The best of Book Week 2023: Gallery

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August 28, 2023

Students, teachers and the wider community participated in Book Week last week from August 19 to 25, celebrating books, authors and illustrators to promote the love of reading.

Schools throughout the region hosted Book Week parades for students and teachers to dress up as their favourite book characters, seeing plenty of colourful and inventive costumes hit the school yard.

Scroll through the photos below!

Noah becomes Spider-Man for the day.
We secured a rare sighting of Wally (Hudson) from book series ‘Where’s Wally?’.
Nate dresses up as Kid YouTuber.
These two were Bad Guys for the day!
Oscar rocks his SpongeBob outfit, complete with jellyfish.
Elroy is a convincing Patrick from TV show SpongeBob.
Linda from Upper Plenty Primary School dresses up as a bee whilst her students learn about life cycles.
School companion dog Lily is the bad tempered ladybug.
Jordynne dresses up as Russell from ‘Up!’ at The Bush Bus.
Judah dresses as Monkey D. Luffy, Gear 5 Sun god, complete with gomu gomu no mi fruit.
Angus is ready to save the day as Batman.
Marionette from Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Spottedleaf from Warrior Cats.

Share your photos from Book Week with us on our Facebook page.

NCR (2023-08-22)

North Central Review

The North Central Review

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August 22, 2023

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WR (2023-08-22)

Whittlesea Review

The North Central Review

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August 22, 2023

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Kilmore bypass route altered

Jordyn Grubisic

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August 22, 2023

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The Department of Transport and Planning has confirmed its preferred alignment for the Kilmore bypass, with the route now rejoining the Northern Highway just north of Willomavin Road.

While there are no plans for the State Government to fund the bypass, the department will progress to the next stages of the planning process.

The department had considered two options north of Kilmore, but the location of Goulburn Valley Water’s wastewater treatment plant on Costellos Road presented issues.

The original alignment travelled close to the wastewater treatment plant and rejoined the Northern Highway at the roundabout with Kilmore-Broadford Road, while the new option is further south of the plant – closer to Kilmore’s industrial businesses.

The department endorsed the preferred new alignment after assessments showed the route had the least overall impact on the area.

The new route travels in an easterly direction from near Kings Lane, with the new east-west road to be constructed just north of Willowmavin Road. It would rejoin with the existing Northern Highway, north of the Mustad Australia and the Anvill Avenue industrial estate.

A Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson said stakeholders had been advised of the decision to alter the northern alignment of the Kilmore Bypass.

The Review understands affected landowners have been contacted in regard to the compulsory acquisition of affected land.

“A project of this size and complexity requires in-depth planning and an extensive approval process, which will continue before construction funding is considered and start and completion dates are determined,” the department spokesperson said.

Department of Transport and Planning Hume acting regional director Emma Bamford said the department was striving to get the project right.

“Planning for the growth of our regional areas is important and we need to make sure we get it right,” she said.

“We thank the Kilmore community for their patience as we continue to progress through the planning stages.”

Regional Roads Victoria, RRV, is also continuing to plan for a roundabout at the intersection of the Northern Highway and Epping-Kilmore Road, also known as Wandong Road, four kilometres south of Kilmore.

Discussions on a bypass date back 35-plus years, but the first official commitment was by the Kennett government in 1999.

Since then, Labor Transport Minister Peter Batchelor announced a study in 2006, followed by the Coalition committing $130 million in 2010 and potential routes narrowed from six to three in 2013.

The impacts of the routes, considering noise, biodiversity, landscape, visual amenity, land use, regional economy, social factors, and cultural heritage, were taken into account.

In 2015, the western option, shown in blue on the map, was confirmed and the 2018-19 State Budget allocated $20 million to progress land acquisition for the first stage.

Are you an affected landowner? The Review would like to speak to any property owners affected by the proposed Kilmore bypass route.
Email news@ncreview.com.au or call the office on 5734 3344.

City of Whittlesea’s rise in ambulance wait times explained in four graphs

Grace Frost

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August 22, 2023

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City of Whittlesea’s rise in ambulance wait times explained in four graphs

By Grace Frost

The latest Ambulance Victoria data shows City of Whittlesea residents have this year faced the longest ambulance wait times recorded in their municipality in five years.

Residents waited on average 16.26 minutes for an ambulance in urgent, code-one situations between April and July this year, compared to 11.59 minutes in 2017.

Ambulance Victoria aim to arrive at the scene of a code one call within 15 minutes, with response times measured from the time of the triple zero call to the first ambulance arriving on scene.

The increase continues the spike in wait times evident across the state since the onset of the pandemic.

Calls for urgent paramedic and hospital care with a lights and siren response, code one calls, have significantly increased in Victoria since the April 2019-2020 quarter, jumping from 65,731 to 97,509 in the same period of 2022-23.

But Victorians in the north-central region – City of Whittlesea, Mitchell and Macedon Ranges Shires – have waited for ambulances longer than the average Victorian years before the pandemic began.

Data shows that 66.7 per cent of calls were responded to within 15 minutes in the region between April 1 to June 30, 2017, compared with 81 per cent Victoria-wide.

That number decreased to 55 per cent in April 1 to June 30 this year.

In the City of Whittlesea, code one responses totalled 3457 in the last quarter, compared to 2698 in Melbourne.

The demand for emergency care in the region is further highlighted by the pressure on the Northern Health’s emergency department.

Northern Health recorded 19,417 emergency department presentations in the 2021-22 financial year, about 4000 more than Western Health and about 7600 more than Melbourne Health.

The last quarter was Ambulance Victoria’s third busiest on record, Ambulance Victoria Hume regional director Narelle Capp confirmed.

Ambulance responses increased by 5.5 per cent compared to the previous quarter.

“Every winter we see demand rise, and this year is still challenging as COVID-19 and influenza spreads, and more staff are furloughed due to illness,” Ms Capp said.

Ambulance Victoria has recruited 118 new graduate paramedics across the state in the past month to help respond to increasing demand.

Wait times in the Mitchell and Macedon shires showed signs of improvement in the last quarter, dropping for the first time since the onset of the pandemic by 1.23 seconds and 49 seconds, respectively.

It was not the case for the City of Whittlesea, where wait times have continued to slow for the fourth consecutive year.

Mitchell Shire continues to have the overall slowest ambulance response times in the region.

St Mary’s Primary School campaigns for road closure in Lancefield

Grace Frost

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August 22, 2023

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St Mary’s Primary School campaigns for road closure in Lancefield

Students, staff and families at St Mary’s Primary School, Lancefield, have rallied together to see the permanent closure of a road dividing the school’s campus.

Situated at 20-28 Chauncey Street, the school’s campus is split in two by Raglan Street, separating it into an east and west section.

To maintain the safety of students on campus during school hours, the school implemented boom gates at either end of the campus boundaries 35 years ago, closing Raglan Street off to traffic between 8.30am and 3.30pm on school days.

Students are currently given access to the west side of the school, which consists of basketball courts and a play area, during recess and lunch, with staff supervision becoming ‘a drain on resourcing’.

School officials said St Mary’s was expecting a boom in enrolments in the coming years and was the only Catholic primary school servicing the eastern corridor of the Macedon Ranges.

“We are having a lot of enrolment enquiries, and at the moment with the capacity that we have, we can’t take families,” principal Julie McDougall said.

“Growth in Romsey, with young families moving to the area, is phenomenal, so there will be more of a need for a Catholic option for schools.”

Master planning suggested new school buildings should be built on the land west of Raglan Street to accommodate the growing number of students, however, safe student movement throughout the school remains a problem due to the road division.

“For a country school, we’re really landlocked. You would assume that we would have lots of space, but it’s the road and the connected land that gives us the space and we can’t access that without having staff on supervision,” Ms McDougall said.

Raglan Street 1 — The proposed closure, in red, includes a section of Raglan Street and the road reserve in Lancefield.

To combat the problem, the school proposed the permanent closure of the section of Raglan Street adjacent to the school in place of the current boom gates.

The road and road reserve abutting the school would be transformed into permanent school grounds, creating a secure yard for the students.

The decision to close the road falls under the jurisdiction of the Macedon Ranges Shire Council, the State Government, and by extension, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, DEECA.

Macedon Ranges Shire Council determine whether to keep the road operational for local traffic as road managers – however, it does not decide the ultimate use of the land should the road be discontinued.

St Marys 1 — Students, staff and family petition for the closure of Raglan Street, which divides St Mary’s’ campus.

Council maintained it was ‘comfortable’ that the daily volume of about 100 vehicles on the section of Raglan Street ‘will not negatively impact other surrounding streets, if the community supports the proposed road’.

The section of Raglan Street that St Mary’s hopes to use is Crown land, which the State Government governs.

DEECA confirmed if council discontinues the road, it would look to issue a licence to the school while their application to purchase it is investigated.

“This is something that we’ve worked on as a school community for five years, so to get this far and be so close, it’s exciting,” Ms McDougall said.

Council will vote on the issue in the coming months after community consultation and submissions are received.

Submissions close at 5pm on August 28. For more information, people can visit .

Seymour community raises $13,000 for breast cancer

News

Grace Frost

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August 22, 2023

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Seymour community raises $13,000 for breast cancer

Seymour Football Netball Club’s fourth annual Breast Cancer Network Australia, BCNA, afternoon tea raised more than $13,000 for breast cancer research on Saturday.

While the total figure is yet to be finalised, nearly 200 tickets were purchased for ‘Sarah’s Day,’ in honour of the late Sarah Locke who lost her courageous battle with breast cancer just over a year ago, and Kings Park was awash in pink to support the cause.

Seymour president Gerard O’Sullivan paid tribute to the Locke family for their support of the afternoon.

“The Locke family are an integral part of our club – Stuart is a life member, Chloe and Sophie have played here since they were kids – and as a netballer and volunteer, Sarah was a constant around Kings Park,” he said.

“Through such a difficult period the Lockes have been determined advocates for breast cancer research, raising awareness and being so giving with their time and energy.

“Sophie is doing amazing work as an ambassador for BCNA and Stu Locke’s pink bus has been easy to spot around town.

“We can’t thank them enough for allowing us to honour Sarah today and we hope the afternoon has done her legacy in our community justice.”

230820 L R Sophie Locke Stuart Locke Chloe Locke — Sophie Locke, her father Stuart, and sister Chloe, at Seymour Lions’ fundraiser in honour of their mother and wife Sarah on Saturday.

Mr O’Sullivan thanked the club and community for rallying behind the event.

“The amount of work put in to get this event of the ground is amazing and I’d like to thank everyone involved on behalf of the Seymour Lions and the broader community,” he said.

“It’s an honour to be part of a such a selfless community and a club where people never hesitate to help out the town, particularly over the last 12 months with a difficult flood clean up and then events like this.

Mr O’Sullivan thanked Tatura Football Netball Club, who the Lions played on Saturday, for being so flexible and throwing their support behind the day.

“Everyone across our community has been touched by cancer in some way and it’s just incredible to see how giving everyone is and how supportive this town is,” he said.

“This is what footy clubs are all about. Supporting one another, bringing people together and strengthening communities. We’re determined to keep growing this day in honour of Sarah and raise as much money as we can to support breast cancer research.

“From everyone at the Seymour Lions, thank you for your support and we can’t wait to do this all again next year.”

Footballers celebrate milestones

Seymour stars Jack Murphy and Ben Rigoni celebrated individual milestones in Seymour’s 23-point win over Tatura on Saturday.

230820 BCNA Ambassador Sophie Locke with best on ground Ben Rigoni — Breast Cancer Network Australia ambassador Sophie Locke, of Seymour, with Ben Rigoni who was awarded best on ground.

The Lions led at every change, with Rigoni, Nathan Beattie, Joshua Alford and Riley Mason dominated.

Murphy, who won Seymour’s best and fairest award in 2022, alongside the Shepparton News Award for best player in the Goulburn Valley League, GVL, in 2022, played his 100th senior game.

Murphy has continued his strong form in 2023, balancing on field duties with an assistant coaching role.

Rigoni, the GVL’s reigning Morrison Medallist played his 50th senior game for the Lions, having spent time across the season playing in the VFL with the Coburg Lions.

Mr O’Sullivan congratulated the players on their milestones.

“Jack and Ben have consistently sat amongst the top players in the competition. It’s great to know we’ve got them running out together most weekends,” he said.

“Both these boys have experience playing in the VFL, following their time coming up through the under 18s at Seymour.

“These milestones are testament to their dedication and loyalty to the club. We hope there are many more to come and hopefully a few big performances throughout September.”

The Lions play Shepparton in their final home and away round for the season, before being a serious threat in the finals.

Seymour second on the ladder, behind Echuca on percentage only. Seymour’s A Grade netballers are third on the ladder, after a loss to Tatura on Saturday. All three senior netball teams will feature in the finals.

Finals fever hits in Riddell District Football Netball League

Max Davies

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August 22, 2023

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Finals fever hits in Riddell District Football Netball League

By Max Davies

THE final round of home and away action in the Riddell District Football Netball League competition featured multiple close contests as teams prepared for finals campaigns.

While top team Diggers Rest will be premiership favourites, the senior competition is set for an intriguing finals series, with results in the second half of the season showing the evenness of the competition.

Romsey hosted Lancefield on Saturday and managed to secure a close victory despite the Tigers’ best efforts – making it three Romsey teams set to to compete in this year’s finals series.

Redbacks coach Justin Sherman said the result was especially important as the team looked ahead to its elimination final against Riddell in Woodend on Sunday.

“We’re ecstatic. It’s good to cement our spot and join the [Reserves] and the [Under 19s] in the final and it’s a really good effort by the club – I don’t think that’s happened since 2003,” he said.

“We’re definitely the underdog, there’s no doubt about that. We’re just going go to out there and play footy, enjoy it and embrace the opportunity for what it is.”

Romsey’s forward line remains a key strength as Jack Jedwab is currently the leading goalscorer for the league on 61, comfortably ahead of the next highest scorer, Melton’s Dylan Jobson on 44.

Jedwab is also the league leader for goals per game with an impressive 3.81 average.

“We’re just really happy to have [Jedwab] in a Redbacks jersey because he pretty much typifies everything that we’re all about,” Sherman said.

“I’ve got to thank all the coaches and volunteers in the club for everything they do behind the scenes to allow us to go out there and play footy, as well as hopefully make them proud this weekend.”

Riddell, meanwhile, hosted Wallan for round 18 of the season and suffered a 56-54 defeat.

Riddell finished fourth on the ladder and now faces a difficult finals campaign with no second chances.

Wallan’s Matthew Perri saw a return to form, kicking four goals against the Bombers, while Callum Langborne, Hayden Gill, Jake Layley, Michael Baccari and Riley Gilchrist were also named among the best for the match.

The win over Riddell means Wallan finished the season with back-to-back two-point wins, giving it a good hit-out before this weekend’s finals.

The Magpies will play in a qualifying final against Woodend-Hesket in Romsey on Saturday in what is set to be a tough challenge.

Wallan and Woodend-Hesket both finished on 56 points on the ladder, with the Magpies marginally ahead on percentage, but both trail ladder-leaders Diggers Rest by 12 points.

Wallan will be looking to make amends for last year’s finals efforts, where they came up short against the Burras in the preliminary final after a solid season-long campaign.

Diggers Rest remain the flag favourites ahead of this year’s finals, completing the season with only one loss at the hands of Riddell in round 15.

The Burras’ victory over the Melton Centrals at the weekend will also mean they carry significant momentum into their finals campaign; however, they will not play again until the first semi-final in Romsey on September 2, facing the winner of the Wallan versus Woodend-Hesket match.

Netball

The conclusion of the netball season will be a chance for teams to reset and regroup ahead of finals, especially for Wallan which will look to rebound following a challenging couple of rounds.

Romsey A Grade netballers, above, will also play finals with both of the Redbacks senior teams to play elimination finals on Sunday. 

Wallan suffered a defeat to ladder-leaders Riddell at the weekend, meaning the Magpies finished the season with two losses in a row and slipped to fifth on the ladder behind Romsey.

It was once again a strong scoring game for both Riddell and Wallan, headed by Shelby Holter with 43 and Maeve Donegan with 27 goals, respectively.

Holter is also currently the leading goalscorer for the league, recording a total of 485 goals for the season.

The defeat means Wallan will face Romsey in Woodend in an elimination final on Sunday, with the Redbacks coming off a comfortable victory over Lancefield in round 18.

Woodend-Hesket head into the finals in good form, joining Riddell as unbeaten in the final five rounds of the season.

The Hawks will face Macedon in a qualifying final at Romsey on Saturday.

Joint project with students creates buzz at Wollert

Grace Frost

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August 22, 2023

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Joint project with students creates buzz at Wollert

NATIVE bees are set for a boost from a joint initiative between Major Road Projects Victoria’s Epping Road upgrade team and Wollert Secondary College.

The team and about 50 year seven students built 10 ‘bee hotels’ at the new college to encourage the growth of bee populations in Wollert.

As Victoria’s seven native solitary bees do not form colonies or hives, the hotels will provide them with places to rest, nest and breed over the cooler months.

ERU bee hotels 2 — The ‘bee hotels’, created by Wollert Secondary students.

Wollert Secondary College learning support officer Brigette Fletcher said the students were excited to work with the Epping Road team on the initiative.

“As well as learning how to design and build a bee hotel, the project taught the students important environmental lessons about the importance of bees,” she said.

“It has given them knowledge they can use and pass on to their families to help ensure bees continue to be a vital part of the environment now and in the future.”

The project team were involved in two sessions on August 3, with the project’s sustainability team briefing students on the project before construction began.

Each of the bee species has a preferred type of home, so the college’s hotels were built with varying internal designs installed on a grassland area, and with north-east aspects to maximise sunlight and pollen production.

To promote a circular economy, some of the materials came from the construction site on Epping Road.

“The students’ interest in the initiative was amazing,” Ms Fletcher said.

“From creating and designing the hotels to the daily upkeep, it gave our school community an opportunity to learn and teach a generation of students new and fun ways to experience environmental learning, which was amazing.”

The upgrade team also gave the students a presentation on sustainability in construction, focusing on the Epping Road team’s goals and innovations.

The Epping Road team’s guide to making bee hotels is available online at roadprojects.vic.gov.au.

The upgrade is set to benefit the college’s community with increased safety and travel reliability to and from school.

The project will add lanes in each direction between Craigieburn Road East and Memorial Avenue. It will also improve six intersections and connections for pedestrians and cyclists.

Completion is due in 2025.

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VCAT prioritises agricultural land in Glenaroua ruling

Grace Frost

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August 22, 2023

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VCAT prioritises agricultural land in Glenaroua ruling

MITCHELL Shire Council had a win at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, VCAT, with its decision to not grant a permit to subdivide land in Glenaroua affirmed.

Landowner Barrie Griffiths appealed council’s decision denying his permit application for a proposed multi-lot subdivision of seven lots into 15 at 360 The Bridle Track, Glenaroua.

The application also proposed removal of native vegetation with the construction of new roads requiring the removal of 15 trees to accommodate.

Council refused the application as it was concerned the proposal was inconsistent with Mitchell Planning Scheme, MPS, provisions and policies with respect to land within the farming zone; would lead to reduction in land agricultural productivity; would result in a proliferation of dwellings; and the vegetation removal is inconsistent with requirements of the MPS and in many cases unnecessary.

VCAT Tribunal’s Katherine Paterson heard the appeal in May.

Ms Paterson said MPS policies relating to the subdivision of agricultural land were extensive but sought to avoid the permanent removal of productive agricultural land and the construction of new dwellings outside existing townships.

She refused to grant a permit and said it was inconsistent with the purposes of farming zones; the applied planning policies; would reduce agricultural capability on the site and within the area; and would lead to a proliferation of dwellings.

“I find that the proposed subdivision is contrary to the planning policy outcomes sought for this location and may only be supported if the proposal does not result in a loss of productive agricultural land or results in an environmental benefit for the site,” she said.

“While the tribunal accepts the evidence that especially during the dry years the farm is sub-commercial and requires some diversification to make it a commercial operation, I find that the land does not need to be subdivided to enable this to occur.

“I find that the fragmentation of the land into 15 lots, each with the potential to contain a dwelling, will have an adverse impact on the agricultural productivity of the land and will limit the ability of the land to be a commercially viable farm, and is likely to exacerbate problems that currently exist on the site such as weeds.”

Prior to a decision being made by council, the application was referred to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning as a determining referral authority, who did not object to the proposal.