Reflections from the past

Although it is 63 more bookings than last year, Inspector Smith of Echuca police, was pleased with the behaviour of most drivers.

‘’It was a comparatively quiet Easter and accidents were kept to a minimum,’’ he said.

***

Echuca East State School pupils were given an opportunity to let their hair down for Easter.

Senior grades had a fancy dress parade and the junior pupils made Easter bonnets.

It was a chance for them to relax from the build-up to their big mardi gras.

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Three recommendations, including one on the city’s parking machine, from the Echuca Chamber of Commerce, have been referred by the city council to its town planning committee.

The chamber has asked that both off-street car parks in the city be made uniform — either by providing free parking in both or installing a ticket dispensing machine in the Nish St car park.

The city council has delayed a decision on the ticket dispensing machine until the Nish St car park is completed.

There is one already in operation in the High St park.

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The standard of the Goulburn Valley Football League had improved beyond measure and would continue to improve in the 1975 season, according to the league president Mr Jack Arthur.

He put this down to the increase in population of the area covered by the league and the acquisition of Echuca, Rochester and Euroa in recent years.

The league leader expected the Rochester and Echuca clubs both to show improvement this year.

25 years ago March 2000

After 15 years of trying to have Echuca’s loco shed restored, work on the historic building began on Friday.

The $300,000 upgrade is now racing to be completed by the end of June as required by the Heritage Trust funding.

Slate roofing specialists have begun the slow process of removing the tiling, salvaging as much of the original slate as possible.

To ensure authenticity, new slate is being imported from Wales.

The timber roof deck is to be repaired along with general work around the structure, including the removal for repair of the existing cast iron gutters, down pipes and the ridge vent at the top of the roof and repainting the building.

Campaspe Shire has been working with the building’s owners, the Echuca Rich River Development Society, to organise the restoration.

***

With role models like sprinters Cathy Freeman and Patrick Johnston, Echuca-Moama’s Peter Harrison has big shoes to fill, but his times already indicate he is well on track to making it to the athletics big time.

The 12-year-old Echuca Little Athletics Club member is already showing signs that he is capable of reaching his goal, ‘’to be an athlete for Australia at the Olympics’’.

Trained by George Nelson, who coached Noel Hussey to a Stawell Gift, Peter has a swag of medals and holds many records for his age division at the Little Aths Club.

Nelson believes Peter has the ability to be a great athlete.

***

While no definite figure was mentioned, the Victorian Government has formally committed to funding the second Murray River crossing for Echuca-Moama.

Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said the amount set aside for the project would be finalised once the final route for the bridge was decided.

The announcement by Mr Batchelor has calmed fears that VicRoads and the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority were attempting to force a “no frills” bridge using existing infrastructure.

He said the study on the two favoured options, the central and the western routes, would continue.

‘’A planning study is currently being conducted and one of the issues under consideration is the early construction of the bridge to maximise the benefits of a new crossing as soon as possible,’’ he said.

10 years ago March 2015

Ever since he flushed that first dunny in Kenny, Shane Jacobson has been a fixture on small and large screens in Australia.

And the burly bloke was in town on Wednesday to reveal a national scoop about Top Gear (take two) and drop off a Holden Kingswood at the Holden Museum in Warren St.

Not just any Kingswood either, it is the Kingswood which starred alongside him and Paul Hogan in the successful Australian production Charlie and Boots.

Although, Jacobson whispered in a corniest of stage asides, it is actually just one of three used in the filming.

But getting back to his scoop.

Jacobson starred in two seasons of Top Gear Australia and has staged Top Gear Fest for the past five years.

***

Campers on Barmah Island were stranded on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the only bridge connecting the island to the mainland was closed.

Residents of the small town, Kaye and Gerry Moor, said they were appalled at Parks Victoria for placing an ‘‘impossible-to-move’’ barricade in front of the only bridge.

It meant those already on the island — about 3km from Barmah — had to drive through a knee-deep creek to get off.

After being contacted by the Riverine Herald on Wednesday, Parks Victoria said in a statement the bridge would be reopened on Thursday.

It could not confirm whether the bridge would remain open in the future.

Mrs Moor said this week’s closure was a nuisance to campers and she suspects many would not return.

‘‘It’s these attractions which keep our (200-strong) community going,’’ Mrs Moor said.

***

Former Echuca resident and Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell expressed an overwhelming sense of relief upon hearing the not guilty verdict on Tuesday.

The 34 past and present Bombers players were cleared by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal of being administered any performance-enhancing drugs after an AFL and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation lasted more than two years.

But while relieved, he told the Riv it was also ‘‘bittersweet in many respects’’.

‘‘Because it was remembering back to why we were in that position in the first place,’’ he said.

‘‘But it’s good for the players, fans and members.’’