Axe Creek & Eppalock News, Issue 46

8/9/2019 Axe Creek & Eppalock News, Issue 46

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[email protected] Issue 46 1

Axe Creek – Eppalock Newsle er

Incorporating news from the Eppalock Primary School, Axe Creek Fire Brigade & the Axe Creek Landcare Group.

Welcome to the Autumn Issue

Summer has left us for another year, and we are grateful again thatour local CFA Volunteers were not kept too busy with local emergen-cies. In this issue, you will learn more about the role of Brigade RiskManagement Officer and how it supports our Axe Creek brigade.

Enjoy the change of seasons and the wonderful Autumn colours thatmother nature shows to us, particularly as the kids take their first termbreak for the new school year. (I hear all the parents saying“Already!”)

Consider becoming part of your local community, either via organi-sations such as landcare or the CFA, in your capacity as a parent, orthrough your religion.

If you have something to share with the Axe Creek & Eppalock com-munity, feel free to send it to us via our email address [email protected]. And of course, on April 5th, don’t forget tochange your clocks and smoke alarm batteries.

Until next time,

Sam Spence

PS. Happy Mothers Day to all the Mums for May 10th.

Edition 46. Autumn 2015

Welcome

Community Notice Board

CFA News

Eppalock PS Update

Axe Creek Playgroup

Landcare’s Latest

Church News

Community NewsKids Corner

Advertise your Business AND help the CommunityIf you would like some great local exposure for a reasonable price, then adver se in the

next issue of the Axe Creek – Eppalock Newsle er.

Full Page $100

Half Page $50

Quarter Page $25 Fees charged help cover prin ng costs.

Adver sing deadline for future issues:

Winter 2015 May 29 th

Spring 2015 Sept 1st

Summer 2015 Dec 1 st

Autumn 2016 Mar 4 th Contact us via [email protected]

Thank you to this issuesContributors

John Wells - Axe Creek FireBrigade

Marie Mannes - Eppalock PS

Cathy Watson - Axe CreekLandcare

Steve Williams - Axe CreekLandcare

Steve Weickhardt - AnglicanParish

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Community No ce Board Emergency Contact Numbers

Fire, Police & Ambulance 000(life threatening or time critical emergencies only)

SES Flood & Storm Emergency 13 25 00

Bushfire Information 1800 240 667Information & advice about significant fires, total fire bans

Burn Off Notifications 1800 668 511

Poisons Information 13 11 26

Wildlife Rescue Service 0419 356 433

Useful Websites CFA www.cfa.vic.gov.au

DSE www.dse.vic.gov.au

Vic Roads www.vicroads.vic.gov.au

School Terms2015

Term 1

29 Jan – 27 Mar

Term 2

13 Apr – 26 Jun

Term 3

13 Jul – 18 Sept

Term 4

5 Oct – 18 Dec

Local Churches

St Stephens Anglican & Strathfieldsaye UnitingChurch

920 Wellington St, Strathfieldsaye

Combined Service - Sunday Mornings – 9am

Family Service - Saturday - 5pm

St Joseph’s Catholic Church

Cnr Axe Creek & Strathfieldsaye/Eppalock Rds.

Sunday Mornings – 9am

All Welcome

Axe Creek CFA

Captain Neil Irving-Dusting

5439 6388

http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/


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CFA News From Axe Creek Brigade

A VARIED SUMMER FOR THE FIRE BRIGADE: AT HOME...

At the start of summer we were prepared for a bad fire season, following the low spring rainfall.In our brigade area, thankfully, this did not eventuate — not least because so many in the com-munity had prepared their properties (and themselves) to meet the threatened conditions.Then the cooler conditions and rain during January dampened the fire conditions (pun intend-ed), reducing the potential for major fires in our district.

Up to the time of writing Axe Creek brigade had responded to only five fires in the brigade re-sponse area, all before the start of fire restrictions, and all controlled quickly. One was close tospreading into Pilchers Bridge Nature Reserve, but thanks to good work by firefighters from AxeCreek and neighbouring brigades, and with help from a water-bombing helicopter, it wasstopped in time.

The brigade also attended a motor vehicle accident, and a farm rescue.

...AND AWAY

Others were not so fortunate. Between November and February Axe Creek brigade respondedto 18 calls to assist other brigades. These included major fires at Redesdale, Mia Mia, PastoriaEast, Kyneton and Tooborac.

Brigade members spent long hours at these fires, including overnight shifts.

Members have responsibilities for family and work, so can't always be available when a firestarts. We need sufficient firefighters so that there are always some members available to re-spond immediately, and others for relief crews. If you are interested in joining the brigade,please get in touch with the captain (see the contact details elsewhere in this newsletter).


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WE INTERVIEW THE BRIGADE RISK MANAGEMENT OFFICER

In the last issue we met Jan Mannes, Axe Creek Brigade's Communications Officer. This time weinterview another brigade member with a little-known support role.

Jack Lilley is the Brigade Risk Manager, or as he prefers to be called, Risk Management Officer.How did he come to take on this position, and why does a fire brigade have a Risk Manage-

ment Officer?

Jack, what is your background, and how long have you been involved with the CFA?

"I worked for the Overseas Telecommunications Commission as a Technical Officer, and then Itaught in the TAFE system for many years — electronics, communications equipment and so on.

"When I moved into the TAFE administration system, I developed risk management skills as I su-pervised the external examination system for electronics in Victoria, and also supervised curricu-lum development in electronics and associated areas. Then I found myself at Hawthorn Instituteof Technology, where I designed, managed, and taught in upgrading programs for technicalteachers from developing countries. This job certainly entailed managing risk for the Institute: wehad to make sure things ran properly, so the organisation didn't find itself in a position in whichstudents had not been adequately trained.

"After I retired from Hawthorn, in 1996 my wife and I moved to Axe Creek, where we were nearother family members. My brother persuaded me to join the local fire brigade. Shortly after-wards what was then CFA Region 2 (somewhat similar to the current District 2) sought to intro-duce Risk Management to brigades in the Region. On the basis of my previous work I took on a2-year full time contract position to help brigades develop risk profiles — this was a new area ofwork for the CFA."

OK, can you tell us just what is Risk Management for a fire brigade?

"The brigade needs to identify the risks faced by its community, and then develop plans to mini-

mise the risks, or to treat them."For example, in our area we have risks such as grassfire, bushfire, house fires, fires in communityfacilities such as the school, motor vehicle accidents, and farm accidents. To reduce these riskswe may need to consult with residents, arrange specialist training for brigade members, or per-haps acquire new types of firefighting or rescue equipment. Or perhaps we may need to askthe Council or other authorities to improve access along tracks or to upgrade bridges acrosscreeks.

"Of course managing these risks is not just the brigade's responsibility. We need to help the com-munity to work on ways to tackle its own risks."

This approach sounds very different from just jumping on the fire truck and squirting water on the

flames!"Yes, it's a different way of viewing the fire brigade's role in protecting the community, but onethat's become much more important, especially after the formal enquiries that have been heldafter major fires. Individuals, the community and the fire brigade need to work together to tryand prevent fires starting, and take steps to minimise the resulting damage if they do.

"The older members of some brigades found it difficult to see the value of going through a for-mal process of assessing and documenting the risks faced by their brigades, and the steps tak-en to treat them.

"I remember visiting a brigade some distance away, where the captain and lieutenants werevery negative. 'We don't need outsiders telling us how to run the brigade. We know the district,and how to put out fires, and when we've done it we go home.' I pointed out that they were allof advanced years, and asked how the brigade would manage when they were no longer ac-tive. There was no answer...."


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Well, what does the brigade's Risk Management Officer do?

"The Risk Management Officer facilitates discussions with the brigade officers to assess what arethe most important risks, and what can best be done to tackle them.

"There is a formal process for risk assessment: it takes account of the LIKELIHOOD of an event(such as a haystack fire, for example), and the CONSEQUENCES of the event (in this example,cost of replacement, and possible escape of the fire). In many cases the history of fires and acci-dents in the area is a good guide to future risk."Sometimes people overestimate risks. Another brigade thought bonfires were a major risk. Howmany have you had in recent years, I asked. 'Lots!' How many got away? 'None.' Well, it seemsthat bonfires aren't so great a risk after all. Sounds like you approve of bonfires in the FDP!

"Finally the risks must be properly documented, so the brigade (and particularly future officers)are aware of them. The brigade's risk profile is reviewed periodically, especially with respect tonew developments in the brigade area.

"Most of the time as a local population grows the number of risks increases, but not their nature.Because Axe Creek doesn't have a major community centre (apart from the school and church)we don't have many large risks. It's a different picture in Strathfieldsaye, for example, with theshops, large schools, sports complex and so on, or in Mosquito Creek, with the caravan parks,boat clubs and camp sites."

Is there any outside help for Risk Management Officers?

"Yes, this is one of the roles of the CFA's Brigade Administrative Support Officers, each of whom isresponsible for assisting several brigades across a broad district."

You have been Axe Creek Brigade's Risk Management Officer for several years now. What of thefuture?

"I think it's time for somebody else to take over this position! I hope we'll have a willing person in

time for the brigade elections in 2016. It's an interesting but not overly demanding position. TheRMO needs to know the area, to identify new risks, and to work with the Brigade officers and CFADistrict 2 staff. She or he doesn't need to be an operational firefighter!"

Well, thanks Jack for the insight into another of the 'back-room' roles in a modern fire brigade. Ihope we can persuade someone new to take over the baton from you next year.

YES, IT'S SMOKE ALARM TIME AGAIN!

Once again, the end of daylight saving is your reminder to change the

batteries in your smoke alarms. As winter approaches this is particularlyimportant — history shows that winter is when house fires are more com-mon.

History also shows that working smoke alarms do indeed save lives. Don'ttake a chance! Change those batteries now.


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FROM THE ARCHIVES

Bendigo Advertiser, 7th March 1974

300 BALES OF HAY GO IN BIG BLAZE

On Tuesday night a fire destroyed 3000 bales of Lucerne, meadow haw, a utility and machineryin an attached shed and put a dairy temporarily out of action.

The fire which is believed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion was on the proper-ty of Mt Stanley Somerville, in Taylors Lane, Strathfieldsaye.

It was reported about 2.30am and firemen did not finally clear the area until 9am.

The Mandurang, Axedale, Axe Creek and Bendigo Brigades attended.

Although they saved the dairy, the milking machines were put temporarily out of action and MrSomerville had to milk his cows elsewhere.

The estimated cost of the damage is about $4000.Firemen were so long on the scene because it became necessary to get a bulldozer to spreadthe smouldering mass of straw.

Each time the bulldozer moved a layer, firemen not only had to quell any remnants of fire in thelayer taken off, but also had to make the mass of straw safe enough for the bulldozer to work onagain.

The property is reported to have been insured.


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Eppalock Primary School

What a fantastic start to the year we have had! All the children have settled in beautifully totheir new grades and all teachers have commented on how happy they have been andhow well they are working. Congratulations and well done to all. Thank you also to all theparents for supporting their children and preparing them so well for school.Our prep students, Charli, Henry, Kahlia, Xavier, Charlie, Dylan, Lochi and Caileb have settledinto the school routines with ease and it is wonderful to see all the other students looking outfor them and making sure they feel happy and safe at school. We also welcome Dasha,Liselle and Zachary to our school community.

Our School Values are :Care and Compassion – Care for self and othersHonesty and Trustworthiness - Be honest, sincere and seek the truthRespect - Treat others with consideration and regard: respect another person’s point of

viewResponsibility - Be accountable for one’s own actions, resolve differences in constructive,

non violent and peaceful ways; contribute to society and civic life, take care of theenvironment

Our ‘Values’ focus for this term is: CARE & COMPASSION and at assembly each Monday weare acknowledging students who are working hard to be caring and kind towards others.

Emily RyanPrincipal

Thank you to the families who watered the veggie gardens over the Christmas holidays. Wehave a flourishing garden thanks to you! Here are some of the fruits of your labour.


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Aunty Peach ShowThe whole school joined other primary schools recently for the ‘Aunty Peach Show’ which pro-vided students with a fun-filled learning experience that supports literacy, personal develop-ment and drama, all in an enjoyable, interactive environment.

Centring on the magic of Roald Dahl’s wacky and humorous twisted fairy tales as published inthe “Revolting Rhymes”, this educational show was children’s entertainment at its best.

Along with the animated storytelling, the magic, the visual spectacle and the humour, AuntyPeach also passed on stage terminology and useful tips for drama performance.

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day is a global event held annually topromote the safe and responsible use of digital technol-ogies for children and young people.The theme for Safer Internet Day 2015 was 'Being aGood Bystander’ . To help celebrate, the grade 4/5/6students took part in a Web Conference on Cyber-safety. This was a fantastic session with over 20,000 stu-dents participating in Victoria alone.These types of events are important to participate in toensure our students know how to stay safe in our fastmoving cyber world.


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Axe Creek Community Playgroup

When Friday Mornings 9am - 10.30amWhere Eppalock PS – Old School Building.149 Patons Road Axe Creek

(just a few minutes from Strathfieldsaye)Playgroup is a place for you and your child to interact with other mums, dads, grandparents and care-givers and their children. Playgroup provides opportunities for play and learning. Your child will developnew skills and gain confidence by interacting with other children. No child is too young for playgroup. Allchildren from 0-5 years, including babies, love new experiences and benefit from developing sensory,social and communication skills through activities at playgroup.

Morning Tea & activities provided.Gold Coin Donation

For further information please phone (03) 5439 6366email: [email protected] http://www.eppalockps.vic.edu.au



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Axe Creek Landcare: Improving Our Local Understory & Biodiversity

Axe Creek Landcare group has a new project to enhance wildlife habitat through planting local

understory species on private land. Why is this important? To answer that we need to travel

back in time. More than 100 years ago the landscape from Bendigo through to where Lake Ep-

palock now sits (and beyond) was almost completely cleared of trees. What we see now is a

landscape dominated by regrowth forest and newly regenerating areas. To illustrate this the pic-

tures side by side below show part of the Axe Creek catchment around Pilchers Bridge and Stony

Crossing reserve. The aerial photograph on the left is from 1963 (approximately 50 years ago)

while the satellite image on the right is contemporary. The areas of regrowth are significant and

can be clearly seen.


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This trend towards a “re -vegetating landscape” is common throughout central Victoria and islinked with changing land ownership and associated changes in landuse and community atti-tudes. So why is there increasing loss in native animals, particularly woodland birds? There are acomplex of contributing factors including impact of feral animals and lack of nest sites. Howev-er a key factor is forest degradation (loss of plant diversity) and associated impacts on foodsources for animals. Our local box ironbark regrowth forest and areas that are regenerating are

subject to processes that over time lead to high tree densities (much of the local forest hasgreater than 10 times the number of trees than would have naturally occurred) and recent re-search has empirically proved that this significantly reduces other vegetation and plant biodi-versity overall. These effects are self-evident in the photographs of older (left) and regrowth(right) ironbark forest below.

The landcare

group has recently

secured a grant tosupport the plant-

ing of understory

plants on private

land throughout

the catchment.

Private land still

tends to have low-

er tree densities

and hence is more conducive to understory establishment. Our plan is not to undertake huge

broad scale mass plantings but to support landcare members in establishing a reasonable num-

ber of “mother plants” of a range of local understory species on their properties. These plants

would then fuel natural re-colonization and even establishing small patches can be significant.

In most cases the plants we have selected are local wildflowers and have the additional benefit

of being quite attractive. Improving floristic diversity throughout the catchment helps provide

food to sustain the animal populations and has the added side benefit of attracting birds and

other animals onto our properties where we can see them. When plants are planted they are

guarded but creating small exclusion zones on your property are an even better way to go andthe landcare group has significant experience in how to do this (see photograph next page).

Members of the community are welcome

to participate in the project but to do so

will need to join the group. If you are inter-

ested the Axe Creek landcare group

meets at 8pm on the first Monday of each

month at the Eppalock Primary School (oldbuilding).


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Church News Lent: Not just a time to “give -up” something luxurious…

Being human means looking after all of yourself – body, mind, spirit. To bewhole. This is becoming more important today in a fast world with easy

options to take short-cuts.For Christians, this is an attitude of prayer when our reflections turn to our Creator, the Lord ourGod. We understand that we are not whole, but broken apart in different ways. Anxiety andmental illness, physical ailments and frailty, spiritual weariness and apathy are all symptoms ofthis brokenness. Some we will live with all our lives, others may be healed, while many will grad-ually be treated with care by professionals, even as other brokenness becomes apparent inour lives.

Good Friday is the powerful reminder that the Lord our God, our Creator, is not remote and un-caring, but close and intimately interested in our lives. So much so that he took up life in thisworld as Jesus, the Christ, was persecuted and died upon an instrument of Roman torture. Heknows pain. He knows death. Even greater is Easter Day, when Jesus conquered death androse, fully alive in mind, body and Spirit. In Him Christians hold our hope, and Lent is the seasonwhen we turn to Jesus in prayer and petition for grace and mercy – to make us whole.

So by the time we get to Good Friday we can bring all of our brokenness to the foot of theCross of Jesus. On Easter Day we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection and victory over sin and death.

We invite you to join our Good Friday service at 9am on April 3 rd , to come to the Cross, toacknowledge the reality of our brokenness before God. And we invite you to celebrate with us

on Easter Day (April 5th

) at 9am the new life Christ has won for those who turn to Him in faith.We also run a children’s focused service on Easter Saturday (April 4 th ) at5pm.

All services are at Strathfieldsaye Community Church (920 Wellington St).

Special Religious Instruction (SRI)

I know that SRI classes at both Eppalock and Strathfieldsaye Primary Schools have suddenlybecome unavailable for the most part (a few will run at Strathfieldsaye). I also know that someparents are seeking these classes to be run. As an SRI Instructor until the end of 2014, I can say

that the Department of Education accreditation requirements for SRI Instructors had increasedexponentially in the last six months, making it almost impossible to keep up with them all. This iswhy there are few or no SRI classes available, and we are just as disappointed as anyone.

Strathfieldsaye Community Church is concerned about the loss of these classes, and we arelooking to begin an after-school program that will cover much of the same areas of what wasCRE. It will run at the Church with volunteers (all have Working With Children Checks and PoliceChecks), and with some fun activities and afternoon tea to go along with it. If you are interest-ed in such a program, can you please let me know so we can assess the potential viability ofthis idea.

Rev Steve Weickhardt

Minister – Strathfieldsaye Community Church

Ph: 5439 4817 or [email protected]



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Community News

ommunity Gamelan groupMugi Rahayu is your local gamelan (Javanese music and dance) group. We are fromEppalock and we practice weekly and perform at various cultural events and fund-raisers around the district. No experience required and it ’ s free.

ew members WelcomePractice every Sunday 2:00 pm at 101 Carneys Rd, Eppalock.

Contact Nita or Aaron phone: 54392678email: [email protected]

email us at [email protected]

CHANGE THE CLOCK — CHANGE THE SMOKE ALARM BATTERIES

Remember to fit new batteries to your smoke alarms when you change yourclocks at the end of daylight saving. Be ready for winter — the prime time forhouse fires.

Daylight Savings ends Sunday April 5th.

Working smoke alarms save lives!



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Kids Corner Easter/Mother's Day Hand print Lily Craft

This is a classic spring flower craft. Use hand print cut outs anda pipe cleaners to make beautiful lilies. Equally great for Easteror Mother's Day.

Materials:

white papergreen construction paperpencilscissorsgreen and orange pipe cleaners

tape

Directions:

Fold a piece of green construction paper in halfand trace a long leaf shape. Cut out from the foldso you get a double leaf joined in the middle.Trace your hand on white paper and cut out.Take a short length of orange pipe cleaner andtwist it to the end of a long green pipe cleaner sothe ends stick up like a "V" with droopy ears. This is

the flower's centre.Wrap the hand print around the top of the greenpipe cleaner and tape in place.Poke a hole in the middle of the double laves andthread onto the pipe cleaner stem.Wrap tape around the stem below the leaves so they stay in place.

Source: easypreschoolcraft.blogspot.com

April Fools Day Pranks….

Got Milk?If your milk comes in a cardboard container, add a few drops of food colouring. It's a harmlessApril Fool's joke but the results are pretty colourful.

What's That in Your Apple?For a fruity April Fool's practical joke, get a few gummy worms and carefully poke them into freshfruit, particularly apples. Give mum or dad a wormy apple for lunch and leave a few apples onthe table for friends and family members to snack on.

Spare Change This April Fool's practical joke is old but it still works. Superglue some coins to the sidewalk or anyspot that has a lot of people walking around. Make sure it's in an appropriate place, then watchpeople break fingernails to get the coins.


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Documents

Axe Creek & Eppalock News, Issue 46