50 years ago January 1975
Echuca district has a serious drug problem, according to Det Sgt J.P. Barritt, of Echuca CIB.
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Det Sgt Barritt said: ‘’There is little about at all that people from the north are bringing down large quantities of the stuff (marijuana) and selling it to unsuspecting youngsters silly enough to use it.’’
He said only fools would say there was not a drug scene in Echuca.
‘’Stuff is readily available for sale. We should make it quite clear this business is serious and an opener for the young to take harder stuff.
‘’Where are all our churches and service clubs, the people who claim to be so vitally interested in our younger generation. They should be educating the young with discussions and films on drug abuse,’’ he said.
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Echuca City Council is to make a bid to have a wax museum set up in Echuca.
It is London’s Wax Museum on the Esplanade, St Kilda, which closed on Monday.
The old building which housed Victoria’s only collection of wax figures is being torn down.
The 50 costumed figures of famous and infamous people are being placed into storage.
The town clerk, Mr McCartney, told this week’s council meeting he had contacted the museum manager.
He had invited him to Echuca for discussions and to inspect possible locations for the display.
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Echuca Football Club players will get their first taste of life under the direction of newly appointed captain-coach Mike Demaine on Sunday.
Demaine will spearhead his first training session at Victoria Park.
‘’At the moment I’ve only set a program for the next couple of weeks,’’ he said.
‘’I would like all of our players to come along and also anyone wanting a game, especially players with Echuca Football League clubs.’’
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Local Government Engineers Association said this week a lack of money is stifling works which would give jobs to thousands of Australia’s unemployed.
The association said planned projects could start ‘’tomorrow’’ if given financial assistance from state or federal governments.
‘’Everywhere councils have projects crying out for completion, projects of real value in the community. But we cannot afford them,’’ LGEA vice-president Mr Peter Parkinson said.
25 years ago January 2000
Keith Berryman was a popular winner of the Murray Shire’s Citizen of the Year award, presented at the Australia Day celebrations in Mathoura.
Warm applause greeted the reading of Mr Berryman’s nomination by former colleague Cr Stuart Anderson.
This applause became event warmer when the Thyra farmer was announced as the winner by Australia Day ambassador Geoff Lawson.
Accepting the award, Mr Berryman, who retired as a councillor last year due to ill health, paid tribute to wife Sylvia and family.
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‘Runners with a drinking problem’ is how the Hash House Harriers are affectionately known.
The Echuca-Moama Hash House Harriers are a group of people that get together to keep fit while having a bit of fun.
The group started up in the area about 12 years ago and stage a run every Monday night at 6pm — in line with every other Hash House Harries in the world.
The original group was formed in Malaysia in 1973, with the philosophy of promoting physical fitness, ridding the body of weekend hangovers, acquiring a good thirst to satisfy it with beer and to persuade older members they are not as old as they feel.
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Donations of $2 or more to Victoria’s Landcare Revolving Loan Fund Ltd will be tax deductible, following approval from the Federal Government.
The decision comes as a boost for the fledgling rural organisation, which specialises in providing low-cost loans to local farmers undertaking environmental works to promote ecologically sustainable development.
‘’This is an innovative new natural resource initiative developed and run by local farmers,’’ Federal Member for Murray Sharman Stone said.
10 years ago January 2014
Echuca Port’s thong tree is a quirky symbol of local generosity and good old mateship.
What started out as an isolated case of a helping hand quickly exploded into a local attraction with thongs of every denomination and colour.
And now this touristic institution is in danger of disappearing — if one man in Adelaide has his way.
The thong tree got its start years ago when Murray River Houseboats employee Danny Simpson nailed a lost thong to a nearby tree in the hope the owner would come looking.
Instead of finding the owner, he had started a fad, and the thongs came thick and fast.
But Adelaide resident Karl Gautam, creator of Facebook page Havymatch, says he has come up with a ‘Tinder for thongs’.
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Right now you could swing a cat and not hit a thing.
But give it a couple of years and McSwain Rd will be home to as many as 40 families.
The eight-stage development could house more than 1000 people across 300 blocks within the next five years.
So businesses tied up with the project are glad to finally be putting shovel to dirt on this side of the river.
‘‘Echuca has not had any new land supply in a long time, pent up demand had overflown to Moama,’’ Eishold Property director Simon Eishold said.
‘‘Echuca is a growing town with no room to grow.’’
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Former district resident and award-winning television producer Joanna Werner will no doubt be shopping for a glitzy gown ahead of the Emmy Awards in New York on February 20.
She has been nominated for her work on series three of the acclaimed teen drama Dance Academy.
Ms Werner is no stranger to success as an AFI and Logie award-winning producer in her career to date, as well as receiving Emmy nominations for earlier series of Dance Academy.
The former Echuca High School student worked with the Rock Eisteddfod Challenge in Sydney for a year before completing a Bachelor of Media Studies at RMIT.
She established Werner Film Productions in 2008 after many years producing live-action children’s and teen drama series which have screened around the world.