SWAN Hill Council’s decision not to be represented at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the twin town relationship between Robinvale and Villers Bretonneux (France) in April is another example of the past being pushed aside.
A strong bond has developed between these two distant communities over the past decades, the link goes back more than 100 years.
Toward the end of World War I, Australian forces liberated the French town from German occupation, but paid a heavy cost in young lives lost. Among that number was Robin Cuttle.
The Cuttle family owned a large area on the Murray River, which they later renamed Robinvale as a lasting memorial to their hero.
Following World War II, Robinvale was developed as a soldier settlement area to become the thriving irrigation area of today.
In the mid-1980s, Swan Hill Shire Council formalised a twin town relationship with Villers Bretonneux which has blossomed.
Robinvale’s council representative, the late Bill McGinty, was a dedicated promoter of the arrangement, as also was the late Lan Wood, then Member for Swan Hill in the Victorian Parliament.
Swan Hill residents have been frequent visitors to VB over many years, and as recently as 2018 the family matriarch, Mrs Joyce Wood, represented Robinvale there at a celebration to mark 100 years since the end of World War I.
“The whole family were there to support me – three generations of us,” Mrs Wood, now in her 97th year, told me this week.
Comparing the merits of Swan Hill’s sister city link the Yamagata (Japan) and the Robinvale-Villers Bretonneux ties during Swan Hill Council’s December meeting, one councillor is reported to have commented that the “stronger” and “most important” link was “obviously Yamagata”.
That may be so for anyone living in Swan Hill and district, but take a 135km road trip to Robinvale and Yamagata might be no more than a foreign name.
This raises another point, to which I have only recently become aware: Swan Hill Rural City Council has in the recent past dispensed with its ward structure.
When this council was created as a part of a statewide reorganisation of local government about 30 years ago – formed by the merging of Swan Hill City and Swan Hill Shire councils – it consisted of wards, based largely on the riding boundaries of the former shire council, with the former city council area absorbed in the east Riding of the former shire council.
Prior to the most recent state election, Robinvale district resident, Cr Jade Benham, took leave of absence from council to contest the Mildura seat in State Parliament. She was elected and resigned from council.
Under Local Government Act, her place on council was filled by the highest poller of the unsuccessful candidates at the most recent council election. This was a Swan Hill resident.
I feel that removal of the ward structure by a council that covers such a massive area removes “local” from local government.
With no local to push Robinvale’s case in support of the Villers Bretonneux invitation, except for one voice of common sense, I see this as a further proof of imbalance.
I have been told every councillor has responsibility to represent Robinvale, but with most of them 100km away from that area, I wonder how many have a finger on the town’s pulse.
Votes elect councillors. Voting power in Swan Hill Rural City Council area, on local population numbers appears to be lopsided toward the Swan Hill end.
Lawrie French
Swan Hill
