2015 A YEAR JANUARY HAVING been elected as the Independent Member for Shepparton District at the end of 2014, Suzanna Sheed settled into her first week in parliament. COMING to a cost of $5.5M Stage One of the new Numurkah Hospital was completed and opened to the public, after floods devastated the original hospital in the 2012 floods. AFTER holding the role of SPC Managing Director for two years, Peter Kelly announced he would be stepping down from the role. WITH the story circulating through newsrooms across the country of the disappearance of Diamond Creek man, Dane Kowalski local police issued plea for information on three missing locals, whose cases were still ongoing.
JULY LOCAL members of parliament expressed their disappointment with the new country-of-origin labelling, which didn’t specify which country certain portions of product came from. FORMER Greater Shepparton City Council councillor, Chris Hazelman was sworn in as the seventh councillor, following Michael Polan’s resignation from the position. A CALL out was made to local residents to put their hand up to be extras in Tim Ferguson’s romantic comedy movie, Spin Out, which was planned to begin being filmed in Shepparton in August.
FEBRUARY
MARCH
GREATER Shepparton City Council released its $42M draft business case for the new Shepparton Art Museum, which suggested the foreshore of Victoria Park Lake be the new, state-of-the-art museum’s home.
LOCAL Entrepreneur, Brad Corken of Corton Audio was announced as the local to feature on the front cover of the White and Yellow Pages.
A MULTI-MILLION dollar upgrade to the Shepparton Showgrounds began, to accommodate for the ground’s growing needs. HAVING finished 11th during his inaugural V8 Supercars Dunlop Series in 2014, local driver, Garry Jacobson took to the track with Eggleston Motorsport for the 2015 season.
IT WAS revealed that more than $500M had been invested in the region through the building of new residential premises, property and land upgrades and proposals put forward for new constructions in a 20 month time span. WITH cattle grazing being banned in alpine and river redgum forest, including the Barmah Forest, local residents expressed their concerns over fire danger.
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
WITH a $7.5M roundabout project on the corner of Doyles Road and the Midland Highway planned, Shepparton East landowners expressed their concern that they were not to be included in the upgrades to the area’s drainage.
TONY Abbott was replaced by Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, after a leadership spill saw the Liberal party votes swing Turnbull’s way.
AN Australian, privately owned food industry company purchased the old United Dairy Power factory on Vaughan Street in Shepparton for approximately $1.5M, with a promise to create a number of local jobs once the plant opens. THE Spin Out movie kicked off with filming at Emerald Bank in Kialla, where 20 locals had joined the star studded cast on set as extras in the film.
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THE state-of-the-art design for Shepparton’s new $73M court precinct was released, with preliminary demolition works planned to begin in October. TALLIS Wines’ 2014 Viognier was awarded Wine of the Show at the 2015 Dookie Wine Show. LOCAL Artist, Nicky Kriss had four of her pieces purchased by The Block contestants, Luke and Ebony, which they used to brighten their apartment in the popular television show.
IN REVIEW JUNE APRIL LOCAL resident, Keelee Smith was named the country’s second and third best bowhunter, after taking out both second and third place at the 2015 Australian Bowhunting Association National Safari Championships. THE spirit of the ANZACs flowed through the region, with commemorations ringing out for the centenary of the ANZAC’s involvement in WWI.
SHEPPARTON’S issues with drugs and unemployment levels were put in the spotlight after an episode of SBS’s Insight program aired on national television, but the television show painted an inaccurate picture of the township.
MAY
THE announcement of bridge upgrades across Victoria was hailed by local producers and those in the transport industry as a long awaited step toward making the region more globally competitive.
PRELIMINARY works began at the site of the new $53M Bunnings Warehouse, which once completed will see an extra 60 jobs created. LOCAL BMX Champion, 21 year old Brandon May took the title of #1Australia at the Subaru BMX National Championships.
AFTER being in the role for three and a half years, Gavin Cator announced his resignation as Greater Shepparton City Council CEO.
A $50M investment in GrainCorp Oils’ Numurkah facility was announced, that would help to boost the plant’s efficiency and its oilseed crushing capacity increased by 40 percent.
LOCAL 12 year old, Will Haines walked away from the Victorian State Gymnastics Championships with three individual event medals and scored third overall in the skill level category of 7 Under.
NOVEMBER OCTOBER
THE Victoria Regional Statement saw the Goulburn Murray region’s local government areas divided into the Goulburn and the Ovens Murray regions and reducing the Goulburn region’s number of local government areas to five. A SHARE in $1M awarded to GOTAFE in Shepparton and Wangaratta saw the announcement of a Jobs and Skills Centre to be constructed within the campus’ Corio Street frontage.
DECEMBER GREATER Shepparton City Council councillors elected Cr Dinny Adem as the city’s new mayor, with Cr Fern Summer once again being elected as deputy mayor.
AN unseasonably early start to the fire danger period prompted the CFA to urge local residents to be vigilant this Summer.
A STORM ravaged the region and caused widespread damage thanks to 50+km/h winds. A multiple vortex tornado was also sighted, that left a damage path close to 45km long.
MURCHISON Primary School began their fight to save one of their portable classrooms, which the Department of Education and Training decided would be better suited to a school in Melbourne’s growth corridor, despite the portable being needed by the students and teachers at the Murchison school.
Renato’s Florist was awarded the Shepparton Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall of Fame honour at the conclusion of the 2015 White King – Pental 95 3SR FM Business Awards.
DEMOLITION works began to remove the Queens Gardens brick toilet blocks, but the removal caused a stink in the community, who want council to provide more, adequate public toilet options across the city.
SHEPPARTON Villages announced it would be building a $34M new aged care facility on their Chas Johnson Reserve site next year, with the facility to set the benchmark for aged care in the region.
POPULARITY of Shepparton Parkrun boomed, with the group almost doubling in size since it began in 2014.
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