Wednesday, 12 February, 2020
Pakenham
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Medical centre to close after 120 years
Vet nurse back from fires as wallaby whisperer
Inspirational journey for cricket captain
Foodies relish first farm festival
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Car show shines More than 800 cars congregated to Lang Lang for the ninth annual Lang Lang Show n Shine, making this year’s event the biggest on record. The event, which is organised and run by the Kooweerup-Lang Lang Rotary, saw over 100 cars and bikes registered to be judged, with all proceeds from the day going towards bushfire relief. Figures are still being calculated but organisers estimate that over $30,000 will be raised from the event. For the full story and more photos, turn to page 17.
The Peoples Choice award went to Christine Harbacek from Frankston with her 1966 Mustang. Picture: GARY SISSONS
Train’s virus pain By Mitchell Clarke The Coronavirus outbreak has forced the Puffing Billy railway to cancel all services to Gembrook for the remainder of February, due to a decrease in visitor numbers. The Federal Government’s decision to implement travel restrictions for Chinese travellers has seen an “immediate impact” on patronage. “As a result, we have had to reduce our services in response to the lower visitor numbers but are working closely with Tourism Australia and Visit Victoria to maximise all marketing opportunities that encourage visitors along,” a Puffing Billy spokesperson said. The township of Gembrook is expected to be impacted by the cancellations, but accord-
ing to Eastern Dandenong Ranges Association (EDRA) chair Garry McGough, it won’t have a “devastating impact”. “Yes, Puffing Billy is one of our significant contributors in bringing people into the town, but Gembrook itself has a strong tourism visitor rate from people coming here themselves,” Mr McGough said. “Unfortunately, a lot of the people on Puffing Billy don’t actually spend a lot of money here because they often get picked up in a bus that meets them at the end of the railway.” Mr McGough believes that in this current climate of low international visitor numbers, it’s the perfect time for Puffing Billy to increase their domestic and interstate market. “Unfortunate situations like Coronavirus really show how reliant we are on overseas
visitors,” he said. “The reason for Puffing Billy to postpone travel to Gembrook suggests overseas visitors are at an all-time low and it’s not viable for them to run the trains. “I would like to see Puffing Billy build up local tourism and work more closely with EDRA, Yarra Ranges Tourism, Casey Cardinia Tourism and our hills townships to develop a range of short and longer term campaigns. “There are four million people that live in Melbourne, you’ve got this massive city and if you got just 0.01 percent of that per week, you’d have a lot more people travelling.” Away from Puffing Billy, Mr McGough believes tourism officials should promote Gembrook by targeting the Pakenham, Officer and Berwick markets.
Puffing Billy has cancelled all trips to Gembrook. Picture: SUPPLIED But there is some welcome relief in sight for the township, with Puffing Billy set to celebrate its annual ‘Day Out with Thomas’ event, which attracts over 4000 visitors a weekend.
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