King Valley COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
King Valley Tourism Association wins funding boost
The RCoW has provided grants totalling $13,500 to the Tourism Association to help attract visitors to the King Valley. In alignment with the Tourist Route Master Plan, $5,500 will be spent on a project to create sculptures that will link the individual townships of the King Valley and focus on the heritage attributes of our area. ... full story on RCoW web site
Similarly, another $8,500 will be spent on professional branding and promotion of the four seasonal events to be held over the next twelve months. The events include the Autumn End of Harvest Fiesta, Winter Weekend Fit for a King, Spring La Dolce Vita and Summer Outdoor Music Performance.... full story on RCoW web site
What Will Become of The Upper King Valley?Part 3: Wangaratta to Mansfield Tourist Route Master Plan - THE VISION
The Master Plan is now Policy for the development of the King Valley over the next 10 years. So that we can better understand it and get behind it, we will reproduce the ‘Executive Summary’ over the next few issues. Here is the first installment. … Greg Naylor.
The road linking Wangaratta and Mansfield has the potential to be one of the premier touring routes in Victoria, and an attractive alternative route for visitors traveling between Melbourne and Sydney. The vision for the King Valley in the next 10 years has the following elements:
The development of this vision in a strategic and coordinated way needs to be supported through improved infrastructure, enhancement of township image and amenities, development of new and existing tourism product and businesses, and branding and promotion of the route. This would ensure that all the elements are in place to attract high yield visitors, to provide them with a satisfying experience, in turn encouraging word of mouth recommendation, repeat visitation and visitor growth.
The Master Plan addresses these key areas and provides a number of strategies and actions to guide the Councils, communities and the tourism industry.
One of the road's key strengths is its strategic location, accessibility and proximity to a number of key regional destinations and gateways and major access roads including the Hume Highway, Midland Highway, Great Alpine Road, the snowfields including Mt Buller, Bright, Beechworth and Rutherglen. In the longer term the route has the potential to be developed as a touring route to Melbourne through the Yarra Valley and the Shire of Murrindindi alternative to the Hume Highway.
The town centers of Wangaratta and Mansfield at each end of the road link form important gateways with accommodation, retail and other services and stand to benefit from growth in visitation to this region.
Communities will benefit through attraction of investment and additional business and employment opportunities. Positive outcomes will also be derived from improved amenities for township communities, and a community 'spirit' strengthened by seeing their efforts supported and enhanced. The local township communities and the tourism industry by working cooperatively with each other, and with Council, will strengthen their ability to access funding and resourcing to assist in implementing the range of actions required.
The Councils will need to play a critical role in providing pro-active leadership, facilitation and expertise in the implementation of the Master Plan. ... to be continued
TXU using hi-tech dropout monitoringAt the start of the month, this newsletter reported the ongoing power dropouts in the Upper king Valley. Since then, we have been fortunate with a continuous supply without dropouts.
Anne Arnoldussen of Cheshunt reports, "I think that you will find that the power people are already aware of the situation, Hans and I have had an attachment on our telephone line that automatically informs them when we have the dropouts, (which are even more frequent than yours). This was installed towards the end of last year, and is still collecting the information. There were a number of other installed at the same time."
presents a public meeting:
GM Canola - Ready or Not?
The implications of GM canola for all Australians
8.30am, Friday 7th, March 2003 Charles Sturt University - Albury
With less than three months before the Office of Gene Technology Regulator hands down a decision on the commercial release of GM canola, the Network of Concerned Farmers is asking "Are we ready?" Gene manipulation will affect producers and consumers alike. Come to this community meeting to hear about experiences from farmers who have been exposed to genetically modified crops already.
Speakers:
Bob Willick, Farmer, Saskatchewan. A former conventional grower of RR Canola who has recently converted to organic farming, Bob and 1000 other farmers are mounting a class action against Monsanto and Bayer seeking to recover damages associated with the release of GM canola in Canada. He will talk about liability, agronomic issues of roundup ready canola, and the reality of coexistence in Canada.
Julie Newman and her husband farm 8,000 hectares in W.A. and grade 10% of the State's barley and 5% of the State's wheat seed. Julie is a member of the WA Grains Board and is one of the finalists of Women in Agriculture's Rural Woman of the Year 2003. Julie will outline the implications of the draft GM management protocols and will provide an industry checklist to help you determine if you're ready for co-existence.
Key issues:
Details:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL ALAN KEYS, TEL: (0412) 696 689
Network of Concerned Farmers' website: www.non-gm-farmers.com
Important Meetings ... please come along
The Computer Bank deals in foreign currency. Amongst the obsolete computer equipment recycled by the King Valley Linux Users Group, we find other other electronic equipment that may be useful to someone in the community. At the moment, we have
We still have quite a few Mac Classics available to anyone wanting to get started in computers. These machines have an office suite with word processing, spreadsheet, as well as some games for the kids (or the kids at heart).If you can utilise any of this equipment contact Greg Naylor through the contact details at the bottom of this page.
The Community Newsletter comes from the "The King Valley Portal" at http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/users/portal/ Please bookmark this address now and visit it often. If you have a web page, it can be linked free of charge in the cascading menu of the portal. If you would like a web page, but don't know where to start, call Greg Naylor.