Pakenham Gazette - 24th May 2023

Road fix in doubt

By Corey Everitt

The future of $640 million worth of local road upgrades has been thrown into doubt as the Federal Government conducts a 90-day review into the nation’s $120 billion infrastructure pipeline.

The McGregor and Racecourse Roads upgrade in Pakenham, and Clyde Road works, are among the Victorian projects that at best could be suspended for a period as no new contracts to progress their main construction will be entered during the 90-day review without the direct permission of the Federal Government, or at worst see future stages scrapped as the project’s funding commitment could be overturned by the Federal Government. La Trobe MP Jason Wood said a potential cutting of the project would be a “catastrophe”.

Search for medal owner

The RSL community is on the hunt for the owner of aWorldWar I medal that was found at a truck stop in Officer on earlier this month.

A service station attendant found the medal inside the Officer BP service station in Officer, located off the inbound lanes of the Princes Freeway in the early afternoon of Friday 12 May.

It is understood the medal originates from the First World War and is engraved with the name of the recipient.

Despite a call out on local Facebook groups to find the owner of the medal, the owner is yet to come forward to retrieve the medal.

STORY PAGE 3

“When the previous government announced these projects, La Trobe was the fastest-growing electorate and still is one of the fastest in the country,” the Liberal MP said.

“Racecourse and McGregor were particularly crucial for the area; to put brakes on the project and even maybe stop it entirely, it would be a catastrophe for the area.”

Mr Wood is perplexed the Federal Government would put these projects into question when they are so soon to begin.

Cardinia Shire Council mayor Tammy Radford also expressed concern surrounding the break in the projects.“We’re disappointed that works on McGregor Road and Racecourse Road have paused and we eagerly await the findings of the Federal Government’s review.”

STORY PAGE 3

Cup at night

The Pakenham Cup will be shining bright under the lights of Tynong next year with the biggest race on the Pakenham Racing Club (PRC) calendar set to be run on Thursday 29 February.

The time-honoured race, first run in 1926 at the old track on Racecourse Road in Pakenham, has been moved from its recent timeslot as a standalone Saturday meeting.

“Put simply, changes to the spring carnival, announced in February, have had a knock-on effect to the Pakenham Cup,” said PRC CEO Blair Odgers.

“We had to work out what that impact would be and we’ve been working with RacingVictoria over the last few months to work through our options. A couple of options were presented, including a Saturday in late-December, the 23rd, or alternatively moving it to a Thursday night.

“We decided that Thursday 29 February will be the cup date in 2024, which will give us our first Pakenham Cup under lights.”

STORY PAGE 66

Century of community care

Kooweerup Regional Health Service came alive with 100 years of history on Sunday 21 May, celebrating its centenary anniversary.

Several hundred individuals gathered

to mark the 100th milestone of the service, which was initially opened as the Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Station Street Kooweerup on 23 May, 1923.

STORY PAGES 20-22

Enrolled nurses Julie Carrigg and Marg Lee reminisce on the hospital’s history. 324399

Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS