Community Catch-Up sharing the latest news with our residents

Griffith City Council ~ Community Catch-Up Advertorial

Dear residents, The beautiful aerial photo below shows an important moment in Griffith’s history, as construction of the St Vincent’s Private Community Hospital Griffith is now well underway. Several years ago, many members of our community championed the cause of establishing a private hospital here and with hard work, planning, discussions, and fundraising, the dream is now a reality. The private hospital is scheduled to be completed and opened in mid-2016, the year our city plans to celebrate in a big way as we commemorate our 100th birthday! I look forward to sharing the many planned events and activities with residents who love this city as much as my family and I do and the visitors we will proudly host. The 2016 Centenary Working Party has created a robust program that will take place around many of our already wonderful annual events such as Griffith’s Easter Party, La Festa, City2Lake, unWINEd, the Sikh Games, and

more. Some of the 2016 key events include the launch of a pictorial history book of Griffith compiled by the Griffith Genealogical and Historical Society and a 2-week International Sculpture Symposium to be held at Pioneer Park Museum with five stone sculptures created as a legacy. A time capsule buried outside Council’ s administration building in 1971 will be raised on our official birthday of August 4, 2016, and a new time capsule will be buried for the future generation. A street parade and weekend of activities will take place on August 6 and 7. Full details are available at www.griffith2016.com.au where you can also read more about Griffith’s history - a brief overview is provided on Page 2. The 2016 organisers are also eager and grateful to have volunteers on board so if you would like to contribute in any way to next year’s big birthday, please contact staff at the Griffith Visitor Information Centre on 1800 681 141. The centre, staffed by a strong and mighty team, has just been named a finalist in the 2015 Inland Tourism Awards

to be held later this month in Broken Hill. I congratulate this team on their excellent customer service and the hard work they put into planning and hosting annual events, including ones that I have I listed above as well as the very popular Festival of Gardens, the Citrus Sculptures and more! We have much to celebrate as we look back on the 100 years of our town. Surely the growth and progress would have surprised John Oxley who explored the district in 1817 and concluded; ‘...there is a uniformity of barren desolation of this country which wearies one more than I am able to express...I am the first white man to see it and I think I will be undoubtedly the last.’We have shared highs and lows in our history but we have always persevered. I look around today and I see a resilient community that marches forward despite challenges or setbacks. I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank our business community and welcome the newcomers who demonstrate confidence in our city and open their doors;

ReDiscovered, a new clothing store, and Eyecare Plus, both on Banna Avenue, Tings Asian Market on the corner of Yambil and Kooyoo streets, the Hot Olive Bistro at The Area Hotel, and Griffith Asian Food Craft on Yambil St. Welcome! As always, we love to hear from residents. Email us at admin@griffith.nsw.gov.au or call Council staff on (02) 6962 8100.Sincerely,Mayor John Dal Broi

History & progress as we celebrate Griffith’s past, present and future

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Earthworks pave way for St Vincent’s Private Community Hospital Griffith

Construction is underway at the St Vincent’s Private Community Hospital Griffith site on Animoo Avenue. Joss Construction took possession of the site on May 13 this year and began earthworks on June 1, which will continue over the next four weeks. Excavation of footings is due to begin soon in preparation for pouring slabs.

Construction of St Vincent’s Private Community Hospital Griffith is now well underway following Joss Construction taking possession of the site on May 13 this year and beginning the significant phase of earthworks on June 1. Joss was awarded the $16M contract earlier this year to build the private hospital following a comprehensive tender and eval-uation process led by TSA Management. The earthworks are expected to continue over the next four weeks, followed by the start of the excavation of footings in prepa-ration for pouring slabs.Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi said that Council, as co-principal with St Vincent’s Health Australia, and local partners of the project, was delighted to reach this signifi-cant milestone in the project.“For more than 10 years, we have dreamed, raised funds, and worked with all the relevant partners to ensure that we can now provide a private hospital for the resi-dents of our region. Thanks to St Vincent’s Health Australia, NSW Health, the Spagno-lo and Casella Family trusts, our commu-nity, and many more who have supported this project, our dream is now becoming a reality,” Mayor Dal Broi said. “I have driven by the site at the corner of Animoo and Wyangan avenues, and I have seen Joss employees hard at work as they prepare to lay the foundation of the hospi-tal,” he added.

The Private Hospital will house a 20-bed in-patient unit and 20, day-only beds with the co-located Murrumbidgee Clinical Teaching & Learning Centre. Combined with the ex-isting Griffith Base Hospital, the interlinked clinical and teaching campus of some 150 hospital beds and related community and primary care infrastructure will provide a critical mass of healthcare services for the people of the Riverina.Other features will include medical consul-tation suites for local and visiting profes-sionals, and therapy and treatment areas. Day surgeries will include ophthalmology, diagnostic endoscopy, day chemotherapy, urology, simple orthopaedics, ENT, general, plastics such as excision of lesions, and dentistry. Inpatient services will include palliative care, respiratory, endocrinolo-gy, surgical urology, gynaecology, ENT, general, and simple orthopaedics such as arthroscopy and vascular such as varicose veins. A Development Application (DA) for the Student Accommodation part of the project is currently being prepared for submission to Council. Works on the Student Accom-modation are scheduled to be completed in June 2016, which aligns with the program for the SVPCHG & MCT&LC project.Council’s General Manager Brett Ston-estreet said Council was pleased to receive the most recent community donation for the private hospital of $100,000 from the

Griffith Rotary Club.“Council recently received a cheque for $100,000 for the St Vincent’s Community Private Hospital Griffith from Rotary Club representatives Greg Murphy and Sam Catanzariti and we are encouraged and delighted by this continued community gen-erosity and support,” Mr Stonestreet said. “Our community has shown drive, passion and commitment by raising over $1M in the past two-and-a-half years,” he added. From donations as small as $10 to dona-tions as big as $100,000 or more, com-munity fundraising has included $100,000 from Peter Woods, proprietor of Milbrae Quarries, a $50,000 pledge from Stuart McWilliam, $50,000 from the Lions Club of Griffith, $50,000 from the Trevisani Nel Mondo organisation, $50,000 from War-burn Estate, $20,000 from Australian Grain Link and Terra Ag Services, $20,000 from Mr Reg Gilbert, more than $26,000 raised from the Twilight Fundraising Dinner held in 2014, and nearly $200,000 raised from the 2013, 2014 and 2015 City2Lake events, organised by the hard work of the Griffith Health Facilities Ltd Fundraising Commit-tee, chaired by Councillor Anne Napoli.The Casella and Spagnolo families have contributed close to $300,000 in fund-raising as well as the land for the project, valued at $1.7 million.In March this year, a Sod Turning and Blessing event was held at the site of the

private hospital at Animoo Avenue.The occasion was attended by sever-al dignitaries including Federal Health Minister the Hon. Sussan Ley, NSW State Health Minister the Hon. Jillian Skinner, Bishop Gerard Hanna of Wagga Wagga, NSW Health officials, St Vincent’s Health Australia Group CEO Toby Hall, CEO of St Vincent’s Health Sydney Robert Cusack, Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi, councillors and staff, and special guests including Member for Murrumbidgee the Hon. Adrian Piccoli and Member for Riverina the Hon. Michael McCormack.The project’s Agreement for Lease be-tween the partners was signed in De-cember 2014 and negotiations with NSW Health are continuing to maximise shared service opportunities between the new hos-pital and Griffith Base Hospital and improve the overall delivery of health services to the people of Griffith.St Vincent’s Health Australia is the larg-est diversified healthcare organisation in Australia’s not-for-profit and Catholic health care sectors, with facilities located across the eastern states of Australia. SVHA has an esteemed reputation for the delivery of high quality healthcare services having achieved outstanding accreditation results for many years with the Australian Coun-cil of Healthcare Standards across the facilities within the group. Learn more at https://svpchg.org.au/home.

Griffith City Council ~ Community Catch-Up Advertorial Proudly Produced by Griffith City Council

Griffith Visitor Information Centre named finalist in Inland Tourism Awards

Griffith City Council has started to roll out Rural Addressing in our local government area. The roll-out is ocurring on a locality-by-locality basis over several months. Rural Addressing is a distance based numbering system used for determining address numbers in rural and semi-rural areas. It is based on the distance of the access point from the road number starting point. This distance is measured in metres and then divided by 10. The number is then rounded to the nearest odd number (for points on the left side of the road) or nearest even number (for points on the right side of the road).Rural addresses have been determined by the NSW state government Land and Property Information (LPI) using geographic information systems and aerial photography. Council is responsible for verifying the addresses in conjunction with property owners. This is done by sending each property owner a letter advising of the proposed

rural address for each individual property together with a form that can be used to notify council of incorrect or missing address points. Currently, rural addresses are made up from all different types of identification and descriptions. Farm names, lot and DP numbers, post office RMB numbers and water allocation numbers are just a few ways people identify their property to other people. This has caused delays and inconvenience for emergency services and the delivery of goods and services to the rural community. Rural addressing provides a standardised means of locating rural properties throughout Australia with a system that is accurate, easy to understand and easy to apply. For more important information, such as how Council determines rural addresses, what to do with rural addresses, and why rural addressing is needed, please visit www.griffith.nsw. gov.au/ra.

Council rolling out Rural Addressing

Griffith’s Visitor Information Centre (VIC) has been named a finalist in the Inland Tourism Awards (INTA). VIC staff will travel to Broken Hill to attend the awards presentation and dinner on Saturday 25 July. Councillor Christine Stead (pictured right), Chairperson of the Tourism Management Committee, said being named a finalist for 2015 is an in-credible achievement for the tourism team and Griffith. “The team at the Visitor Infor-mation Centre along with the Committee, have been working collaboratively with operators to ensure Griffith is identified as a desirable city to visit. To be acknowledged in this way for the work we are doing is a wonderful achievement,” Cr Stead said. INTA provides tourism sec-tor operators the opportunity to gain an insight into their industry and business, achieve recognition for their success, and promote tourism within their region. The awards

acknowledge excellence in tourism in four regional NSW areas; Central, Inland, Murrray and Riverina. Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi congratulated the staff and committee on being named a finalist. “These awards are always very competitive and this is a testament to the hard work and dedication by the staff at the Visitors Centre and the Com-mittee. The Centre is always busy, the staff always friendly and knowledgeable and they

are dedicated to creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for visitors to the region,” Mayor Dal Broi said. Last year, the INTA awards were hosted by Griffith for the first time. The gala event was called A Gondola Journey Masquerade Party and was held at the Griffith Exies. The night attracted guests from Boggari to Broken Hill, Orange to Tamworth, and Sydney to Echuca. Learn more about the 2015 Inland Tourism Awards at www.inlandtourismawards.com.au.Right: Griffith Visitor Informa-tion Centre staff were delighted their centre has been named a finalist in the 2015 Inland Tourism Awards to be held later this month at Broken Hill. Greg Lawrence, Manager Tourism & Economic Development, is pictured with (from left) Mirella Guidolin, Paige Campbell, Karen Kalon, Jane McGrath, & Cathy Agnew. Not pictured; Liana Pe-chini, Amanda De Rossi, Loretta Zanotto and Marie Alban.

The first European to pass through the Griffith area was John Oxley who explored the district in 1817. He was unimpressed with what he saw describing 'the soil a light red sand parched with drought, a perfect level plain overrun with acacia scrub...there is a uniformity of barren desolation of this country which wearies one more than I am able to express...I am the first white man to see it and I think I will be undoubtedly the last.'Charles Sturt passed through leaving similarly negative reports concerning: 'the dreariness of the view ... the plains are open to the horizon, but here and there a stunted gum tree or a gloomy cypress seems placed by Nature as mourners over the surrounding desolation. Neither bird nor beast inhabits this lonely and inhospitable region, over which the silence of the grave seems to reign.'Inhabiting the area at the time were the Wiradjuri people. They regarded the white presence as threatening and unwelcome and killed one of Oxley's party. Their fears proved well-founded. Smallpox quickly wiped out around 60 per cent of the popula-

tion and traditional food sources were soon displaced by European stock. Increasingly harassed they appear to have decided to make an all-out effort to drive the invaders away in 1839. A war ensued in which mas-sacres and atrocities occurred.Samuel McCaughey's successfully devel-oped an irrigation system at Yanco which convinced the government to undertake the construction of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in 1906, which transformed the barren plains into a fertile agricultural oasis. It is now the richest tract of agricultural country in Australia.The waters of the Murrumbidgee are har-nessed by the Burrinjuck Dam, near Yass, and Blowering Dam, on the Tumut River. The two have a combined storage capacity of 2,654,000 megalitres. The water passes through Berembed Weir and is diverted into the main canal, which is 159 km long with a flow capacity of 6500 megalitres per day. Altogether there are 2010 km of supply channels which operate by gravity flow, and another 1391 km of drainage channels servicing some 2500 farms in an area that covers 182,000 ha.

Local settlement started with makeshift accommodation for the men who were building the canal 5km south-east of the present town site. This site became known as 'Bagtown,’ after the old canvas cement bags, which were used for the workers' tents. Facilities were soon added. There was a general store, a co-op, an eating house, a barber, butcher, baker and black-smith.Tango Joe's cordials had a sign outside saying 'Free Drinks Tomorrow.’ Of course, tomorrow never comes. However, accord-ing to legend, a man came along and insist-ed his name was Morrow and Tango kept his word, furnishing him with free drinks.Griffith was designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin according to a radial design, with wide, tree-lined streets, ring roads and parks, although the plan was not strictly adhered to. Shopkeepers shunned the three concentric circles he laid down for the city centre and set up premises along the present main street, largely due to the fact that these blocks were cheaper and closer to the railway station.The town was proclaimed in 1916, the

year the railway arrived, and named after Arthur Griffith, then state minister of public works. The first farms were made available in 1912. Many of the workers were among the first settlers. The residents of Bagtown were initially reluctant to move. However, after World War I, many returned service-men settled on the new farms and there were many Italian migrants, attracted by the similarity of the landscape to that of their home country. They brought with them their traditions of viticulture and market gardening to the immense benefit of the district. They capitalised on and greatly enhanced a winemaking industry which began in 1913 when J.J. McWilliam planted 40,000 grape cuttings on his block at Han-wood. He built the Hanwood Barrel Winery in 1917 to process his grapes.

For more details on Griffith’s history and to view a wonderful collection of historical photos (in addition to the three published below), visit www.griffith2016.com.au and www.facebook.com/griffith2016.

Griffith history in the spotlight as city’s 2016 Centenary nears!