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The News Headlines
Wednesday April 6, 2011 |
Letters to the Editor
Promaccom
Fine Accommodation
From The Mirror, April 10, 1991 |
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Premier approves
$8.8 million for flood-damaged Prom |
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THE Premier, Ted Baillieu, has approved $8.8 million in funding for urgent
works to flood-damaged Wilsons Promontory National Park to enable the
popular park to be reopened for the traditional influx of visitors at
Easter.
Mr Baillieu announced the funding last Thursday, when he flew into Tidal
River and met community representatives, tourism operators and Parks
Victoria management.
Helicopter flights have been the only means of accessing the southern
section of the Prom for the last two weeks. On March 22-23 the Tidal River
area (but not the lighthouse) received 370mm of rain in 24 hours, causing
extensive damage, including numerous landslips. The main road in was cut at
the Darby River bridge.
The government funding includes $6 million for VicRoads to repair roads and
work is already well under way. The government has allocated a further $2.8
million for Parks Victoria to undertake repair work to restore facilities
and infrastructure in the park.
The Deputy Premier, Peter Ryan, who is also the member for Gippsland South,
toured the Prom days after the inundation and pledged government support. He
said the priority would be to repair the Darby River bridge and the land
slip on Tidal River Road to allow traffic back into the park.
“The accommodation facilities at Tidal River also received extensive water
damage, with over a foot of water inundating many of the lodgings as well as
a number of private vehicles and caravans,” he said.
Mr Ryan praised the work of Parks Victoria staff and the various
contributing agencies in managing the crisis.
“Parks Victoria and those contributing agencies did a magnificent job in
keeping people safe and enabled the evacuation of 385 people at the height
of the flood event,” he said.
Wilsons Promontory is a major drawcard for tourists, and the closure of the
park has had a major impact on local businesses, but tourism operators have
been doing their best to publicise the many other attractions in the
district.
Kate Fooke, proprietor of the booking agency Promaccom, which manages about
50 properties across the Prom district, said the phone has been running hot
since the closure of the Prom, with people desperate to find out what is
happening. She said she has been encouraging people to come to the district
anyway and see the many other splendid places available in South Gippsland
or perhaps consider postponing their visit and come back when the national
park is fully open to the public.
“It seems like most people are coming anyway, or at least postponing their
holidays rather than cancelling. Of those who have cancelled, it is
generally visitors from overseas - or people with friends from overseas –
because the Prom was the main point of their trip,” said Ms Fooke. “Many
people who already have bookings are contacting our office to enquire about
the Prom and many are commenting on the irony of having floods now when it
was fire two years ago! Many have expressed concern for the district and
promised to return.”
STRANDED VEHICLES
The emergency flood situation stranded a number of vehicles at the park.
However, owners have been advised that they can retrieve their vehicles
today (Wednesday) and tomorrow from 10am. A temporary one-lane access is
being created across the damaged Darby River bridge. Insurers are invited to
the Prom tomorrow (Thursday) to bring out those cars that have been damaged
as a result of the flood and cannot be driven.
“During the vehicle retrieval process, we strongly recommend that visitors
bring identification and their car keys to ensure a speedy evacuation,” said
the chief ranger at Wilsons Promontory, Craig Stubbings.
A staging area, with refreshments, is being set up for vehicle owners at the
Yanakie hall. Only one person per vehicle is being allowed access to Tidal
River.
Owners of vehicles over 10 tonne, such as buses, coaches, caravans and any
other remaining vehicles, will be able to retrieve their vehicles on April
19. Affected visitors can call 13 1963 between 9am and 5pm on any day to
confirm details.
NORTHERN SECTION OPEN
Although the section of the park south of Darby River, including Tidal
River, remains closed to visitors, Parks Victoria opened the northern
section of the Prom on Monday. Visitors are encouraged to explore areas such
as Hourigans Camp Lane, the Big Drift, Cotters Lake track, the wildlife
viewing area, Millers Landing and Vereker Range. Visitors are, however,
advised that some maintenance works are still taking place in this area as
part of the overall flood recovery efforts.
Parks Victoria is finalising plans to enable limited camping within the
northern section of the park for the Easter period. There will be no camping
before the Easter weekend anywhere in the park. All access beyond Tidal
River including outstations is also closed and will be until after Easter.
All roofed accommodation and outstation bookings up to and including April
30 are cancelled.
Extensive clean-up and repair works are currently being undertaken at the
Tidal River campsite area so that there can be some camping there over
Easter. Visitors who had a ballot booking for camping at Tidal River will be
contacted. New bookings for all areas are temporarily on hold, with the main
focus on assessing damage to the park. Parks Victoria’s Wilsons Promontory
webpage will be updated when bookings resume.
PLANNED BURN IN CLOSED PARK
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) took the opportunity
whilst the park was closed to carry out a planned burn at the park last
Friday. Fire District Manager for DSE, Geoff Pike, said holding a burn in
the park whilst it was closed was obviously better for safety reasons and
would reduce the impact on visitors.
The burn was planned for ecological reasons – to help control invading
Coastal Tea Tree and provide better conditions for the growth of coastal
grassy woodlands - in the area between Little Drift Track and Springs Track
in the north of the Prom.
Unfortunately weather conditions were not as favourable as forecast – it was
too humid and there was insufficient wind - so the burn could be only
partially completed.
“We secured the Springs Track and Little Drift Track edges and tested the
aerial drip torch technology – this was the first time it had been used in
the park,” said Mr Pike.
Chief Ranger Fire and Emergency Management for Parks Victoria East Region,
Dennis Matthews, said that flood recovery remained the priority for Parks
staff and only DSE staff, including project firefighters, were used to
conduct the burn at the Prom.
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Recovery at Wilsons Prom
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FOLLOWING the significant flooding and landslide damage at Wilsons
Promontory National Park (WPNP) on March 22 and 23, Parks Victoria were
anticipating re-opening the section of Wilsons Promontory National Park
north of Darby River on Monday April 4.
However their prime goal was to open a limited camping area at Tidal River
in time for the school and Easter holidays which are a peak visitation time
to both the Park and South Gippsland before the cool weather off-season.
WPNP Chief Ranger Craig Stubbings said that during Easter, Tidal River
normally has a full capacity of up to 4,000 overnight visitors between the
484 camp sites and 237 beds, plus additional hikers staying at ‘outstation’
locations.
Assuming vital bridge and road repairs can be made in time for Easter, he
predicted that 50 camp sites would be available this year.
No roofed accommodation, outstation camping or even walking trails south
Darby River will be open by Easter due to the short time to the holiday
period and the amount of damage still needing repair, especially given that
tradespeople, materials and heavy vehicles still can’t access the area.
In front of an audience of some 50 tourism and business operators at an
information session held last week in Foster, Mr. Stubbings explained, “The
furniture, carpets, plaster and fittings in the accommodation units will all
have to be pulled out and replaced because of the depth of water – in places
up to two metres - that flowed through them.”
He expected recovery of the camping area to be relatively easy as it was
mostly just cleaning up, although two of the toilet blocks need power
restored and new water pumps need to be installed before the wastewater
treatment plant can operate again.
As Parks Victoria has so far been concentrating its energy on safe
evacuations (completed last week when 400 people were airlifted out of the
Park) and on recovery of the Tidal River area, Mr. Stubbings said that there
had not been time to properly assess the extensive landslide and slippage
damage to tracks and facilities further afield.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS AND LOTS TO DO
“We’re open for business and there’s a lot to see and do” was a united
message being put forward at the meeting by Parks Victoria’s Gippsland
Regional Manager Chris Rose and Tourism Unit Manager Dianne Smith, South
Gippsland Shire Tourism Coordinator Christian Stefani and Tourism Victoria
Industry Sustainability Manager Stuart Toplis.
The message was generally well-received by the audience, which was keen to
minimise bookings cancellations and to reverse negative “closed” impressions
that had been conveyed to Australian and overseas tourists by widely
reported news of the floods.
Between them, the speakers emphasised that they wanted to impress on
potential and booked visitors that South Gippsland in particular and wider
Gippsland generally, has a great deal to offer in natural beauty to explore
outside of the Prom, as well as attractions such wineries, galleries and
food establishments.
“Initially we’re focusing on opening up the northern section of the park
within a week or so to provide visitors with a different experience of the
Prom,” Mr. Rose stated.
“We are investigating opening up areas to allow bushwalking including
Vereker Ranges, Cotters Lake and Millers Landing, possibly with ranger-led
day walks.”
He added that limited visitor amenities such as portable toilets and water
tanks and perhaps camping at ‘The Stockyards’ was also being looked at,
along with information on different beaches to visit and the wildlife
viewing area near Yanakie airstrip.
Mr. Toplis urged businesses to pick up the available guides on crisis
management and recovery and to recommend to their contacts to do the same.
He suggested they work on ‘packaging’ attractions and ensure they kept in
communication with a regional response and recovery group being led by the
Council.
“Please get as many of our assessment surveys completed as you can, because
it provides the information we feed up to government Ministers [for recovery
support programs],” he said.
Mr. Rose said he was most encouraged by Deputy Premier Peter Ryan’s
assurances during his visit last week that “Money should not be the factor
that limits getting the park re-opened.”
OPERATOR COMMENTS
Although several tourism operators commented that they had only just got
back to normal business levels after the impact of the 2009 bushfire at WPNP,
the tone of those present at the meeting was one of acceptance, stoicism and
looking for alternative ways to progress.
Sally Ham of Hiking Plus, who with her partner operates a guest house at
Foster North coupled with hiking tours in the southern part of WPNP, said
that she had been thinking of organising walks in Vereker Range in the
future, and would now simply bring those plans forward.
Rex and Anita Gourlay of Gippsland Coach Tours based in Mirboo North, who
obtain approximately 80% of their business from taking school groups camping
at the Prom (including provision of the camping gear), were intensely
grateful that their coaches and gear had not been stranded at the Park
because they were not there at the crucial point in time.
“We are often parked at the Oberon car park, so we were very lucky not to
have been caught there,” Anita acknowledged in relief.
“We’ll just have to work harder at other areas of our business but I hope
there will be some exceptional circumstances support like there was after
the bushfires too.”
During the question and answer section of the meeting, suggestions were made
for installation of interpretive signage at other natural attractions around
the district, more positive messages instead of “Wilsons Prom closed” on
temporary road signage, and more funding being put into widespread promotion
of events such as Prom Coast Seachange Festival, the Gippsland arts festival
and Stony Creek Races.
ROAD ACCESS
VicRoads Eastern Region Manager Program Delivery Ken Salter explained that
the load-bearing capacity of the northern end of the Darby River Bridge had
been severely compromised when the floods had washed away the batter fill
and exposed bridge piles.
To prevent the problem re-occurring, a different and stronger piling design
would be built before the bridge reopened.
In the short term, a weight limit and speed limit with traffic lights
controlling alternate one-way flows would be imposed, which although causing
delays and restricting quantity and size of vehicles, would allow vehicular
access to Tidal River.
After the holidays, construction of ‘approach slabs’ for the bridge will be
commenced, which when completed, will restore full load capacity.
Amid laughter, Mr. Salter said it was “fortunate” that the South Gippsland
Shire Council vehicles had been stranded on the far side of the Darby Bridge
so they could be used to work on a 10-kilometre section of damaged road
between Darby River and Tidal River while the main bridge was being fixed.
Currently, a temporary footbridge has been put in place to enable people to
cross safely to the work vehicles.
At the time of the forum, Mr. Salter said that landslide damage on the
Wilsons Promontory Road near Darby Saddle, which has resulted in a
substantial part of the outside road lane dropping away, was still unstable.
“Additional cracking has occurred since the first inspection,” he noted.
Indicating the seriousness of the safety concerns associated with the road,
he said that assessment engineers had used bicycles for transport when
undertaking their checks.
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Aged care facility – progress
and fundraising |
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PLANNING for the new 60-bed aged care facility to be built in Foster is now
progressing well according to Prom Country Aged Care (PCAC) Chair Sandy
Bucello, who was speaking at the South Gippsland Shire’s Eastern Districts
Network meeting last week.
Ms Bucello anticipated that residents would be living in the new home by
early 2013.
“Our on ground deadline set by the Federal Government for finishing the
facility was the end of 2012 but we’ve been able to have that extended due
to our late start,” she informed the meeting of around 23 community
representatives and Council officers.
Ms Bucello emphasised that the new aged care facility would service the
whole of the district’s community, “not just Foster and Toora.”
She continued, “We have appointed an architectural consultant with lots of
experience in building nursing homes as our Project Manager, we’ve drawn up
our wish-list of items for a modern aged care facility, and from a shortlist
of five architects, we are going into the design stage to see what we can
afford,” she said.
“We have completed a preliminary budget and it has come in under what we
expected but we can’t lock in costs until we have a builder on board for the
project.”
Besides individual rooms with ensuite bathrooms and fittings to suit both
high and low care residents, PCAC is looking at recreational rooms, a ‘happy
hour’ room, a mini cinema, a dementia-care area and ‘state-of-the-art’
kitchen and laundry as part of the new facility.
“We need to suit the needs of the community going into the future at least
30 years and these are the features already in use in other modern aged care
accommodation,” Ms Bucello explained.
She underlined that PCAC’s building project had the full commitment of the
Federal Government, South Gippsland Hospital and South Gippsland Shire
Council.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Toora community representatives Roger Lette and Irene Spooner were present
at the network meeting and asked the following questions of Ms Bucello, who
answered directly and clearly.
Question: “Why has it taken so long to get to this stage?”
Answer: “We’ve been building capacity in the Board and senior management
because we didn’t have enough people or skills. We now have some extra Board
members (the Board was down to seven members) and a Chief Executive Officer
bringing in a combination of more skills and experience. We had to get the
bottom layer sorted and not jump ahead of our capabilities or our financial
capacity. I apologise for it taking so long but we have been working very
hard behind the scenes.”
Q. “Have you acquired the land at Foster yet?”
A. “Not yet, but the negotiations are moving forward and it is not far off.”
Q. “Why was PCAC in financial difficulties?”
A. “Aged care is not very profitable and it isn’t viable running two
separate sites. We then had a double financial hit through a period of low
occupancy - due to 12 deaths - at the same time that interest rates were
very low. Much of our income is provided by interest earned from the bonds
we hold. We have since realised we needed to put more resources into
promotion and marketing to increase occupancy. However its not that we
haven’t got a good quality of care; people are happy with our care. It’s
that perceptions have changed of what is wanted, and families object to
putting relatives into aged care accommodation that has shared rooms and no
ensuite bathrooms. Toora is old and out of date and what we are doing in
Foster is building for the next generation.”
Q. “Has the Board decided what to do with the Toora building?”
A. “No, the Board has no idea yet what will happen. We will come to the
community when we are in a position to act on what the community wants. We
understand your frustration. We have got a building and we need to raise
$2.7 million and one idea is to sell it, but that may not be the best
outcome for the whole area. We would be especially interested in a medical
use, particularly one that attracts a high funding rate per person. However
we will be using Prom View Lodge for two more years so we have plenty of
time to get it right. There is a lot of misinformation out there but we will
consult with all stakeholders and community groups when we are in a position
to do so.”
FUNDRAISING
Fundraising sub-committee member Leanne Van Dyke (who is not a Board member
but was co-opted onto the sub-committee) outlined one of the proposals to
raise funds to fill the $2.7 million of community money required to be added
to the $9 million in Federal Government funding.
Acknowledging that the gap amount was “too large to pull out of our area,”
Ms Van Dyke said that large organisations whose brand products were found
“in the pantries” and households of the community would be approached in a
systematic manner for donations.
Following basic research so that letters were correctly targeted, the PCAC
Fundraising sub-committee will write to 200 organisations per month asking
for a small percentage of product sales to be donated towards the new
facility.
“We’ll be sending 1,000 letters to multinationals, so even if only 10 per
cent respond, it would be a good start,” Ms Van Dyke said.
“We will also be hitting tourists for donations too, so that locals should
only get asked to get $2 out of their pocket towards this $2.7 million
effort.”
“However we may tap you on the shoulder and ask for some of your time to
help us with this work,” she anticipated.
Two or three fundraising projects will be run locally however cake stalls
will not be part of the Committee’s approach.
“We haven’t got the cooking skills or the time to make and sell the 33,333
sponges and two cupcakes required to make up the community contribution,” Ms
Van Dyke laughed.
Ms Bucello added that the Federal Government had agreed to work with PCAC if
fundraising efforts proved unable to keep up with repayments in order to
maintain the viability of the new facility.
To date, PCAC has obtained $138,000 towards its $2.7 million target and it
hasn’t even started the fund raising projects.
However when projects are commenced, Ms Bucello said that details would be
publicised locally.
Anyone in the community who has fundraising ideas that would be suitable for
the sub-committee to pursue is asked to contact PCAC to pass them on.
“We’ve already had some amazing ideas put forward,” Ms Bucello praised.
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Police News |
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MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT
A 47-YEAR-OLD Foster man suffered severe open fractures to his lower leg in
a motorcycle accident on Dyrings Road, Foster, last Tuesday at about 4pm.
Foster Ambulance MICA unit attended and transported the hurt man to Foster
showgrounds, where he was put on a helicopter for a flight to Melbourne. A
fault was discovered in the helicopter, however, so the man was instead
transported by road ambulance to Melbourne and admitted to The Alfred
Hospital Trauma Centre.
TRACTOR ACCIDENT
A MAN was injured in a tractor accident on a Fish Creek property last
Thursday.
The accident occurred at about 2pm on the property in Cornwalls Road. The
tractor was loading pieces of equipment onto the tray of a utility. The
25-year-old farm hand was squashed between the silage equipment on the
tractor and the ute tray.
Fish Creek CFA road rescue as well as ambulance and police officers attended
the scene. The man was airlifted to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne with a
suspected fractured pelvis.
HIGHWAY ACCIDENT
A 20-YEAR-OLD woman from Fish Creek was fortunate to escape without injury
when she lost control of her car on the South Gippsland Highway at
Gelliondale on Sunday afternoon.
It was raining and the road was wet when at about 4.45pm the woman lost
control of her vehicle and it veered off the road and into a ditch. The
vehicle was towed away and the driver was taken to hospital for a check-up
but allowed to leave.
FOUND PROPERTY
A NUMBER of items have been handed into the police station at Foster in
recent weeks and can be claimed upon identification by their owners. They
include a fishing rod and reel found at Foster on January 24, a ring found
on March 1 at Pearl Park, and a necklace with chain found on March 17 in
Foster.
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Local
history goes up in smoke |
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SANDY Point lost a piece of its history when fire destroyed a property
belonging to the Pilkington family last Tuesday evening.
The fire started in the old weatherboard house, which was set well back from
the Sandy Point Road, several hundred metres past Telopea Drive, and
surrounded by trees and scrub, about 8pm.
Fire investigators have since established that an electrical fault sparked
the blaze.
A security guard at Sandy Point reported seeing smoke and flames above the
scrub. Yanakie and Fish Creek CFA units attended, but the house was burning
fiercely by the time they reached the site. There was little left of it and
all they could do was stop the fire from spreading through the scrub to
neighbouring properties on the other side of the dunes. SP AusNet attended
to cut off the power supply.
It took several hours and lots of water to totally extinguish the fire. By
then all that remained was a brick chimney and fireplace.
No-one had lived in the property since the previous owner, Keane Pilkington,
died about five years ago, but local printmaker Kim McDonald had been using
it as an artist’s studio for a couple of years and had a number of artworks
and tools stored there. Friends and family feel deeply for Kim and are
already planning a fundraiser to help the artist. It was particularly
unfortunate that she had relocated some of her work to the studio a few
months ago after her Sandy Point home was flooded.
Simon Pilkington, the current owner of the property, said that the old house
was over 100 years old, being one of three residences built by his family
early in the twentieth century.
Simon said that his father, Keane Pilkington, had lived there as a child and
had then lived in the next-door house with his family, returning to ‘Gyndahnook’,
as it was known, on the death of his wife.
The old house, one of three on the Pilkington property, served as the Sandy
Point post office for a number of years, servicing the growing holiday
community as a telephone exchange for several decades from after the war to
the 1970s. Keane’s sister, Simon’s ‘Aunty Vi’ Pilkington, wrote of it and
the other Pilkington houses in her history of Sandy Point, ‘South of
Dividing Creek.’
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FIRST OUTING FOR PUMPERS |
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The new Foster and Toora CFA pumpers had their first outings when they
attended a fire in a Toora house early last Tuesday afternoon. However,
there were no flames and little water was required at the scene.
A couple of CFA officers used the hooligan bar and axe which came with the
pumpers to break in through the back door of the smoke-filled house. The
smoke was reported by neighbours shortly after 1pm. It originated from a pot
of oil which was simmering on a hot stove. The fire officers wore breathing
apparatus and took the pot outside – along with a cat and some caged birds -
and the smoke gradually dispersed.
A subsequent investigation found that the stove dial had been faulty and had
indicated incorrectly when the owner left the house that the stove was off.
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• AFL PREVIEW |
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Who will win local derby?
The local derby between Fish Creek at home against reigning premiers Foster
should be a beauty on the weekend, with the Creek defeating Foster last
season in the last home and away match, their first loss for season 2010.
Foster are no where near where they were at last season, with last week’s
side having 10 new players in the line-up that were different from the grand
final combination.
Fish Creek were made to work very hard last week in their victory over
Tarwin, and although they have a number of new players this season, like
Foster, it will take a while for players to get to know who each other
plays.
We will get a good indication at the end of the match just as to where both
clubs are at and The Mirror believes that Fish Creek will start as
favourites playing at home. It should be a beauty of a match!
Phillip Island are home to Inverloch-Kongwak.
The Islanders had a big win last week, while IK were more than competitive
against the improved Kilcunda Bass, so this week’s clash will also see if
these two west end clubs have improved this season.
The Mirror expects Phillip Island at home to win the match, but IK will be
disappointed if they don’t get the four points.
The clash between Toora and DWWWW is shaping up as an even contest.
Both clubs struggled last week and going into this match on the weekend will
be a lot different as either team is capable of winning as they seem pretty
evenly matched.
Home ground advantage always helps and with a lot of youngsters in both
teams competing, The Mirror selects the Magpies to get over the line in an
entertaining clash.
Kilcunda Bass will welcome Stony Creek to their improved home ground on
Saturday.
Both these sides had good wins last week, with Stony Creek somewhat
surprising a number of football followers with their victory over MDU.
Kilcunda Bass are tipped to be one of the improvers this season, so after
Saturday’s clash we will know how much they have improved.
The Mirror is going to select Stony Creek to continue on their winning way,
but there won’t be much in it at the final siren.
It’s an important game for MDU at home on Saturday against Tarwin.
MDU are one of the teams that everyone is expecting to do well this season,
and after losing last week, they certainly won’t want to drop another match
early in the season.
Tarwin showed enough last week against Fish Creek to suggest that they will
be competitive this season, without probably troubling all the top teams.
The Mirror is going to select MDU to take the points and get the new season
on track.
Yarram will welcome Korumburra-Bena for their first game of the season.
The Demons showed last week that they will get better as the season
progresses, with their fitness improving week by week.
Korumburra-Bena are a unknown prospect at present having the bye in the
first round so we will have to wait and see how they go.
The Mirror believes they Bulldogs have picked up some good players and will
be very fit under new coach Peter Helms so they will start as a slight
favourite on the weekend.
Dalyston have the bye.
SELECTIONS
Phillip Island v. IK.
Toora v. DWWWW.
Killy B v. Stony Creek.
MDU v. Tarwin.
Fish Creek v. Foster.
Yarram v. Kor-Bena
Dalyston bye.
ROUND 3
APRIL 16
IK v. Toora.
DWWWW v. Dalyston.
Stony Creek v. PI.
Tarwin v. Killy Bass.
Foster v. MDU.
Kor-Bena v. Fish Creek.
Yarram bye.
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