50 years ago February 1976
Echuca people will soon have the chance to join the Bankcard scheme.
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Bankcard will be extended to this area early next month, and district banks are already geared to give their customers information about it.
Details of the start of the scheme in Echuca were given yesterday by the executive chairman of Bankcard, Mr Geoffrey Whittaker.
Mr Whittaker said planning was under way to introduce the scheme in March in a region extending north from Ballarat to the Murray River between Echuca and Swan Hill, and from the Northern Highway in the east to Ararat, St Arnaud and Charlton in the west.
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School was in again this week with Echuca students resuming studies on Tuesday and youngsters in Moama going back the following day.
It was a smooth start to the term, though at one school — Echuca High — there was a bigger roll-up than staff had bargained for.
High school principal, Mr W French said the school's enrolment was 805, considerably more than expected.
‘‘We had been prepared for 760, or 780 at the very most,’’ he said.
Mr French said many students who had been unable to find jobs had returned to the school.
He said the average size of classes in Forms One to Four was 32, with 36 the biggest class. Form Five average was 26 and the Form Six average about 20.
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Bamawm Football Club is without a coach following the surprise resignation this week of Des Gallagher.
Gallagher advised the club secretary, Mr Malcolm Cochrane, by phone that he would not be available for the 1976 season.
Officials re-appointed Gallagher in November last year at the end of his first season as coach of Bamawm.
Gallagher told Cochrane that he would not be able to attend to his coaching duties because of an increasing workload.
Mr Cochrane said applications had been called for the position, but no firm offers had yet been made.
The club's second eighteen was looked after last year by Bob Howe, and Mr Cochrane expects this to be the situation again this year.
25 years ago February 2001
Local rice growers will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on this year's crop thanks to a flood of subsidised American rice entering the market.
Rice growers can expect a drop of $35/tonne for the medium grain rice because of the massive government subsidies on United States rice going into Japan and other markets.
Growers are expected to receive only $180/tonne, compared with $215 on last year's crop.
Ricegrowers Co-operative Limited chairman Terry Hogan said price reductions, combined with a very large crop coming up to harvest, would significantly reduce grower payments and have a major flow-on effect on the regional economy.
This year's prices are the lowest in 10 years.
Bunnaloo rice grower Lindsay Vagg, who has 250 hectares of rice, will lose $70,000 on this year's crop because of the falling price.
It’s quite a considerable amount, Mr Vagg said.
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Two of Echuca 's longest serving primary school teachers have retired but it will be some weeks before Graeme Ward and Allan Evans leave the classroom.
Both Graeme and Allan notched up 40 years teaching last year.
Graeme officially retired in June but continued at Echuca South Primary School on contract until the end of the year.
He found himself back for the start of this year to fill in for Grade 5/6 teacher, Pam Chandler.
Allan Evans retired from Echuca Central (208) last Tuesday but will contract until another appointment is made.
Graeme and Allan first met at Alexandra High School in 1960, their first positions after two years at different Melbourne teacher training colleges.
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Moama bowler Max Davie has been honoured with a Royal Victorian Bowling Association Medal of Merit.
Mr Davie was awarded the medal for service to bowls.
The medal is awarded more for the non-playing side of bowls.
‘’I have been involved in bowls for the past 30 years,’’ Mr Davie said.
‘'I have always played at the Moama Bowling Club and have been involved in different areas of the game, starting in 1970.’’
Mr Davie has been involved in bowls at different levels including club level with the Moama Bowling Club and district level with the Campaspe Valley Bowling Association.
‘’I spent 19 years as a delegate for the Moama Bowling Club on the Campaspe Valley Bowling Association,’’ Mr Davie said.
10 years ago February 2016
The Victorian Government has joined the stampede to make sure the Southern 80 stays afloat – kicking in another sponsorship cash injection.
Moama Water Sports Club secretary Betty McCoomb said the Victorian commitment, along with the money from the NSW Government announced this week, was a welcome boost.
The big lick of government cash has guaranteed that the Southern 80 will be run later this month, with MWSC president Steve Robinson conceding that the significant backing was the only thing which ensured the event will start.
However, the new sponsorship is only a one-off – the club will either have to convince governments on both sides of the river to invest long term or find another backer.
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Born on the same day and growing up playing basketball together, Olivia Taverna and Luke Rosendale are following similar paths in the basketball world.
The 15-year-olds recently returned from the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup where they both performed well, with Taverna falling just short of a bronze medal and Rosendale’s team going all the way to claim gold in the under-16 age group.
Victoria entered two sides in each age group — Goldminers and Bushrangers — with Taverna and Rosendale acquitting themselves well across the tournament.
‘‘It was a great experience, meeting some new people and a great competition,’’ Rosendale said.
Taverna’s Goldminers finished third in their pool before progressing to the bronze medal play-off against their Victorian counterparts, falling short of a medal by just four points.
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Soaring private health insurance costs will prove even more costly for Echuca hospital.
Echuca Regional Health chief executive Michael Delahunty said he was concerned demands by insurers for a 9 per cent increase in premiums might force private health patients to downgrade their cover — or drop it altogether.
Private health costs have jumped around 6 per cent every year for the past five years but even Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley has been stunned by the size of the latest bid.
She has ordered funds to justify continued increases or lower their requests.
Mr Delahunty said losing out on private health patients would be a severe financial blow to the hospital.