Free Copy In This Edition: Page Page Adventure Park 2 Geelong Supercats 20 Would You Risk It? 3 Australia’s Flags 22 The Bellarine Railway 4 Recipe—Bucatini and Prawns 24 V8 Supercars 6 Geelong Racecourse 25 Indigenous Australian Monty Python 26 Sportspeople 8 The Clarinet 28 1983 Ash Wednesday 10 Word Search— The Alaskan Malamute 12 Major Geelong Businesses 29 St Mary of the Angels 14 Perseus 30 Customs House 16 150 Years Ago 31 Vegemite 18 Then… & Now 32 Adventure Park Geelong is Victoria‘s first water theme park featuring 22 rides and attractions to entertain adults and children of all ages. Located at 1249 Bellarine Highway Wallington, it is conveniently located only ten minutes drive from Geelong. With water attractions like the Admission Prices Tunnel of Terror and Rapid Rider One Day Admission Waterslides, River Torrent, Lazy Children (3 years & under): Free River, Tiny Tots Splash Zone, Six Children (under 1.2m tall): $28 Lane Aqua Racer and Bonito‘s Bay, Adults or Children (over 1.2m tall): $34 children will stay cool and enter- Senior Citizens (60 years and over): $25 tained all day. While attractions like Disabled/Carer: $25 Go-Karts, mini golf, archery, train The Summer Fun Pass is also available rides and aqua bikes means there‘s which provides unlimited entry to Adven- plenty of fun for adults and children ture Park until April 25, 2012. not wishing to get wet. The park offers guests free all day parking, six food outlets, wheelchair accessible toilets, locker hire, BBQ hire and undercover pavilions and marquees. So whether you bring a picnic lunch or buy your lunch at the park, you can relax lakeside under shaded picnic areas and enjoy the 21 hectares of landscaped parkland. Enjoy your summer! Open Hours Adventure Park is open daily and operates through to April 26, 2012, only closing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 10:00am to 5:00pm daily Adventure Park is also great for corporate picnics, schools excursions, holidays programs and parties. For bookings call 5250 7656 2 Would You Risk It? If you don't think that it can happen to you or your kids, consider these descriptions from the death certificates of children published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: A 9 month old died after being left strapped in child safety seat in a sweltering minivan for two hours— A misunderstanding between the child's parents resulted in the child being left alone in the van. Each parent believed the infant was at home with other. A 6 month old baby died when accidentally left in a hot car for 3 hours. Both parents thought the other had carried the baby from the car to crib. A 34 month old toddler who recently learned how to open a car door died after climbing inside the family station wagon while parents were in house. A 23 month old died when a babysitter put the child in the car for a trip to the store, but then went back into the house having forgotten something. He was distracted by something on television, sat on couch to watch, fell asleep, and woke up two hours later. A 2 year old died after a parent left the child in the car after returning home from an errand. One hour later the child was dead. Ambulance Victoria regional manager for "Young children aren't as good at Barwon South West, Ralf Harries, was controlling their body temperature interviewed by The Geelong Advertiser last as adults and they are in no December. He said many of the incidents position to fend for themselves if were the result of deliberate decisions by conditions become unbearable." parents."Young children aren't as good at controlling their body temperature as adults, and they are in no position to fend for themselves if conditions become unbearable. They can reach the stages of heat exhaustion and heat stroke rapidly and if something isn't done they can die," he said. "People are probably just rushing off and thinking that it's not going to be too detrimental if their children are left in the car for just a few minutes unattended while they duck into a shop, but that's simply not true." Would You Risk It? 3 In September 1878, a contract was let for the construction of the Victorian Railway branch line from South Geelong to Queenscliff to service Fort Queenscliff so that Port Phillip could be better defended. Topher, Angus & Smith won the contract and for £58,997 the line was built. The 33.7km long railway was constructed and opened in less than nine months after the contract was let. On May 21, 1879, the Governor of Victoria, George Phipps, officially opened the Queenscliff branch line. A celebratory Map showing the route of the Bellarine Railway line banquet was held afterwards in the from South Geelong to Queenscliff. Grand Hotel at Queenscliff. At the banquet, the Minister for Railways, the Hon. John Woods, made the following speech: “It is probably that, from a railway point of view, this line will not pay very well, but there are other things which should be taken into consideration as well as the paying capacity of the railway. This line is essentially a military line; It is a line which the colony may well be proud of and which our enemies might fairly stand in dread, for by its means men and material can now be concentrated on this spot from Melbourne in 90 minutes for the defence of the port.”. When the very first trains ran they only catered for first class passengers. This was rectified in July 1879, when there was room for both first and second class passengers to travel along the branch each day. By January 1885, business was brisk on the line with four trains per day running in each direction starting from Queenscliff. The trains were scheduled such that residents of Queenscliff were able to commute to Geelong to work and tourists were able to make a day trip from Geelong to Queenscliff. While the train service was very helpful to Queenscliff residents, it was obvious that the whole railway branch was being funded to provide military support to Fort Queenscliff as well as Fort Nepean on the other side of Port Phillip Heads. However, with the growing prosperity which accompanied the start of the twentieth century, it was evident A steam locomotive at the Queenscliff Railway Station in 1915. 4 The Bellarine Railway today The Bellarine Railway is a volunteer operated steam driven tourist railway on the Bellarine Peninsula. It was opened in 1979 and operates on a 16km section of the disused branch line. The railway currently operates services between Queenscliff and Drysdale with an intermediate stop at Lakers Siding every Sunday of the year and several days a week during school holidays. The Bellarine Railway is home to the ―Blues Train‖, featuring live music most Saturday evenings from October to May. Every year Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends visit the Queenscliff Railway Station and offer rides and activities for children throughout the weekend. The Bellarine Rail Trail that there was little strategic value in commit- The Bellarine Rail Trail is a 32km walking ting such huge resources to defend Port and cycling track on the Bellarine Peninsula that follows the route of the former South Phillip Heads. By 1910 the service was Geelong to Queenscliff branch line. The rails reduced to two trains per day, and in 1931 the have been removed from the section services were greatly reduced again when between South Geelong and Drysdale. passenger services were dropped and goods trains ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. However, an excursion train was able to run on Sundays if required. A further reduction in services occurred in 1934 when Tuesday goods trains were stopped. A temporary revival in use of the line came during World War 2 while mines were carried to and from the military base on Swan Island near Queenscliff. Up to fourteen trains per day ran at this time. However, after the war finished, traffic was insufficient for the weekly service to continue and services were gradually shut down. Finally, in May 1959 the line was closed beyond Cheetham‘s Siding. A reprieve was granted shortly thereafter, when a shell-grit quarry at Point Lonsdale opened, sending shell-grit to Melbourne glass manufacturers by rail. This kept the line open for goods trains until 1973, when the shell-grit quarry greatly reduced its output. In 1975 and 1976 it was announced that many Victorian country branch lines would close. One of the first to shut down was the Queenscliff line. The final day came on November 6, 1976. The line closed in style with two trains running from Melbourne to Queenscliff. The first was a boy scouts excursion run with a diesel locomotive and, in a manner fitting the history of the line, the very last train was a steam hauled special for the Association of Railway Enthusiasts. Today, the section between Geelong South and Drysdale has been converted into a Rail Trail, while tourist trains still ply the line between Drysdale and Queenscliff, thanks to the hard work of the Ex Fyansford Cement Works steam locomotive local volunteer steam enthusiasts. No.4 travelling on the Bellarine Railway in 2007. (See box above) 5 V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations. As well as enjoying popularity in Australia, it has a considerable following in New Zealand, and is steadily growing in popularity across the world where television coverage allows.