Front page news: July 4-10, 2007-2015
A snapshot of news from across the years
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July 6, 2007: Ararat is gearing up to celebrate 150 years of history next weekend.
Residents of the municipality are invited to join in the celebrations at a variety of activities across the weekend, commemorating the founding of Ararat in 1857 by the Chinese.
Whether born and bred in Ararat or a recent ‘immigrant’, the celebrations planned are sure to rouse pride in the foundations laid by those who have gone before, and a passion for the city’s future.
Ararat’s history is truly multicultural.
In 1857 a group of 700 miners from southern China travelling overland from Robe to the Clunes goldfields, rested near Mount Ararat.
Replenishing their water supply at a spring, they discovered by chance gold and this event led to the discovery of the Canton Lead, the world’s richest shallow alluvial goldfield, which stretched five kilometres in length.
In the first three months of mining the Canton Lead yielded more than three tons of gold – and the township of Ararat was born.
Today, Ararat has a strong sister city relationship with Taishan, in the Guangdong Province of China, continuing the link between Ararat and China to this day.
July 4, 2008: Victoria Police formally lodged a planning permit application for Ararat’s new $10.3 million police station with Ararat Rural City Council on Friday.
Victoria Police released the proposed design of the station late in April and a public consultation period followed.
The proposal is to demolish the current police station and associated outbuildings at the rear of the site, as well as demolish the former police residence in Ligar Street and construct a new station in their place.
The new two-storey station will house facilities for all staff members, including administration areas, custodial areas, police operation areas, a fully equipped gym, interview space, public meeting spaces as well as provision for future expansion of staff.
During the public consultation period four written submissions were received in relation to the design of the new station from members of the public.
Officer in charge of Ararat Police Senior Sergeant Matthew Wood, together with Derek Thornhill, project director Victoria Police, formally handed over the planning permit application to Ararat Rural City’s chief executive officer Steve Chapple on Friday.
The community now has six weeks in which to comment on the application.
July 10, 2009: Premier John Brumby will welcome passengers at the Ararat Station today to mark the five year anniversary of the return of passenger rail to the region.
Train passenger numbers between Ararat and Ballarat have soared by more than 50 per cent since the return of rail five years ago, according to Mr Brumby.
‘‘More than 48,000 passengers have travelled on the V/Line service between Ararat and Ballarat in the last year, a 53 per cent increase since the first year passenger rail returned in 2004,’’ Mr Brumby said.
‘‘This brings the total passenger trips between Ballarat, Beaufort and Ararat to nearly 190,000 since the Victorian Government re-introduced passenger rail to the region.’’
Mr Brumby said the people of Ararat, Beaufort and surrounding regions have voted with their feet on this service after it was closed in 1994 by the previous Kennett Government.
‘‘This government made the investment to return rail to this region and five years on this investment has reaped many rewards,’’ he said.
‘‘Six trains run between Ararat and Melbourne each weekday, and eight trains run on weekends, giving people flexibility in recreational travel to the region, particularly with connecting road coaches to Stawell, Horsham, Ouyen, Halls Gap, and over the border to Adelaide.
‘‘Train services between Ararat and Ballarat also offer quick and convenient connections to Ballarat University and TAFE colleges.’’
Member for Ripon Joe Helper said buses ran for 10 years before trains returned with much fanfare.
July 9, 2010: Reducing the administration costs of Ararat Rural City is the answer to the municipality’s rising rates according to a former Shire of Ararat and Ararat Rural City councillor.
Geoff King is yet another former councillor to speak out after the release of Ararat Rural City Council’s new Differential Rating Strategy.
Mr King was a shire councillor for 23 years and a city councillor for six.
‘‘If we continue to have this very high cost (Ararat Rural City) administration there’s no way anyone can benefit, so the issue for both rural and urban people is that they’ve (council) have got to dramatically reduce the administrative infrastructure, realise that we’re not running BHP, but running what should be a simple rural municipality,’’ Mr King said.
‘‘I don’t want divisions, everyone wants a fair go.’’
Mr King believes the issue goes back to the time of the amalgamation of the former Ararat City and Shire of Ararat, which formed the Ararat Rural City.
‘‘At the time of amalgamation the shire had $600,000 in credit and the city had $300,000 in debt,’’ Mr King said.
July 5, 2011: Ararat Rural City Mayor Andrea Marian will contest conflict of interest and misuse of position charges brought against her by the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate.
Cr Marian has been charged with three counts of conflict of interest and one count of misuse of position related to the Local Government Act 1989 (Act).
Cr Marian said on Friday that she would be pleading not guilty to the charges and that she would not be standing down but would continue with her duties as Mayor.
Ararat Rural City Council acting chief executive officer Ian Stewart declined to comment on the issue.
July 6, 2012: Construction of the Ararat Wind Farm by RES Australia is expected to commence sometime within the next 12 to 18 months.
The wind farm will comprise 75 turbines, 70 of which will be located in Ararat Rural City and five in Northern Grampians Shire.
The majority of the site is located between Warrak Road and the Pyrenees Highway, with a secondary site on the other side of the Pyrenees Highway comprising 11 turbines, including the five in the Northern Grampians Shire.
The turbines will be located between nine and 17 kilometres from Ararat. It is expected the height of the turbines will reach 135 metres to the tip of the blades (Challicum Hills Wind Farm turbines are 100 metres in height), and they have been designed to sit on the ridges of the hills in the project area.
July 10, 2012: The Ararat and Langi Kal Kal Landmate Prison Crews have been reinstated after an overwhelming outcry from the farming and Landcare community saw the State Government reverse its decision to cut the program.
The Landmate Crews, funded through the Department of Sustainability and Environment and delivered by the Department of Justice, were stood down on July 1 due to a withdrawal of funding.
But an immediate response from Ararat Rural City Council and the farming and Landcare communities, which lobbied local Members of Parliament and the Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith, saw a backflip on the decision late last week.
The Landmate Crews have completed thousands of dollars of important environmental and community work over the past 20 years across the region.
Project Platypus Landmate co-ordinator Bob Wallace said on Friday that news the program was being reinstated was ‘awesome’.
“We are absolutely so grateful that it has come back on track,” Mr Wallace said.
“In the first couple of hours after I sent out the email (to inform stakeholders) I had an overwhelming response to what had happened... I received about 20 emails in the first couple of hours.”
July 5, 2013: Ararat Rural City Council has so far received positive feedback to a proposal for an aged care prison in town, in what would be the first of its kind in Australia.
The council recently proposed to the state government that Ararat could become the home of a secure nursing home for ageing prisoners.
The council has proposed building the facility on the Prestige site at the rear of the Ararat hospital, estimating that it could bring up to an extra 200 jobs to the area.
Ararat Rural City chief executive officer Andrew Evans said the prison would address the issue of an ageing prison population as well as provide a boost to the local economy.
“We have an ageing population and we will reach a time where there will not be enough beds for the amount of people that need them,” he said.
“The Prestige site near the hospital is in need of development and the idea for this type of facility is just one way of developing that site.”
Mr Evans said the community didn’t seem too concerned by the proposal and discussions were still taking place among councillors about the project.
“We’ve had a primarily positive reaction, because the nature of what we are proposing is essentially just another nursing home,” he said.
“It would be an aged care facility with a range of security measures to keep the community and residents safe.”
July 7, 2015: Three Ararat Rural City councillors have failed in their bid to defer the $5.3-million Ararat Arts Precinct Project.
Councillor Frank Deutsch put forward the proposal during a robust debate at council’s most recent statutory meeting.
The meeting spanned more than two hours with Cr Deutsch's motion calling for council to defer the redevelopment until it had further discussions with the State government which is providing $3.7 million towards the project.
Cr Deutsch said council should work towards a staged development of the project.
"This project is not urgent, nor is it, in my opinion, necessary," he said.
"Just because a few people want to have a beautiful building which lasts for another 500 years, that is no reason to spend a heap of ratepayers’ money on something instantly."