1979
Kyabram Football Club announced its 1979 sponsors, with Kyabram Preserving Company featuring on the front of the player guernseys.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Club president Nev Dickson also announced co-sponsors in the form of Andrews Furniture and Nicol car dealership, represented at the season launch by Kevin Andrews and Geoff Nicol.
Several media awards were launched at the same time as the season opener and Rod Bray was a unanimous choice as the best player from round one.
• Member for Rodney Eddie Hann announced he had been advised by the Gas and Fuel Corporation that Kyabram would have natural gas by 1982.
Works on the extension of a pipeline from Shepparton to Kyabram was planned to start in 1982. Along the same route Mooroopna, Tatura and Merrigum were also touted as being newcomers to the supply network.
The provision of gas was expected to be a boom for the town’s industrial and commercial growth.
• Floor laying apprentice Les Langley completed his third and final year of training with outstanding results, the 23-year-old from Cooma winning two awards from the Melbourne College of Textiles.
He had spent five years working for Knights flood covering department and received a framed carpet cutter as his prize
1989
Tongala Conductive Education School was the major beneficiary of the 1989 Kamikaze Ball, receiving a cheque for $20,000 after more than 1800 people attended the March event.
President of the Tongala school, Moira Pankhurst, accepted the cheque from Kamikaze committee chief Vonnie Morris. Other groups to benefit from the annual spectacular were Kyabram and Lancaster Football Clubs, along with Kyabram cubs.
• Keen Kyabram cod fisherman Geoff McDonald admitted to having doubts about his chances of catching a big fish with the falling Goulburn River and southerly wind — apparently a combination not conducive to angling success.
When he hooked a 32 kilogram (70 pound in the old measurement) he and friend Rick Thomas were revisiting those thoughts. The fish was caught on a “springer” (a heavy line attached to a rubbery tree limb dug into the bank of the river) just near Wyuna, at the end of Emily Jane Road.
• Kyabram Abattoirs auction failed to attract a single bid after the auctioneer asked for a starting amount of $150,000.
The mortgage auction, held at the Commercial Hotel, was a second attempt and attracted 22 people — many of them former workers.
Five months earlier an auction at the same venue had finished at $260,000 and mortgagees decided to delay the sale for another time.
1999
A public meeting was being organised for the formation of a Kyabram Urban Landcare Group.
Facing conservation and environmental issues similar to the surrounding farmland there was a growing amount concerned citizens prepared to support the initiative.
Shire Landcare facilitator Drew Gailey was a key player in organising the meeting, along with support from the highly successful Wyuna Landcare Group.
President of that group, Russ Pell, was among those also assisting in the co-ordination of the event.
• Marj (nee Coulson) Wickham and her husband Bill celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, explaining how Bill’s friendship with Marj’s brother Stan had been responsible for their initial union.
At the time of the celebration the couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, a result of their marriage on April 8, 1939 at Stanhope’s Church of England.
Bill enlisted in the army in 1942 and spent four years serving while Marj kept the home fires burning.
They spent 44 years living at the Park Street block they bought for £85 and build a home on soon after.
• Robert George won the Top Gun award at the Australia-wide competition at Murray Bridge in South Australia.
The model aircraft competition saw Robert fly a F20 Tiger Shark scale model which was almost two metres long.
Drivers between Kyabram and Echuca were used to seeing Robert’s aircraft flying every Sunday at the home of the Echuca-Moama Model Aero Club, just behind the Falcon Hotel on the Murray Valley Highway.
2009
Charlie Grummit was the toast of Kyabram hospital after he donated $50,000 toward capital expenditure at the health service.
Mr Grummit, renowned for his generosity in the Kyabram community, was involved in a brief ceremony involving Kyabram Hospital Chief Executive Officer Alwyn Gallina and board president Peter Hann.
• Koyuga veteran Iris Hicks stole the show at the Kyabram District Tennis Association’s presentation evening, earning her life membership and entry into the Hall of Fame.
Still an active player with the Koyuga section two side which had just won the premiership, she stunned the room when she finished in the top five in the Play of the Year vote count.
Dhurringile’s Carol Brisbane was the section one player of the year, ahead of Faye Glover and Lori Hodgson, while Travis Hocking beat Steven Christou in section two and Girgarre’s David Pearce was the section three winner.
• Kyabram’s Mick Rosser and Nathalia’s Alan Favaro tied for the 2008-09 Jack Stone Medal as the best player in the Kyabram District Cricket Association’s A grade competition.
The pair finished ahead of Stanhope’s Leigh Haw and Brad Mueller from Kyabram, while Scott Hanson was next best for the season.
It was Favaro’s second medal, having tied with Cooma’s Paul Ranson 12 months earlier. Other players to feature in the voting were Brett Catterall and Ben Langley from Kyabram Fire Brigade, Gary Farrow from Girgarre and Ranson.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor