As it has a habit of doing in winter, football made plenty of headlines as eventual AFL number one draft pick Harley Reid turned heads while playing in the VFL for Carlton, and Kyabram Gold Coast Suns player Nick Holman produced a stunning result in Darwin for his 100th game. Merrigum announced it would have former Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan in its ranks for a special one-off match in June. At Kyabram Parkland Golf Club, land developer Gary Evans footed the bill for 29 memberships (for 80-year-old plus golfers) and work commenced on a fifth residential development in Kyabram. The Girgarre community was celebrating the official opening of Gargarro Botanic Garden on the back of an extraordinary community-led effort to realise the former Heinz factory site’s development.
Parkland’s new neighbours
A beautification project on the western boundary of Kyabram Parkland Golf Club was the first step in the club’s preparation for the 200-plus home Kyabram Greens residential development, due to start in 2025
Developer Gary Evans, as part of his partnership with the club, paid the membership fees of Parkland Golf Club’s 29 members who were 80 years or older. Each of those memberships is worth $195.
Peter Fraser, secretary of the club for half a century and one of 11 living life members, was a member of the old Kyabram Golf Club in 1956, which occupied the same site.
Peter, who turned 80 just before Christmas, and his parents were involved in developing a new club on the site once the Kyabram Golf Club was disbanded.
He is somewhat of a ‘youngster’ in comparison to the club’s oldest golfer, Col McDougall, who has just turned 93 and still plays regularly with the club.
The new residential development will face the sixth green and seventh tee, along with the 12th and 13th holes, then extend further north the length of the 16th hole.
Kyabram’s golfing history also includes a stint on Graham Rd, at the old Kyabram tip site, where there used to be a nine-hole layout.
The current Parkland site was recommissioned in 1949 and the first president was Major Alf Watson, whose home still stands on Everard Rd.
Bowlers continue ‘roll’
A series of post-season state championship victories continued to lessen the blow of a disappointing end to the 2022-23 Kyabram Bowls Club pennant season.
The club lost the division one and two grand finals, but since then, a swag of Victorian state event wins has bolstered spirits.
Representing the Goulburn Murray region against the other 15 state associations, the Kyabram club has shone on the big stage.
Three of the bowlers involved in the division-one grand final loss to Shepparton Golf, David Cartwright, Brent Reiner and Josh Cartwright, combined to win the triples title at Bendigo East Bowling Club.
Their win came hot on the heels of the success of brothers Charlie and Henry Boswood in the Victorian under-18 pairs title.
The club also played the lead role in developing the 2023 women’s singles champion, Olivia Cartwright (who now plays with Moama Steamers in the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields association).
She also made the final of the mixed pairs, losing with Moama teammate Brad Campbell, and the semi-finals of the women’s pairs with the state’s champion of champion winner Cass Millerick, who also bowls with Moama.
New residential developments
A rising star of Victorian property development and an established developer with ties to three riverside estates on the NSW border were among the investors leading a charge that will see significant growth in Kyabram’s residential block offerings in the next 12 months.
Geelong-based partners Jack Townley and Albert Weddell, from TW Projects, have a number of estates either part developed or in the application stage and will soon turn the soil on their 72-lot River Gum Fields Estate on Brose Rd on the south-west outskirts of Kyabram.
Marginally ahead of them in terms of development is the 34-lot Sun Country Property development on Lake Rd, with one of Australia’s largest construction companies having started work on the site in April.
The two developments represent 100 residential lots, but with the 210 lots at The Edge Estate, the second of several stages at Sunrise Estate almost at construction stage and the plan for a 200-plus lot on the South Boundary Rd-McEwen Rd Kyabram Greens Estate, the market is about to be inundated with options for prospective homeowners.
Sun Country Property, the developer of Kyabram’s Lakeside Estate, is involved in developments at Tocumwal, Cobram and Mulwala.
Harley fans flames
Harley Reid continued to be the focus of discussion about the November AFL National Draft, producing a mouth-watering performance for Carlton in the VFL at Ikon Park.
He was targeted at the start of the match by Lions AFL ruckman Darcy Fort and hard-man Rhys Mathieson but finished with a 21-disposal game in his second appearance for Carlton, against the unbeaten Lions VFL team.
Reid had a significant part in Carlton leading by a point at half-time, and the 10th-ranked Blues only lost to the second-ranked Lions by four points.
It was Reid’s second successive match for Carlton in the VFL, but a significant step up on his 13-disposal game a week earlier, when he played only 50 per cent of game time.
A week later, Reid was heavily concussed playing in a match against Carlton’s VFL team as part of the AFL Academy team’s second match at Marvel Stadium.
The AFL Academy game was a curtain raiser to the AFL match between Carlton and the Bulldogs.
Reid, captain of Bendigo Pioneers in the Coates Talent League, finished the match with a game-high 116 AFL Fantasy Points total, bettering Jarryd Lyons (32 possessions) and Carlton AFL regular Zac Fisher, who also had 32 disposals.
Reid laid nine tackles, more than any other player on the ground, and had a game-high eight marks.
Gargarro Botanic Garden opens
Bursting with pride is how Gargarro Development Group chair Athol ‘Doc’ McDonald described the Girgarre community’s feeling as he delivered the keynote address at the official opening of the botanic gardens in May.
“It is a momentous day in Girgarre’s history and shows what can be achieved by a small community working toward a common goal,” Mr McDonald said.
Standing inside the soundshell that signalled the start of the project six years ago, Mr McDonald shared the story of Girgarre’s transformation from a town losing a major employer to a valuable member of an international botanical gardens organisation.
The land on which the first stage of the five-stage development is situated was gifted to the community by the Kraft Heinz company after an initial offer of cash was turned down and a compromise was made to allow the community to take possession of the former factory site.
Fittingly, Kraft Heinz was not only represented at the opening but long-time employee Yasmin Boswood cut the ribbon of the viewing tower at the heart of the project.
“When Heinz announced they were going to close the factory and offered a cash donation, the community responded by saying thanks, but can we have the land instead?” Mr McDonald said.
With a $3 million-plus price tag accompanying the botanic gardens project, to this point, the development committee has ended up with a semi-finished product that will — at its conclusion — be a unique and world-class attraction.
Nick Holman’s hundredth game
Tears flowed freely at Darwin’s TIO Stadium when former Kyabram footballer Nick Holman and the Gold Coast Suns produced a stunning win to celebrate his 100th AFL game.
Holman kicked two goals in the win and, in typical fashion, laid an extraordinary 10 tackles (only one behind Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli) as the greasy conditions suited the determined pressure forward.
Gold Coast won by seven points in the upset result as chants of “Holman” reverberated around the oval, emanating from a group of Kyabram school and football friends that included Nick’s brothers Tom and Ben, his sister Katie and father, Peter.
The game was a highly emotional event, with Holman wearing a jumper carrying the initials of his late mother, Kylie.
The player himself didn’t know the cub had emblazoned his mother’s initials on his jumper for the clash with the Western Bulldogs until the last minute.
Kylie died suddenly 18 months ago and was front and centre in the well-documented and incredible journey her son has taken to reach the milestone.
No-one at the Gold Coast Football Club has a bad word to say about the former Kyabramite.
A teary Gold Coast coach, Stuart Dew, used the word “unbelievable” to describe him and teammates were unanimous in their opinion he was the club’s most popular and respected player.