence are unlikely to be held to account by other men.”
Interviews highlighted the ‘culture of mateship’ often resulted in family violence being ignored, posing a barrier for women facing abuse.
The lack of family violence services, including crisis support and emergency accommodation, as well as the inaccessibility of affordable housing, were among the issues highlighted as causing gender disadvantage.
Seymour divided
The report found residents perceived Seymour to be ‘divided by the haves and the have-nots’ by the railway line, supposedly marking where the rich and poor live and the quality of their livelihoods.
The public housing area, known by Seymour residents as ‘up on the hill’, was generally stigmatised as being ‘a rough area’ with ‘social problems’ including crime and drug use.
But the Flip It report labelled the perceptions of those in public housing as ‘blanket characterisations’ that minimised the factors limiting those ‘up on the hill’ in participating and accessing services.
“Participants often attributed poverty and disadvantage to individual circumstances despite exhibiting an awareness of structural barriers,” the report said.
Participants also believed Seymour had been ‘forgotten’ and ‘not prioritised’ by Mitchell Shire Council.
“I think council also put us on the back burner a bit, they put other places before us because they see the other places have more growth,” one participant said.
Where to next?
The report recommended services move from a gender-neutral to a gender-sensitive approach and ‘flip’ their focus to recognise the barriers posed to women before implementing solutions.
Ms Kabare said proposals to invest in Seymour ‘don’t acknowledge or address the specific barriers that women face’.
“A gendered understanding of regional issues can help improve economic possibilities for women and flip the narratives of disadvantage to opportunity for women and their families in towns like Seymour,” she said.
Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland attended the local launch of the report in Seymour this month.
Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland at the local launch of the Flip It report in Seymour. The report highlights the challenges and possible solutions to women’s financial wellbeing in the area.
She said those who shared their stories and contributed to the report showed ‘immense vulnerability’.
“The statistics are sobering, but the progress we can achieve together as a community in breaking generational disadvantage is truly remarkable,” she said.
The report forms one component of the more comprehensive Sustaining Economic Empowerment and Dignity for Women project, known as SEED.
Led by the social justice organisation Brotherhood of St Laurence, the SEED project facilitates several studies to research gender disadvantage among women in regional areas and also recommends solutions.
The SEED Project team can be contacted on 0482 188 099 or via email at seedproject@bsl.org.au for confidential support surrounding financial hardship.
To find out more about the SEED project, visit .
To read the full Flip It report, visit bit.ly/3QaNBIu.
Mitchell Shire councillor David Lowe has been forced to apologise to Cr Annie Goble and Mayor Fiona Stevens following ‘disrespectful’ behaviour during council’s April 17 meeting.
Cr Goble and Cr Stevens made a joint application on June 21 for international arbitration for Cr Lowe’s alleged misconduct.
The matter was tabled in the October 16 council meeting, with the full report and written apology in the attachments of the agenda.
However, Cr Stevens withdrew her application following Cr Lowe’s sudden illness following the submission.
The alleged misconduct stemmed from a point of order in the April meeting with Cr Lowe stating a conflict of interest existed between Cr Goble and the George Street, Kilmore planning permit being discussed.
Confusion arose following the February 6 council meeting discussing separate planning permit applications for George Street, Kilmore and East Street, Kilmore with Cr Stevens stating ‘we have an apology from Cr Goble tonight. There is a conflict of interest’.
This followed on at the April meeting when Cr Goble was about to speak on the George Street application, Cr Lowe raised a point of order mentioning the previously-declared conflict of interest.
Cr Goble corrected him but Cr Lowe continued telling Cr Stevens that he could play a recording of the February meeting if requested.
Cr Stevens later announced she had made a mistake at the February meeting about the conflict of interest and apologised.
Cr Goble alleged Cr Lowe’s point of order was ‘calculated and premeditated and designed to embarrass, challenge or unsettle her and/or the mayor’ and breached three clauses of the Local Government (Governance and Integrity) Regulations 2020.
Arbitration was conducted via Microsoft Teams on August 31 before arbiter Louise Hall.
Ms Hall said she did not believe Cr Lowe’s actions were preplanned however she said he had other choices at the time including asking for adjournment.
“Curiously, he does not appear to understand that Cr Goble justifiably considered that he was challenging her integrity because he stated that he did not direct any questions to her in the meeting,” she said.
“I find that Cr Lowe’s behaviour was disrespectful to both Cr Goble and the mayor, Cr Stevens, and if Cr Lowe had initially accepted Cr Goble’s explanation that she had a conflict with East Street Kilmore, not George Street Kilmore, that would not be deemed disrespectful.
“However following Cr Goble’s explanation, Cr Lowe kept going, insisting that the mayor had declared a conflict of interest for Cr Goble.”
Ms Hall concluded that Cr Lowe’s intent was to find fault in the mayor’s statement about Cr Goble’s apology at the February 6 meeting.
“At no time during this meeting did the mayor state she was declaring a conflict of interest, only that Cr Goble had a conflict of interest,” she said.
“I do not consider this to be a mistake by the mayor and possibly only unnecessary to explain Cr Goble’s absence.
“Cr Lowe has protested that the mayor did not make an attempt to resolve the matter internally.
“The mayor has provided evidence of an email that she sent to Cr Lowe immediately following the meeting to which he never responded and acknowledged that was a mistake.
“I also find that this constitutes not treating the mayor with respect as she sought an explanation from him.”
Ms Hall said Cr Lowe had asserted that he had treated the councillors with respect in relation to the incident because he was polite and did not raise his voice.
“His behaviour towards these councillors was, in my view, overtly critical, seeking to catch them out or find fault,” she said.
“His written submissions contained several personal jibes about Cr Goble and Cr Stevens, which were unnecessary and seemingly unwarranted.”
Ms Hall also found Cr Lowe only breached one Local Government (Governance and Integrity) Regulations 2020 clause.
Cr Lowe was directed to make a written apology to Crs Goble and Stevens.
He apologised for the point of order raised.
“This caused concern and was considered disrespectful. This was never my intention and I apologise unreservedly for that,” the apology read.
“I recognise that it would have been more constructive to call a suspension of the meeting and deal with this privately.
“In the event of similar circumstances arriving in the future, this is the action I would take.”
Whittlesea U3A’s walking sports program is going from strength to strength, led by an impressive result at the recent Australian Masters Games in Adelaide.
In collaboration with the City of Whittlesea, the group sent three teams – two men’s and one women’s – interstate to compete in the walking soccer event from October 12 to 14.
The women’s team, comprised of members from six different nationalities with its oldest player aged 80, managed to bring home a bronze medal for their efforts.
Walking sports organiser Mick Trim said it was the second time a Whittlesea U3A team had travelled interstate to compete in walking soccer, however the third place in Adelaide was its best result so far.
“The first one we did was the Pacific Master Games on the Gold Coast in November last year, and that was a success and everyone enjoyed it,” he said.
“This time we had 29 people put their hands up … we’re very proud of them, this is only the second time and next time we’ll just learn and do things a little bit better and make sure everybody enjoys it a lot more.
“The ladies themselves, they wore the medals out for tea on the Saturday night and they were all really excited about winning them.”
The interstate project would have cost a total of $28,000, however through fundraising, donations, grants and sponsorships, the total was able to be reduced to around $400 per person.
The competition was also complemented by a trip to several Barossa Valley wineries prior to gameday
Mr Trim said he hoped the result would bring more participants to Whittlesea U3A’s walking sports activities in the future.
“We hope once people start to see what can be achieved and what the enjoyment is that more and more people will come along,” he said.
“[After the Pacific Games] the ladies’ program definitely increased, so hopefully it will again because there’s a lot more information around this time. Football South Australia did an article on the team and Football Victoria also promoted it.”
While the walking football program will continue as a staple of Whittlesea U3A activities, more sports are planned to give participants more options to be involved in a less stressful version of their favourite sports.
Walking sports are designed to encourage social interaction and community connection, with no boundaries regarding age and physical ability.
For more information people can email mick_trim1@hotmail.com, or alternatively contact The Y Leisure City or the City of Whittlesea.
