Doubtful sentiment on prized locomotive
WITH reference to a letter some issues back, in a report by Georgie Morton (August 28, 2020, Here to stay, pg 7) Councillor Les McPhee appeared to admonish the community with a big brotherly comment of “just be aware of what you wish for in the future” in relation to the costs that would be associated with keeping the locomotive D3 640 within the Pioneer Settlement, a decision made by council in hand with that to construct Our Place within the Pioneer Settlement grounds.
In his comments, Cr McPhee noted that the Victorian Goldfields Railway (VGR) were of the view that the locomotive “could have been made a useable and working steam engine into the future”, the use of “could” should be seen as a red flag.
When ‘warning’ of the costs associated with relocating D3 640 within the settlement grounds and citing the VGR’s comments, the councillor might also have asked the VGR for a timeline, before as he added his comment, again that word “could”, that a restored D3 640 “could be used along the lines of bringing people to Swan Hill”.
A somewhat doubtful sentiment when you consider the fate of another D3 locomotive consigned to the VGR.
I’m sure there were Maryborough folk just as optimistic when in 1995 the similar locomotive D3 646, built in 1905, was retrieved from a park outside Maryborough Railway Station where it had stood on display since 1964, like the locomotive D3 640 at the settlement.
Since then though, the Maryborough locomotive, after the VGR stripped some spares off it, has been stored in the VGR’s Maldon yards, where it still sits today, 25 years later, unrestored.
It was suggested among rail enthusiasts prior to 2009 that the VGR obtain the Swan Hill locomotive, either for spares or restoration, but even then, in 2009, that was considered not realistic as “the VGR has already got D3 646 for future restoration” and 640 had considerable wear and deterioration.
It’s somewhat telling, that that situation is unchanged 11 years on, the Maryborough locomotive remains unrestored, sitting in the back lots of the VGR’s yards, now 25 years in all.
Would that be the future of the Pioneer Settlement locomotive, too, if not preserved statically in the settlement grounds but instead, its local history ignored and dispatched to deteriorate for a further 25 years in the Maldon yards of the VGR.
A great organisation but one that reflects nothing of DR 640’s association with the wider Swan Hill community.
No, far better D3 640 remain here to continue its century plus of service, 51 years on the rails, 56 years at the settlement where has in a practical, physical manner, illustrated, educated and entertained generations of children, visitors to the settlement. Better it stay there and continue to do so.
The fact that the locomotive was built in Castlemaine gives the VGR little claim on it, after all, the PS GEM was built in Moama, the Pyap in Mannum, do we send them back too?
Name and address supplied
Cost confusion
THE figures quoted, as costs to remove and replace the locomotive in the Pioneer Settlement, and relocate the windmills, are interesting.
These costs reveal this choice of site by the council was obviously not the cheapest option.
The cheapest site to prepare would have to be the option two; where the art gallery is now.
The preparation of any proposed site must be a primary consideration, so why choose Pioneer Settlement site if so expensive? It has been quoted as a cost-saving choice for the council and the community. Very confusing.
Why choose a site which with will ultimately destroy a project which people have travelled to for over 50 years?
It cannot be revived once Our Place is there.
For the settlemrnt, it must expand on the current theme and it can continue to grow with more children involvement projects.
A working 19th century farm, sheep shearing, horse ploughing, feeding baby lambs, cows being milked at set times. This could all be done on Pental Island.
It can become a living example of farming in those days.
Food produced on the farm could be sold and people will come back if the projects are forecast and growing, as they did in the beginning, when the village was growing.
Also mentioned were the ongoing costs of maintaining the locomotive, well a great amount of expense could have been saved by leaving where it was. An historical and authentic site.
The choice was ultimately the council’s choice. The community wished for the locomotive to be left where it was.
Name and address supplied.
Why aren’t wages attractive to the unemployed?
WHILE I agree with Peter Walsh (August 28, 2020, No longer sit idly, pg 4) that “seasonal workers are critical and that our farmers deserve our support”, I cannot agree with him and he should not be able to get away with the untruth “a union campaign that’s based on unsubstantiated allegations of mistreatment of workers”.
At the same time he was writing his letter last week, the Fair Work Ombudsman was releasing a follow-up report saying despite their report and action in 2018, there are still examples of wage theft in the horticulture industry.
They were concerned that contract agents, who were mentioned as involved in wage theft in the 2018 report and some of whom who are no longer in business under that name, may just have “phoenixed” (arisen again under another name).
A UNSW report, also in 2019, also lists the widespread underpayment of workers and their lack of success claiming unpaid wages.
Even some local farmers are on record as being fined for underpaying.
This time last year I was invited to greet a group of Pacific workers from Kiribati, and on a cold morning I met them on a local fruit farm where a union rep also welcomed them and outlined their rights.
This was good to see as television reports have outlined some of these Pacific workers don’t return with what they deserve.
COVID changes much but perhaps with regard wages, it could be for the better.
Why aren’t the wages attractive to the huge number of unemployed Aussies?
My wife grew up on a local fruit farm and my two sons earned good money years ago picking and packing in their university holidays.
Why not more such workers in 2020?
Tony Waldron,
Swan Hill
Price rise will do nothing to deter
THE federal government’s latest increase in cigarette prices will do little to deter smokers in regional Australia from quitting the deadly habit.
For a pack a day smoker, the latest 12.5 per cent increase in tobacco excise tax is a $12,500 yearly burden.
An incredibly costly tax for regional and remote communities who have faced devastating bushfires and the debilitating economic impacts of COVID-19 in the last year.
Smoking rates in regional and remote areas are twice as high as in major cities. Despite cigarette prices tripling over the last decade, smoking rates remain alarmingly high in the bush and quitting support alarmingly low.
Recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggests as many as 70 per cent of current Aussie smokers want to quit. But many cannot quit no matter how high the price.
Safer and effective alternatives like nicotine vaping remain highly inaccessible for regional and remote Australians.
Currently, the only way to access e-cigarettes is via a doctor’s prescription which most rural doctors are not willing to provide. This leaves many smokers with no other option but to continue smoking.
Vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking, and around 90 per cent cheaper. A no-brainer for cash-strapped smokers who have tried and failed every other method to quit.
Instead of bolstering the national piggy bank with tobacco excise duty — less than 0.15 per cent of which is spent in helping smokers quit — the government should look to countries like the UK and US, where smoking rates are declining faster than ever with the help of vaping.
Current tobacco legislation squeezing smokers who have no other option. This needs to change.
The Australian Government needs to stop punishing regional Australia and support smokers in their transition away from the lethal habit.
Dr Colin Mendelsohn MB BS (Hons),
Founding chairman
Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association
