Pies’ painful preliminary repeat
By Max Davies
TENSIONS rose, tempers flared and dreams were crushed as Wallan’s senior footballers were served a Riddell District Football Netball League preliminary final defeat for the second year in a row.
The Magpies came into the match with high hopes having defeated adversaries Woodend-Hesket in both of their most recent meetings – including the qualifying final two weeks ago – and recorded a strong, yet disappointing, result in their defeat to Diggers Rest the week before.
But from the first bounce it was clear the Hawks had come to play, dominating defensively in the first quarter and only allowing the Magpies the chance for a solitary goal at the hands of Michael Baccari.
Heading into the second quarter with a 13-point deficit, it seemed Wallan began to find its feet as the team pushed quickly into the forward 50 and gave everything in defence to keep the Hawks scoreless for the remainder of the first half.
Matthew Perri kicked two goals late in the quarter followed by a spate of behinds, leaving his team ahead by four points at the long break.
Emotions boiled over as the siren went, with last-minute fights and tussles continuing as the teams headed back to Romsey Park’s change rooms.
The third quarter, however, saw a turnaround as Woodend-Hesket returned to the scoreboard with three goals and two behinds despite a spirited defensive effort from the likes of Wallan’s Brenton Cox.
An early call for holding the ball which resulted in a free kick to Jake Layley in Wallan’s 50 drifted wide for a behind, while Joshua Vilinskis was forced off with an injury as the Hawks kicked their first goal in more than half an hour at the seven-minute mark.
Woodend-Hesket’s Daniel Davie converted an impressive mark in front of goal with four minutes to go, closing the quarter with the Hawks leading Wallan 40 to 26.
A minute into the final term, Woodend-Hesket kicked another goal, which erupted the especially vocal Hawks’ crowd at Romsey Park.
Wallan’s desperation became clear as a long delivery from Corey Viani resulted in a bounce in front of goal, leading to a shot at goal for Angelos Sidhom that drifted wide, before Hayden Gill scored two minutes later.
Yet another fight broke out as play resumed, the scores remaining mostly unchanged before a desperate late charge from Sidhom resulted in a reassuring goal amid Woodend’s domination.
The Hawks scored the final goal of the match in the dying minutes, sending Wallan home with a 21-point defeat.
Wallan assistant coach Spencer Mathieson said apart from leading in the second half, the Hawks were consistently the better side on the day.
“We’re proud of our season, our young players got better every week, but we just couldn’t go with the Hawks in the second half and they deserved their win,” he said.
Woodend-Hesket will face Diggers Rest in Sunday’s grand final this weekend.
Also making the grand finals was the Burras’ reserves team, who defeated Woodend-Hesket on Saturday and will now gear up to face Wallan – the reserves side is the Magpies’ last hope for a premiership in the 2023 season.
Diggers Rest finished the season on top of the reserves ladder with Wallan second, however the Magpies defeated the Burras in last week’s semi-final to secure a direct pathway to the grand final.
Wallan’s under 19.5 team was dealt a thumping at the hands of the Gisborne Giants in the preliminary final, a bitter end to a strong finals campaign for the team who finished the season in fourth and knocked out second-placed Romsey in the semi-finals.
Gisborne will now face Macedon on Sunday, the Cats strong contenders following their 22-point victory over the Giants in their semi-final clash.
Netball
Wallan’s netball campaign came to an end at the weekend as its under 19 team was knocked out by Riddell in a 27-18 defeat.
The Magpies’ under 19s made it the furthest of any Wallan team in the finals – their preliminary final defeat a testament to a strong season-long effort.
All finals are to be played at Romsey Park, beginning at 9.30am on Sunday.
Wildlife ‘carnage’ at new Edgars Road extension in Epping
By Grace Frost
Wildlife Victoria has flagged an ‘urgent need’ to address the safety of kangaroos at the recently-opened extension of Edgars Road in Epping.
The new stretch of Edgars Road, between O’Herns Road and Rockfield Street, was opened in August to improve connection to the Hume Freeway and decrease congestion.
Wildlife Victoria noted a spike in wildlife injuries and fatalities caused by collisions with cars in the area since the extension opened, with kangaroos left in the firing line of two-way traffic.
Wildlife Victoria chief executive Lisa Palma said the movement of kangaroos posed a ‘significant risk’ to the safety of the animals and road users.
“The habitat of the [kangaroos] has been disrupted by the extension of Edgars Road and with a viable water source only accessible on the eastern side of the road, they will continue to cross,” she said.
“Habitat destruction due to increased urbanisation is impacting wildlife across the state and we join the City of Whittlesea in calling on the State Government to develop a regional approach to better protect our wildlife.”
Wildlife Victoria data revealed 442 animals were killed or injured by vehicles in the City of Whittlesea in 2022.
Another 343 were killed or injured between January and July 31 this year.
Wildlife rescuer Krysti Severi, from Rescue Rehabilitate Release, labelled the extension ‘an absolute and utter disaster’ after witnessing wildlife ‘carnage’ since it opened.
She was called to the extension last month to euthanise a female kangaroo who was hit by a car.
The kangaroo’s joey was also euthanised, suffering from a broken back after falling from her mother’s pouch.
With the help of community members who stopped to assist, Ms Severi, rescued another joey who had been orphaned on the same day.
Another three kangaroos were narrowly missed by cars while she was at the site.
“There was never a thought to their safety or the safety of the road users,” Ms Severi said.
“They put in a road in the middle of their habitat.
“We’re not dealing with introduced species… we’re talking about native animals that belong here.”
Development Victoria delivered the extension and own the land at 188A O’Herns Road, Epping, which forms part of the Aurora Estate.
Development Victoria group head of housing Penny Forrest said the organisation was working with the City of Whittlesea to address concerns about the new extension.
“Based on expert advice, permanent yellow warning signs have been installed along Edgars Road, alerting drivers to the presence of kangaroos, and advising that they exercise caution while driving through the area,” she said
Ms Severi worried drivers had become desensitised to yellow kangaroo signage and were not slowing down or watching for wildlife.
After discussions with the City of Whittlesea, Development Victoria plan to install additional signs along Edgars Road to provide a phone number that motorists can call if they find injured wildlife in the area.
Wildlife rescuers called for more long-term solutions.
Ms Severi said the State Government needed to become more open to relocation or translocation of kangaroos, which wildlife rescuers were not allowed to undertake.
Development Victoria has engaged an independent ecologist to provide expert advice to manage the presence of kangaroos, with advice to feed into a Kangaroo Management Plan, KMP, for the area.
City of Whittlesea chief executive Craig Lloyd said council had recommended Development Victoria prepare a KMP prior to the road opening.
He said council did not own the land at the site and did not have the authority to manage kangaroos, but was still working to find appropriate solutions, including the installation of kangaroo signs and setting the speed limit to 50 kilometres an hour.
“The City of Whittlesea will continue to advocate to the State Government for a regional approach to kangaroo management,” he said.
Wildlife Victoria urged the State Government and Development Victoria to take immediate action to ensure the kangaroos’ survival.
Whittlesea Football Netball Club welcomes new coaches
Whittlesea Football Netball Club hosted a ‘Meet the Coaches’ night last week inviting both men and women footballers, under 19s, under 18s, under 17s and under 16s players to hear about the club’s future.
The club also announced Andrew Fairchild will return to the nest as senior assistant coach for 2024.
Fairchild played as an Eagle from 2010 to 2018, captaining the side from 2015 to 2018 and is a previous best and fairest winner.
He was assistant coach of the senior side from 2016 to 2018 before taking the role as senior coach at Kinglake Football Netball Club from 2019 to 2023, leading the side to a preliminary final his first year.
Whittlesea Football Netball Club president Adrian Stewart said the night had a ‘really good turnout’.
“Garry [Ramsay], whose our senior coach, had a chat to the player group and he included juniors and junior parents there so it was more [about] a direction he sees the club going and what his coaching philosophies are,” he said.
“I had a little chat as well to explain to them how we’ve got to the point we’re at. The last 18 months we’ve sort of went from a fairly small committee of people trying to do everything to now where we’ve got different departments.
“We’ve got a women’s football department, a men’s football department and we’re setting up a netball one as well so the departments can focus solely on what’s needed in those areas instead of people trying to do everything and it’s working really well.”
The new women’s football coach was announced at the event with the announcement to be made public later this week.
“This coach comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience and will be a really good asset,” Stewart said.
“Jarrod, our former coach, and Brad will remain in our women’s football department so we’re retaining them as well but they’re sort of stepping back and taking more of an off-field role.
“They’ve sourced this coach and they know this person is a good fit, which will see majority of the girls staying on.
“We’ve got about five or six players [who] will be coming up from the under 18s but I think there’s about 15 or 16 bottom age 18s that can probably rotate through the senior group next season. We’re pretty keen on seeing that happen as well.”
The men’s senior side has also retained majority of its players.
“We’ve signed probably 90 per cent of the side this year and if we haven’t signed some of them, it’s probably due to time restraints and other things. We’re pretty confident in retaining most of our players,” Stewart said.
Stewart said the next project of the club is setting up an academy for the junior groups for both boys and girls 13 years onwards.
“More will come out about that in the preseason but that’s probably the next thing on our radar,” he said.
Romsey woodchopper in national competition
ROMSEY’S Blake Meyer is one of many woodchopping athletes gearing up to tackle the Australian Pro Championships in Wollongong this weekend.
The championships, hosted by Stihl Timbersports, will feature athletes from across Australia competing in six disciplines – three with axes and three with chainsaws.
Meyer has been competing since the age of eight, following the family tradition passed down by his grandfather, father and brother, all of whom have been competitive woodchoppers.
He will be competing in the pro championship division alongside cousin and top-ranked woodchopper Brayden Meyer.
Blake Meyer said he would be looking to ‘go as hard as he can’ this weekend and hoped for a good result.
“I’m very excited about the weekend. It’s been a bit of hard work training at home so I’m looking forward to hopefully showing the results,” he said.
“Me and Brayden get along really well so we are always helping each other and doing whatever we can to make sure each other goes well.”
The event will comprise of three rounds – the first featuring 12 athletes competing in the disciplines of Underhand Chop, Stock Saw, and Standing Block Chop with 12 points awarded to the fastest athlete and one to the slowest.
The second round will feature the Single Buck and the Springboard, with eight competitors battling for 16 points for the fastest and two for the slowest.
The final round is the Hot Saw discipline, requiring six competitors to battle for triple points with custom-made chainsaws.
Once all rounds are complete, the athlete with the most points will be crowned the Pro Australian Champion and win an opportunity to represent Australia at the World Championships in Germany.
“I’m most confident with the Springboard, but the hardest part is getting through to the first round of the eliminations so that I can hopefully get a crack at it. That’s what I’m hoping to do,” Meyer said.
“I don’t think I’ll be winning it, but I’d like to think that I’m a good chance to get through and get a reasonably high place.”
Meyer will also compete alongside fellow Victorian athlete Laurence O’Toole in the pro championship division, another renowned woodchopper tipped for a shot at being crowned champion.
For more information on the event, including how to watch live, visit .
Petition calls for Donnybrook Road upgrade
By Pam Kiriakidis
THE Kalkallo and Donnybrook communities are calling for the duplication of Donnybrook Road and replacement of the Mitchell Street roundabout with traffic lights to boost infrastructure struggling to keep pace with a growing population.
A petition, organised by Kalkallo resident Ally Watson, is requesting a financial commitment in the 2024 State Budget for the road’s upgrade, in hope of a duplication.
Donnybrook Road is the main thoroughfare between estates in Kalkallo and Donnybrook.
Accessing the single-lane road from the estates to the Hume Freeway often takes drivers about 40 minutes, facing stand-still traffic before giving way to neighbouring suburbs at the Mitchell Street roundabout.
“I’ve lived here for five and a half years, and we’ve had a lot of issues with one road in, one road out of the estate,” Ms Watson said.
“But what we’re seeing now is not only do we have more people moving into Kalkallo and Cloverton estates but as more people are moving down the Donnybrook corridor, the traffic on Donnybrook Road is getting really substantial and creating even longer disruptions.”
The petition has more than 1500 signatures from residents and visitors, many of whom had moved to Kalkallo between 2016 and 2021, when the population increased by 5000.
“Clearly the number of signatures gathered in a relatively short period of time demonstrates in itself that this is a community issue, that the community feels strongly about,” Ms Watson said.
She said there was ‘limited community infrastructure’ within the estates for residents to remain in the local area when it came to daily tasks, making travel towards the freeway almost always necessary.
“You have to leave to do shopping, there’s only a few schools, there’s no secondary school, so those students have to leave the area in the morning to go to school,” she said.
“It’s a combination of not only having a road that isn’t very big, and a growing population, but the fact that you have to leave for a lot of things.”
Major Road Projects Victoria will start to build a dedicated left turn for southbound travel onto Hume Freeway later this month, alongside upgrades including widening the on-ramp to the Hume, modifying street lighting and traffic islands and road resurfacing.
While the upgrades aim to significantly reduce peak time congestion and alleviate queuing of traffic on Donnybrook Road and Dwyer Street, Ms Watson said Donnybrook Road needed a long-term solution to accommodate for the growing population.
Member for Kalkallo Ros Spence, who supports and issued the petition, said the current road network was ‘not appropriate’ for the rapidly growing area.
“Residents are spending far too long in their cars to get a very short distance,” she said.
“Local residents are frustrated and fed up with the traffic congestion and delays of up to an hour to get onto the freeway.”
Ms Spence said it was important that planning was underway to ease traffic concerns, particularly for the duplication of Donnybrook and signalisation of the Mitchell Street intersection.
To sign the petition visit, bit.ly/3ZdZdi9.
Colmont School site sold
The land of the former Colmont School in Kilmore has sold for a reported $17 million through Savills Melbourne.
The buyer is understood to be an education provider, however it declined to comment on the purchase.
Colmont’s land was listed for sale earlier this year with the intention to sell to another education provider that would repurpose the former school’s facilities.
The school went into administration in July last year and left a significant sum of money owed to staff, families and businesses – and forced parents to find immediate enrolment for their children elsewhere.
It was announced just months before the closure that the school would change its name from The Kilmore International School, TKIS, to become Colmont School and begin looking for a new site – largely due to prohibitive costs associated with renting both the TKIS name and school’s White Street premises following their respective sales in 2019.
The school was one of few in Victoria to offer the International Baccalaureate, IB, program in lieu of the Victorian Certificate of Education, VCE.
The plans for the site and a potential school under the new owners are not yet known.
Further information is expected to be made public in the coming weeks.
Residents group’s protection call for Monument Hill Reserve
Kilmore District Residents and Ratepayers Association, KADRRA, is calling for action to curb illegal bike riding and four-wheel driving that is causing extensive damage to Monument Hill Reserve.
KADRRA secretary Angela Turner said there had been a rapid increase in illegal bike tracks, constructed jumps, timber cut and removed, and timber piled into heaps at the Kilmore reserve.
“Damage and removal of signage indicating prohibited use has occurred to an alarming extent,” she said.
“Several bike jumps are under construction and much of the natural habitat is damaged.”
Retired Department of Energy, Land, Water and Planning employee and qualified land assessor Norm Stimson said mountain bike tracks and jumps on Monument Hill, whether legal or unsanctioned, were contrary to the required protection and management.
“As well as general impacts and losses to biodiversity and environmental and other values, there are also numerous protected rare and threatened species in the reserve that may be impacted which must be protected,” he said.
“The current unsanctioned mountain bike tracks and jumps areas and/or any proposed future mountain bike facility effectively reduce the total area available for conservation in significant amounts…which is totally unacceptable.
“The current unsanctioned mountain bike tracks and jumps are also being developed without any assessment or planning oversight whatsoever. This is completely unacceptable.”
Ms Turner said KADDRA had asked council to increase maintenance and surveillance of the area ‘so damage and vandalism is kept to a minimum’.
“It is in everyone’s interest to keep this Crown land such that all the current environmental and heritage standards are maintained,” she said.
“As our population grows it becomes more obvious that other towns are not as blessed with such a wonderful protected public open space.”
Mitchell Shire Council acting chief executive Mary Agostino said council was aware there were issues with unauthorised and illegal activities related to BMX, mountain bike and four-wheel drive access in Monument Hill Reserve.
“Council have attempted to discourage these behaviours by removing jumps and revegetating areas, blocking tracks with bollards, and installing signs and surveillance cameras,” she said.
“The unauthorised construction of bike tracks and jumps in Monument Hill Reserve negatively impacts on ecological values by causing a loss of vegetation, soil erosion, habitat fragmentation and disruption to native wildlife.
“It also poses a significant risk to the riders using them, and the visitors walking through the reserve.
“An internal working group has been established to address this matter and the group is discussing the need to find an alternative location in the local area for BMX and mountain bike activities and a stronger enforcement approach.”
Council officers met with Taungurung Land and Waters Council to discuss future management of the reserve including addressing illegal use of the reserve.
Ms Agostino said there were no plans to formalise any BMX or mountain bike tracks in the reserve.
A feasibility study for a mountain bike track in the reserve has not been completed.
A shire-wide BMX and mountain bike strategy will be developed in the next 12 months with opportunity for community input and comment.
Kilmore Football Club social rooms to be demolished
Demolition of Kilmore Football Netball Club’s social rooms will begin in October, following the development of the $4.66 million Integrated Community Facility project.
The new community facility includes community spaces suitable for large events, a commercial kitchen, kiosk, meeting room, accessible toilets, outdoor viewing area, player change rooms and amenities with accessible female-friendly facilities and adjoining play space.
Kilmore Football Netball Club provided a letter of support for the $3.4 million successful grant application for the new facility and was aware of the plan for the old social club to be demolished.
Stakeholders were also aware the old social rooms and several other obsolete buildings would be demolished.
JJ Clancy Reserve committee of management president Kristine Clement said the JJ Clancy community was thrilled about the new facility.
“We recently had a walkthrough and the facility looks fantastic,” she said.
“In alignment with our discussions with the senior football club, the demolition of the ageing social rooms was part of the agreement for the development of JJ Clancy Reserve and the new Integrated Community Facility.
“We have designated an area in the new Integrated Community Facility for user group memorabilia.
“This is especially exciting for groups like the Kilmore Junior Football Club, University of Third Age, and Little Athletics, which have never had dedicated facilities for such displays.”
Mitchell Shire Council acting chief executive Mary Agostino said the development needed to consider the future.
“While it is sad to see some of that history go, these latest improvements will help meet contemporary needs and expectations and ensure a legacy for the next generation of people who call Kilmore home,” she said.
“Kilmore is growing fast, and it is important that we look to the future when planning sport, recreation and community use spaces.
“Unfortunately, there have been delays related to the significant issues being experienced in the broader construction industry with material supply shortage and cost escalations.
“Demolition of the social clubrooms is expected to begin in October, with materials being recycled in accordance with council’s sustainability policy.”
However, some believe the social rooms should not be demolished with Kilmore and District Residents and Ratepayers Association, KADRRA, penning to council to keep the old social rooms.
KADRRA planning committee chair Anne Rose said KADRRA hoped the social rooms remained and continued to be used.
“Residents and members of the Kilmore Football Club have informed us that the old social rooms could still be a valuable community building,” she said.
“They have told us that they do not want these rooms demolished. They are in reasonable repair and they have rooms and facilities that could provide accommodation for various community groups.
“Kilmore lacks a centre for drop-in youth activities. The council youth councillors may be able to start a project to find volunteers to lead a youth group based in the social rooms.
“We have been told that U3A had discussions with their members and believe that the use of this building could assist with some classes sand future growth.
“We hope that the social rooms at the Kilmore Clancy Reserve will continue to be utilised.”
Currently, a draft masterplan is being used for the $7 million upgrades to JJ Clancy Reserve.
A previous masterplan for the reserve was developed by the JJ Clancy Reserve committee of management in 2010.
Prior to COVID, council developed a new masterplan that was agreed to by the committee – this draft was used for external funding opportunities arising between 2019 and 2022 and is being used to guide current works.