Issue No. 18 Published by the Harrietville Community Building Initiative December 2009

The Harrietville Times

In this issue: -

Domestic Fire Protection page 2

Connie’s Snakebite page 4

Green Waste Project page 6

Funding Collaboration page 7

Community update: -

AMG Rugby Trip page 4

CBI Thank You page 5

Bluegrass Charity page 7

Primary School page 8

Museum News page 8

Enjoy the Harrietville Times in full colour.

Help save money, save ink, save paper, save the planet.

Register to receive your newsletter electronically at philhorner@bigpond.com

AMG ‘s Greg Smith and ABC/SBS film maker

Season’s Greetings....

Another year has slipped by and we thank the

many contributors and supporters of our

newsletter. Merry Christmas and a Happy

New Year to you and all of your loved ones.

May Mother Nature be kind as we prepare for

fire and flood as and when it may occur.

Fire protection on-the- cheap — a Harrietville project-in-progress.

My father, Jock, built his own home in Harrietville. It’s 2 storeys and the lower walls are stone and concrete. Over the years it became clear that bushfires in the area were getting more frequent. Controlling and managing vegetation growth on the block is a vital task, but we realised that a fire sprinkler system would also be a very handy thing. This is a quick description of our experiences, with the idea that it could help others to make decisions on their own protection system. Nothing in this de-scription should be treated as a recommendation for you. Our efforts are all based on the best information we can get hold of, but we aren’t experts. You have to make deci-sions based on your own situation.

We started with a Davey Firefighter series pump that Dad set up quite a while ago. The Davey is a ripper. It can deliver up to 500 litres per minute. Dad had buried a supply line fed from a branch of the Ovens a long time ago. Recently we erected a spare tin shed over the pump. More radiant heat protection is needed for the shed. Supply lines from the pump to the house are buried about 200 mm deep. Agricul-tural impact sprinklers and butterfly sprinklers are the 2 types of sprinklers we’ve used. The impact sprin-klers are mounted on the roof (with one beside the pump shed to add protection for the pump). Supply line for the sprinklers is 25 mm plastic pipe. We knew that metal supply line is recommended, but we rea-soned that by installing all lines so that the sprinklers protect the supply lines, the system should hold up. Copper piping would also have added about $1,500 to the system.

Naan Jain Dan makes the impact sprinklers. We initially installed 2, about 2 years ago. They are still going strong. The picture opposite shows an example of how we installed one of the 5 new ones re-cently. The sprinklers do a complete 360 º spray approximately every 20 seconds with the amount of pressure and sprinklers installed so far. You can take the plastic insert out of each of the 2 water nozzles to significantly increase water-flow (and reducing distance of the wa-ter-throw of course). Configured as supplied, the impact sprinklers can deliver about 29 litres per minute. (With the plastic insert taken out of the main nozzle that flow rate gets up to about 60-65 litres per minute.) You can see from the photo that we added a fencing wire tie down for extra support for the sprinkler. In some spots, just the gal pipe brackets were enough to keep the sprinkler well supported.

Placement of the impact sprinklers aims for good ground perimeter protection and wind blown wall pro-tection wherever possible. We’re factoring in that the most probable direction of a fire will be from the north, but we’ve recently factored in more attention to the possibility of a dangerous fire coming from

the south. The other sprinkler we have used is the butterfly type. The ones we chose are made by Neta and we got them locally. The view on this one is look-ing down over the edge of the roof. The recommended placement for butter-fly sprinklers for wall protection is essentially upright at a 45 º angle. But we found this configuration is a quick and relatively ef-fective method to get the sprinklers throwing water up under the eaves and on the wall below. As you

can see we have just used one bracket to secure the sprinkler. These types don’t produce as many forces on the fittings, as compared to the impact sprin-klers. We did put one butterfly sprinkler on a plastic threaded pipe, vertically. That sprinkler throws water out in a big ball (out to about 6 metres across). The shot opposite shows the effect of the butterfly sprinkler mounted on a 1.5 me-tre vertical pipe, the pipe is about centre of the shot.

An important thing we found was that it pays to spend a lot of time thinking about effective placement of at least a couple of sprinklers first and then plan out from those. It gets easier to decide on subse-quent placemenents as you progressively add more sprinklers. To date, the total cost of the system in-

stalled (Davey single impeller pump with Briggs and Stratton engine, 7 impact sprinklers, 4 butterfly sprinklers and supply pipes and fittings) is approximately $1,800. We have another Davey pump for sup-plying fire-fighting hoses. That pump has a Honda engine. The Honda engine seems to perform better than the Briggs and Stratton.

We haven’t finished all sprinkler installations, and the rest will be but-terfly sprinklers for direct protection for eaves and walls. At this stage it looks like 5 more butterfly sprinklers for the house will be about right. Although the Davey pumps can pump up to 500 litres a minute we’ve used a more conservative 400 litres per minute estimate. That lets us have a bit of leeway on calculating whether the pump is up to the number of sprinklers we fit.

All the equipment has been locally sourced, with prices very competi-tive compared to Melbourne, and excellent advice on configuring pipes and fittings. Through my profes-sional affiliation I have noticed the vulnerability of the lee side of a house (i.e. the down-wind side). Wind blowing across a roof tends to swirl back towards the house on the opposite side the wind is blowing from. This effect, plus the knowledge that a fire from the south at Harrietville could be very dangerous, means more water on the south side of Dad’s house is needed. Col Finnie

Merry Xmas & Safe & Happy New Year

JOHNS ALPINE GARDENING

2 Mountain View Walk, Harrietville 3741

5759 2741 0438 050 475

Garden design and plant selection all garden styles

Landscaping, paving, rock work, retaining walls

Garden watering systems, water features

Mowing, gardening and pruning

Property management

“Handy man” services

No Job too small or too large, full insurance, experienced service.

Sing Australia now in Bright

Come and Join the Alpine Shire's newest singing group forming under the auspices of Sing Australia. EVERYONE is welcome. This is the singing group for people who think they CAN'T sing. No auditions and you will never be asked to sing solo unless you want to do so. We meet on Tuesday evenings, between 7.30 pm and 9.30 pm.

For further information ring Jenny Bouda on 5755 1164

Editorial - contact me via philhorner@bigpond.com or 5750 1943 / 0408 930 508

Your contributions to make this newsletter Thrive and Survive are all welcome

Events, News, Photos, Quotes, Humour, Recipes, Issues, Anecdotes, Memoirs

A sincere thank you to the many contributors and sponsors in this issue

# # # Electronic Distribution of the Harrietville Times is now available # # #

# # # Just send me an e-mail and I will add you to our distribution list # # #

AMG Hosts Australian Wheelchair Rugby Team for R&R The AMG recently hosted the Australian wheelchair rugby team’s annual end of season trip. They are the number two team in the world. The sport is nick-named murder ball as they ram each other in order to claim the ball. Their specialised chairs resemble more like mini tanks to take the blows and protect their legs. They also wear light armor. They are all very keen AMG members and make many trips a year with their families and friends, partaking in snow skiing and snow-mobiling in the winter. Mainly kayaking, bugging, fishing and 4wd camping in the summer. Kayaking (pictured) provided a workout for a few muscles rarely flexed in daily routine wheelchair life. P.S. This year they had a Pro cinema photographer following them making a documentary for the ABC & SBS called, "Life on Wheels", with our nation’s finest. (See photo front cover.) Dean Sheppard

Connie - A Lucky Dog Without guests to fetch stones for, be admired and patted by, or Morries to watch over, Connie decided to follow some sporty types on their run. Up Bungalow Spur ,across the Razorback and down The Bon Accord to Washington Creek - that's 36 km.

She was found unable to move by a walker, phone out of range, who ran urgently to the Snowline extremely concerned and upset at Connie's state. Lachie and Nathan rescued her by bike (very nice riding chaps) and she was swiftly transported to our new vet Rebecca in Porepunkah, with vet and human nurse escort. As ex-pected she was diagnosed with snakebite. Very dangerously sick was she. The phone ran hot between Noosa and "Punkah, Telstra earned plenty out of this one. After receiving antivenin (how expensive is that stuff wow!) and being under close observation, was kept company by the vet's own friendly little pooch for her stay. She was allowed home to Harrietville and convalesced with Lisa 'MamaRanga' Williams for the last few days awaiting the return of her beloved family from their holiday in the sun and surf. She has steadily improved, is home with the Morries and appears to be back to her good health, glossy and gorgeous, yesterday spotted cavorting with Buster fresh from the river. Elisabeth Paschke

Harrietville Hotel Motel

Cnr. Great Alpine Road & Mt Feathertop

Track, Harrietville, Victoria 3741

Web: harrietvillehotelmotel.com

The Harrietville Hotel Motel is an all seasons holiday destination adjacent to the Ovens River &Tavare Park with mountain views on all

sides. The accommodation is situated in pleasant garden surrounds &

comprises 24 family units, with guest laundry & drying room.

“Pub bar” with draught beers & local wines Bistro meals open 7 days a week for LUNCH & DINNER

Swimming pool & shade sail with patio seating

Covered BBQ area & beer garden

Wedding receptions & function/conference room

Ph: (03) 5759 2525 OPEN 7 DAYS

Thank you Harrietville

This year has been another successful one for the vari-ous committees and groups of the town. People are often puzzled by the number of committees and dif-ferent groups within the town but each performs a unique range of volunteer tasks that add enormously to the quality and attraction that Harrietville holds for its residents and tourists/visitors alike.

A quick review is in order. Say a special “thank you” to these people and all the others who have helped them. Remember, the people mentioned and many, many more, do all this work on an entirely volunteer basis for our town.

The Tronoh Dredge Hole committee led by the ‘Johns’ of Bakkum and Atkins is cheered by the new toilet fa-cility installed this year and they have plans for more landscaping and a big “opening event” in March 2010. Coupled with this is the River Tender group again with John Atkins, Annie Marlow and Peter Raduczic who have planted thousands of trees along both arms of the Ovens after major clearing works. The Tourism and Business group with Bennett, Julia, Emma and that John Atkins again with others, has supported our town by active promotion with our website, maps and brochures, delicate pressure on the Alpine Shire’s own work in promoting the NE and supporting major festi-vals like the Bluegrass Convention a few weeks ago. The Green Waste Project had great ideas help from Barry Moody, Alan Purdon and Judy Talbot. The His-torical Society is a stand out. The work of Ian Staple-ton, Barry Moody, Bill Jones, Kaye Purdon, Karl Texler and a host of others has ensured our heritage and mining history is never forgotten. The list goes on, Regina Stevenson and the Harrietville Primary School Council, the Mountain Bike Park on Mill Road through work of Jock Raymond, Ben Knox and others, the TV Committee chaired by Bob Spencer, who on a volun-teer basis have continued to work through all the complex technical and organizational issues associ-ated with delivering quality digital TV reception. The list continues - the Hall Committee, chaired by Bob as well, the Social Committee chaired by Hilary Morgan and the Friends of Hit or Miss Creek who do volunteer mowing as well. The CFA remain an important part of our town’s security against the potential tragedy of bushfires and deserve acknowledgement.

The Community Building Initiative Group (CBI) chaired by John Bakkum joins the residents of Harriet-ville to say “Thank You” to all those people who have helped make this such a lovely town in which to live. May the Christmas and New Year period be character-ized by joy, relaxation and safety.

Terry Woolley, CBI Secretary

Green Waste Management Project – progress report

During community consultations in 2006 with the Shire, Harrietville residents expressed strong interest in environ-mental improvements. CBI work and the Small Town Plan for Harrietville have followed this theme by trying to solve the problem of green waste burning and dumping that many residents do because there was simply no alter-native. Now there soon will be.

The Harrietville CBI made a successful submission for a green waste disposal and mulching program for Harrietville. The submission approved about $20,000 to set up a location for all the residents of Harrietville to dispose of their green waste (tree cuttings, prunings, leaf litter, garden waste etc). Those who have deposited their green waste can then col-lect the chipped material as free mulch for their own domes-tic use. CBI representatives met with some residents to get a range of opinions and ideas about the size and location for the green waste project. They came up with a number of good ideas that have been incorporated into the planning.

The project was instigated in the hope that people will ap-preciate a free mulching program for their garden waste.

Burning is not an acceptable option in these times of fire hazard and environmental responsibility. The idea is that residents who want to use the green waste facility and collect free mulch would ‘nominate’ as ‘members’ of the green waste program by request to a volunteer management group. ‘Membership’ would then allow them to dump their excess green waste in the enclosed/fenced area and collect free mulch later.

The project has progressed to the point of now waiting for a meeting of Shire Operations Manager to level and prepare the site for fencing. The site has been approved by the Shire as their land in the South West corner of the tailings area, at the end of Newman’s Lane. The photos show the area to be used. When the project is complete, it will provide a secure, out of the way, gated and fenced area that is easily accessible to local residents. Site works in relation to levelling and clearing of low level vegetation is needed and is a Shire responsibility, the area will be approximately a third of a hectare.

At certain times (probably about 6 times each year), when notified by the management committee, the Shire would provide industrial shredding/mulching equipment and convert all the green waste collected at that point to mulch. Harrietville ‘members’ would then have free access to the mulched material for their properties and gar-dens. The ideas group agreed that if ‘members’ wanted good quality mulch, they would not dump other rubbish like hard refuse, building scraps and weed infested clippings. Basically, if a member wants good quality free mulch for their garden or property, they should only take suitable green waste to the recycling facility.

If the program generates too much mulch from resident green waste, there are lots of groups within the town that could certainly make good use of it, the Tronoh Dredge Hole Committee and the Mountain Bike Park on Mill Road are good examples.

What are the next steps?

Before Christmas there should be agreement on site levelling and preparation to be done in January or February by the Shire. A 2m high cyclone enclo-sure will then have to be built. We hope to use local contractors or local groups to do this work to keep money within the community.

What else is needed?

Several members of the CBI have formed a small management group but ideally we need about 3 or 4 more people. If you are interested or want more information, please give John Bakkum or Terry Woolley a call to see what is involved…not a lot of work really, once it is set up, it should almost “run itself.”

AMG benefits from 21st Annual Bluegrass Music Convention The 21st annual Bluegrass Music Convention was held in Harrietville from 19-22 November 2009. For the second time, the festival was held in marquees and tents on the grounds of the Harrietville Community Hall. The event attracted over 600 attendees, and the AMG assisted by providing volunteers to man the box office at the festival site. In return the organisers generously donated $2,500 to AMG. Despite the crazy weather (extreme heat for the first two days and then relentless rain over the week-end) the musicians were undeterred, picking and jamming to their heart's content. Thanks to AMG Executive Council members Dean Sheppard, Karita Brokenshire and Jack Heyward who all donated their time. Also thanks to Phil Horner, Harrietville local, who helped out again this year, and Wodonga girls Sarah and Emma who did a fantastic job of wrist-banding patrons on their way in. Karita amused everyone with her exuberance and her beautiful dresses (no, she wasn't in cos-tume!!) and she also received lots of comments on her pearl necklace." Kate Fenwick - Chairperson AMG

Funding success through a network of alliances

Community based project funding is a minefield of effort, expectation, disappointment and persistence.

However with a strong network of alliances, plans can eventually be realised. Recent experience with

the Tronoh toilets project is a case in point.

After two earlier failed attempts, the Dredgehole Reserve Committee submitted an application to DSE

under their Stewardship Program last year. With more than a decade of community restoration and de-

velopment (with no public funding) hopes were high, but once again our application was unsuccessful,

despite increased local tourism pressure.

Enter the CBI project and an evolved healthy set of alliances at the Shire and State levels. This opened

the way to apply for funding through the Helen Macpherson Community Trust’s Community Alliance

which had formed a partnership with the State government and VCOSS to support rural communities in

Victoria. Through this partnership Harrietville received a visit from Lily D’Ambrosia, the Parliamentary

Secretary for Community Development. This enabled our case to be put and later conveyed to decision

making levels beyond our normal reach. As a consequence our application was successful and the pro-

ject is now completed.

The CBI committee’s affiliations may be able to assist your community group to fund future projects.

Harrietville Primary School

It’s hard to believe the 2009 school year is now finished. It’s certainly been event-ful and with our building works well underway, 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year. If you have visited the school recently, you will understand when I thank our students, parents, friends and staff for their patience while these works have been undertaken.

Despite the fact that much of our school looks like a building site, it has been business as usual. Earlier this week I had a visit from a Bright P-12 teacher who had never been to the school before. Although it wasn’t a surprise, it was great to hear her enthusiasm for what a great feel the school had. The same feeling I have everyday I walk into the school; the feel of a positive and supportive community.

Thank you to everyone who has sup-ported the school in some way throughout the year. Your contribution, whether in physical or finan-cial support, has been greatly appreciated, allowing us to provide stu-dents with programs and opportunities they might not normally have.

Of course, at this time of year there are always mixed feelings and this one is no exception. Saying goodbye to our grade six students is never easy and we wish them all the very best in their future pursuits.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas – Carolyn Serpell (Principal)

Museum News

I suppose the goings on at the museum have been quite obvious lately, all of the interesting exhibits, in the yard with their very informative signs. These items are the result of a heck of a lot of planning by our intrepid outside team, Bill Jones and Barry Moody, and a ton of man hours spent. Thanks to you both the town should be very pleased with the work you have done. The H.H.S. certainly are, Thank You! On the 6th., of December a group from the H.H.S. went on an interesting trip to the Dargo high plains, visiting Lankey plains, the lone woman's grave, Gow's hotel site, and then to the old township of Grant, and to the beautiful Grant cemetery. Great weather and good company thanks to Ian Stapleton for witty, interesting commentary, and for organizing the trip. And thanks to all of the volunteers who offered their services and attended the museum throughout the year. A Merry and Safe Christmas and New year to all of you and your families. Kaye