People voted with their feet during the 2022-23 swim season, the first that offered free entry to all of Campaspe Shire’s outdoor pools. Kyabram District Health Service’s Sheridan Aged Care received a five-star rating under a new government assessment system and a petition to have the Lake Rd, South Boundary Rd and Cooma Rd shared pathway completed was launched by residents. Tongala’s St Kilda football legend Bob Dawson turned 102 and Kyle Mueller continued to make sporting headlines by averaging more than 100 with the bat for Kyabram in Cricket Shepparton competition. On Australia Day, dementia campaigner Mick Simpson was named the Kyabram and Campaspe Shire Citizen of the Year.
Pool numbers treble
Outdoor pool patronage at Kyabram, Tongala and Stanhope almost trebled in the first month of Campaspe Shire Council offering free entry to the pools — after a decision in January 2022 to save the pools from potential decommissioning.
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In September 2022, council made the decision to allow free admission to the pools for the 2022-23 season.
The decision was made to test whether or not a free swim facility would increase the use of the outdoor pools — less than three months into the five-month swim season, that box can be ticked.
In December 2021, there were 1282 people through the gates of the Kyabram pool. That figure blew out to 3038 in 2022.
At Tongala, the figure went from 563 to 1481, and at Stanhope the increase was similarly impressive — 361 through the gates in 2021 and 971 last December.
Even the November figures significantly increased, despite the fact the pool opened two weeks later than it did in 2021.
Five stars for Sheridan
Sheridan Aged Care was recognised as one of Australia’s best aged care homes, receiving a five-star rating under the recently introduced Australian Government rating system for aged care providers.
Within a 250km radius of Kyabram there are only nine aged care providers that have achieved the five-star rating — at Birchip, Hopetoun (which has two five-star facilities), Thornbury, Balwyn, Donald, Capel Sound and Howlong.
Kyabram District Health Service chief executive Anne McEvoy said it was a fantastic achievement, as only one per cent of Australian aged care facilities had received the five-star rating.
“The Sheridan residents and their families are very proud of this outstanding achievement,” Mrs McEvoy said.
The KDHS 42-bed Sheridan facility, which recently underwent a major redevelopment, features a 12-bed dementia-specific unit, and the new modern appointments have been celebrated by residents and their families.
Star ratings were introduced in December 2022, with aged care homes receiving a rating between one and five stars to indicate the quality of care across four key areas of performance.
Shared pathway petition
Outdoor enthusiasts petitioned Campaspe Shire Council to have the 1km “missing link” in Kyabram’s dual cycling-walking path completed, 10 years after the pathway opened.
Bike-riders, joggers and walkers signed the petition, asking council to fast-track completion of the 5km shared pathway around the town’s southern outskirts.
The major part of the track was constructed along Lake Rd, South Boundary Rd and Cooma Rd in 2013. At the time, it was expected the final section along the railway line in Breen Ave would be completed within 18 months, pending approval from Victoria’s transport infrastructure authority VicTrack, which owns the land.
Recently returned Kyabram resident Sandra Brown, a keen bushwalker and cyclist, initiated the petition after experiencing for herself the dangers involved in riding along the unfinished section.
She had aimed to collect about 100 signatures before submitting the petition to council.
“But a lot of people commented on how dangerous the Breen Ave section was and how keen they were to see the pathway completed, so I probably could have kept going and collected 1000 signatures without too much trouble,” she said.
Bob Dawson turns 102
Tongala’s Bob (Robert) Dawson celebrated his 102nd birthday with a cake featuring the St Kilda Football Club emblem, recognising his status as the oldest living player of the club.
With a glass of beer in one hand and the knife in the other, Bob’s only wish was for a St Kilda premiership — the Saints’ only title having come in 1966.
Bob played four games after being recruited from Elmore to Moorabbin in 1941. Listed at 169cm and 67kg he played four games that year before enlisting in the army and serving overseas the following year.
He returned from war in 1946, and while playing with Elmore, won the Bendigo league’s Michelsen Medal. He followed that up by winning the Morrison Medal in 1950 while coaching Tongala.
He also won an Echuca league best-and-fairest award, while being responsible for starting the under-17 competition. A cup in his honour is presented to the premiership team each year.
Mr Dawson passed away just prior to a Tongala football August 2023 reunion — celebrating the club’s four Goulburn Valley league premierships. He was the last surviving member of the 1949 team.
Mueller averaging 100
Kyle Mueller was averaging more than 100 after another punishing century for Kyabram set up a commanding win in Cricket Shepparton’s ninth round of one-day matches on Saturday.
The hard-hitting left-hander blasted eight fours and half a dozen sixes in an unbeaten knock of 110 as Kyabram built a formidable 5/234 at Tatura.
Mueller faced only 91 balls and was at the wicket for just under two hours in notching his second century in his past three trips to the batting crease.
He has now amassed 406 runs in five for the season in the Haisman Shield competition at an average of just over 100.
Quick thinking saves life
Ambulance officers hailed a 10-year-old Kyabram boy a hero after his actions helped to save his mother when she twice fell unconscious after being bitten on the head by a bee on the family property.
Emma Whitcher went into anaphylactic shock after suffering a bee sting while walking the family dog and twice fell unconscious while on the phone to emergency services.
Her son, Knoa, was the only other person in the house at the time and was forced to follow the instructions of the operator to check his mother’s breathing and start CPR.
Knoa was instructed by the operator to begin compressions on his mother’s chest, to assist with her breathing.
Not long after Emma had been stabilised by the officers, who used Epi-Pens to administer two doses of epinephrine to counteract the allergic reaction, Knoa was back into “kid mode’’.
Mick’s our top citizen
Mitch Bull, a senior constable with Kyabram police and 2022 Campaspe Shire Citizen of the Year, addressed the Australia Day gathering before dementia campaigner Mick Simpson received this year’s award.
Mr Bull told the gathering that the township of Kyabram had been a great part of his personal development — having come from Melbourne, where he didn’t know the names of his neighbours.
“In Ky not only do I know my next-door neighbour, but I know the people in the next seven houses,” he said.
“We live in a small town where the community can bring its ideas to life. We just need to share more of those ideas.”
Mr Simpson was nominated by the Lions Club of Kyabram, of which he is a member.
He and the Kyabram Community and Learning Centre combined resources to kick start the ‘Don’t Demention It’ organisation, which meets monthly at the Lake Rd centre.
Since first raising awareness of dementia, through the 2019 Mick’s Memory Walk, the Kyabram group has become only the third dementia support group in the state.
Mr Simpson received the King Perpetual Plaque as the winner of the award.
Young Citizen of the Year was Will Mitchell, a member of the Sen Constable Bull-led Kyabram Blue Light Committee.
He had been involved in the Blue Light and Ky-Fit programs since 2018 and became a committee member in his final year at secondary school.
He was recognised for his volunteer work with camps, excursions and events, along with the role he plays as an umpire in the Goulburn Murray region.
Allan Weeks and the Ky Project Committee group won the Community Group of the Year award.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor