“You know it’s shearing time when you get off the school bus to the sound of clippers and smell of manure” – Jorja Downsborough
Happy Valentine’s Day! There’s so much happening in the Wheatbelt at the moment! In this edition of the “Wheatbelt Weekly Wrap-up”, we’re bringing you the latest news as well as events to look forward to in the near future…
- A spectacular photo of a dust storm lit up by the setting sun, captured by weather photographer Kylie Gee (of Indigo Storm Photography) near Bencubbin, made the news this week and put the Wheatbelt in our newspapers. See the stunning image here
- If you’re thinking of attending the Wheatbelt Early Years Conference, a free Professional development day for anyone involved in, or interested in, “Early Years” in the Wheatbelt region, now is the time to register. The event will be held in Kellerberrin on Thursday 12th March 2015, and more information, including how to register can be found here.
- There will be four Wheatbelt students heading to Gallipoli for the dawn service as part of the ANZAC centenary in April. Renee Seiber (Narrogin Senior High School), Casey Starcevich (Northam Senior High School), Tom Curnow (WA College of Agriculture – Cunderdin) and Brie Runeckles (St Joseph’s School, Northam) will all be a part of history as they watch the sun rise over Gallipoli on the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landing. Find out more here.
- On the topic of ANZAC Day, the Shire of Merredin is aiming to get 10,000 handmade poppies by ANZAC Day. The tally as of one week ago stands at 1,507. It’s a good effort but there’s still heaps more needed. To help out, contact the Shire of Merredin and drop off your handmade poppies when you’re in town.
- Yilgarn roads are set to become safer with a $6000 road safety grant from the state government. More information on grant can be found here.
- The latest RRR Network News Magazine arrived in letterboxes around the state this week. The free quarterly magazine features stories of inspiring women around WA, and the latest magazine has a number of stories on great Wheatbelt ladies, including Tanya Dupagne from Camp Kulin and Chloe Flockart who was instrumental in the “Farm” show that was premiered in Merredin earlier in the year before moving to Fremantle and Kalgoorlie. Read the magazine online here.
- There’s good news for the wallaby population near Kellerberrin as a five-kilometre long electric fence built around a group of black-flanked rock wallabies in a nature reserve in 2013 has helped the creatures rebound from critically low numbers. The whole article can be read online here.
- Monday is the last opportunity to register for the Chittering Inter-town Challenge. If you’re from the Shire of Chittering, the event is one not to be missed so be sure to have your name down! More details can be found here.
- A big shout out to Local Two Dogs Home Hardware team member Julia Hendriks, who has been announced as a finalist for this year’s the Home Timber & Hardware Group (HTH Group) Best Young Retailer Award. Read more about Julia’s impressive achievement here.
- Groundwater levels in some parts of WA’s South West are rising despite the effects of a drying climate, one of the findings from an analysis of about 1500 monitoring bores on more than 400 farming properties and public land in a comprehensive report published by the Department of Agriculture and Food. Find out more here.
Photo by Jorja Downsborough
What are you looking forward to this week?