A dream come true
Star Mail started off the year with a good news story – Holy Fools found its home in Lilydale making it a dream come true.
Putting it down to just the right timing, founder and chief executive officer Neal Taylor said the Hutchinson Street building would become a relief centre and hub for urban Yarra Ranges, providing cafe-like facilities, a shower and laundry, as well as information about where to find help.
“This has been our primary dream, to have a space like this,” Neal said.
“There’s lots of possibilities but we need to be wise about what we’re doing so we’re not just doing it for the sake of doing it, we’re doing it for a reason.”
In January, the space was still very much a blank canvas but by October when Star Mail revisited, the empty room had been transformed with the generous support of the community and local trades.
Power outages and 50 years of service
February brought with it “one of the largest (power) outage events in the state’s history” with 530,000 customers affected at the peak after storms lashed the state on Tuesday 13 February.
The Dandenong Ranges were yet again one of the hardest hit with power poles snapping in half and trees and debris spread across roads.
Telecommunications across the east were also down as a result of the high winds, rain and lightning.
Telstra saw disruptions across 223 mobile sites around the state and almost 5000 landlines, with the 4G, 5G and in some places 3G mobile network being affected.
Anger over feeling “isolated, uninformed and useless in a crisis” because of the telco outages, people commented that “nothing’s changed since black Saturday. It’s disgusting.”
Casey MP Aaron Violi called for bipartisan support to improve the infrastructure.
“This is not a criticism of the government. This is bipartisan because it is a challenging situation. I acknowledge the terrain, the topography…to make (the community) as safe as possible.”
The shortest month of the year also brought us the story of George Caruana, an employee of McDonald’s for 50 years, who began his working career at 19-years-old at the Collingwood franchise in 1974 and now works mostly at Lilydale.
“Me and mum decided to go and get something to eat and try this new McDonald’s. It was the third McDonald’s in Melbourne and as we were enjoying our food, a manager came out exactly like I do today.
“He comes out into the dining room and says, ‘G’day, is everything okay with your food?
Do you like it?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I love it’.
“He said to me, ‘would you like a job?’ and he started showing me around the store and he came out to mum and said, ‘I gave your son a job’. I started the week after.”
Intersection disruption for Montrose
Montrose was thrust into shock when the intersection upgrade works began in March, seeing businesses start a petition for compensation to help their survival.
In as little as three weeks, The Little Flower Shoppe business owners Chloe Oswell and Sigrid Petersen felt the reduction in trade so significantly they started a petition which reached over 1000 signatures.
“I was pretty naive in thinking the roadworks wouldn’t affect us or not as significantly as they have,” Sigrid said.
The Montrose Fruit Basket owner Sopath was also trying to stay positive but said it was hard when his customer base dropped.
“In one year’s time, how are we going to get the money to pay the rent? This is a long period of time,” he said.
But in an effort to support the Montrose community, Monique Naudi started a social media series, posting about the businesses that needed a little extra help.
“It’s just to spread love and remind people that we need to support these businesses because it’s going to be a really long year,” she said.
Tom’s truckie treat
Ten-year-old Tom celebrated his birthday in style in April as truck drivers from around the Lilydale area banded together to surprise him with a visit.
Diagnosed with leukaemia in the middle of 2023 after experiencing a sore shoulder, Tom was instantly treated with chemotherapy and the family had to shift part-time to Lilydale’s Pine Hill Caravan Park to be closer to the hospital.
As a lover of trucks, particularly Peterbilts, Tom not only marked his 10th birthday but also the completion of 10 weeks of chemo and his dad Troy’s $10,000 fundraiser for the Leukaemia Foundation with a visit of two of his favourite trucks.
Troy said the doctors had given Tom a “very good prognosis for full recovery” early on, given his age and the type of leukaemia they were treating.
“We’re very lucky that the type of leukaemia he has is a more common type of leukaemia, and it’s one of the more treatable ones,” he said.
A fight for funds
In May, Victoria’s State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers broke their silence on the systemic and decades long underfunding of the frontline response unit by launching the Fund VICSES campaign on Monday 20 May with an awareness convoy flooding the Bolte Bridge.
Lilydale SES unit controller Shaun Caulfield said this was something that had been “brewing for decades” across “successive governments” on both sides of the political spectrum.
“Relative to the number of resources and the risks and the amount of jobs we do, SES has been drastically underfunded pretty much since its inception in 1975,” he said.
The SES currently receives an annual unit subsidy but has to fund all other costs, aside from PPE, through fundraising.
Calling for a “combined emergency services levy that also funds SES as well as fire services” or a separate levy for SES, Mr Caulfield said for as little as $30 per ratepayer the SES could maintain vehicles and buildings to ensure volunteers and the community were getting the best resources possible.
Aged care concerns voiced
Concerns over aged care services were voiced in June with both the Federal Government’s access to in-home care, as well as Yarra Ranges Council’s aged care services coming into question.
Casey MP Aaron Violi outlined in a private members motion in parliament on Monday 3 June multiple cases of residents being unable to access in-home care.
Mr Violi said “these aren’t ‘nice to have’ packages; these are necessities for older Australians”.
The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) said recent senate estimates showed that 68,000 people were on the waiting list for home care packages.
“Access to home care packages has decreased over the past six months and we expect further pressure on the system as the population ages,” OPAN chief executive officer Craig Gear said.
“Some older people and families have reported to us that they have been waiting nine to 12 months to access a level 3 package.”
The transition out of actively supplying some aged care services also came with uncertainty for Yarra Ranges residents who had been receiving council-run support.
A meals on wheels volunteer, who spoke to Star Mail on the condition of anonymity, said their client base had dropped from 22 to five by March but barely any communication had been delivered on what was happening until 22 May.
At the beginning of June, the council confirmed new providers after being questioned by Star Mail.
Community victorious in Mount Evelyn
After plans for a McDonald’s and a childcare centre in Mount Evelyn came to light at the end of 2023, the community rallied to oppose the fast food giant’s proposal for their ‘village town’.
By July the community came out victorious after the plans were quashed by the Department of Transport and Planning which determined them to be “unacceptable”, “incompatible” and “likely to compromise road safety” giving Yarra Ranges Council grounds for refusal.
No McDonald’s in Mount Evelyn lead campaigner Amy Kidd said she was pleased to learn of the decision and grateful that the over 400 objections submitted to the council were taken into consideration.
“We’re absolutely thrilled with this decision. It’s a real testament to the Mount Evelyn community who really got behind objecting to this proposal, and we’re really glad the Yarra Ranges Council has listened to our concerns and rejected the plan,” she said.
Farewelling Amigo
Mount Evelyn farewelled a true community man in August – Sam Abounajm, or Amigo as he was better known.
Sam Abounajm, was more than the Red Robin Milk Bar owner, he was a family man, a loving father, dedicated husband, a confidant, a community member and an immigrant twice over.
The real life Wonka of the small, hilly township was endlessly positive, spreading joy, love, a warm smile, some humour and of course lollies with all who walked through his shop front door.
With Sam’s sudden passing on Monday 12 August came shockwaves and an outpouring of support for his wife Sue and children Nina and Will.
“He had the warmest heart, the biggest heart, and he genuinely cared about people. He was really humanistic and he could feel anyone’s pain,” Nina said.
“He had this gift of being able to know what to say to each person, whether they were young or, a child or teenagers or adults or seniors.
“He made everyone feel special and important, and it didn’t matter if he saw you every day, or if he saw you once, you were all important.”
Major Federal Government announcements
September was a month of Federal news, with community legal centres receiving a much-needed $800 million funding boost and the final recommendations handed down in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
Eastern Community Legal Centre (ECLC) chief executive officer Michael Smith welcomed the government’s funding announcement especially the acknowledgement of legal services being the quiet frontline workers of the family violence support system.
“So much of our time and effort goes into responding to family violence, whether it’s through the intervention work in the courts, or whether it’s through prevention programs or early intervention programs but often people don’t understand how important that legal support is,” he said.
“For the Prime Minister, National Cabinet and the Attorney General to talk about uplifting legal services responding to gender based violence is really critical.”
Star Mail sat down with Boronia Veterans’ Advocacy Centre president Dave Menz after the handing down of the report, who said the good thing is they’ve done it.
“We want them to accept and implement the recommendations fully,” he said.
The report had 122 recommendations to address cultural and systemic challenges that are failing serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members and their families – and costing lives.
Mauling of kangaroo
The dreadful news of a kangaroo mauling, and subsequent euthanasia, at Lillydale Lake in October was a stark reminder of the importance of control and recall for dogs who are off leash.
At around 9.30am on Friday 11 October a walker at the Lake witnessed the attack as two dogs, one said to be a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the other a Whippet, chased a young adult male kangaroo around the off leash dog park.
Three rescuers from Vets For Compassion, Vicki, Jacob and Jacquie, responded to the Lake, with founder, unpaid chief executive officer and vet Elaine Ong on Facetime to assess the injuries sustained.
“It had a broken jaw, multiple bites everywhere to its face, feet, body, and it was ready to die, I suppose,” Dr Ong said.
“We made the decision to put him to sleep. It was very, very sad for our rescuers.
“Our message is that if you own dogs and you walk in parts where there are kangaroos, please have them on leash, unless you’re confident your dogs will obey you and recall and come back to you.”
Police strike for better
After the first police strike at the Victoria Police academy, Croydon Police Station soon joined the action taking part in a work stoppage on Tuesday 19 November calling for better pay and conditions.
“Everyone here is standing up and we’re saying ‘we’ve had enough, we’re burnt out, we’re understaffed, we’re underpaid, and we need some more resources’,” Croydon Sergeant Karen said.
A number of the 30-minute work stoppages followed, reaching Lilydale Police Station, the largest in the Yarra Ranges, on Wednesday 4 December.
“We have 1000 members off. We have 700 members on sick leave. When is enough enough? It gets to the point where we are all at breaking point,” Leading Senior Constable Peter Williams said.
“If it’s not fixed quickly, then the numbers will reduce. It’ll just get worse. And my biggest fear is actually that members of the public who are potential victims will be in need of assistance and that’s not coming.
“And that’s what we’re here for, the victims.”
Kyeema: memories and aviation’s future
In October, Star Mail published a story on the devastating and deadly tale of the Kyeema plane crash after a newly authored book The Weeping Mountain by Joel Martin was released.
It documents the plane’s untimely demise but more importantly the stories of those onboard the flight including that of a potential Prime Minister, a trio of winemakers and a newly wed couple.
“It’s fascinating because on the surface it’s just a story about a plane crash, but it’s a love story, and it’s one about a mum on the plane who was flying because the last time she was near a train, it was sending her son off to war, and he didn’t come back,” Joel said.
“So she said, ‘I’m never catching a train again. I’ll catch a plane, it’ll be safer’.”
From that story, the Star Mail was contacted by a former Montrose resident, Joan Balcombe, who was 11-years-old at the time of the plane crash in 1938, remembering the moment she jumped in her uncle’s ute to travel up to the site.
In December, Star Mail brought you her story and memories of the plane crash but also of Montrose at the time.
