Richmond Valley Notes

with Therese Schier

Australia Day at Woodburn

Woodburn is hosting the Australia Day celebrations for the Richmond Valley in the Riverside Park at Woodburn around the theme, 'Our River, Our Heritage'.

The program kicks off at 12pm with an F111 fly over and a water rescue by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and Woodburn SES, and continues through to the evening with music entertainment on the riverbank and a fireworks display at 9pm.

Joan Roots from the Woodburn Chamber of Commerce said most events would take place on the river with the riverbank providing a perfect place to view the activities.

"There is a lot of interest in the events we have planned and there's something for young and old in the program," she said.

The old ferryman's quarters have been renovated to include an extended deck overlooking the river where the official ceremonies will take place at 1pm.

The official Australia Day ambassador is Bryony Duus, midfielder for Qantas Matilda's Women's Soccer team. Bryony will announce the Citizenship awards, various sporting awards and deliver an Australia Day Address.

One event that's sure to be fun to participate in or watch is the Henley on the Park 'boat race'. Like its famous namesake, "Henley on the Todd", the boats will race on land with crews running their novelty craft along the Woodburn Riverbank park.

Other novelty events include a good old-fashioned bomb diving competition, a fish casting competition and a homemade raft race across the river.

And Clarence MP Steve Cansdell intends doing more than his official duties, by entering the mini iron man race. On hearing that he only had to ride, run and swim short distances, Steve declared, "I can do that!"

An 1889 steamboat will be on display on the riverbank along with craft from the wooden boats association together with lots of play equipment for the kids.

Award winning Evans Head band "Tonka" and Dennis Dingo Dryden will entertain throughout the afternoon and The Love Dogs will play until 10pm.

Woodburn SES will provide a gold coin donation barbecue from 1.30pm until 9pm and refreshments will be available from the CWA Hall.

The Chamber of Commerce received a $5000 grant to host the festivities from Woolworths and have been supported by various other organisations from the Woodburn Community, and Richmond Valley Council.

For further information contact the Casino Visitor Information Centre on 6662 3566.

Casino Balladeer Wins at Tamworth

"I think everyone wants to be like Slim," declared Casino's newest country music star, Matthew Manning.

Matthew, 19, won the Australian Bush Balladeers' Association Star Search at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on Monday and sang two of Slims songs in the final, "Stringy Bark" and "Green Hide". His ambition is to follow in Slim's footsteps singing and playing traditional Australian bush ballads.

A happy but tired Matthew said he was shocked but felt "great" when he was pronounced the winner.

"I thought I had done my best, but I was wondering how my performance went," he said.

Matthew has been singing since he was 6 years old. He began playing guitar at the age of 8 and dedicated a lot of time to instrumental work with strong support from the late Barry Thornton, Slim's guitarist.

His win means he will have an even busier time in Tamworth adding another 16 performances on top of 13 he already had lined up.

Council Elections

A check with existing Richmond Valley councillors reveals that councillors Cox, Sullivan, Wheatley, Mustow, Harvey, Jeffrey, Thomas, and Humphrys, are intending to stand for re-election, councillor Eileen Melling is undecided, and councillor Frank McKey is not intending to stand.

Rumours abound about possible new candidates putting their hands up, but with nominations opening on February 9 and closing a fortnight later, so we'll have to wait another month for the final list.

Councillors interviewed said that there has been no discussion as to possible tickets at this early stage.

Please feel free to contact Therese with any Richmond Valley news, events, or story ideas, at or Ph: 6662 7735, or fax: 6662 2811.