BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 930 FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015
Remember the fallen BENDIGO’S Private Bevan Trimble was killed in action on May 13, 1968 while serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in Vietnam. At Tuesday’s Vietnam War memorial parade and service in Bendigo, his brother Murray Trimble paid his respects to Bevan and all 500 Australians who lost their lives in the Vietnam conflict. Murray wore his late brother’s service medals and a special memorial pin in honour of his brother’s sacrifice.
OPEN DOOR Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
By LAURA HURLEY
OPPONENTS of Bendigo’s first mosque have been invited by an Islamic councillor from Greater Shepparton City Council to visit one of that city’s four mosques. Following an announcement earlier this month that the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal approved plans for the mosque to be built, Shepparton councillor Dinny Adem told the Bendigo Weekly he
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Protesters offered mosque visit
found ongoing opposition to the mosque in Bendigo “alarming”. “I watch what is happening and shake my head,” Cr Adem said. “I’d extend an invitation to (anyone who opposes the mosque) to come to Shepparton.” The Albanian mosque in Shepparton, built in 1960, was Victoria’s
first, and Cr Adem said the city’s long history of multiculturalism and large Islamic population had enriched the area. “Our experience here in Shepparton has been positive,” he said. “Shepparton had the first purpose built mosque in Victoria, and our mosque is just another place of faith.
Bendigo Metro rolls on – Page 7
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“The mosques are just part of the fabric of Shepparton.” Responding to criticism that Bendigo’s planned mosque would be a gathering place for Muslims, Cr Adem likened it to any other place of worship. “I ask: How is this a bad thing?” he said.
“I reckon (Shepparton) is almost a model of multiculturalism.” Greater Shepparton City Council mayor and former Bendigo resident, Dennis Patterson, agreed that multiculturalism in Shepparton had been beneficial to the region. “Bendigo is ahead of us in so many ways,” Cr Patterson said. “But on multiculturalism, Bendigo is a long way behind.”
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