Mrs Capper reads children a story about line recognition as an introduction to getting the students to develop line patterns.

Jordan has worked on a sheet with her line patterns and is now deciding which to use on her name tag. ♣

Do you have a pet? Two pets? Or many pets?

You are welcome to tell other Gazette readers about your pet/s as well as about pet ownership generally:
• c/o Glenrowan Post Office or
• by e-mail /attachments to e-mail: info@glenrowangazette.org.au -
with or without a photo!

After featuring in the on-line newsletter, your stories/advice/hints/photos will be collected on the new Gazette webpage: Pet Ownership.

There is a permanent link to the Pet Ownership page from Our Environment webpage. ♣

Celebrating Italian Heritage
19th-21st of March

The Tatong Tattler Inc. is a non-profit monthly newsletter, compiled and distributed by volunteers, covering Tatong and district.

Read the latest issue of Tatong Tattler by clicking on the masthead. You may also download your copy from the website. Good reading!

• There is a permanent link to Tatong Tattler
on the Gazette's Other Newsletters page. ♣

The Kelly Country Festival 2009 committee members recently received the Community Pride Award 2010 - "Innovative Community Project or Event".
Mayor Anthony Griffiths presented the award at a celebration in King Georges Garden, Wangaratta, on Saturday the 20th of February. The committee also received a $100 voucher from 24/7 Party Hire.

In the photo above, the committee's site manager, Cecilia Elysee, is pictured holding the award certificate, flanked by school liaison coordinator Jodie Gottsling. Behind them, from left to right, are mayor Anthony Griffiths, committee chairman Chris Mercier and secretary Eva Mercier.

Congratulations! ♣

find the latest reports from the Glenrowan Indoor Bowls Club by clicking on the image above

The 2010 Indoor Bowls Season Begins

The Glenrowan Indoor Bowls Club commenced their 2010 season of social competition on Wednesday the 20th of January at the Glenrowan Memorial Hall. Everyone was quickly back in the swing of it again with two mats down.
The winning team, with 28 points, was Val Nalder, Muriel Wellman and Joan Rolands. Coming in a close second, on 26 points was the team of Myrna Kelley, Betty White and Olive McArthy.
The Mars Bars awards went to Allan Kelley, Hazel Ralph and Joyce Sessions.
It was announced that the club made $300 with its sale of raffle tickets in last year’s Community Raffle. ♣

An increase in attendance saw three mats put down at Glenrowan Indoor Bowls on Wednesday the 27th of January. Special ‘guest’ was young Stacey Wellman, grand-daughter of Frank and Muriel who played on her grandfather’s team in the afternoon’s social competition.
Winners on the day were Allan Kelley, Avis Grant and Joan Rolands on 29 points. Second place-getters were Frank Wellman, Betty White, Stacey Wellman and Olive McArthy with 20 points.
Taking out the Mars Bar Awards were Reg Cosier, Muriel Wellman, Joyce Beale and Noeline Cosier. ♣

The Benalla Garden Club are having a bus trip to the
Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show for the first day of the show, Wednesday the 24th of March. It is an early start to get the most out of the show and the day: The bus is leaving Benalla at 7 am sharp.
The cost is only $50 per person which includes entry to the show and morning tea.
Please call Jess on 5766 2455 for booking -
these trips are popular so the bus fills quickly. ♣

click
on the teacup for more about
'Drop-In'

LyG

First 'Drop-In' This Year on February the 17th

The first Glenrowan 'Drop-In' for 2010 took place on
Wednesday the 17th of February -
as usual at 2 pm at the Old Police Station in 13 Siege Street.

Lynn Gent tells the Gazette that
she was "looking forward to catching up on what people have been up to over Christmas and the Summer holidays.
"There seems to have been a bit of movement in the real estate area in Glenrowan lately: New residents would be particularly welcome!
Any Glenrowan-Hamilton Park residents or visitors to the area are invited to share a cuppa on the third Wednesday afternoon each month."

'Drop-In' takes place every third Wednesday of the month from
2 to 3.15 pm at the Old Police Station in 13 Siege Street.

Please click on the teacup for all dates for 2010.

Watch out for the themed gatherings! ♣

Fire Bug?
Investigations are still in process but ABC News on the 1st of February 2010 reports a "strong suspicion of fire bug lighting spot fires alone a 15 km stretch of the Benalla-Yarrawonga Road". ♣

Eureka,
Gary Dean,
Lauren O'Neill,
Gary Nicholls

The ceremony was followed by brunch at the Glenrowan Hotel which soon filled to capacity.

Thank you to Glenrowan Improvers Inc. and the Rural City of Wangaratta for funding and organising this event!♣

Are You a Sculptor?

Or even a budding sculptor?

Then you might want to click on the drawing to the left here to read an on-line newsletter about the
CURRENT Sculpture Biennal 2010
and other sculpture events. ♣

Wedding in Sorrento

Glenrowan boy, Matthew Higgins and Samantha Whitehead - who is from Deniliquin - were married in Sorrento on Saturday the 13th of February.

Several Glenrowan families travelled down to attend the wedding. 

Matt and Sam are currently honeymooning in Italy and France.  They will live in Melbourne on their return to Australia in March.

Glenrowan residents turned out in force to enjoy the Kelly Country Festival held in Glenrowan Lions Park on Sunday the 9th of November between
10 am and 4 pm.
It was a fantastic day for the children as they enjoyed the jumping castle, merry-go-round, train and pony rides, along with other activities which the school organised as part of their Kids Carnival. It’s not every day that their principal, Colin Robson, volunteers to take his chances in the dunking machine and was that really blue fairy floss that so many children seemed
to be eating?
Gourmet foods and wine tasting were a feature of many stalls which kept
the adults occupied. Other stalls offered locally produced crafts and
Ned Kelly memorabilia.
Local singer Sal Kimber and her band, the Rollin Wheels were a popular act
on the specially ‘sound stage’. Indigenous dancing, bush poetry, whip cracking and a choral performance by the local school children also formed part of the continuous entertainment.
For most people the highlight of the day was the Kelly Siege Re-enactment which was held on the actual siege site. As seen in the photo below, a replica facade of Annie Jones Inn, built by community volunteers formed the centrepiece of a wild gun battle between the Kelly Gang and the police. ♣

The Glenrowan Gazette has received an e-mail from Diana Forsyth
who is a researcher from the ABC Collectors program which goes
to air on Friday nights at 8.00. She is looking for some people who
have interesting collections in our area – from Tatong to Wodonga.

At this stage it doesn’t matter what kind of collection you have or
what kind of items you collect, but the collection would need
to be passionate - bordering on the obsessive?

If you know of somebody with this kind of passion or
if this someone is you, click on the Collectors logo above
for an e-mail link to Diana Forsyth. ♣

A Fence around the Cuckoo is set almost entirely in New Zealand in those areas where Ruth Park lived with her family and cultivated her long life desire and drive to write. It is a moving, passionate and often funny account of the people and places that influenced her life.
Many fellow readers enjoyed her descriptions of her life in the forest, the Depression years in New Zealand and her sympathy for women of the times. However, it is not just the exquisite language and the colourful vernacular that made the book attractive. The book left us all with a glimpse of another era, historical knowledge, thoughts and images at the turn of each page. To quote one member, “People who yearn for an earlier age should take off their rose coloured lenses and their rubber gloves!”

We voted this book a strong 4 out of 5.

FaJ

A Fence around
the Cuckoo

by Ruth Park

Listen to Local Radio for Emergency

Australian emergency service agencies have developed a standard warning system to warn the public about bushfire danger. Your local emergency service agency will provide you with as much information as is possible through a wide range of mechanisms, including announcements on ABC Local Radio.

The new system uses three levels of alerts to help you make the right safety choices during the bushfire season. The messages will provide general advice, suggested courses of action and, in extreme cases, urgent emergency warnings.
Bush fires will be assessed according to Fire Danger Ratings that rank threats from Low to Very High to Extreme and Catastrophic (Code Red) - see illustration to the left.

But remember: Bush fires may threaten suddenly and without warning, so you should always be ready to act on the basis that you may not receive an official warning. It is important that you do not rely solely on receiving an official message.

• Learn about the warning symbols and
listen to signals alerting you to bushfire threats
on the ABC Radio Emergency website. ♣

AFL Grand Final Day was a cause for great excitement in Hamilton Park on Saturday the 26th of September, but it wasn’t totally about football although it was a community AFL Grand Final viewing and celebration. The day also featured another important event: The inaugural firing up of the recently constructed community pizza oven.

As lunchtime approached, over forty adults and nearly as many kids turned up at the picnic area near the tennis courts. They all came bearing pizzas – large and small, square and round, with a great variety of toppings: There were even some with unseeded peppers on top - WOW!!!! And all the pizzas were baked to perfection in the fabulous new JD Pizza Oven.
The weather was cool and blowy but, on the whole, kind to those who attended. The recently extended shelter at the tennis court provided some protection against the cold winds and showers.
A wide television screen was set up for viewing the Grand Final and most people, having turned up early, had their pizzas cooked and eaten before the big game commenced. Julie Kosch was the winner of the tipping competition.

The Hamilton Park community will indeed find the pizza oven an invaluable asset and it is destined to have plenty of use in the future.
Its construction came about thanks to a concentrated effort by a special committee who raised money by having a series of social evenings. Some residents also lent a hand in the construction of the oven.
Great effort and well done all! ♣

Track to Fosters Lake:

Connecting the Lake to the Town

Kerry Craig, the Community Planning Program Officer at the Rural City of Wangaratta, is assisting with application for funding.
- - -
The Gazette has heard that this project did not receive funding this spring, but the application will be re-entered in February 2010 - and then the chances are good. ♣

The Glenrowan Improvers meet on the first Wednesday of the month -
next meeting will be the 7th of April 2010,
at 7 pm at the Old Police Station in Siege Street.
The Improvers meetings are open to all members of the community. Welcome! ♣

Click on the fan here and you will find a fact sheet on Preventing Heat-Related Illness for yourself, your friends, your family and anybody around you who could be at risk.

You will also find more about recommended
Heatwave Advice on the Wangaratta Rural City website.

Maybe the next hot day will be the day for visiting the Wangaratta Library in Docker Street?
Nice and cool there! ♣

Senior Ranger with Parks Victoria and Glenrowan resident, Chris Mercier,
has sent this press release to the Gazette:

People driving vehicles around the Warby Range are being reminded to be aware of Murray Darling Carpet Pythons that may be crossing or
basking on roads.

On a Friday last month, a two-metre carpet python was picked up by a police officer on the Taminick Gap Road. He took it to the Glenrowan Vet Clinic where it was discovered it had extensive injuries as a result of being run over by a vehicle. Despite veterinary care it later died.
Senior Ranger with Parks Victoria, Chris Mercier, said on that the weather was warm enough that day to bring the python out of its “torpor” or hibernation. It was either crossing the road or basking on the warm bitumen when it was run over by a vehicle.
“Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence,” Mr Mercier said. “It is important for people who may be driving in and around the Warby Range, to be aware that from now until next May, pythons could be on these roads. We have erected road side signs to remind motorists that pythons may be crossing the road and they need to slow down.”
Inland Carpet Pythons like the Murray Darling variety inhabit very harsh environments. They experience and can endure long periods of drought and famine, but also large changes in temperature from the forties in summer to freezing winters. However, road deaths such as this as well as fox predation, excessive firewood collection and land clearing have lead to their decline and they are now listed as endangered.

“Unless we can deal with these issues, the population will decline further. No species, including pythons, can continue to survive high mortality rates and it’s more difficult for an already endangered species,” Mr Mercier said. “Pythons, like all reptiles, have never had a good reputation by many people who think the only good snake is a dead snake.
But people should remember the good work they do for us by eating mice, rats and rabbits. Our natural environment would be a lot more sterile if species such as Carpet Pythons no longer existed.”

Here in the North East, the dry forests and rock outcrops of the Warby Ranges and also Chesney Vale area appear to support a lot of Murray Darling carpet Pythons - in fact, possibly the largest population in Victoria.
So look out when you are travelling in the Warbys!

• For more information
please call Parks Victoria on 13 1963 or
the Wangaratta office on 5722 2888. ♣

Glenrowan is now on stage 1 = mild water restrictions.

Watering is limited to max 4 hours on alternate days:
Properties with an odd street number may water on odd dates, properties with even street number may water on even dates. Everybody may water on the 31st.

Gardens and lawns may be watered by
• a manual watering system which operates between 6.00 am and 10.00 am as well as between 5.00 pm and 10.00 pm; or
• an automatic watering system, which operates only as required within the hours of midnight and 4.00 am.

A garden or lawn area may be watered using a hand-held hose fitted with a trigger nozzle, or a watering can or bucket filled either by a hand held hose fitted with a trigger nozzle, or directly from a tap, at any time. ♣

♥ Thanks to our contributors:
Joy Higgins, Joan Rolands, Chris Mercier, Lynn Gent, Faye Jones, Cecilia Elysee,
Jess Kay, Roman Kaminski, Lisbeth Long and Paddy Milne
as well as Students and Staff at Glenrowan Primary School. ♥

Editor: Elin Melgaard

Reporter: Joy Higgins

Treasurer: Bill Gent

While every effort is made to report the facts, the Editor of the Glenrowan Gazette accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of statements or information presented on this website. The views and opinions expressed in the Gazette are not necessarily those of the Editor.

E-mail the Gazette: info@glenrowangazette.org.au