50 years ago April 1975
Ron and Dot Easden of Easden’s Music Centre, Echuca, recently returned from the Yamaha Dealers’ Tour of Japan.
Highlight of the 10-day conducted tour was their visit to Hamamatsu, the site of most Yamaha factories where musical instruments and motorcycles are manufactured. The inspections took three days to complete.
Employed in one piano factory were 1300 Japanese and one Australian, who was learning to tune pianos.
‘’As many as 800 pianos are manufactured each day in a single factory and it was interesting to note that the only imported part appeared to be the felts, which came from Australia,’’ the Easdens said.
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Moama swimming pool is in danger of closing, a deputation told Murray Shire Council last week.
A pool deputation attended council with trustees from other organisations in the shire, to discuss the Lands Department proposal to transfer all crown land trusteeships from the department to local councils.
The Moama pool has no trustees, but is managed by a small committee.
Speaking for the committee, Mr Henderson said the pool was managed by only four people who were not keen to carry on under present conditions.
Shire president G.C. Graham said Moama without a pool would be ‘’a very hot place in summer’’.
25 years ago April 2000
Echuca is one of 23 regional Victorian centres being targeted in a state government Easter blitz on LPG prices.
The campaign is an attempt to force the Federal Government to address price differences between metropolitan and regional Victoria.
A spokesperson for Premier Steve Bracks said random ‘’secret monitoring’’ of LPG prices was taking place in Echuca during the holiday period.
‘’We’re not going to ‘fly’ when we’re going to do it,’’ he said.
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Echuca-Moama kayaker Cameron McMullen is paddling for Australian selection at the National Kayak Titles in Perth this weekend.
If he performs well, he will earn Australian selection for the World Titles to be held in Canada later this year.
McMullen will team with Melbourne’s Anthony May in the K2 Australian Marathon Kayak championship race and go solo in the singles (K1) event to win his way into the Aussie team.
A veteran of four world championships, McMullen is confident of reaching his fifth with strong performances at this weekend’s nationals.
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The Murray River is not in crisis, according to two men entrenched in Echuca’s paddleboat industry.
Co-owner of Murray River Paddlesteamers — Vern Beasley and his employee, Emmylou skipper Darren Mann — said the Murray was actually running clean and healthy at Echuca following last week’s rain.
The two men were responding to a report in a major Melbourne metropolitan newspaper on Wednesday.
Both said there was nothing new about the problems confronting the Murray River.
Mr Mann, who spends 50 hours a week behind the wheel of the Emmylou and has worked on the river for 12 years, said describing the river as being in crisis amounted to ‘’distortion and a load of rubbish’’.
10 years ago April 2015
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning will investigate illegal activity in Echuca’s Banyule State Forest.
It follows long-held concerns from police and nearby residents about four-wheel drives hooning and ripping up the tracks every time it rains.
Police were called to the area, on the corner of Pakenham and Sutton Sts, on Friday night after complaints of several four-wheel drives tearing up the muddy tracks after heavy rainfall.
For Pakenham St resident Tyla Harrington, it has been a problem for the seven years she had lived there.
‘‘Every time it rains, there are four-wheel drives ripping up the tracks,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s a real shame, especially because many people like to go for a stroll in the bush or walk their dogs, but it’s near impossible when four-wheel drives are constantly destroying the roads.’’
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Para-cyclist Michael Taylor does not believe in wearing lucky socks or underwear, and he is not at all superstitious.
Instead he believes in hard work and perseverance, and the fact that he rides about 400km on average per week as part of his training regime is an indication of that.
Known as ‘Squizzy’ by Echuca-Moama residents, Taylor returned home from Adelaide with an impressive haul of medals following outstanding performances at the World Para-Cycling Cup and the National Para-Cycling Series.
The modest athlete, who is a member of Echuca-Moama Cycling Club, was pipped at the post in his two world cup races (road race and time trial) but did not let that get him down.
‘‘It is really hard once you start coming up against those international competitors,’’ he said.
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Sorting through a pile of twisted metal and charred wood left from the fire-ravaged paddlesteamer Henry Charles might seem an impossible task.
Apart from the hull, which itself bears the scars of the early-morning inferno, the remainder of the boat is virtually gone.
The scarred wheel and steam engine remain, while a small patch of the boat’s bow and stern are all that remains of the ship’s paintwork.
But Moama’s Max Vulling is hoping his heart outweighs his head and he can restore the boat to its former glory.
Having previously worked as a builder, Mr Vulling could see the sense in condemning the boat to the scrap yard.
The PS Henry Charles was being re-painted in preparation to be sold when Mark Pendlebury awoke on the morning of March 9 to find the front half of the boat alight.