100 YEARS AGO: 1925
NAME: On Sunday afternoon a mass meeting of residents of the north-west portion of Red Cliffs will take place on the township site. The meeting will be asked to choose a name for the township. Among other business to be transacted is the election of a committee in place of the present committee, which has held office over 12 months.
POWER: The electric light plant at Ouyen, installed a few years ago, has proved entirely inadequate for the growing requirements of a developing town and a new plant has been secured. It was in operation for the first time on Friday night, and the contrast between the brilliant illumination in shops and dwellings and the feeble light hitherto available was most marked.
DELAY: Mr G. E. Butler, whose car was destroyed by fire last Saturday, says that, owing to the loss of his car, a delay will take place in the competition of the petition for a hotel in Red Cliffs. He explains that he had hoped, by an extensive canvass of the parts of the settlement not visited, the remaining signatures to the petition, but now that he is for the time being without satisfactory means of conveyance, he must postpone the completion of the petition, which has received so far over 800 signatures.
75 YEARS AGO: 1950
PRODUCTION: A Mildura motor distributing firm is meeting the demand for heavy trucks by assembling them in its own plant, claimed to be the only assembly plant in Sunraysia. At the Tenth Street premises of J. E. Rigby, British two tonne trucks which arrive stripped down in crates, are assembled, tested and put on the road at the rate of one vehicle a week. When mechanics finish the third “run” now in progress, 18 trucks will have been completed. Operating six-week runs of six vehicles at a time, the plant delivers the first truck in five weeks and the remaining five in the final week. Parts arrive in packages of six, packages ranging in weight from a few pounds to several tonnes.
ACCOMODATION: About 150 new Australians remaining in Sunraysia out of 600 who were engaged on harvest work would like to remain here if permanent employment and accommodation can be obtained. A number of these new Australians have dependents at the Mildura Immigration Centre. District Employment Officer, Mr C. R. Fanshawe requested growers who desired to retain migrant labour permanently, and who could offer single and married accommodation, to contact the CES.
He said that new Australians were already employed permanently in the area. Some were engaged at salt works at Underbool, on what farms at Tutye, and with the Victorian Railways at Ouyen.
CRADLE: A free basinette service for mothers travelling with babies on the Melbourne – Mildura passenger train was announced yesterday by the Railway Commissioners. The bassinette has been placed in one of the sleeping cars and will be carried nightly in each direction.
50 YEARS AGO: 1975
PISTACHIO: Sunraysia may become a major growing centre for the pistachio nut. Conditions here are ideal for growing the nut. As the CSIRO says after years of research: “The pistachio is a nut in search of a grower.” The tasty peanut-sized pistachio needs only sunshine, water and some keen growers to establish itself as a major nut crop in Australia. Principal research scientist Mr Don Maggs attached to the CSIRO’s Division of Horticultural research, has grown pistachio nuts superior to those imported from America and Iran in a special experimental orchard at the Merbein research station. His experiments have shown that pistachio could be grown under irrigation or natural rainfall virtually throughout Australia below the Tropic of Capricorn, except in high rainfall coastal regions.
SURVEY: An economic study of the dried fruits industry in the Sunraysia and Mid Murray areas to ascertain its value to Victoria is to be undertaken by Melbourne University. The Australian Dried Fruits Association is to underwrite the survey to the extent of $5700. It is expected to take 15 months to complete the survey which will be undertaken by one full-time researcher assisted by two agricultural economists.
LINK: A Sydney firm now has proof that a road through the heart of Australia is feasible. And it’s all because of a series of pictures taken almost 500 miles above the Earth’s surface. Chairman of the Sydney based firm of consulting engineers, Mr Bob Willing has taken a personal interest in the proposed North-South Road, linking Mildura with Darwin. “The only problem in the past has been the desolate unpredictable area in the heart of the continent,” he said yesterday.
25 YEARS AGO: 2000
VISIT: Geelong Football Club senior captain Ben Graham delighted young Sunraysia footballers when he conducted a clinic in Mildura on Tuesday night. About 40 children braved the rain and an impending dust storm to participate in drills and activities with the AFL star full back who is well known for his booming kicks out of defence. Children as young as five were at City Oval getting tips from Graham about various aspects of the game. When the weather became too threatening, Graham and the children retreated to shelter for a barbecue dinner.
BID: Mildura has thrown its hat into the ring to host the 2004 Hot Air Balloon World Championships. The Mildura International Balloon Fiesta has expressed its interest to the Australian Balloon Federation in staging the championships, according to Fiesta chairman Kerry Frankel.
“Of the four interested locations, Mildura is the only proven location for a competition ballooning event,” he said. Mr Frankel said the local association now had to prepare a bid for presentation the National Federation.
SITE: Mildura’s new $8.9 million Law Courts complex appears set to be constructed on the former Moviebusters video store site in Deakin Avenue. Victorian Attorney General Rob Hulls said the preferred site, literally just one building away from the existing court complex and left vacant since a fire destroyed the video store in August 1996, was an “excellent” choice. Other locations looked at included the Mildura Base Hospital site – which will become vacant later this year – and rebuilding on the current courthouse block.
