“Tail End Charlie” visits Colbo in March 1975.

Colbinabbin was visited by a tractor known as “Tail End Charlie”. The Chamberlain Champion was built for the 1956 Redex Trial of cars travelling around Australia, to pull the competitors out of bogs, creeks and sand drifts. Chamberlain’s district manager, John Avard, told the Chronicle he had taken four hours to drive from Corowa to Colbinabbin, which seems pretty fair for a tractor. “Charlie” was then driven to country shows across Victoria.

Federal MP for Murray, Bruce Lloyd, reported an announcement from the ALP Minister for Labor and Immigration, Mr Clyde Cameron, for the “excavation, forming and pouring of concrete for footpaths in Rushworth”. Six unemployed men were to be paid a combined total of $21,600 for twenty weeks on the job. (I know of at least one local reader who was part of this work programme known as Regional Employment Development or R.E.D. scheme.)

Fisheries and Wildlife Officers nabbed some poachers in the Corop area. 

A fire at the Corop property of Doug Crilly burnt grass and rushes but fire trucks from Corop and Colbinabbin hosed it down.

Community

A public meeting was called at Murchison to form an Elderly Citizens’ Club.

Rushworth Youth Club planned a dance in the Shire Hall with Bendigo band Helios to provide the music. Admission charge was $1.

Schools

Graeme Morgan contributed news from grades 3 and 4 at Rushworth Primary, and noted that they were “collecting rocks”, “pictures of rocks” and had “watched men cut down trees”! 

For Grade 6, excitement was high. “Paul Beck brought a musical instrument called the baritone. He played some tunes for us. Then Darren Nurse came into our room with his cornet. They played a duet, “Home on the Range”. (The fathers of the boys were enthusiastic veteran members of Rushworth Band, and no doubt had high hopes for the lads in their musical careers.)

Grade 6 also reported on production of a graph charting funds raised for the Good Friday Royal  Children’s Hospital Appeal. 1973 was $36.01, with $38.61 in 1974, and high hopes for 1975. Graph producers were Wendy Raglus and Barbara McLean. (May have been the start of Barbara’s career in financial management!)

Prep Timothy Collard had a slide at home “that lets him slide down into his pool”. 

Little Rushworth High School won the Goulburn Campaspe Secondary Schools Swimming Championships held at Echuca. They beat much bigger schools of Nathalia, Echuca, Rochester and Kyabram. Jeff Watson was the star with two individual firsts, one individual second and a relay second.

Others scoring points for Rushworth were Stanhope’s Raelene Ryan, Shane Ryan, Gail Ryan, Peter Thompson, Wendy Stokes, Debbie Holschier and Debbie Lavery,  Colbo’s Ian McTaggart, Rushworth’s April Lloyd, Janet Hawking, Joanne Hawking, Roseanne Heily, Denise Jones and Malcolm Cruz. Strength in relay teams won Rushworth large numbers of points. Training the squad outside school hours were Mr Ryan of Stanhope, Mrs Brown (Colbo) and teacher Mr Keith Taylor (Rushworth).

Personal

Another Watson, Jeff’s sister Debbie, became engaged to Rod Lockwood. Both of Rushworth, this was announced by the four parents in the traditional style.

The Hitchcock family were to hold the big clan’s annual gathering at the picnic reserve at the Basin bank.

The death of Clarence Henry Laurie at Western General Hospital in Melbourne was reported. Also passing was Mrs Helen Weaver of Phillips Street. She was known as Nell, the wife of Dick and mother of Barry and Judy.

Warwick and Gale Gregory (nee McLeod) of Murchison welcomed daughter Narelle.

An unreserved furniture sale listed for Colbo was to dispose of much of the contents of the home of Miss Darrigan.

Summer sport

Rushworth A-grade cricketers made 151 against Kyabram Red, thanks to a 30-run partnership by tail-enders Robert Bull (21) and Ian “Suntan” Perry (10), promoted from B-grade. G. Johansen made 49 and the Hawking Brothers got 29 (Trevor), and 19 (Geoff). No scores were published the following week so the match result remains a mystery.

B-grade wicket-keeper Mick Wall took four catches and made a stumping. In the junior cricket Murchison were all out for 51, as Danny Forte bagged 6/15 from seven overs. Rushworth’s not out batsmen were Alan Hawking on 32 and Donald Bradman Potter on 3.

52 yachts competed in Waranga Sailing Club championships heat, but 15 boats mistook the course, failed to go round all the buoys, and were disqualified.

Ron Baker hosted President’s Night at Murchison bowls with winners W. Trevaskis, R. McMaster and W. Winnell. Runners-up were E. Jackson, M. Miller and John Revell. A new concrete floor beneath the clubhouse veranda had been laid by volunteer labor using donated cement, gravel and sand.

Rushworth 3 took 52 games from Rushworth 1 (98 games) in A-grade tennis. On the right side of the net were John and A. Brown (Ann or Alice?), Glen Rathjen, John Borger, Bill Barlow, Betty Buzza, Beryl Home and Nan Jessup. Finishing second were Peter Raglus, Neville Thompson, Graeme Bolden, Ted Whitehead, Cheryl Hawking, Doreen Wall, Nola and Valma Pepperell. 

Winter sport preparation

The golfers were limbering up, Ivan Jell, Rushworth newsagent, the new president at his local club.

With six weeks till the start of footy season in mid-April, coach Mick O’Sullivan called the players to training sensibly on 11 March. A vacancy existed for the role of head trainer, with interested persons to contact Matt Kennedy.

Murchison footballers practiced under new coach Robert Sloper from Mooroopna. The Under-16s heard the coaching whistles of John Dunlop and senior player David Dixon.

What had been known as the Waranga North-East Football League (a long way from Waranga) was crumbling. Its Seymour and Broadford Football Clubs talked of possibly joining the Heathcote League, and the Heathcote Club had been denied permission to join Bendigo’s Golden City League. Tooborac remained in limbo. Local clubs were warming up, but which teams were they going to compete against?