Sealing at the Murchison Settlement has finished please see pages 5,6,7 and 8 for the whole story. April/ June 2017 VOL.37 NUMBER 2 Shire Contact Details GENERAL DISCLAIMER Office: 99637999 The Murchison Monologue is published by the Fax: 99637966 Web: www.murchison.wa.gov.au Shire of Murchison as a public service for the community. CEO: Dianne Daniels [email protected] The opinions expressed have been published in good faith on the request of the person request- DCEO: Peter Dittrich ing publication, and are not those of the Shire of [email protected] Murchison. All articles, comments, advice and other material contained in this publication are Admin/Finance: Sharon Wundenberg by way of general comment or advice only and [email protected] are not intended, nor do they purport to be the correct advice on any particular subject or mat- Customer Service Officer: Peta Panting [email protected] ter referred to. No person should act on the ba- sis of any matter, comment or advice contained Library: Peta Panting & Vicki Dumbris in this publication without first considering, and [email protected] if necessary taking appropriate professional ad- ***** vice upon the applicability to their particular cir- Depot: 99613805 cumstances. Works Supervisor: Brian Wundenberg [email protected] Accordingly, no responsibility is accepted or ***** taken by the Shire of Murchison, or the authors Roadhouse: Peter & Nicole Mahony and editors of the Murchison Monologue, for Phone: 99613875, Fax: 99613876 [email protected] any damage or loss suffered by any party acting ***** in reliance on any matter, comment or advice Freight: Midwest Freight contained here in. Contact: Mark Teale Mobile: 0419427686 Email: [email protected] Contact: Shire of Murchison ***** Mail: PO Box 61 Mullewa WA 6630 Phone: 08 99637999 Fax : 08 99637966 Email: [email protected] ADVERTISING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MONOLOGUE Full page colour $81.00 If you have any articles or information about events or photo’s you wish to share with our readers, then please 1/2 page colour $46.00 do not hesitate to contact the office. We would love to 1/4 page colour $25.50 include them. Full page black & white $22.50 1/2 page black & white $12.50 1/4 page black & white $6.50 News from the CEO’s Desk Hullo Community Members Well, I write this tonight with a touch of nostalgia as it is my last Monologue as CEO at the Murchison Shire. John & I first moved out here in 2011, with John working on the maintenance grading crew and me taking up the position of Senior Finance Officer which then progressed to the Deputy CEO position and then CEO. I can honestly say that my job here as CEO has been the most fulfilling one I have ever had, even if the most challenging. I have been privileged to work with a dedicated team of staff and councillors, who are truly committed to making this community a better place. I have also been privileged to have been accepted into a truly resilient community. I don’t use that description lightly as I have seen you all pull together for community events and working bees and help each other out as neighbours used to and I wish you all well going into the future. I would like to congratulate our Deputy CEO, Peter Dittrich, on his appointment as CEO. Peter has a broad knowledge from his many years in local government and I am confident that he will serve council and the community well. Well done Pete, I hope you enjoy your time here as much as I have. As mentioned in our last Edition, the year started well for most as far as rain went, but things aren’t looking so bright on that front at the moment. The rain events of January and February caused a fair bit of damage to the Carnarvon Mullewa Road and parts of the Beringarra Pindar Road, along with damage to some minor roads. Our WA Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangement (WANDRRA) claim has been approved by Main Roads and we will call tenders in the next two or three weeks for the required repair works. The tender for the construct and seal of 9km of the Carnarvon Mullewa Road south of the Ballinyoo Bridge was awarded to B&J Catalano. Unfortunately the works have been delayed while we wait for clearance to access a proposed gravel pit 13km south of the bridge. Our clearing permit was issued approximately three weeks ago but it was subject to the reloca- tion of shield-backed trapdoor spiders (Idiosoma Nigrum), which were found in the pit when we were undertaking our environmental due diligence. Our clearing consultant, Steve Petts from GHD and Dr Tim Moulds, an invertebrate special- ist, are currently working in the pit re-locating approximately eight trapdoors that have been found and then checking the rest of the pit for signs of them. If any others are found, they too will need to be re-located. The shield-backed trapdoor is eligible for listing as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as its geo- graphic distribution is limited and precarious for its survival given the nature of ongoing threats. The shield-backed spider is also listed as Schedule 1 Fauna (fauna that is rare or likely to become extinct) under the Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, and is managed as vulnerable by the Western Australian Government. The spider’s backside is shaped like a shield and is used to plug its burrow so that predators can’t enter. We also learnt today from our arachnid hunters that the colonies are matriarchal. It is mainly the females that are found in the burrows and usually the daughters of the matriarch build burrows close to her, forming a colony. The relocation involves excavat- ing (with a spoon) down beside the burrow until the bottom of the burrow is reached – the spider is usually found cling- ing to the bottom of the burrow and not very happy to be disturbed. A new burrow is made for her using a pipe to exca- vate to approximately the same depth as the one she is being moved from and the trap door is re-located with her as it takes the spider a lot of energy to build a new one. Some water is poured into the new burrow to moisten it so that the spider can shape the dirt the way she wants and eventually she will line her new home with silken web. Unfortunately, 20-30% of the re-located spiders are decimated due to the re-location process. As you may be able to tell, the whole process is fascinating to me and the admin crew should be able to bring you photos of the re-location next issue. Moving on, we have finalised the airport lighting, erecting a new solar-lit wind sock pole and installing a Pilot Activated Lighting System that had been sitting in Elsie’s sewing room out the back of the CEO house since 2010. All the runway solar lights have been checked and those that have needed replacing have been replaced. A new bedroom has been built out the back of the Museum cottage so that the current bedroom can become the lounge room, making the cottage more comfortable in future for caretakers. HTD surveyors came out from Geraldton some weeks ago to survey the new and old refuse sites, so that they can be identified in our Local Planning Scheme as contaminated sites for future reference. While they were out here, they also surveyed 33 sites at the cemetery. The sites are arranged in four bush ‘pods’, with numbered survey pegs and rocks marking each plot and gravel rock-lined paths have been constructed, linking the pods. Thank you to our gardening crew for getting this work done so efficiently and for the lovely presentation of the cemetery. A job I haven’t been able to get underway is the construction of a Muggon slate memorial wall and the erection of a registration board at the entry to the Cemetery. This is one of many jobs that I have had to hand onto Pete to add to his ‘to do’ list. As usual, May and June have been pretty hectic for the works crew. We got underway with the Regional Road Group funded re-form and re-sheet of the Carnarvon Mullewa Road in mid-May and are well on the way to having the ten kilo- metres completed by the end of June, with the help of contractors. We also contracted out the bunding of old roads, in- stallation of three grids, heavy maintenance and installation of signs on the Coolcalalaya Road. The maintenance crew have been working their way around flood damaged roads, doing opening up cuts and then doing patch grades of the worst sections to make sure the roads are safe for travellers. Our Works Supervisor has had his work cut out for him, keeping all these jobs on the go at one time, so well done Brian and his committed crew. I would like to pass on my thanks to Paul Lukitsch who volunteers his time to look after the vegetable tunnel and other areas around the Settlement, such as the native garden at the Cemetery. Paul has also planted trees down at the his- toric span of the Ballinyoo Bridge and along the walk between the span and the new bridge, which he waters lovingly by hand.