1982
Michael Attenborough was appointed general manager of Kyabram Preserving Company after the transfer of Keith Lawson to the Henry Jones pineapple division.
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At the time, Kyabram’s IXL No Waste Tomato Paste was a key product at the factory and Mr Attenborough, as his name would suggest, was an English born production expert.
He had been involved in the design and construction of breweries in Australia, arriving in Kyabram with his wife and two young children.
– Kyabram sub-branch of the Returned Soldiers League inducted three new members with a service history in the Vietnam war.
Jim Saddington, John Coombs and Graham Jones had made an immediate impact on the organisation, with Mr Saddington taking over the role as secretary from Con Troy, who had been in that role for 10 years.
– Kyabram’s think tank had taken a step closer to luring a new industry to the town when the steering committee attracted the director general of the department of economic development, Robin Ritchie, to the town.
Kyabram Mayor Frank Findlay, Cr Anne Adams, Cr Clive Toms, Cr Richard Isaac, Cr Maurie Wood, Chamber of Commerce president Bryan Hilton, MLA for Rodney Eddie Hann and town engineer Charlie Godfrey were the welcoming party for Mr Ritchie and other regional development officials.
They visited the cannery, fauna part and racecource reserve, the event gaining coverage by the ABC radio station and GMV6 television station.
1992
Kyabram war veteran Reverend Brian “Jack” Moxon recalled the 50-year anniversary of the first World War II bombs landing on Australian soil, with the bombing of Darwin.
Private Moxon, as he was then with the Australian forces, was digging a trench just before 10am on February 19, 1942 when he saw the first of 180 Japanese Zero twin-engine fighters above the northern capital.
The 17-year-old was the youngest man in the 800-strong Darwin Infantry Battalion and was recalling the incident from his now home at Tongala’s Uniting Church, where he was a minister.
– World War II Prisoner of War Ray Mueller attended a 50th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, returning with hundreds of other former POWs to mark the fall of the island.
He survived working on the Thai-Burma Railway, having left behind a young wife, Nell, and four children aged eight months to six years to join the war effort as a 34-year-old.
He was sent to British occupied Singapore and was wounded in a Japanese bombing raid. He was in hospital when the British surrendered to the Japanese on February 14, 1942.
After working on the railway, Ray was among prisoners shipped to Japan to work in coal mines for 15 months.
– Kyabram Free Press turned 100 years old in February 1992, having started with Charles Bollinger at the head of the paper’s production 100 years earlier.
At the time two other newspapers were operating, the Rushworth Chronicle and the Tatura-based Guardian, which also had an office in Kyabram.
Prior to 1890 another Newspaper, the Kyabram Union, had circulated in the district.
– Kyabram Town Council CEO John Costello described the proposed bill to register cats as “one of the most ridiculous pieces of legislation he had seen for some time”.
Council had decided to inform Member for Rodney Noel Maughan that it opposed the state government bill in its current form. He explained if the bill was to pass people would be issued fines or penalties for keeping unregistered cats.
2002
Girgarre’s Ray Major had little understanding of the devastation caused by the Japanese bombing of Darwin until he arrived in the city with the RAAF during World War II, almost 60 years ago.
The then 19-year-old landed in Darwin toward the end of the two-year long Japanese bombing campaign, there to repair the airstrip each time it was bombed.
Japanese raids started on Darwin four days before the fall of Singapore and only six weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Eight ships were sunk in Darwin Harbour on February 19, 1942.
Ray arrived in late 1943 and was among those planning to attend a 60-year commemoration service at the Shepparton Cenotaph.
– A long awaited storage dam construction to help solve Kyabram’s notorious flooding problems was only weeks away from completion.
Original members of Kyabram’s Drainage Action Committee Don Anderson and Leon Pettifer, expected the dam to alleviate the problems experienced by several property owners.
The 80 acre property on South Boundary Rd, on which the storage is being constructed by the Shire of Campaspe, had been advocated by the group for 20 years.
Floods in 1993 showed the town lacked a system of creeks and rivers to drain the torrents of water, and with the 1994 amalgamation of shires, the land was secured to help solve the issue.
2012
Steve Bubb celebrated 30 years since walking in the door of Dawes and Vary on Australia Day, 1982 for an interview at the law firm for an article clerk position.
Three children, seven premierships with Kyabram Cricket Club and three decades later, he was a Kyabram community stalwart.
Mr Bubb’s orignial boss was John Adams, and since that first interview, he had become a property, estate and water lawyer of some repute.
– Tongala cowboy Cody Tyrell was expected to feature heavily again at the Kyabram Rodeo, after his 2011 performances in the bareback horse riding and bull ride.
Within two months the 18-year-old, who grew up in Echuca, had broken into the top division and was competing alongside his 16-year-old brother Hayden and 15-year-old sister Gracie.
– Five Kyabram P-12 College students were ready to tackle the F1 in Schools challenge, a learning project for students to design, analyse, test, manufacture and race miniature carbon dioxide powered, balsa wood cars.
Year 10 students Emily Schumann, Emily Lawson, Catherine Prior, Leah Bott and Brent Roberts were the only representatives from the Goulburn Valley in the finals at Adelaide.
Brent stepped into the team for Freya Findlay, who had moved schools and was part of the team from the previous year.
Supervising teacher for the team was Dale Roberts, who explained the team had spent 20 hours a week working on the project.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor