Toodyay Herald

Three new westbound and two eastbound overtaking and climbing lanes for heavy trucks are planned between Morangup Road and Toodyay-Clackline Road.

Plans also include seven upgraded intersections between Racecourse Road and Fernie Road, and 27km of road realignment, vegetation clearing and widening.

Toodyay Road will be realigned and a new structure built where it crosses Jimperding Brook.

A Main Roads WA spokesperson said Federal Government funding had been secured for a one-kilometre section which is currently being widened about 3km from Toodyay.

Further land clearing and earthworks are underway on a 5km stretch between Racecourse Road and the Clackline-Toodyay Road.

Current roadworks with intermittent lane closures will continue until next month.

The spokesperson said the timing of remaining works would depend on the State Budget, which is due in May.

WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt recently forecast a Budget surprise surplus of $1.02 billion, although much of that is expected to be spent on the State Government’s Metronet rail expansion project in Perth.

Main Roads WA said Toodyay Road was a “key connection between Perth, Toodyay and surrounding communities” and carried agricultural, extractive industries (gravel, sand and clay), waste and tourism traffic.

It quoted a 2015 WA Government review which found that Toodyay Road had the “highest crash density” in the Wheatbelt.

Main Roads WA was currently buying land, removing fences and arranging for utilities to be shifted to make way for the road upgrade.

Road widening this month between Harper Brook and Coorinja Winery. 

MAIN Roads WA said there had been no public objections to vegetation clearing permits which were approved by Federal and State agencies.

Up to 55ha of roadside vegetation will need to be cleared for the entire project.

To offset this, 196ha of “prime wandoo woodland” next to the Clackline Nature Reserve “will be conserved in perpetuity” and 188 artificial nesting hollows for black cockatoos installed.

Shire of Toodyay Reserve Management Officer Greg Warburton said the Toodyay Naturalists’ Club supported the plan.

“The offset significantly expands an existing nature reserve,” a Main Roads WA January 2019 project update quoted Mr Warburton as saying.

“The Main Roads team are to be congratulated for obtaining this outstanding result which has added valuable habitat to our precious conservation estate,” Mr Warburton said.

The WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) last month granted Bayswater landfill operator Opal Vale a licence to dump more than 400 tonnes of “putrescible” waste every day in Hoddys Well, 7am to 6pm seven days a week except on public holidays.

The site is within five kilometres of 70 rural homes, with two “likely to have direct line of sight” to the landfill site which is surrounded by lush rural farmlands, according to a State Government report.

The licence was granted on the premise that the Clackline Nature Reserve was 2.3km from the Chitty Road site, which was the case when the State Government overruled objections in August 2015 to grant works approval to build the dump.

However, Main Roads WA announced in January this year that it needed to clear 53ha of trees and other vegetation from either side of Toodyay Road for major road widening and new passing lanes.

To offset the loss, it bought 196ha of “prime wandoo woodland adjacent to the Clackline Nature Reserve” which it said “will be conserved in perpetuity”, including 188 new artificial nesting hollows for black cockatoos.

The purchase increased the size of the Clackline Nature Reserve by a third and extended it to within 700m of the landfill site.

Five Toodyay landfill objectors are now using this as one of several grounds of appeal to WA Environment Minister Stephen Dawson via the State Office of the Appeals Convenor.

The Shire of Toodyay is also understood to have considered lodging an appeal but did not respond to a Herald request for confirmation or details.

Licence report map shows Perth’s new rubbish dump for rotting waste is 65km from city in Hoddys Well.

The new landfill licence allows 50,000 tonnes of ‘putrescible’ waste to be dumped in Hoddys Well in the first year of operation, which is due to start “as soon as is practicable on issue of the licence”.

More licences are planned for another five adjacent waste pits to enable a total of 1.5 million tonnes of rubbish to be dumped in the former claypit over the next 10 years.

When those pits are full, further licences are planned for another 1.5 million tonnes of rubbish to be dumped in nearby pits currently being dug by Austral Bricks to extract clay.

The overall plan is for three million tonnes of rotting metropolitan waste to be dumped in Hoddys Well over the next 20 years.

The current Toodyay Road upgrade is designed to accommodate an extra 60 rubbish trucks every day, seven days a week, travelling between Perth and Toodyay before turning off into Fernie Road and Salt Valley Road to the Chitty Road landfill site.

President Rayner tried again last month to prevent the official finding of misconduct against him and Mr Scott being placed on the official public record while the council decides whether to offer Mr Scott a new contract of employment.

The adverse finding was made by Deputy President Therese Chitty who ruled last August that President Rayner and Mr Scott had both breached the Shire Code of Conduct by publishing a “derogatory or improper” statement in Mr Scott’s ‘R U OK?’ article in the shire’s April 2018 newsletter.

“Breaches of this code harm our reputation, reduce public trust and disrupt the proper function of the shire,” the Shire Code of Conduct states.

It also breaches clause 4.1.8 of Mr Scott’s current contract of employment and Section 5.103 of the WA Local Government Act.

President Rayner declined to stand aside at last month’s council meeting while public questions were asked about the finding of misconduct against him and Mr Scott.

“I’ll hear the questions first and then decide,” President Rayner said.

The first question asked whether President Rayner had been found by a shire ruling to have breached the Shire Code of Conduct.

“I’ll take that question on notice,” President Rayner said, implying that he needed more time to get further information about the question before responding to it at the next council meeting on March 26.

It prompted the public gallery to erupt into loud guffaws of laughter, after which President Rayner was again asked to stand aside to allow the question to be answered.

Deputy President Chitty then took over question time from her seat at the side of the top table and said “yes” – a finding of misconduct had been made against President Rayner and Mr Scott last August.

When asked if Mr Scott (pictured below) had refused to apologise or withdraw his published statements, Deputy President Chitty said she had no power as the investigating officer to order an apology or retraction.

In answer to a third question about how the council had responded to the finding of misconduct, Deputy President Chitty said no action was taken.

When asked if the council intended to take any action at all, she said the question would be taken on notice and answered at the next council meeting on Tuesday March 26.

A special meeting of council is due to start two hours earlier on the same day to discuss whether Mr Scott should be offered a new contract of employment when his current contract expires on July 22.

It follows a similar special council meeting behind closed doors last month when Cr Bill Manning, seconded by Cr Rob Welburn moved to adjourn discussions on the CEO’s contract until 2pm on March 26.

Deputy President Chitty and Cr Eric Twine supported the 4-3 decision after agreeing that there was enough time before the council’s April 18 contract deadline to enable Crs Ben Bell and Craig Brook – who missed last month’s meeting – to attend.

This would allow all nine elected members to have a say and vote on what Cr Manning described at the council’s January meeting as “the most important decision any council can make”.

President Rayner and Crs Greenway and Dow voted against the adjournment.

Cr Bell said in January that he opposed offering Mr Scott a new contract of employment.

Forged in Gallipoli

BY 1915 the Great War had been raging overseas for nearly a year and some Australian servicemen – many of them wounded or disabled – were returning home.

Soon after the Gallipoli landings in April 1915, the Commonwealth Government formed War Councils in each state, which until 1917 were specifically responsible for the repatriation of invalided men.

Several prominent citizens and various philanthropic organisations also formed returned servicemen’s clubs throughout the country, and issues of repatriation, rehabilitation, and support were dominant topics of conversation in these clubs.

These discussions turned to the need for a support organisation with a wider base and a bigger voice, and led to formation of the Returned Soldiers’ Association.

Representatives from various returned soldiers’ groups met informally in the eastern states on 10 May 1916 and agreed to create a national body to represent and support the needs of returned servicemen.

The first meeting of what is now known as the RSL was held in in Melbourne on 6 June 1916, a date generally accepted as the organisation’s foundation.

Delegates attended from Queensland, NSW, Victoria and SA and decided to name the organisation the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) and drafted a constitution ratified at the first Federal Congress in Brisbane in September 1916.

By 1918, NSW, Tasmania, and WA had also joined the league, making it a national body recognised by the Federal Government as the official representative of Australia’s returned servicemen.

The name was changed in 1940 to the Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airman’s Imperial League of Australia (RSSAILA) before becoming the Returned Services League of Australia in 1965.

Members adopted the current title of Returned and Services League of Australia in 1990.

5000 WA veterans unite

WA ALSO faced problems in rehabilitating and supporting its returnees and by 1918 there were two WA returned soldiers’ organisations; the Returned Services League and the Returned Services Association.

The two had similar aims but the national body said they could not affiliate with it until the two WA bodies amalgamated.
The new state organisation was known as the Western Australian Branch of the RSSILA, and by mid-1919 had 67 sub-branches in WA, with 21 in Perth and more than 5000 members statewide.

First Toodyay meetings

THE TOODYAY Branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association (RSA) was officially founded on 7 October 1919.

A Toodyay Herald article in May 1919 noted that the “Toodyay and Districts Branch of the Soldiers’ Association has been in existence for six months”, which suggests that the first meetings occurred in November or December 1918.

The first Toodyay RSA president was Earle Joseph Sinclair Wroth, the son of Joseph Ablett Wroth who was secretary of the Toodyay Road Board (now Shire of Toodyay).

The RSA secretary in May 1919 was H W Love and by December 1919 the secretary was M Heffernan.

The first recorded treasurer (May 1920) is listed as Milton Taylor Lloyd Wroth.

The first RSA meetings were held at Toodyay’s Freemasons Hotel but later moved to the Victoria Hotel.

Earle Wroth served as Toodyay sub-branch president from 1919 to 1922 and 1929 to 1931, and also served as secretary from 1932 to 1938.

He had earlier joined the 10th Light Horse Regiment’s C Squadron in the Australian Imperial Force on 7 January 1915 and embarked for the Middle East on the 5324-ton troop transport HMATA52 Surada which sailed from Fremantle on 17 February 1915.

Earle Wroth initially saw service in Egypt before being transferred to Gallipoli.

After Gallipoli, he was transferred to the 8th Field Ambulance and sent to the Western Front in France where he was one of six stretcher bearers to be awarded a Military Medal for evacuating wounded soldiers while under heavy enemy attack.

‘Conspicuous bravery’

THE CITATION reads:

“At the South West of Bellicourt during 29th and 30th September 1918 these stretcher bearers (E. E. Calf, 4462 F. C. Skiller, 3209 A. A. McGoldrick, 6674 A. A. Wall, 518 E. J.S. Wroth, 4757 A. J. C. Parker) displayed conspicuous bravery in carrying wounded across ground exposed to enemy observation and under heavy shell and machine gun fire.

“Each carry was across the Hindenburg (front trench) System and owing to the rain making the ground slippery each trip took three hours to carry 1000 yards across wire, trenches etc.

“Despite many casualties among the bearers, these men by their endurance, determination and example encouraged the other bearers and, in an extraordinarily difficult situation, made the evacuation of wounded possible.”

“Devotion to duty of these men is deserving of special reward.”

Earle’s son Joseph Charles Wroth was also a sub-branch president and Toodyay Shire President from 1969 to 1971.

His grandson Charlie Wroth is another former Toodyay Shire President (2005-2009) and currently Chairman of the Toodyay St John Ambulance Service, an active member of the Julimar Volunteer Bushfire Brigade, a Toodyay Fire Control Officer and a Toodyay RSL Sub-Branch affiliate member.

Toodyay Central Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade acquired the sign with funding from the Toodyay and districts Bendigo Community Bank.

The Shire of Toodyay installed the sign and will provide ongoing management.

Toodyay Central Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade Captain Mick McKeown said: “It is important that everyone understands fire danger ratings and what they mean for our safety.

“Ratings of severe, extreme or catastrophic mean fires may be hard to control and residents should consider their level of preparedness and even consider evacuating from high-risk or vegetated areas during such conditions,” Mr Keown said.

Kirsten Barrack, Toodyay and Districts Bendigo Community Bank manager said: “The sign really stands out and is a shining example of what can be achieved by supporting local business, which in turn support community groups”.

This type of sign is widely used in Victoria and has recently been adopted by local governments in fire-prone areas of WA.

The rating and message panel can be controlled remotely and are even capable of receiving automatic feeds from the Bureau of Meteorology.

The LED lights are powered by solar panels and automatically adjust their brightness throughout the day and night.

Fire Danger Ratings can also be found on the Bureau of Meteorology website bom.gov.au or emergency.wa.gov.au by referring to the Lower West Inland forecast district.

The Shire of Toodyay would like to thank the Toodyay Central Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade and the Toodyay and Districts Bendigo Community Bank for their hard work in bringing this project to fruition and reminds all residents to ensure that they have, and understand, their bush fire survival plan,

For further information visit dfes.wa.gov.au/emergencywa/prepare.

Toodyay Central Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, along with the shire’s other brigades, Bejoording, Coondle-Nunile, Julimar and Morangup welcome new members.

Contact the brigades’ local captains or the shire on 9574 9300.