Toodyay Herald

Hail, though isolated, has caused damage to cars and buildings and has also stripped leaves from trees and flattened any remaining summer feed.

In eastern parts of the shire, particularly in the Nunile area, rainfall recordings have been as high as 40mm but, typical of summer storms, the rainfall has been patchy with areas only a few kilometres away recording falls of less than 5mm.

The timing of the start of winter rains has been a subject of conjecture for millennia – a subject that has been of interest to farmers like myself for as long as I can remember.

Age-old beliefs about signs in the natural world indicating a change to winter rains vary widely.

A common theme in the Toodyay area is the re-start of creek flows that have been dry in summer and the inevitable increase in frog calling resulting from increased water flows.

Bolgart local identity Brian McGill, ‘Ned’ to all and sundry, subscribes to the leaf-drop-from-apricot-trees theory, commenting to me recently that until all the apricot leaves have dropped, the season is still a way off.

Hairy caterpillars

My personal favourite is the ‘hairy caterpillar’ trails.

These native Australian caterpillars, also known as the Processionary Caterpillar, move about in autumn to feed on mostly Acacia trees and shrubs.

It is thought that an increase in sightings of caterpillar trails is indicative of a start to the winter rainfall season.
Milling oat grain trials

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THE DEPARTMENT of Primary Industries and Regional Development grains research team has been busy working in the Nunile area in April, sowing milling oat grain trials.

The trials are supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation and will provide local growers with information on the best oat varieties to grow and the optimal nutrition strategies for each of them.

Oats, like many other grains grown on farms, can have different requirements for their management between the varieties.

The milling oats grown by Toodyay farmers are used both domestically and exported.

Once the oats are harvested from the paddock they are then cleaned, kiln-dried and rolled.

The majority of the oats grown in WA are then exported to Asia.
Milling oat varieties are grown for human consumption, because they have nutritional qualities that make them beneficial to our diet.

You will find oats in your muesli bars and porridge, and more recently supermarkets stock oat milk and oat rice which all could have been grown in Toodyay.

Feed oats are often grown from different varieties which have nutritional qualities that make them more suitable for animal consumption.

The claim – published in the shire-funded April Toodyay Community Newsletter and repeated by CEO Stan Scott in the Avon Valley Advocate newspaper – followed last month’s tabling in State Parliament of a report that exposed inadequate record keeping at Toodyay and three other WA councils targeted for audit last year.

Mr Scott responded by saying that “there was a concern across all local governments” and that the shire had “tendered to a new enterprise software system which will help address most of the issues raised”.

State Auditor General Caroline Spencer said all four audited councils fared poorly in “important areas where we expected to see good record-keeping practice”.

She singled out Toodyay for its failure to produce reference checks on file for five employees – including a senior shire officer.

All councils should keep “sufficient evidence to demonstrate that an employee’s identity, professional qualifications and right to work in Australia were checked before employment,” Ms Spencer said.

Good record-keeping practice was most important for transparent and accountable decision-making and legal proceedings.

The shire was given two weeks during an audit inspection last year to produce the missing records but was unable to comply.

“Good records support good decision-making, effective business practice and improve accountability and efficiency – they are the cornerstone of good governance,” Ms Spencer said.

She reported that inadequate records policies at all four audited councils had “often not been reviewed, updated and approved to reflect current management expectations for record keeping”.

“Record-keeping tools that support implementation, such as policies and procedures, training and monitoring were not adequately developed,” she said.

Toodyay “did not meet expectations” or had “not done” what was required in eight of 11 areas audited, and only “partially met expectations” in one other area.

The shire had “met expectations” only in records-management training for new staff and for its records disaster recovery plan.

The report described the shire’s new records security and preservation arrangements at Toodyay Junction as “good”.

However, WA Deputy Auditor General Sandra Labuschagne rejected Mr Scott’s published claim that the facility “was recognised as an exemplar of good practice”.

“We did not use those words anywhere in the report,” she said.

The Auditor General has given Toodyay and the other audited councils – Canning, Mosman Park and Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council – three months to provide an “action plan” to WA Local Government Minister David Templeman on how they will address issues raised in the report and publish those plans on their council websites.

When asked in Public Question Time at last month’s council meeting to explain his “exemplar of good practice” claim, Mr Scott said “They were my words – if it was a gilding of the lily, I’m not sure”.

“Some of our computer systems had gaps which we raised with the Auditor General,” he said.

When asked how the council intended to address policy inadequacies raised by the report, Shire President Brian Rayner said “We are upgrading our computer systems and processes to comply with the report”.

When asked a second time what action the council would take about inadequate shire records policies, President Rayner said “We are upgrading our software”.

President Rayner did not respond to Herald questions about which senior shire officer’s job file lacked reference checks, and who was responsible for the omission.

Coondle Fabrication owner Matt Murray shed light on the project – it is a portable BMX track.

Mr Murray designed the track based on an idea from Toodyay local John Reudavey.

“It’s a prefabricated BMX track built and designed locally for the Punmu Indigenous Community in the far East Pilbara region of WA,” Mr Murray said.

Second project

“This is the second project we have built for the community, the first being a water play area for the children.”

Trachoma, or the common term sandy blight, is carried in dust particles.

Apart from the fun and activity that the facility brings, playing in water substantially reduces the children’s risk of contracting the disease.

Visit indigenous.gov.au/news-and-media/stories/cooling-down-western-desert to view the water play project.

“The BMX track will add further wellbeing to the lives of the children of Punmu, something I and my staff are very proud of,” Mr Murray said.

Health benefits

The community’s 60 children will enjoy the health benefits of the track as well as meeting visiting children from nearby communities.

Safety features are an integral part of the design, as well as measures to prevent the use of the track without adult supervision.

Once the track has been completed and transported to Punmu, it will be assembled by community members and the Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation.

The Punmu Community took a proactive approach and sought funding for both projects.

They were successful in getting donations from the Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation, Department of Communities, Keystone Support, RAWA School, Pilbara Meta Maya, Chris Rusten, Quick Chill Electrical and Air Conditioning, Knight Corporate Insurance and Matt Murray.

Recycling project

Coondle Fabrication will also complete a recycling project that will be transported with the BMX track.

This design, fabricated in steel mesh, spells the words Punmu Oval and will be filled with recyclable containers.

“These projects were a little different from our usual metal fabrication work which covers heavy truck body building to a full range of mechanical repairs.

“They were interesting and enjoyable jobs which my crew and I enjoyed being involved with,” Mr Murray said.

A competition for best design was held and a winner (top) selected for approval at last month’s council meeting.

However, it was opposed in a submission by Toodyay Tidy Towns member Peter Robinson who said the process had been “hijacked” and the “abstract” design failed to represent Toodyay’s Tidy Towns win.

The artwork was also opposed by Toodyay Tidy Towns chairperson Greg Warburton, who – along with Shire CEO Stan Scott, founding sponsor Colin Moore and local artist Margaret Sommerville – was part of a four-member panel that chose the winning artwork from 11 entries.

It is understood the Toodyay Tidy Towns committee wanted a design more like Mr Warburton’s sketch (pictured below winner) published two years ago in The Herald showing a group of people using orange plastic bags to collect litter and a woman with a child dumping rubbish in a yellow bin.

Last month’s debate echoed a similar one five years ago when council indecision killed off a plan by survivors of Toodyay’s disastrous 2009 fires – which destroyed 38 homes – to erect a 500kg metal Carnabys Cockatoo sculpture in Stirling Terrace to commemorate the town’s recovery.

Greenway bid to defer lost

A MOTION by Cr Paula Greenway to defer a mural decision to a May 14 council strategic forum was seconded by Cr Judy Dow and resulted in a 4:4 deadlock, with Crs Greenway, Dow, Rob Welburn and Eric Twine in favour, and Shire President Brian Rayner, Deputy President Therese Chitty and Crs Bill Manning and Ben Bell against.

President Rayner then used his casting vote to defeat the deferral motion 5-4.

Cr Manning said he saw no benefit in delaying a decision and would vote for the winning entry by Morangup artists Katherine Ferguson and Nicola Cowie.

“Even if you asked 100 people, you will never get everyone to agree to a work of art,” he said.

“Two members of the selection committee are artists and what we will finish up with is a work that has artistic merit.”

The artists submitted that their winning entry used “layers of imagery with significant meaning and structure”.

“The central theme of the background is the mapping of Toodyay from the sky using an abstract mapping country style similar to that of both current and past Aboriginal artists,” they said.

“The Avon River dominantly runs through the image giving the town life and a central heart.

“The foreground image is the beautiful Silvereye bird holding onto wheat to represent Avon Valley farming areas, the flowers in the top left are Eucalytpus caesia endemic in WA and the small yellow vine is a Flame Pea which thrives in low humidity areas such as Toodyay.

“The shapes running north of the river and into the hills are a nod to early, current and future settlers to Toodyay.

“Coloured circles at the bottom are representative of Duidgee Park and its location on the river and the river pebbles that our children love to play with.

“The white rectangle (bottom right of mural) is a space to contain the following statement as per the artists’ brief: ‘An Initiative of the Toodyay Tidy Towns committee, national winners of the Tidiest Town 2015’.”

‘Tidy town elders’

However, Cr Welburn said the mural “should be a bit more inclusive of tidy town elders” because it was their idea to have a mural to mark the town’s 2015 national titles win.

Deputy President Chitty said the mural had been “a long time coming – perhaps we need to go back to the artists about how it fits the brief”.

Cr Dow said the Toodyay Tidy Towns contribution needed to be acknowledged.

A recommendation to approve the winning mural was lost 6-2 with only President Rayner and Cr Manning voting in favour.

Mr Scott had no answer after the vote when councillors asked what would happen next, indicating it will be at least another month before anything can be decided.

The $15,000 project, which was planned to be completed this month, includes $1000 donated by Ms Sommerville, who said she was disappointed by the outcome.

“It highlights the urgent need for the shire to adopt a public arts policy for Toodyay,” she said.

It is understood the council proposes to adopt an arts policy but decided to press ahead with the mural to avoid further delay.

I had considered speaking to you about the war service of my grandfather, Earle Joseph Sinclair Wroth, who served in Gallipoli, Egypt and France in World War I and was the first president in 1919 of what was then the Toodyay Sub-branch of the Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia, which later became the Returned Services League (RSL).

Or my father, Mac Wroth, and his wartime service in the airforce because he also was a former Toodyay RSL president.

People on Anzac Day generally focus on male servicemen, famous battles or heroic actions.

However, on this meaningful day I decided to talk about a girl that we should all know through name alone.

Culham girl

This girl who was born in Toodyay, raised on the family farm Telmell on Rockdale Road in Culham and was the daughter of Edward and Katherine Beard.

Alma Beard attended the local school and had a great love of horses, always entering the dressage events at our local Show.

At the age of 17, Alma commenced her nursing training.

She had been a qualified nurse for 11 years; training at Perth Hospital and a larger Sydney Hospital before feeling the need in World War II to enlist in the Australian Army in Perth on 19 June 1941 to serve in the 2nd/13th Australian General Hospital.

She eventually found herself in Singapore with 130 other Army nurses treating sick and injured soldiers.

Japanese invasion

In February 1942, with the inevitable Japanese invasion of Singapore and the situation getting worse by the hour – and against the nurses wishes because they didn’t want to leave the wounded – they were ordered to evacuate to the port where two ships, the SS Vyner Brooke and the Empire Star, were docked to take them to safety.

The nurses were separated into two groups.

The Empire Star left first and made the voyage safely back to Australia.

Alma, along with the remaining 65 nurses, wounded servicemen and civilians, boarded the SS Vyner Brooke.

The next day near Sumatra, the Vyner Brooke came under attack and was repeatedly bombed by Japanese aircraft, causing her to sink quickly within 15 minutes.

The nurses had been ordered not to abandon the ship until all civilians were off.

Many people were killed and wounded during the air attack, and some survivors were strafed by planes while in the sea.

Alma was among the 22 nurses who eventually made it to Radji Beach on Bangka Island off Sumatra after clinging to a lifeboat for eight hours – they would have thought they were the lucky ones after seeing the shelling of another ship during the night.

100 survivors on beach

By morning there were more than 100 survivors on the beach including the 22 Australian nurses, civilian women and children, officers and wounded servicemen from the Vyner Brooke.

It was agreed by all that because they had no supplies, no chance of escape and had injured to care for, that their best option was to surrender to Japanese occupying forces on the island.

A party of men accompanied by all the civilian women and children went off in search of the Japanese.

Alma and the remaining 22 nurses stayed behind to care for the wounded and erected a red cross to indicate that they were non-combatants and wore their Red Cross arm bands to give them protected status by convention in civilised nations.

They were all under the belief that they would be treated humanely as prisoners of war – their expectations were short lived.

Massacre

A patrol of about 20 Japanese soldiers later arrived from the township of Muntok.

Some guarded the Australian nurses while the remaining soldiers herded the male survivors down the beach and around a headland.

Rapid gunfire was soon heard from this direction and the Japanese soldiers returned alone, sat down in front of the women and cleaned their bayonets and rifles.

The nurses were then ordered to walk into the ocean, with a couple of the soldiers shoving those who were slow to respond.

One nurse was heard to say “ there are two things I hate in life – the Japs and the sea – and today I get both”.

‘Chin up girls’

Another nurse cried out “Girls, take it; don’t squeal” so, even in this horrific situation, there were no tears or screams.

Then matron Irene Drummond called out to Alma and the other nurses “chin up girls, I’m proud of you and I love you all”.

At that point, the Japanese started firing up and down the line with a machine gun until they believed they had killed them all.

So what was the heinous crime that they had committed to deserve this fate?

They were just doing what they had trained to do – caring for the sick and injured.

But by pure miracle, one nurse – Vivienne Bullwinkle – was shot but survived by feigning death and floating in the water until the Japanese soldiers had left the beach.

Vivienne tended to her wounds herself and kept her secret when she surrendered once again to the Japanese, knowing full well that if they ever discovered, during her three years as a prisoner of war, that she was the sole survivor of the massacre at Bangka Island that she would be executed.

It is only through her survival that the horrible details of this massacre can be accurately accounted for.

On her return to WA after the war, Sister Vivienne Bullwinkle wrote to Alma’s parents saying that their daughter’s brave conduct in her hour of crisis had added lustre to the service she so nobly served.

Survivor at 1992 medical centre opening

When Toodyay’s new medical centre was opened in 1992, it was named the Alma Beard Community Health Centre in her honour, and Vivienne Bullwinkle attended the opening.

So next time you go there to see a doctor, remember Alma and maybe we should all be more thoughtful by referring to it by its proper title, the Alma Beard Community Health Centre, named in her memory.

Though this tragic event occurred 77 years ago, more horrific details of the nurses’ fate have come to light in recent months.

Let us hope that countries and world leaders have learnt from the mistakes of the past and that we can forgive one another and live in peace.

I apologise if this story is upsetting for some but it is important for the younger generations and those to come, to understand and appreciate the sacrifice that servicemen and women have made so we can enjoy the freedom we have today.

The changes follow a decision two years ago to abandon poorly-attended ‘in person’ voting run by the shire at polling stations in Toodyay and Morangup and replace it with postal ballots run by the WA Electoral Commission, which resulted in a record voter turn-out at the 2017 shire elections.

The council is due to hold a special meeting at 2pm on Tuesday May 14 to discuss Cr Brook’s resignation, the elections and “mapping out a recruitment process for a new CEO and matters thereto”.