50 years ago January 1976
It is more important to provide employment for women than men in country areas, according to the Minister for State Development and Decentralisation, Mr Murray Byrne.
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Mr Byrne said this at the official opening of stage two of Dowd Associates’ factory in Cornelia Creek Rd, Echuca.
He spoke of the establishment of Dowd Associates, the makers of Hickory body fashions, in Echuca as a great success story.
Mr Byrne said he was proud of the textile industry in Australia and proud of it above all because it employed women.
He said that Dowd's factory was a success story for the people of Echuca and an example of real partnership between a local council, industry and government.
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‘’Tremendous’’ was the word used to describe the response to a recent survey on level crossing accidents in the district by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
Project officer for the college’s study, Mr Eric Wigglesworth, returned to Echuca on Friday and said this.
He was thrilled with the interest that local people had taken in the survey.
A number of questionnaires were returned to the Riverine Herald, many of them including information that Mr Wigglesworth ‘’never dreamed of getting’’.
Mr Wigglesworth said that as a result of the survey in this area he now had many facts and figures which would prove vital in the analysis of the whole area.
25 years ago January 2001
Australia's hottest new music act Killing Heidi will headline the inaugural Southern 80 Halfmoon Music Festival in Moama on February 10.
With chart-topping singles ‘’Weir’’, ‘’Mascara’’, ‘’Live Without It?’’ and the latest success story in ‘’Superman/Supergirl’’, the brother-sister team will rock the Murray River this Southern 80 weekend.
This multi-ARIA award winning band will head a line-up of popular Australian acts including The Mavis's, Indigenous band Nokturnl, and local bands Punchdrunk and SpiderMcGlirk at the open air concert at Moama Recreation Reserve,
Killing Heidi leapt into the limelight with their award-winning single ‘’Weir’’, in 1999.
The Violet Town band comprising Ella and Jesse Hooper, Warren Jenkin and Adam Pedretti, launched itself on to the Australian and international music scene when their album ‘’Reflector’’' went platinum.
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Ever wanted to race through a maze of islands in two feet of water at 100km/h? Well Echuca's Andrew Medlicott and Phil Newnham do just that.
Both men drive the boat ‘’Gone Nuts" on the Australian Pointscore Jet Boat circuit.
Medlicott has had an excellent start to the season, winning the first three races of the season.
‘’We have raced twice on the Gold Coast and once in Mildura,’’ he said.
The rest of the races will be at Griffith, the Gold Coast and Mildura.
Medlicott finished second overall last year in the 350 class and Newnham finished third.
Medlicott became interested in the sport a few years back, when he worked for Tony Ellis, the then-world champion.
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A $3 million aged care and retirement hostel to be built at Moama will boost district bed numbers by 30.
Murray Shire Council and Southern Cross Homes, the nursing home arm of the Catholic Church in NSW, have been given Federal Government approval to build the facility.
After seven years of lobbying by the Moama community, Murray Shire and Southern Cross Homes, the facility's approval will ensure a high level of quality aged health care in the shire.
The new facility will be located in Regent St adjacent to the Jacana Green Retirement Complex, Allen Court Retirement Complex and Murrayvale Nursing Home.
10 years ago January 2016
Jane Chalmers and Archie Reid are leaders, role models and, as of Wednesday, senior and junior Australia Day sportspeople of the year for Campaspe Shire.
As Echuca-Moama Rotary Club president Mike Stansbury put it in his opening comments at the announcement at the Bennetts Sports store: ‘‘Being a role model is a combination of commitment to competition and community.
‘‘Our winners are prime examples of leaders.’’
Mayor Leigh Wilson listed the respective career achievements of Chalmers and Reid in their chosen sporting fields of basketball and athletics.
‘‘Everyone that’s nominated is already a winner, but you’ve been selected above your peers,’’ he said. ‘‘You should both be very proud.’’
Chalmers’ on-court success has seen her represent Echuca, Victoria and Bendigo, along the way to winning two Women’s National Basketball League titles.
Reid has equally run far and wide in his pursuit of the winners’ podium, as part of various Victorian schools teams and in individual events such as the Gold Coast and Melbourne short-course marathons and Echuca’s Sweat vs Steam race.
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He is 89 years old and ready to tackle the world.
Or at least the south coast of Australia.
Peter Tripovich left Echuca for Pemberton, WA, this week with his trusty partner Damien Buegge driving the van that will be their home for the next six months.
He is determined to complete a charity walk around Australia he started a decade ago, raising money for International Children’s Care (ICC).
In 2005, after 12,000km and 13 months of walking, Mr Tripovich left his venture prematurely to care for his sick wife at home in Bamawm.
Now, in 2016, he has only 4000km to go and is starting exactly where he left off.
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Popular Echuca-Moama riverbanks and forests are becoming rubbish dumps for lazy and disrespectful campers.
Three times in two weeks, rubbish has been found strewn across the banks of the Murray in Echuca and Benarca camp ground near Moama.
As well as being an environmental and safety concern, it affects tourism, with the eyesore tarnishing visitors’ expectations and experiences.
Echuca-Moama Tourism chief executive Tom Smith said the way an area was presented impacted on people’s enjoyment.
‘‘If they find themselves immersed in rubbish, they have a negative view of the destination and that’s not to be tolerated,’’ he said.