Medical centre to stay shut for months

By Michael Sinclair-Jones

A BID to allow doctors to remain in Toodyay until at least February has been rejected.

The Wheatbelt Health Network (WHN) confirmed instead that it will quit the Alma Beard Medical Centre on November 30.

The Shire of Toodyay asked WHN last month if it could delay leaving until February while the shire advertised for new doctors.

According to a shire report last month, the request was declined four days later.

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Toodyay’s new summer swim season kicks off with a record-breaking splash

PERTH visitors (from left) Molly and Finn McGuire and Toodyay cousin Connor Russell were so excited to be first in the pool this swim season that they were waiting at the front doors for it to open. Toodyay Recreation Centre Manager Beck Foulkes-Taylor said Saturday October 1 was one of the busiest days on record since the pool was opened in 2019.

Last year’s harvest still stuck at Northam

Part of last year’s harvest still waiting at the end of last month to be cleared from Northam.

Local farmers fear transport
bottlenecks may force this year’s
crop to be dumped on ground

By Frank Panizza and Michael Sinclair-Jones

TRANSPORT delays have angered local farmers gearing up for another big harvest.

They say that up to a fifth of last year’s record crop has yet to be shifted from major storage sites at railheads such as Northam.

Many believe another record crop will overwhelm WA’s struggling transport network and cause it to fail.

It has raised fears that some of this year’s harvest may have to be dumped on the ground, where it can be used only for stock feed instead of milling.

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Mining rate rejection leaves $200,000 budget black hole

By Michael Sinclair-Jones

STATE rejection of a new Shire of Toodyay rate to pay for damage caused by heavy mining trucks on shire roads has left a $200,000 black hole in this year’s budget.

The State said the new rate was several times higher than ever before charged in WA and that councils did not normally adopt budgets without first getting State approval to charge more than twice their lowest rate.

Councillors voted 6-0 in August to raise rates by 3700 per cent on ‘unimproved’ farmland covered by 36 local mining tenements, increasing it from 0.014170c in the dollar to 0.541912c.

The higher rate aimed to cover the cost of year-round repairs to gravel and other roads damaged by heavy mining traffic, including in Julimar where Chalice Mining owns nine farms and operates 10 mining tenements (pictured above).

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Former Toodyay Lions footy star scores more top Perth honours

FORMER Toodyay Lions footballer Kieran Hug (28) (pictured centre) has continued his winning ways by taking out this year’s League Players’ Player Award at Perth Football Club.

The talented midfielder moved to the Perth Demons at the start of this year’s footy season after winning the West Coast Eagles’ Fairest and Best Award in the WA Football League last year when he was the Eagles’ leading goalkicker in the WAFL competition.

Kieran’s family live in Toodyay, and he played with the Toodyay Lions from aged eight to 16.

The young footy star played at every age level in the Mortlock League and attended Australian Sports Football Camps during school holidays.

The Toodyay Lions are affiliated with the Demons, and Kieran was selected at age 14 to attend the Perth club’s development squad before leaving Toodyay to join the Donnybrook team to advance his career in the SW Football League.

Though the Demons didn’t make it to this year’s finals, Kieran ended the year on a winning note with his latest players’award.

Shire takes over community resource centre

THE EMBATTLED Toodyay Community Resource Centre (TCRC) is due re-open later this month under new management and premises in Stirling Terrace next to the Alma Beard Medical Centre.

Toodyay shire councillors voted 7-0 at a special meeting last month to adopt a rescue plan that will see the shire take over running the centre (pictured left with former manager Nicole Coleman at previous site), pay off its debts and draft a new business model to secure its future.

The centre was forced to close at rented premises next to the Christmas shop in August after starting the new financial year with a $52,000 deficit following a discovery that it had underpaid current and former staff for at least the past four years.

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German TV crew films Farmer Wants a Wife at Toodyay Market

REALITY TV came to Toodyay last month when a German video crew visited the September 18 Farmers Market to shoot local scenes as a backdrop for the popular international hit show Farmer Wants A Wife.

Cameras and microphones recorded Toodyay resident Tom Kress and two German contestants stroking rescued animals, surrounded by curious onlookers.

Crew members were reluctant to talk because they said it was “confidential”.

However, one said they worked for German TV company RTL and travelled all over the world doing similar work.

Australia’s SBS Channel advertises Farmer Wants a Wife as an international German language TV series.

Pet torn from woman’s arms in IGA dog attack

 

By Michael Sinclair-Jones

SEVERAL people were hurt and a small dog badly mauled by two much bigger dogs  outside the Toodyay IGA store last month.

A woman was holding her small white pet in her arms near the supermarket entry at about 10am on a Wednesday morning when she was rushed by two big black dogs (pictured left).

The attackers pulled the woman’s pet from her arms and began mauling it on the ground.

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Dramatic near-miss in wet and wild Avon Descent river race

Super Chute near miss – Photo: Clive Millett.

A WEEK of torrential rain and surging rapids resulted in a dramatic near-miss (above) at a popular spectator point on Day Two of last month’s annual Avon Descent river race through Toodyay.

A powerboat came speeding around a tight bend toward the aptly-named ‘Super Chute’ rapids just past the Cobbler Pool overnight campsite a few minutes after noon when the driver lost control of the two-man craft.

Its metal hull appeared to leap out of the water onto rocks covered with spectators, narrowly missing a child who was snatched to safety from the airborne boat as others  backed away to avoid being hit.

The boat then slid sideways back into the river, tipping out the lead crew member into the fast-flowing torrent.

He was able to scramble back on board a short distance downstream without further mishap to resume the race.

Nobody appeared to be hurt in the incident and no injuries were reported at the scene.

 

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