Newt’s sad passing
Kyabram has lost one its oldest residents with the death at the weekend of Newton Tomasini after suffering fading health over the past few months.
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Newt, as he was affectionately known, turned 100 last September.
He was very active into his late 90s, still driving and with an accident-free record for 82 years. He loved his game of golf and bowls at the Valley View Golf and Bowls Club and was the longest continuous member of the club.
Raised at Daylesford, Newt was a dairy farmer all his life near Girgarre and raised three children, John, Graham and Heather (McLeod), with his late wife, June.
They retired into Kyabram in 1972.
History book reprinted
Echuca Historical Society has produced a reprint of one of the district’s earliest settler’s classic literary works.
Edward Micklewaite Curr, a colonial author who owned land holdings stretching from Colbinabbin to the Goulburn River between 1840 and 1851 devoted decades of his life to writing the classic Recollections of Squatting in Victoria (then known as the Port Phillip District).
Curr’s friendship with the First Nations population resulted in him recording more than 200 dialects and detailing the lives and cultures of around 100 tribes. His work even got to play a part in the Yorta Yorta Native Title claim.
District readers will identify a lot of the places he mentions in his life as a squatter.
Curr Rd, which runs from Stanhope to the Goulburn River, has been named in his honour and there is a small monument dedicated to him on the river near Yambuna.
The book has been out of publication for many years but because of demand a reprint has been made through the Echuca Historical Society with support from the Holsworth Foundation.
Copies for $35 can be obtained from Echuca’s Historical Museum, 1 Dickson St, Echuca, or by emailing eh.soc@big pond.com
Jono’s big catch
It was a young local who landed the biggest cod — and the prize of $80,000 — in the GoFish Nagambie competition.
Nagambie 18-year-old Jono Moore grassed a 105cm cod to win the competition and beat 1500 other hopeful anglers for the lucrative prize.
It was the first metre-long cod Jono had caught and naturally the most profitable.
There was some drama associated with Jono’s catch, with the cod taking the lure he was fishing with under a log initially. A five-minute tussle ensued before landing and when he did he discovered it was barely hooked.
Jono is planning to buy a boat and put the rest towards a house.
The competition was described as the best ever for anglers, with over 2000 fish being caught.
And while on fishing, the first native fish reared at the new Arcadia hatchery have been released into the nearby Goulburn River.
Victorian Fishing Minister Melissa Horne had the honour of delivering 10,000 golden perch (yellowbelly) into the river last week, less than 12 months since the establishment of the hatchery.
No gratitude
A motorist who crashed his car driving on the Barham-Deniliquin Rd last week didn’t show much gratitude to a female motorist who stopped to assist.
The crashed car had burst into flames and another motorist arrived on the scene with a fire extinguisher to help prevent the flames spreading to nearby grassland.
But while this was happening the driver of the crashed car, who had escaped serious injury and was already out of the car when help arrived, decided to drive off in the woman’s car.
ATM robber convicted
Discovery of an open door at a Numurkah bank in September last year was too much for a local man who decided he’d later ‘‘have a look around’’ with an accomplice.
And he got a bit more than he had bargained for.
He had noticed the door slightly ajar when at the bank’s ATM and returned just after midnight in a face covering when entering the bank.
He decided to take two dye packs from a draw that had a real $50 note on top of a bundle of fake notes.
When alighting from the bank the dye packs activated. The man dropped the packs which spilt dye all over the footpath.
Alan Walker, 62, appeared in Shepparton Magistrate’s Court last week and was asked by the prevailing magistrate, Ian Watkins, ‘‘what made you think you could go into a bank at that time of night and not be filmed by CCTV?“
He convicted Walker and imposed a correction order for 12 months with 100 hours of community work.
Gold for Ute Muster
The Deni Ute Muster has claimed a gold medal in the NSW Tourism awards.
The 2019 muster was adjudged the winner of the Festival and Events section in a recent virtual ceremony.
It was the muster’s first major win in these awards since 2012.
Murray River Council’s 2021 Moama Lights gained the bronze medal in the same section.
Festival cancellations
Tatura’s TatFest and Tocumwal’s Good Times Festival are both off again for 2022.
Difficulty in attracting vendors and entertainment has forced the cancellation of the TatFest after COVID-19 had forced it to be called off last year.
The Good Times Festival at Tocumwal has been rescheduled and postponed several times since the start of the pandemic and there was enthusiasm it would make a comeback this year.
But in response to the NSW Government’s introduction of new health regulations in response to the Omicrom variant festival organisers had been left with no other alternative than to put it off again, hopefully only to next year.
Money for all tickets sold for the event have been refunded.
Cemetery funding
The Murchison Cemetery is among five local cemeteries to share in $750,000 of statewide funding.
Its cemetery trust is receiving $2750 from the 2021-22 Cemetery Grants Program for use in an aerial survey.
Numurkah, Wunghnu, Katamatite and Tungamah cemeteries are among 70 cemeteries from across the state to receive money from the grants program.
Cheese line shutdown
Dairy produce giant Saputo is closing its individually wrapped cheese slices production at its Cobram dairy factory but has not revealed how many jobs the decision could cost.
But according to Moira Shire Mayor Libro Mustica he has been told the affected staff would be rehired to new positions within the factory.
‘‘They are basically shutting down a line that is not productive any more and doesn’t meet the standards,’’ Cr Mustica said.
Massive Paddle
The Massive Murray Paddle is on again.
It will be held from November 21 to 25 and will cover 404km of the Murray River from Yarrawonga to Swan Hill.
Last year’s event had to be called off due to COVID-19 and organisers have set a goal of 300 paddlers lining up at the starting line.
For more information visit www.massivemurraypaddle.org.au
Century celebrations
There seem to a lot of centuries being celebrated of late – and not just only on the cricket field.
Finley Golf Club has just held its 100th anniversary celebrations and Cobram’s St Joseph’s Primary School did the same on February 14.
Square Dinkum
G’day
A bloke was arrested after the police found him trying to break open an ATM in his backyard. When he got to court, the judge asked, ‘’Well, what have you got to say for yourself?’’
The bloke replied, ‘’Well, your honour, a cyclone dropped the ATM in my backyard and I don’t know where it came from. The only reason I was trying to open it was to locate a serial number so I could find the owner.’’
The judge then asked, ‘‘Well, what about the other five ATM’s the police found inside your garage?’’
‘’Well, your honour,’’ added the bloke, ‘‘It has been a particularly bad cyclone season.’’
Hooroo!
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor