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Transition: the latest
Winter picnic
Cygnet Better Futures Inc
Regional Water Scheme boost to Valley
Interest rates promise
Top short films return to Cygnet
National Tree-planting Day
How healthy are your children's teeth?
Welcome to the Classifieds monthly Garden Guide
Opinion - Words that last
New awards promote business excellence
Do you remember?

Stand steady in Kingston
Art and Abel Tasman
Issued
29 July 2010

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Editorial
Transition: the latest
Geeveston

At a recent meeting, the Geeveston Transition Town Initiative discussed trying to make their movement financial, through grant writing for funding. Other ideas included starting a seed-saving network, a community garden, and installing a community owned wind turbine.
Linda Cockburn, one of the group founders, said, “We are pursuing the community owned wind turbine idea, and community gardens. It’s early days yet. If people have visions and ideas for Geeveston, and a low energy future, don’t be shy, don’t hang back, share them with us. Tasmanians already have the skills – they are natural barterers and resourceful people. We can all learn from each other.”
The Geeveston Community Centre has recently undergone renovations, creating a more comfortable and readily accessible meeting venue. Linda says, “We have a bread-and-cheese-making workshop planned for Saturday 31st July. GECO is a good meeting place – come and see us in School Road, Geeveston.” The Geeveston Transition Town Initiative group can be contacted through Geeveston Community Centre (GECO) on 6297 1616.
Franklin
The Franklin Transition Town group is underway, after a lively introduction to the Transition Town model at a community screening of the film “In Transition”. More than 30 people attended a screening at the Palais Theatre in Franklin.
The following lively discussion resulted in the formation of groups to pursue ideas to be applied in Franklin. There was interest in leading some principal Transition groups. The food group will deal with a variety of ideas, including food co-operatives and a community garden. The transport group will explore the possibilities of improving public transport, car-pooling, and fuel alternatives. A community awareness / media and promotion group will assist with public education, while the community currency group will explore the idea of creating a local currency. Alternative finance, including the Local Exchange Trading Systems idea (LETS), has grown out of the worldwide reaction to the precarious situation of globalised economies. The Franklin Transition Team has also started a waste group. Contact Celia Leverton, 0429 931 640 for further details.
Cygnet
Transition Cygnet is planning another get-together following its inaugural meeting on June 27, when nearly 70 people turned up at the bottom pub.
Host Gill Hunt and her staff provided facilities for the screening of two films. The films explained peak oil and the reasons for the Transition movement. Subsequent discussion centred on directions Cygnet can take to meet the challenges of climate change and peak oil.
An exciting aspect of the Transition movement is that there are no hard and fast rules, so each community develops in its own way depending on the interests and skills of those involved.
Judging from the enthusiasm and ideas at the first meeting, Cygnet will doubtless soon have several groups contributing to the resilience and wellbeing of our community.
The next meeting — on Sunday 1st August at 2.30pm, also at the Bottom Pub — will start with a short film followed by a think-tank session to develop directions. It may then be possible to form groups with specific Transition interests.
Don’t go it alone
If you’ve been operating in isolation, join a team. Celia Leverton, the Franklin contact, reminded me of a quote from Bill Mollison, the founder of permaculture: “I can’t save the world on my own – it’ll take at least three of us.”
Merlene Abbott
& Bob Hawkins


Winter picnic
It’s rainy, it’s cold and it’s grey outside. It’s winter in Tassie.
But, far from hiding in their homes with family blocks of chocolate, three hardy local bands are rugging up and stepping out to put on an unusual - and very original - afternoon of music in Franklin.
The Winter Picnic will be held on Saturday 7th August inside the Palais Theatre. It is the brainchild of Huon Valley singer songwriter Amy Kendall.
Amy felt that the cold and gloom outside was no reason the sun can’t shine indoors on a cosy hall full of music lovers.
“I wanted to put on a gig of a different kind, held during the day, in an environment where everyone could feel welcome including families,” Amy said.
“A lot of my friends work full time in the city and it’s not always convenient for them to come out late at night to the traditional music venues like pubs and clubs.
“I thought an event like this, in a beautiful venue like the Palais, would be a perfect opportunity for people to pack a grown-up picnic and enjoy an afternoon out in the wintertime. Basically the kind of gig that I would want to go to!”
Amy Kendall and her band, The Kitchenhands, will be joined by fellow local artists, The Steadfast Shepherd and Dominic Francis.
Amy Kendall has been enthralling Hobart audiences with her angelic voice, floating guitar melodies and insightful ‘storytelling’ lyrical style since her move to the state in 2005. Amy has been playing with The Kitchenhands since 2008. The current line up boasts a cello, guitar, banjo, percussion and three-part harmonies. Her newest EP, A Week of Saturdays was released in 2009.
Amy Kendall and the Kitchenhands have had a stellar 2009/10, playing the Wynyard Bloomin Tulips Festival, Cygnet Folk Festival, Falls Festival, Taste Festival and Qantas National Tourism Awards, as well as regular shows at local venues.
The Steadfast Shepherd is husband-and-wife duo Nathan & Fairlie Collins. Based around acoustic guitar, organ, and vocal harmonies, The Steadfast Shepherd’s songs draw on folk and country traditions to paint stories of times and places.
In 2008, The Steadfast Shepherd moved to Hobart, completed a six-date tour of Japan, and performed in both Melbourne and in their new city. They also self-released their debut five-song CD The Open Sky.
Dominic Francis first stepped out of the lounge room to share his tunes with the world in 2007, and has since been earning a positive reputation on the local folk scene. Honest, witty and insightful, Dominic explores and reflects upon themes such as love, grief, fatherhood and mateship. With a great deal of self observation, it is the clear, emotive lyrics and hidden word plays that absorb the listener on a transparent, humorous and quirky journey.
The debut album Expression of Interest was released in 2009.
So, if you’re looking for the perfect winter pick-me-up, grab your picnic blanket and thermos, pack a good, hearty lunch and relax with an afternoon of laid back original music.
Tickets available at the door $10 or $20/families. Doors open at 12.30pm, with music from 1pm til 4pm. To book phone 0414 286 994 or email
bookings@amykendall.com.au


Cygnet Better Futures Inc
Cygnet has a new not-for-profit incorporated group aiming to promote and develop the sustainable economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being of the Cygnet community. Cygnet Better Futures Inc. will help individuals and groups to apply for community project funding. As an incorporated body, it will be able to auspice and administer grants for unincorporated groups and individuals, who wish to undertake activities for the benefit of the Cygnet community. It will provide regular updates on available grants and will, if appropriate, seek funding in its own right in partnership with other local groups. Community groups can currently apply for funding from:
• Tasmanian Community Fund for community projects in one of two categories – under $10,000 or over $10,000. For guidelines and application details go to www.tascomfund.org. Closes 20th August.
• Caring for our Country Community Action Grants Program for projects with a biodiversity or threatened species focus from $5,000 to $20,000. For details go to www.nrm.gov.au. Closes 31st August.
• Community Capacity Building Grants Program will be available from 31st July – 30th September. Look out for workshops during August. For more information email
cdgrants@dpact.tas.gov.au
• Sport and Recreation Tasmania grants of between $15,000 and $80,000 are available now until 1st Feb, 2011. For more information and guidelines go to
www.development.tas.gov.au/sportrec
If you would like help to apply for these grants, more information about other community grants or to become a member of Cygnet Better Futures Inc please email Helen Pryor at helenpryor@hotmail.com
Helen Pryor


Regional Water Scheme boost to Valley
Huon Valley Mayor, Councillor Robert Armstrong, has voiced his support for the Huon Valley Regional Water Scheme, saying it is the most important project to take place in the Huon Valley in his time as a councillor.
“The benefits that will come from this scheme when completed will keep flowing to our children and their children. By building this scheme we are securing their future here in the Huon Valley.”
Councillor Armstrong’s comments come following recent criticism of the scheme, focused on plans to connect Cygnet to the pipeline.
“It amazes me to read comments suggesting the existing supplies are adequate,” Cr Armstrong said.
“I have lived in Cygnet for most of my life and I know about the water shortages and restrictions that are too much a part of life there.”
“I remember a particularly bad summer in 2000 when we all but ran out of water.”
Cygnet’s two main storages on Grey Mountain were virtually empty due to poor rainfall in the months leading up to summer. Despite severe water restrictions and the fruit processing plant ceasing operations to conserve water, Cygnet still needed an additional 200,000 litres a day to meet demand.
As a last resort the council planned to transport water from Huonville and pump it into the Cygnet system. That emergency measure would have come at a cost of $10,000 a week.
“I had young mums come up to me with bottles of brown, mucky water that had come out of their taps. They couldn’t wash their babies clothes in it because the washing came out brown,” said Councillor Armstrong. The other major benefit is the return of environmental flows to the rivulets that are currently used for the supply. The scheme will reduce pressure on several degraded creeks and rivulets by using a single sustainable water supply from the Huon River, returning around one gigalitre of water back to these overstretched environmental sources. That’s about 400 Olympic swimming pools of water that will be returned in environmental flows to improve biodiversity. The Huon Valley could be facing water restrictions again this summer with some ares of southern Tasmania experiencing their warmest and driest June on record.
This year the Huon Valley has had just 600mm of rain. The dry autumn and winter means Cygnet may require water restrictions this summer.
“The simple fact is that if we have no significant rain to fill the dams, we are going to run out of water,” Cr Armstrong said.
Cygnet, like much of the Huon Valley, has endured water restrictions every summer between 1999/2000 and 2008/09. When completed in 2012, the Huon Valley Regional Water Scheme will provide a reliable potable water supply to the Huon Valley community.
Construction and operation of the scheme is now the responsibility of Southern Water, with planning and construction still in its early stages. “They’ll do a great job and I look forward to the day when it’s finished,” Cr Armstrong said.
Huon Valley Council
Media Release



Interest rates promise
Sometimes politicians pretend they can influence interest rates. They might claim at election time that they can put downward pressure on interest rates – as John Howard did in 2004. “I will guarantee that interest rates are always going to be lower under a coalition government,” said the then PM. Whereupon he suffered six interest rates rises between the time he made the promise in 2004 and the 2007 election. Now it seems the current Leader of the Opposition is daring the Fates again. In an interview on Sky News Mr Abbott was asked if he could guarantee his policies would put downward pressure on interest rates, and he replied: “Absolutely I do.”
Funny thing, that!
Just two days later, Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens was taking questions at the Australian Business Economists’ conference when a creative young journo from the Daily Telegraph stood up to put his question. “My question today requires a bit of audience participation,” he told a bemused but accommodating Stevens. He turned to the gathered economists and said “Please raise your hand if you believe one side of politics can apply more downward pressure on interest rates than the other.”
There were 370 economists in the room, and amid chuckles and guffaws, not a single hand was raised. Pushing his luck, the journo – John Rolfe – turned back and asked Stevens, “Governor, therefore my question to you is: do you agree with the consensus view of the room?” – more laughter. “I have two words,” replied Stevens: “No comment!” – more laughter still.
Steadfast and unwavering
Glenn Stevens then pressed his fiercely independent representation of the Reserve Bank as immune from political pressure, stating categorically that if interest rates needed to go up, they would go up. “The Board will meet, consider all the issues for the economy, and do its job. What else would people expect?” he said.
Strong words from Stevens. Game man Tony Abbott, to believe, despite the lesson of history that he could influence this Governor who showed in 2007 that he would not be intimidated, and certainly not influenced by the political needs of either party.
And so much for any leader guaranteeing that interest rates will be lower under his government than the other’s. It just doesn’t work like that.
John Fleming


Top short films return to Cygnet
Prize-winning films and stand out favourites from this year’s St Kilda Film Festival Top100 Australian shorts will be shown this Friday in Cygnet Town Hall Supper Room from 6.30 – 9pm.
Highlights include Best Short Film Tomorrow, directed by Simon Portus, produced by David Curzon and starring Leah Purcell. The film tells a compelling story about the meeting of a country town teenager and a businesswoman on her way to Brisbane. Simon Portus picked up Best Director for his role and Laura Davies won the Best Actor award.
We will also get to see the Best Animation winner Ink. Directed and animated by Justine Wallace, the stylised animation follows the search for a lost toy, a stolen childhood and a girl spray-painting the streets. Ink also won Best Achievement in Screenplay and Best Achievement in Sound Post Production.
Winner of the Festival Audience Favourite is Gemma Lee’s The Wake which stars Angus Sampson and Pippa Black. Angus Sampson also appears in Celestial Avenue, winner of the Audience and Craft Awards, which tells the story of Kath, a young women who has been looking for love in all the wrong places, until she finds herself in Chinatown. This funny 20-minute film is unlike anything you’ve ever seen Sampson in.
A unique documentary, Helmut’s House is a recounting of filmmaker Jess Dickenson’s encounter with 89-year-old Helmut, an original character leading an unconventional life in the wilderness. Helmut has lived alone and remote for nearly 40 years in a hand-built house on the bed of one of the largest rivers in the country.
For more information visit www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au. Tickets cost $15 or $10 for Art Council Members and Concession. Films are unclassified so persons under 15 will not be admitted unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
The Cygnet Community Arts Council is bringing this one to you, so bring a cushion for your chair and some coins for a cuppa and a slice of something nice. See you there!
Frances Butler



Concert and cakes
What a combination – the perfect recipe for a wintry Sunday afternoon.
The Huon Valley Concert Band is offering this tempting mixture on 8th August at the Ranelagh Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, from 2pm.
The family concert will present music spanning genres and eras from the past to the present, from the boisterous to the reflective.
Several new players have recently joined the band, and the addition of percussion and euphonium and extra trumpet and flute players, has boosted its depth to an enormously satisfying degree.
The band will play two brackets, of about 40 and 30 minutes respectively, with a short break in between – and then comes the feast! All the kinds of sweets and savouries you could imagine, with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cordial.
Admission is only $5 for adults, and free for children under 12. Who would want to miss it?
Enquiries: Desley, 6266 3148; Lesley, 6264 2664
Lesley Parker


National Tree-Planting Day
Winter is wonderful. Once we have passed the winter solstice, and the worst of the cold weather is over, we can look forward to spring. Before that, there are terrific events to herald the new season, and the regeneration we all love. You guessed it. It’s National Tree Planting Day.
Vall ey Planting
In the valley, National Tree-Planting Day is being held on different dates at different sites. Landcare groups have exciting working bees and get-togethers planned on Sunday 1st August. The Mountain River Landcare Group will be holding a working bee/tree-planting session at the Mountain River site, at Bennetts Road Bridge, 594 Mountain River Road. The session starts at 10.30am and is followed by a BBQ at the Mountain River Hall. The Nicholls Rivulet planting session begins at 11.30am at the bridge, at the junction of Underwood’s Road and Nichols Rivulet.
Huonville Girl Guides have organized a get-together/tree-planting day at Emma Haswell’s farm/sanctuary Brightside. The tree-planting at Brightside is a special occasion for local Girl Guides. Celebrating 100 years of operation, the combined Geeveston and Huonville Girl Guides groups will each try to plant “100 trees for 100 years”. According to Ann Brittain, Huon District Girl Guide Leader, the 200 hundred trees to be planted at Brightside, mark a very special occasion. The guides’ enthusiasm for tree-planting is part of their participation in the future of the valley.
Huonville
In Huonville, the Huonville Land care group will host a tree-planting event at the Flood Road site for the Year 5 class from Huonville Primary School. The morning of fun begins at 10am with planting, and finishes at 12pm, after hand-washing (of course!) drinks, lamingtons and jam drops. Happy National Tree-Planting Day!
Merlene Abbott

How healthy are your children's teeth?
A federal government report on the dental health of Australian children has claimed that nearly half of Australia’s six-year-olds have a history of decay in their baby teeth.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, Dental health of Australia’s teenagers and pre-teen children: The Child Dental Health Survey, Australia 2003-04, provides national information on the dental health of children attending school dental services in Australia.
The research examined the dental data of 250,000 children from all states and territories except New South Wales. The report showed that decay is relatively common in children and teenagers within Australia.
The report claims that nearly half (48.9%) of six-year-old children had a history of decay in the deciduous (‘baby’) teeth, that is, one or more decayed, missing and filled deciduous teeth.
On average, six-year-old children had two decayed, missing and filled baby teeth per child.
Reasons for the high figures include increased intake of acidic foods, including soft drinks, which dissolve the teeth. Fruit juice and soft drinks are high in sugar and acidity. These sugars eat away at the enamel that protects teeth, causing tooth decay. Inadequate brushing was also a major risk factor for decay. Other reasons may include: changes in dietary patterns including less drinking of fluoridated mains water, increased snacking, especially on processed foods with high sugar and carbohydrate content, an increase in sweetened beverage consumption (soft drinks, sports drinks, and acidic juices in baby bottles and sippy cups), lower consumption of fruits and vegetables and changes in school dental programs.
To promote oral care during Dental health Week, 1-7th August, the Huon Valley Council’s Children’s Services Unit will be holding a Community Playgroup session about how to prevent tooth decay in children. The session will be on Tuesday 3rd August from 9.30 at Children’s Services, 91-93 Main Road, Huonville.
As part of the session, the Council in association with the Huon Community Health Centre has provided the following guidelines for how to care for your children’s teeth.
As parents we all want the best for our children, but our children rely on our choices of food and drink and oral hygiene habits.
Tooth decay is preventable
Parents/carers should be good role models and have healthy gums and teeth by brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. This reduces the risk of transmission of decay-producing bacteria to baby and children. Decay-producing bacteria in the mouth use sugars from the diet to produce acids that attack the outer layer of the teeth and cause cavities. Eating sugary snacks and foods promotes more acid attacks, and a higher likelihood of decay.
Bacteria + sugars + acid + teeth = decay
Early childhood decay is a form of tooth decay that develops when sugars (present in milk, cordial, honey and other liquids and foods) are in the mouth often and for long periods. It can start after the first tooth appears. Prolonged comfort sucking increases the risk of early childhood decay. Remember every child can have a sparkling and healthy smile!
Tips to avoid early childhood tooth decay
• Brush your baby’s teeth gently morning and night with a soft, small brush as soon as the teeth appear.
• Use a pea-sized amount of low fluoride toothpaste from 18 months.
• Encourage baby to spit and not rinse. This helps the fluoride strengthen the teeth.
• Introduce a cup from 6-8 months and wean from the bottle at 12 months.
• Bottles are for water, milk or formula.
• Sippy cups and bottles are for water.
• Try to wean to a cup from 12 months. Tap water (boiled until 12 months) is the best drink in-between meals and at bedtime.
• Offer tooth-friendly foods and liquids for snacks and meals from six months.
• Offer sugary foods at mealtimes.
• Have your child rinse out with water if brushing is not possible. This should not replace cleaning morning and night.
• Lift the lip every month to look for early signs of tooth decay. Check around the top of the tooth for signs of whitish lines along the gum line, or brown or yellow spots that don’t brush off. If you see any, seek dental advice immediately.
• Don’t put Nutella, honey or any sweet food on a dummy.
• Limit juice to once a day at a meal time. One cup of orange juice may contain up to four oranges.
• Offer fresh fruit and vegetables.
• The frequency of sugars in the diet (snacking on sugary foods continually) will be more damaging to teeth than the quantity.
• It’s much better to eat biscuits or lollies all at once and then clean your teeth.
• Treats don’t mean sweets. Try stickers or small toys or read a book.
• Take your child for a dental visit by their first birthday. Talk about the trip in a relaxed manner, and avoid talking of negative experiences. The dental professional will make your child’s visit a fun and positive experience that will be informative and helpful for the parent.
If you would like learn more about how to best care for your children’s teeth then join Moriah and Tilly the Cow from Huon Community Health Centre at the Huon Valley Council’s Community Playgroup. The Playgroup session runs from 9.30am -11.30am Tuesday 3rd August. Everybody is welcome.
Huon Valley Council
Media Release


Welcome to the Classifieds monthly Garden Guide
It’s easy to get confused about gardening if you’ve just started doing it and you never had a dad who spent all his weekends out in the back yard.
When I first moved to the Huon Valley, I asked my best friend what I should be planting and when. She promptly gave me a moon planting calendar. “I think I’ll skip it”, I said, “I want to plant by sunlight.” “No, not moonlight,” she replied, “This tells you on what day of the moon cycle you should plant.” For many years this calendar lived proudly on the toilet door while I painfully tried to follow its mysterious instructions. These days, I store the moon calendar where I store my moon crystals, my table of lunar influences on my horoscope and my other moon paraphernalia – shredded in the compost pile with the vegie scraps – so it will one day be of real benefit to my vegie garden. (Don’t panic – the moon calendar was printed with natural dyes, so I’m sure the compost was OK).
And it got worse, because next this girlfriend gave me The Gardener’s Book of Companion Planting, telling me how my cabbages “love” my carrots and how they “hate” my zucchini. Love? Hate? It seemed there was more fear and loathing happening in my vegie garden than in a full series of Desperate Housewives.
Next she gave me a Jacqui French gardening book. I followed Jacqui’s advice and planted neat little rows of lettuces and carrots (it was June). Watching those brave little lettuces slowly freeze to death made me think that maybe I needed a new best friend to give me advice. These days I love Jacqui French, but if I wanted to learn how to garden in Southern Tasmania, I wouldn’t read a book by someone who lives in a much warmer climate. That would be like reading a book by Albert Einstein, to help you figure out how to programme the DVD player. The guy knows his stuff, but is it really the stuff you need to know?
I realised I needed help, so I turned to local vegie growers here in Tasmania, with dirt under their fingernails and generations of feeding families from their gardens. I turned to the gurus of Tasmanian gardening - Peter Cundall, Steve Solomon and Paul Healy. Slowly I learned how to grow a garden.
And so now here at the Classifieds we are pleased to introduce our own contribution to your gardening. At the end of each month we’ll give you a friendly reminder of what tasks lie ahead in the garden over the next month. We’ll tell you what we’ve tried, what worked and what hasn’t worked. We’ll give you a few laughs as well, because let’s face it, gardening can be more heart breaking than a 14-year-old’s first romance.
And we want to hear from you. After all, the Huon and Channel have more expert gardeners per square kilometre than Melbourne has cafes. So please, write in and tell us if you agree with our suggestions, if you have other ideas or just want to share your own gardening stories.
Naomi Edwards
 
Garden Guide - August
Some years ago I went to buy seed potato. At the first shop I was told “Sorry you’re at least two weeks early for seed potato, come back in a fortnight”. I rushed up the street only to be told, “Sorry we’ve sold out of seed potato for the year. You should have come much earlier”. Totally confused, I went to the local hardware shop and pleaded with them to tell me when I should be planting my early potatoes. “Sorry, we don’t have any potato seed in stock,” they replied, “but when we do, that’s the right time to plant them”.
So when the heck is the right time to plant your early potatoes? The answer is, unfortunately, it depends. You can plant them from early July if you have somewhere warm and dry-ish (i.e. well drained and North facing) so they won’t rot when (and if) the winter rains come. But the best time to get them in is August. I stagger my pink eye plantings from July through to the end of August so that if the early ones get nipped by frost I can still have some for Christmas.
If you haven’t got them in already, August is your very last chance for broad beans (again, make sure their feet won’t get too wet). Planting broad beans this late makes them very susceptible to rust and mould later on. Some people plant peas in late August but generally peas planted a bit later catch up with the earlier plantings and are stronger.
Much as I love potatoes and peas, my favourite August garden job is sowing all my heat-loving seeds into little pots. After about 20th August, you can start your tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins, zucchinis and chillis off from seed on the kitchen window sill. Yes, this may involve a full kitchen renovation to achieve sufficient window space, or alternatively you can use every window ledge in the house, hot water cupboards, underwear drawers, bath-tubs and your room-mate’s bed (not recommended). Just don’t forget where you’ve put them – last year I forgot about the tomatoes I had germinating on the high shelf in the hot water cupboard and ended up with one foot high translucent space aliens, not tomato seedlings.
Naomi Edwards
 
August Tasks
Still time to plant rhubarb, strawberry runners, raspberry canes and of course, all your bare-rooted deciduous trees can go in now, but get them in well before the end of the month.

Plant pink eyes and peas.
From August 20th – start heat lovers (tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins, zucchinis and chillis) off indoors.

Keep the feed up to your animals if they are starting to get hungry as the grass runs out.

When the buds on your peaches and nectarines start swelling (normally in late August), give them a spray with a
Bordeaux or Burgundy mix to prevent leaf curl.
 
Tip of the month - stonefruit sprays
Just before bud burst peaches and nectarines can be sprayed with one of the following mixtures to help prevent leaf curl and brown rot. Always use plastic containers for mixing. Although these sprays have been used for many years by gardeners please use carefully to protect yourself and the environment. The use of warm water will help the materials dissolve quicker.
Bordeaux mixture
To make 5 litres of spray dissolve 50gm of builders lime in 2.5 litres of water. Dissolve 50gm of copper sulphate in a second 2.5 litres of water. Keeping the lime mix agitated pour it into the copper sulphate solution and mix together. Keep the mix well agitated to prevent settling. Use within a couple of days.
Burgundy mixture
Is essentially the same as Bordeaux with washing soda substituted for the lime.
 
Hint of the month
Buy all your certified seed potato now, even though you won’t plant the main crop til September, because, yes, the stores do seem to run out very early.
Words that last
I was in my early twenties and teaching in a small town on what was generally described as the ‘bald-headed prairies’ of Alberta, Canada, when US Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968. Brother John F Kennedy had been cut down just five years earlier, and Dr Martin Luther King – clergyman, activist and leader of the American Civil Rights movement – had been shot and killed by an assassin two months before Robert. It was an ugly, troubled time in the US with powerful racial tensions running riot. Robert Kennedy, by then presidential candidate, broke the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King just an hour after the event when he arrived at Indianapolis airport and, against the advice of his minders, addressed a highly agitated, mainly coloured crowd awaiting his arrival. “It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it’s not the end of disorder,” he told them, prophetically, in an address for which he is still remembered. Just 62 days later, he too was assassinated.
From highs to lows
The day of his assassination produced some words I’ve remembered equally well as those he had spoken – for different reasons – for 40 plus years. “Somebody knows something, somebody knows something about that family!” sniped a no holds barred ultra-conservative in the staff room – someone who had moved to backwoods Alberta from an all-white village of around 100 people in backwoods Nebraska, a short distance from the Republican River. Maybe a sign of those times, it was an ugly insinuation that suggested there was something very sinister about the Kennedy family that was now being dealt with – perhaps even appropriately. It was one of those emotive, irrational comments that people might make when whatever reasoning they have deserts them, and when an all-defeating ignorance has the last word. There was no way of responding to such an outburst. I knew that any disagreement with her comment would have had her instantly label me, a newly-arrived stranger in the town, as ‘one of ‘them’. Such were the times; witch-hunter Senator Eugene McCarthy had been dead for less than ten years, but his spirit could sometimes still be heard and felt in small-town North America.
Train of thought
Those words from the 1960s came back to me through a pretty circuitous path – when I heard some miners from WA being asked on radio what they thought of Julia Gillard – and if they would vote for her. One after the other they said they couldn’t, but no one could say why. Then one of them decided she was a ‘Pom’, as he said, so you couldn’t vote for her. His mates enthusiastically chimed in to agree with his ruling. Case closed. This lowbrow interview was broadcast on radio; it must’ve been a slow news day. I wonder how the interviewees would have reacted to being informed – just for the record – that Tony Abbott was actually born in the UK, too. And in London, not Wales. Poor Julia: talk about the sins of the parents being visited on their children! Just four years old when her struggling Welsh family brought her here. That makes her more Australian than I am – having arrived here from the northern hemisphere – when I was a whole seven years old, and fiercely Australian ever since.
But it wasn’t the ruling of the WA miners that took the cake, so to speak. The doozey came later. Before Julia ever became PM, I was told by a very English-spoken person at a social encounter that “Julia needs elocution lessons” – at which point I led with my mouth, firmly stating my preference for her purposeful and controlled speech to anything that might train her to properly enunciate ‘the rain in Spain falling mainly in the plain.’ So why did I jump so readily to her rescue? I think that on hearing that judgement I felt as protective and insulted as Yabba did when the MCC was body-lining our Australian cricketers. Yabba – Stephen Harold Gascoine – was the Aussie legend whose voice used to thunder around the SCG in the 1930s. One memorable day when England captain Douglas Jardine started swatting flies, Yabba riled by the injustice that was dominating the ‘game’, counselled him from the Hill to “Leave our flies alone, Jardine! They’re the only friends you’ve got here!” And what riles me, re Julia, is the trite commentary of those obsessed with the trivia of hair, clothes – and accent. The sooner they get over it, the better. Yabba would’ve given them one of his immortal serves…
John Fleming

New awards promote business excellence
New awards have been launched to recognise business excellence in the Kingborough municipality.
The inaugural 2010 Kingborough Business Excellence Awards are an initiative of the Rotary Club of Kingston, in partnership with the Kingborough Council and the Kingborough Community Enterprise Centre.
Chairman of Kingston Rotary’s Vocational Service Committee, Terry Warren, said the awards aim to promote economic growth and employment in Kingborough.
“Kingborough has some 600 businesses in the municipality and this number is expanding, reflecting our fast-growing population”, Mr Warren said. “Rotary believes it is important to recognise and encourage business excellence because this will promote a vibrant local business community and drive further economic growth in our municipality.”
The 2010 Kingborough Business Excellence Awards have five categories: retail, primary industry, manufacturing, tourism, services (including trades and community service).
Kingborough Mayor, Dr. Graham Bury, encouraged all businesses with their principle place of business located in Kingborough, to consider entering the awards.
“The awards are open to all businesses, large and small, and provide an opportunity to gain recognition for innovative practices and excellence in business leadership.” Mayor Bury said.
“As well as recognising business achievements, council also hopes that these awards will provide inspiration and role models for other businesses. In addition, the awards will highlight that Kingborough is an attractive place in which to establish and grow a business.”
For further information and to obtain an entry form for the 2010 Kingborough Business Excellence Awards, please contact:
Terry Warren 0419 113 397 or David Cleary 0408 299 200 or download an entry form from website: www.rotaryclubofkingston.org.
Entries close Friday 27th August. Winners will be announced on Wednesday 6th October.


Do you remember?
Until 60 years ago Australia was Australia, if you grasp my meaning. It was a privilege to live during that time. It was the time of ‘On a sheep’s back.’ Aussie Man wore grey flannel trousers, and a white open-neck shirt, carried a Gladstone bag containing the daily paper and a bottle of beer, and rolled his own cigarettes. He also owned a second-hand car, either a T Model or A Model Ford, or a Chevrolet or even an old Jaguar. After a week of hard graft, he could be found at the local footie ground supporting his team before spending a few hours at the pub with his mates.
He never had to lock his car, in fact usually left the keys in the ignition, that is if there was an ignition key. He never locked the doors of his house.
Inevitable changes
Back then milk was delivered early morning, mostly in bulk to a Billy can left on the front porch, as was the bread. There were no super markets no huge shopping centres or malls, no bottle shops. You purchased your grog across the bar at your local pub. There was no Tote or TAB, only the SP Bookies, around the back of the pub. And – heaven! – no television. Or even poker machines. For entertainment there were the occasional wonderful bush dances, the travelling boxing show or even the once-a-year local show, or rodeo. On the minus side there was the six o’clock swill at the pub, or the chook raffle, with said chook or joint of meat, unfrozen and possible sitting on the bar all afternoon. People smoked in eating places as well as in the cinemas, and public transport was usually only the local taxi service. When there were trains they were mainly either steam locomotives, or evil smelling diesels engines. Heating in the carriages of the country trains was a metal foot box full of sand which had been baked in an oven. There were very few restaurants as we know them today.
Change from a pound
But there were cafes, which served steak and chips and little else. When it came time to fill up the tank on your old banger, then the bloke at the service station would not only do this for you with a smile and a chat, he would also check the oil level and even the tyre pressures,
while you just sat in the car, discussing the weather, wool prices or how Old Joe had recently caught a 12-pound trout in the pool under the wooden bridge. And there was some change out of your pound note. But all of the above has changed dramatically and I wonder how many of you out there would love to return to those times. For many reasons I know I would, but as the saying goes, nothing is for ever.
More developments
Reading recently about another proposed shopping centre in Kingston, it brought to mind just how different this area was as recently as 15 years ago. It has many advantages, but there are also many disadvantages, most of which affect our younger generation. It does however have an enlightened and well managed local council who together with local service clubs are doing their best to address many of these issues. Both the astute planning and the advent of these developments must have a very positive effect for our young. There will be more jobs, and hopefully, more reasons for them to stay a while longer on this beautiful island before they inevitably spread their wings. In addition other benefits will most definitely flow, such as an improved transport and road system.
Mike Bowyer


Stand steady in Kingston
Osteoporosis Tasmania (incorporated under Arthritis Tasmania) announced today that it will be hosting an information session on osteoporosis and falls management in Kingston, as part of National Healthy Bones Week.
Healthy Bones Week will run from 1st to 7th August nationwide. To highlight the week a session will be held in Kingston to educate people about Osteoporosis and to give them the knowledge to help prevent falls in and around the home.
Osteoporosis is a very common condition in Australia, which affects both men and women. It is estimated that one in two women and one in three men aged over 60 will have an osteoporotic fracture. Osteoporosis is a silent disease – there are no symptoms until a bone breaks.
Jackie Slyp, Osteoporosis Tasmania Chief Executive Officer, said “This is an excellent opportunity for people to learn more about the condition and take a step towards taking some more control over preventing it or managing it. This session will be of interest to young and old. Many management strategies should be employed from a very young age to ensure healthy bones later in life.
We have been able to secure some excellent speakers for the day including optometrist Derek Fails who will speak about vision and fall prevention. We will also have physiotherapist Margaret Mollison demonstrate the correct way to get back up again after a fall.”
The session will be held on Wednesday 4th August at the Kingborough Council Chambers. Entry is via gold coin donation. It is essential that interested people ring and register with Arthritis Tasmania on 1800 242 141 as numbers are limited. All participants receive a free copy of the booklet Stop the Next Fracture. The session will commence at 10am.
 
Art and Abel Tasman
“I’m going to show you how well-raised we are in Lutjegast,” said Mark Kooistra at a reception in his honour as winner of the Abel Tasman Art Prize. Mark was expressing his thanks to the organising committee, obviously very happy to be in Tasmania and keen to do his home country, the Netherlands, his home-town, Lutjegast, and his family proud. But his comment raised a smile or two, especially from mothers who recognise the line: “Do your best. Make us proud. Show them how well you’ve been brought up!” Indeed, maybe even Abel Tasman’s mother farewelled her son thus as he set off to discover the great South Land in 1642. Lutjegast is the town in the municipality of Grootegast, Holland, where Abel Tasman was born, and 2009 was the first time the ATAP has been won by someone from this small town.
The Dutch connection
With many Dutch Tasmanians having settled in Kingston in the early days of post-war migration to Australia, Kingborough and Grootegast have enjoyed a long-standing sister-city relationship. Those early migrants overcame many hardships, including homesickness, and made a place for themselves in their new country where their contribution has been enormous. At the same time, they’ve managed to maintain links to the old country and build a friendship between the old and the new that benefits both. While Abel Tasman was sailing south, nearly four centuries ago, some of his countrymen were back home creating a heritage of artworks in the Netherlands, artists the like of Vermeer and Rembrandt. Tasman’s epic voyage built for him a reputation as lasting and sound as those of the artists back home. Ten years ago the Abel Tasman Art Prize was conceived as a way of celebrating both the voyage to a new world, and the art of the old world the Dutch migrants left behind and the new one that welcomed them.
The competition
The ATAP is a collaboration between the Dutch Australian Society, Kingborough Council and the Education Department. Every second year it offers the opportunity for a young Tasmanian artist to travel to Grootegast, fostering the links between Kingborough and Grootegast and gaining an appreciation of Dutch culture and the social and physical environment. And in alternate years, a young artist from Holland enjoys the reverse: a chance to travel to Kingborough, to learn about Australia, especially Tasmania, and to enjoy the best experiences our municipality has to offer in hospitality and sightseeing. Last year’s winner was Mark Kooistra. His winning entry features a raven observing aborigines by the light of fire, stars and moon. The aborigines are unaware of the threat European settlement brings to their lives, but at the same time the painting evokes a sense of exhilaration, of new and wonderful opportunities in a new land.
Working to criteria
The Abel Tasman Art Prize is themed ‘Journeys’, highlighting Tasman’s epic voyage into the unknown and symbolic of the journeys, both physical and metaphorical, that ordinary people may experience during their lifetime. The competition is open to Year 11 and 12 students up to 20 years of age in southern Tasmania who are capable of travelling overseas independently. The artwork, which can be part of the student’s body of work for pre-tertiary assessment, must be accompanied by an artist’s statement of at least 250 words. Finalists are interviewed to determine communication skills, capacity to interact with people in the host country, the depth of awareness of historic and cultural links between the Netherlands and Tasmania and an ability to work to enhance these links. This year it’s Tasmania’s turn to choose a prizewinner. The deadline for registration is October 1st with work submitted in December, immediately following completion of College assessment.
Mark’s programme
Mark is hosted by two families while in Kingborough and many others are involved in making sure he has a good time. His activities include air-walking, rock-climbing, mountain-bike riding; enjoying Mt Wellington, Salamanca Market, a cruise on the Derwent and the Bruny Island Cruise, courtesy of sponsor, Pennicott Wilderness Journeys; visiting local artists, galleries and museums and, of course, the Abel Tasman Monument. At his welcome reception Mark did Lutjegast and his upbringing proud, and had lots to look forward to. His farewell reception in August will be tinged with the sadness of leaving new friends, but full of memories of the trip of a lifetime for a 17-year old enjoying his first overseas trip. There’s no doubt he would recommend the competition to all young artists!
Judy Redeker
Visit www.kingborough.tas.gov.au - community and recreation. Ask your art teacher for a brochure. Or contact Kingborough Council on 6211 8200.