Eurobodalla River of Art grateful
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Another Eurobodalla River of Art Festival is over. We are indebted to the many supporters and helpers who work so hard work to make the festival a great success.
Community members approached the committee to assist with distribution of fliers and programs. This meant the festival attracted more visitors than ever before. Thank you.
We thank our major sponsors: South East Arts, Southern Telephone, Eurocoast Tourism, South East Training Services, Excell Printing, Eurobodalla Shire Council, East Holiday Parks and Southern Cross Austereo, without whom our program could not have been printed. Our festival was proudly supported by Destination NSW.
Generous donations to our raffle were given by small businesses that also opened their shops, in Narooma, Moruya and Batemans Bay, creating a glorious gallery for Art on Parade.
Outstanding theatre production, Erth’s Dinosaur Petting Zoo (organised by South East Arts) enthralled children and parents.
Our senses were indulged with exhibitions; sculpture; poetry; art and photographic competitions; music; dance; literary sessions; fashion; Creators Bazaar and open studio sessions.
A big thank you is extended to all the organisers, artists and volunteers.
Special mention is given to Margaret Moran and MACS; the Live Life team; Moruya TAFE – Gabi Harding and Debbie Pakis. Thank you.
The 2014 program was very full and varied, ‘Live Life in Eurobodalla”, artworks in shops, a very full “open studios” program; some new exhibitors in “Splinters Timber and Furniture”; “The Art of Learning”; Mogo River of Art Gallery; Deep River Choir; Library activities; Wearable Art; poetry, music and dance.
The yarn bombers gave everyone a surprise on the first day of the festival. Thank you for brightening up our towns and putting smiles on people’s faces.
A small volunteer committee puts together the Eurobodalla River of Art Festival. Thank you for your time, dedication and commitment.
The support from Eurobodalla Tourism has been exceptional this year. The Eurobodalla River of Art would like to thank Catherine Reilly, Kerrie-Anne Benton, Lysanne Cameron and the crews at the visitors’ centres.
Support from Monika McInerney is outstanding. She is consistently enthusiastic and generous with her time. Thank you.
The dates for next year’s Eurobodalla River of Art are booked. They are: May 15–24, 2015. Should you like to join our enthusiastic and happy team and for more photos please contact on Facebook: Eurobodalla River of Art or www.riverofart.com.au
Sue Barford
Chairperson Eurobodalla River of Art
Huntfest 2014 – not happy
Hunters win round 2, but locals are not happy.
There’ll be no riots, demonstrations or protests - just a few curious spectators and a renewal of efforts in the year ahead to get council to engage with its people, and to rescind the undemocratic decision made in 2012 to allow a festival of hunting in the main street of town, followed the next year by an equally ill-considered decision to grant a permit for the display of guns.
It’s not in the nature of thinking residents to “man the barricades”, but when letters, e-mails, surveys, petitions, presentations fail, they are still not averse to applying electoral pressure to council representatives who fail on their promises of accountability and transparency.
The majority of citizens in Narooma and surrounds don’t want this to be seen as a place which condones guns, celebrates hunting, and encourages children to lose respect for life.
At the last Public Forum the Eurobodalla Shire Council was asked,
“Will council conduct a survey of residents to decide once and for all if we want this dangerous precedent of a Huntfest/Arms Fair to be part of life in our town?”
Answer still pending...
Susan Cruttenden
Dalmeny
Looking for dog owner
On Wednesday, May 28, a man was visiting someone along Harper Crescent, Narooma.
Apparently this man travels around and used to be a local.
His husky, off leash, mauled and killed a neighbour's cat that was in its own yard.
We are uncertain of the husky owner's name or contact, therefore would like to be able to notify them.
The cat managed to find a hiding spot so the body was not discovered until 24 hours later and the owners were unaware of the incident.
If anyone knows of anyone fitting the above details could they please contact the Dawsons on 4476 3708.
This is not the only incident where dogs are off leash in the area, we would like to take this opportunity to request dog owners to make sure their animals are secured appropriately.
Additionally we are not out to condemn the husky's owner, we understand accidents happen, however we would just like them to know so future accidents can be avoided.
Nicole Dawson
Narooma
The forgotten ones in the budget
The under-employed people are the ones our budget creators chose to forget.
A lot of under employed people in the workforce are seldom registered in the statistics of employment.
Those people do exist on the lowest income of a worker whether they are trained or not, enduring flexible hours.
If the reader would like to find out how many, one can find that out on the internet like I did.
Unfortunately the information is only from the last century.
In our family we have three under-employed, two of them with children. They don't complain, but do feel uneasy about their future if they should lose that job.
We as parents taught them that nobody owes them a living and we are proud that they prefer to look after themselves.
Our daughter and husband did move back to the city where the jobs are and pay $320 a week rent, both are casual employees.
Their children don't need child care anymore. Just imagine school leavers or a young family losing their job in the city. We had three children when we were under 30 years old, educated and trained when we lost our job, at that time we got the unemployed benefit. This government says live of your redundancy pay for six months.
At that age most people will not have worked long enough to get much.
We don't know how it would be with casual work - do they get redundancy pay?
We don't believe this budget is balanced, taking the lion share out to fix most of the debt in one year.
I heard the Abbott government stating the opposition leader is no Bob Hawke.
Well he is no Malcolm Fraser either which was looking after us then without the GST which everybody has to pay now regardless.
We learnt from him "life is not meant to be easy" but it has to be possible.
K. Kruger
Tilba
Mayor's say… Roads sustaining local communities
I write this on Monday evening at the end of the 2014 NSW Local Roads Congress that I attended with Deputy Mayor Neil Burnside and our Council’s Director of Infrastructure Services Warren Sharpe who chaired the day.
This year’s themes and main areas of discussion were around questions such as: Do infrastructure assets determine our Council’s sustainability? Are there better funding models? Can we make better use of debt? How do we access new grant funds and what’s available? How do we develop closer links to the road industry to enhance performance?
During the day we looked at asset management across NSW, planning and funding issues and how to manage service delivery and financial sustainability.
I had the opportunity to talk about road infrastructure to Ray Williams, MP, Member for Hawkesbury, and Parliamentary Secretary for Transport.
Mr Williams is a big supporter of amalgamating urban councils in the Sydney basin.
He said that some city councils have as little as forty thousand ratepayers in just a few square kilometres and that this creates unnecessary bureaucracy.
Mr Williams also noted the inequity in the funding methodology for Financial Assistance Grants. Again, some city councils with little or no regional roads receive a minimum grant, in some cases several million dollars.
Local Government NSW president Keith Rhodes spoke on the recommendations for reforms in local government currently sitting with the government. Clr Rhodes, along with Professor Graham Samson, chairman of the Independent Local Government Review Panel expressed concern that recent political events will halt the impetus that would bring benefits to councils and our communities.
Professor Samson talked about the key recommendations of his report discussing the models of proposed joint organisations and how this structure will influence savings in local government across NSW.
We also looked at a proposal for an Australia-wide borrowing facility that would be able to achieve interest rate savings of two or three percent. In Victoria, Ernst and Young are currently progressing a state wide model of a similar scheme that will be taking applications soon.
A key recommendation in Professors Samson’s local government review acknowledged an opportunity for low interest loans with the support of state government.
All in all, a day well spent with opportunities to represent the interests of our community and to give thought to the future.
Please let me know if there are any issues that Council can assist with. You can contact me at mayor@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au or phone 0418 279 215.
Clr Lindsay Brown
Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire
Pensioners face tough times
The Federal Collation has announced in its 2014 Budget papers that it wishes to cut the supplement paid to pensioners.
The Maximum pension per fortnight per couple is $1154.80 which includes a pension supplement of $94.80 and a Clean Energy supplement of $21 per couple per fortnight.
So if you take away both supplements, pensioners are left with $1,039 which is a drop in pension of 10 per cent.
Tony Abbott has told the nation that all people should suffer the pain of repairing a “so called” Budget Crisis and as politicians they will forgo any salary increases.
How big hearted of him!!
I think that if he was to be really serious about all suffering the pain then he should announce a deduction of politicians’ salary and allowances by 10 per cent.
For the Prime Minister this would amount to approximately $40,000 per annum which is about the same income many of our better off part pensioners are living on.
God only knows how the rest, not so well off, will manage under this draconian and cruel measure.
Ray Sillett
Tuross Head
Hunting versus fishing
What is the difference between hunting and fishing?
They both result in dead creatures.
Fishing is the largest sport in Australia.
It is dangerous and many people die pursuing their hobby, especially rock fishermen.
But are other people put in danger from a fisherman's tools?
Are people fearful if they see a person walking through the bush with a fishing rod?
Are women and children threatened with fishing rods?
Most people eat the fish they catch! Tag and release is common.
Have you heard any hunters talking of their last wild dog or feral cat barbecue?
Huntfest 2014 is trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of people - not just hunters.
To do so, the organisers are including camping gear and various interesting stalls and exhibitions. They want to use attendance numbers to promote recreational hunting.
But do most fishermen, 4WD enthusiasts, bushwalkers, campers and trail bike riders really support recreational hunting in our forests? Or are they being used?
We all know recreational hunting is not a farmer killing feral pests on his farm. It is not sporting shooters shooting clay targets or professionals paid to destroy over-populations of feral animals.
In Australia shooting native animals is generally illegal. But some recreational shooters go across the world to kill the native animals of other countries.
The Huntfest 2014 website advertises two stalls promoting hunting safaris to Africa!
Do you want to be a part of this promotion?
In 2008 I visited an elephant orphanage in Nairobi Kenya. The mothers of the bottle-fed baby elephants, some not a metre tall, had all been slaughtered by hunters. Hundreds of school children were there in their uniforms. All children had free entry to the game parks, animal orphanages and animal hospitals of Kenya.
Their government wants to protect its animals. And to teach its children to value and care for their unique wildlife. What do we want to teach our children?
Kathie Thackray
Narooma