Rashelle Predovnik – Page 40

Emergency action saves wife

ON NEW Year’s Day my wife suffered a heart attack in Northam Regional Hospital.

Thanks to the wonderful staff in the emergency department who, after almost nine minutes of CPR and two shocks from a defibrillator, resuscitated her.

I would also like to give special thanks to the two Toodyay ambulance volunteers, Paul and Ross.

Without their medical skills in assessing the situation at home, the outcome would have been very, very different. Thanks guys.

Bob Kermode
Coondle

Landfill book disgrace

I SPY with my little eye something beginning with GBF of B and T.

Give in? It’s a Green Bin Full of Books and Toys.

Books going to landfill is disgraceful.

With two prisons and a detention camp in our close area, these items should not go to landfill.

Patricia de Soto-Phillips
Toodyay

Civil disobedience

DURING the recent Wooroloo/ Gidgegannup fire many residents disobeyed instructions from traffic wardens and returned to their properties either to mop up fires or attend to their stock.

In my case I had to evacuate twice when our place was in danger of being engulfed but crossed back ‘illegally’ on four occasions to attend to stock on our and the neighbours’ properties.

Name and address supplied
Gidgegannup

Rates rebate Paradox

LAST month I received a postage-paid letter from the Shire of Toodyay checking that I was still entitled to the Senior’s rebate on my rates.

This has given me new life because obviously there is some way that the disease of old age that I have can be reversed; all I have to do is find out how that happens, but no-one at the shire can tell me.

Unless I have been singled out for attention, hundreds of others would have received the same letter and because none of us has got any younger, I guess the only course open to us is to fill out the form, pay our rates and think about the wonders of old-fashioned bureaucracies.

Larry Graham
Toodyay

Australia Day draws big crowd to new venue

WA Nationals President Steve Blyth addresses last month’s Australia Day celebrations at Toodyay’s new sport and recreation centre.

Toodyay Australia Day Awards nominees and winners* (from left): Donald Anderson, John Lucas*, Sean Byron, Sarah Otremba, Carolynne Haigh, Ian McGregor*, Kaye Rewell, Kyla Browne* and Willow Hitches*.

Kids enjoy Australia Day fun in the town’s new pool.

Local volunteer firefighters battle frightening Hills inferno

FRIGHTENING scenes confronted Toodyay volunteer firefighters when local brigades rushed to battle a huge uncontrolled bushfire that destroyed dozens of Hills homes this month and forced hundreds of residents to flee to emergency evacuation centres.

Toodyay Central Brigade members helped save the Noble Falls Tavern from being destroyed on the first night of the devastating inferno.

The massive bushfire was thought to have started in a house in Worooloo amid soaring temperatures on the Monday afternoon.

Strong easterly winds caused it to race quickly out of control across hundreds of square kilometres of farms and densely vegetated bush towards other Hills communities near Perth.

“It was dark when we got to Gidgegannup and the fire had already crossed Toodyay Road,” one Toodyay volunteer firefighter said.

“The fire was travelling at great speed through big trees and the heat was intense.

“It was burning all around us as far as we could see and showering the tavern with hot embers that were blowing everywhere.

“It was very scary and very dangerous with poor visibility and lots of fallen power lines.

“We were able to supply water from our Toodyay tanker up to guys from another brigade working a hose on the roof to defend it from burning embers.

“We were also able to stop the fire in a lot of dense vegetation behind the tavern (pictured above) to prevent it reaching the building.

“By the time we’d finished, whole area looked like a moonscape”.

81 homes lost

A Morangup firefighter who was called to look for trapped residents in the nearby Tilden Park residential subdivision in east Gidgegannup said the whole area looked like it had been hit by a firestorm.

“The fire went through it like a razor blade – everything is gone,” he said.

“Lots of million-dollar houses – even those surrounded by cleared spaces – were razed to the ground.

“The fire took out everything in its path.

“There was no way anybody could have survived.

“I’ve attended lots of bushfires but have never seen anything like this before.

“We searched from house to house because we didn’t know if anybody had been left behind but didn’t find anybody.

“There wasn’t any time to try to save homes.

“We stopped to help one bloke who stayed to defend his house but had to leave as soon as the immediate danger had passed to look for others.

“The worst part for me was seeing all the dead and dying animals – including kangaroos – lying all over the roads.

“It was devastating.

“At night everything you could possibly see was burning.

“We got there at 5.30pm on the Monday and left at 5.30am next day to let others take over.”

Toodyay Chief Bush Fire Control Officer Craig Stewart said all local volunteer brigades were working shifts to provide round-the-clock support for volunteer firefighters from other brigades.

“Toodyay crews have been deployed to all parts of the fireground, including from Walyunga National Park to the other side of the Great Northern Highway.

“We’ve seen a lot of burnt-out homes.

“This fire is catastrophic.

“The wild card is possible changes in wind direction caused by a degrading North-West cyclone that’s travelling down the coast towards us.

“It may turn the Hills fire around and cause it to go into the back of Gidgie.

“Fire crews are working to create containment lines and consolidate positions but some areas of the densely vegetated terrain lack roads and is too steep for fire trucks to access.”

As The Herald went to press on Thursday February 4, the WA Department of Fire and Emergency services reported that at least 81 homes had been destroyed and more than 700 residents moved to emergency evacuation centres.

Claimed $600,000 shire budget shortfall queried

Toodyay’s new $14 million Sport and Recreation Centre under construction last year.

By Michael Sinclair-Jones

A CLAIMED $600,000 budget shortfall at the end of November has prompted the Toodyay Shire Council to delay seeking a new $4.5 million loan to pay for the town’s new sport and recreation centre.

The shortfall was claimed in the shire’s November accounts which were presented to last month’s council meeting.

Councillors voted 2-4 not to accept the accounts after Cr Mick McKeown asked questions that CEO Suzie Haslehurst took on notice to be answered later due to corporate services staff absences.

Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said the final cost of building the new sport and recreation centre was being assessed by a quantity surveyor and would be provided to the council at a later date.

Cr McKeown said his reading of the shire’s November accounts was that “we’ve actually spent $600,000 more than we budgeted for”.

Construction of the new sports and recreation centre was funded by a short-term interest-only loan which is due to expire on March 23 when repayment of the full $4.5 million debt falls due.

Cr McKeown opposed replacing it with a new 20-year loan to pay off the whole amount over the next 20 years.

Shire Deputy President Beth Ruthven said the new loan was planned with a tentative interest rate of four per cent, which Ms Haslehurst said had yet to be negotiated with the State Treasury.

Cr McKeown said that even with a zero per cent interest, the new loan would cost the shire at least $54,000 over the next three months instead of $8750 in interest-only repayments under the current loan.

“There is no long-term loan mentioned in the shire’s long-term financial plan, and it’s not in the budget for this financial year,” Cr McKeown said.

“We’ve just seen the figures for November and we don’t know the final situation following rec centre capital allocations.

“I don’t know yet what we have to do to get these books balanced because we haven’t yet done a mid-year budget review.

“By converting to a long-term loan now – when we have to put bread and butter on the table – we will actually be monetarily worse off.

“It will reduce the cash flow to the shire over the next three months.

“We’re not going to pay off this loan for 20 years so if it lasts an extra three months in 2041 I’m prepared to wear that to get this year’s books balanced.

“Maybe we do have to extend the short-term loan until June but let’s make an informed decision after the budget review instead of an ad-hoc decision that doesn’t conform to the current budget.

“In two meetings from now we can make a soundly based assessment of what we should do,” Cr McKeown said.

Councillors voted 2-4 to reject the proposed new $4.5 million long-term loan and agreed 6-0 instead to defer a decision until after next month’s mid-year budget review.

The council also agreed to seek State Treasury approval to extend the current interest-free loan until June 30.

Ms Haslehurst said later that the actual cost of building the new sports and recreation centre was still being assessed, and that first-year operating costs were also still being assessed.

An $8000 weekly water bill to establish the new grassed playing field and gardens had been lowered by reducing watering to twice a week.

More major roadworks delay Toodyay traffic

The eastern end of a big section of Toodyay Road being rebuilt between Lovers Lane and Jingaling Brook Road.

CONSTRUCTION has begun on a major re-alignment of Toodyay Road between Lovers Lane and Jingaling Brook Road.

MainRoads WA has built a sealed temporary 60km/h bypass around the construction area, which includes heavy earthworks and vegetation clearing to straighten dangerous bends and install a new 2.2km overtaking lane.

Toodyay Road was rated by the WA RAC in 2017 as the state’s fourth most dangerous regional road for fatal and serious traffic accidents in 2017.

It blamed tight curves, blind crests, the lack of safe places to overtake and narrow road lanes and bridges.

In one recent serious accident (see Police Beat, Page 6), a Toyota Hilux ute was wrecked when it rolled and slammed sideways into a tree near Jingaling Brook Road, about 100m west of where the new roadworks begin.

The work pictured above includes widening a large stretch of Toodyay Road and installing a new centre line with a one-metre gap to separate vehicles travelling in opposite directions.

Main Roads WA says this, combined with new audible line markers, will reduce the risk of head-on crashes and give motorists time to recover if they stray into the opposite lane.

Bends will also be wider and straighter.

The work is similar to a two-kilometre stretch of Toodyay Road that was widened last year between Clackline Road and the Northam Toodyay Road.

The current roadworks are scheduled to be completed in May.

Work has also begun on acquiring private land and clearing roadside vegetation to build new Toodyay Road turn-off lanes at Sandplain Road and Racecourse Road.

Temporary traffic lights had been installed to manage traffic.

However, Main Roads WA said funds had yet to be allocated to complete this part of the project, which would be included in future upgrades.

The latest roadworks are part of a plan to upgrade Toodyay Road between Dryandra Road and the Goomalling Road turn-off.

New passing and heavy vehicle climbing lanes would also be built near the intersections of Sandplain Road and Salt Valley Road, and a passing lane and intersection improvements built at Fernie Road, which is used frequently by heavy trucks.

Main Roads WA says Toodyay Road is a strategic transport corrider.

The upgrade is part of a ‘Perth and Peel@3.5 million’ long-term growth strategy contained in the State Government’s Metropolitan Region Scheme.

Toodyay cafes suffer as virus roadblocks return

Police wearing face masks stop traffic on Toodyay Road at Morangup after Perth went into a new Covid-19 lockdown at the start of this month. Photo: Peter Harms.

LOCAL cafes and other tourism operators suffered a sudden downturn at the start of this month when the State Government imposed a new five-day emergency lockdown to contain a fresh outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 virus in Perth.

A police roadblock was reimposed on Toodyay Road near Morangup Road and officers turned away all motorists without an exemption or a valid reason to travel.

Unwanted box seat

THERE is nothing like having a mineral discovery made on your own doorstep to sharpen your interest.

The palladium/gold oxides discovery on private farmland off Keating Road in the Julimar area is apparently of world significance, palladium being such a useful mineral with a value above that of gold.

While mining in WA has boosted the economy and provided jobs and infrastructure, it’s hard to consider the benefits from a closely located position.

We sold a broadacre farm in the south east and moved here 24 years ago where we have developed an attractive lifestyle hobby farm with significant planting of trees and shrubs.

Little did we realise that we were destined to become witnesses and reluctant neighbours to a major mining development.

But now we are, and although we do not believe that the enormous ‘wheels of progress’ can in any way be halted, we rather wish we didn’t have such a prime box seat to the action.

We fear that the Julimar Conservation Park that surrounds our property on two sides will inevitably succumb to the demands of the mine, at least in the long run.

We cannot say what disruptions of dust, noise, traffic or other unforeseen hazards might be part of developing such a significant mine site.

It is early days, and the mining lease has to pass several approval processes.
An official from Chalice Mining has visited us and assured us that it would be sometime before mining operations would commence.

Our concerns for the environment and the possible destruction of part or all of the surrounding forest with all of the loss of habitat and plant cover has of course been assuaged by the assurances of the company representative that such disruption will of course be minimal.

Our particular unease about possible excessive water consumption and the production of waste sludge at the mining site was not met with any real concern.

Since we are not on mains water and rely on rooftop water collection for all our water needs, this is no minor worry.

Our concern about this extraordinary development literally on our doorstep is tempered by a fatalistic regard for history.

If this mining discovery is as important as it seems, who are we to oppose it?

It may be a very important part of bringing on a shift to renewable and we are a very small consideration in the overall picture.

However, our concern lies with such stuff as the question of where Native Title comes into such a major development.

If this mine is to go ahead, what do the Aboriginal people have to say about it?
Do they know what’s proposed?

How do they get consulted on this?

Realistically, we are old and probably don’t have a lot of time to worry about living here, but the possible destruction of the forest is overwhelmingly depressing, particularly as we have spent the past quarter century building up something akin to a botanical park.

Lyn Dyke and John White
Julimar

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