Tickets selling fast for Burke & Wills dinner

In the great ironic Australian tradition that saw a municipal swimming pool in Melbourne named after Australia’s only drowned PM, tickets are selling fast for the one hundred and fiftieth Anniversary of Superintendent Robert O’Hara Burke’s Farewell Dinner at the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine. Is it right? Is it ironic? Could it just be fun?

Further Shire news below.

A celebration is planned for the evening of Friday 9 July at the Theatre Royal, starting at 6.30pm. This is an important event to celebrate Burke’s place in both Castlemaine’s and Australia’s history and will kick off the state-wide celebrations in August.

A light meal will be served, then a short re-enactment  of Burke’s farewell banquet starring several local identities such as Cr Philip Schier, Mayor of Mount Alexander, Peter Lukaitis who will play Burke, Felix Cappy, Max Lessor, Peter Skilbeck, Robyn Annear and more. The evening will finish with a visual presentation accompanied by a commentary by the Royal Society of Victoria. It will involve art works, snippets of rare early twentieth century films and scenes from the Burke and Wills film starring Jack Thompson.

If you would like to be part of the evening you will need to book your tickets immediately through the Theatre Royal on 5472 1196, as most tickets have already been sold. And, if you have already booked your ticket, please pay before the evening.

Castlemaine Central Business District Draft Parking Study

Following the public consultation undertaken as part of the pedestrian improvements in Mostyn Street, Council included as part of the 2009-2010 Annual Plan to review current and future needs for parking in the Castlemaine Central Business District (CBD). Consultants have been engaged and a draft report has been received and is now available for public comment.

The report also provides advice on landscaping and Local Area Traffic Management (LATM) improvements that could be undertaken to improve safety and formalise some parking areas in the CBD.

Council acknowledges that in addition to works undertaken in the CBD, there have been changes in the community, shopping trends and traffic management since the last parking report was adopted in 2002.

The recently received report includes a number of recommendations to improve parking opportunities and public safety in the CBD.  These include the introduction of timed parking zones in Forest Street between Hargraves Street and Urquhart Street and Templeton Street between Kennedy Street and Barker street, along with Landscaping / LATM treatments in the following locations:

• Kennedy Street between Templeton and Mostyn Streets
• The Kennedy Street / Templeton Street intersection
• Lyttleton Street between Hargraves and Urquhart Streets
• The Lyttleton Street / Hargraves Street intersection
• Templeton Street between Barker and Hargraves Streets

The Draft Parking Study can be viewed at the Council’s offices in Lyttleton Street and Halford Street and can be downloaded from Council’s website in the ‘Your Input’ section at www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au

Council welcomes comments on the Draft Parking Study until 4.00pm on Friday, 23 July.

If you have any queries please contact Kevin Pendlebury, Design and Projects Engineer, Mount Alexander Shire Council on 5471 1700.

Council hosts East Timorese local government officer

Council has been given the opportunity to host a senior local Government administrator for four weeks as part of the Department of Planning and Community Development’s Timor Leste Training partnership.

Elisua Lopes de Araujo is the sub-District administrator of Malina, a rural based sub-district. This is a similar role to a rural local government CEO. He will spend time at Mount Alexander Shire Council from 28 June to 23 July.

The training placement has been established to develop Elisua’s skills and knowledge in:

• Services delivered by Council offices and Council’s responsibilities towards its communities
• Relationship between local and state governments
• Shire funding and other funding (how the municipality is funded)
• Council structure and responsibilities
• Community development, consultation and engagement processes
• Rural development, sustainability, growth and employment opportunities

“We welcome Elisua,and look forward to sharing our knowledge and experiences with him over the four weeks,” said Phil Rowland, CEO of Mount Alexander Shire Council.

“Our staff will also gain valuable insights from this exchange-styled training program.”

To ensure that Elisua receives the broadest range of experiences, he will be spending  time with each of Council’s teams.

Mount Alexander Shire has a friendship agreement with the community of Lolotoe in East Timor.

Market Building carpark gets lighting upgrade

The car park adjacent to the Market Building and the IGA supermarket in Casltemaine has had a lighting upgrade as part of Council’s work to achieve reduced emissions as set out in the 2007-2010 Greenhouse Action Plan.

This prominent and well used public space previously had lighting that  consisted of eight 400 Watt Mercury Vapour lamps for night time use.  With their electronic control gear and lamps they were consuming around 14,400kWh of electricity a year.

Council officers undertook extensive research to consider an energy efficient alternative that would meet the Australian standard for lighting in a car park. Consultation with suppliers and designers lead to a product designed by Philips Electronics called CosmoPolis lamp system. The CosmoPolis lamp is a composite of two existing technologies: Metal Halide and Sodium.

To further increase the lamp’s efficiency, a new lamp housing has been installed on each of the lights. The We-ef lamp housing is a very high quality product from Germany that will maximise the performance, provide a long service life and meet relevant standards.

The installation of this improved lighting will result in an 83 per cent improvement in efficiency and a reduction of carbon emissions at 14.6 tonnes per year. There will be a full payback on outlayed costs in approximately eight years.