Established in 1875 as the
proudly serving Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay
12 JANUARY, 2022
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SIG N U P N O W!
A year interrupted YEAR IN REVIEW ... THE YEAR THAT WAS
Triplets Ella, Max and Will were among the many teenagers in Melbourne’s western suburbs who were keen to re-connect with family and friends after getting a COVID-19 vaccination. (Joe Mastroianni). 250243_02
game, after the state was plunged into a five day snap lockdown. In March, some of the first residents to move into a Williamstown North housing estate shared their fears for their families’ health after discovering their land was not decontaminated. Those who bought into stage one of a 107-townhouse development at 222-238 Kororoit Creek Road in Williamstown North demanded action after it was revealed subsequent stages of the development have been or will be cleaned up but the first 15 lots remained in limbo, according to builder Simply Built. In May, plans for an accumulative 3.5 per cent rate rise over two years divided Hobsons Bay council, while Maribyrnong council knocked back an application for affordable/social housing instead of student accommodation at a Seddon address after strong opposition from residents. Victoria entered its second lockdown for
2021 in late May, as concerns grew about an outbreak at Arcare’s Maidstone aged care centre. In June, Altona and West Footscray joined the million dollar club, with the median house price cracking $1 million. Lockdown returned in July after COVID-positive removalists from NSW visited a Maribyrnong apartment block. The lockdown was lifted on July 27 but the freedom was short-lived, with restrictions reintroduced just nine days later. Two major vaccination hubs were established in Altona North and Newport in September as infection numbers rose across Hobsons Bay. The council pleaded for more vaccine doses to be sent to the community. Western Bulldogs supporters didn’t let COVID restrictions prevent them for showing their support for their beloved Dogs in late September, with fans painting the town red, white and blue ahead the AFL Grand Final clash against Melbourne Football Club.
SEABROOK CRICKET CLUB 50 YEAR CELEBRATION SATURDAY 19TH FEBRUARY FROM 5PM ONWARDS Finger food & Live Music (Drinks at bar prices) Bruce Comben Reserve Altona Meadows VIC 3028 For bookings contact Cameron 0419 737 952
On October 27, Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong businesses were celebrating Melbourne’s reopening after the sixth lockdown. Maribyrnong council elected its youngest ever mayor in November, while Hobsons Bay’s longest serving councillor was returned to the top job for the third time. In December, the community rallied around the owners of a food truck company whose business was destroyed by fire. Fire tore through Happy Camper Pizza’s factory in Braybrook on December 15, destroying a 1960 -ra food truck and severely damaging two others. One of the owners, Sonia Lear, said the fire was the latest blow after an exhausting two years and not being able to operate the catering businesses through successive lockdowns. She said support from the local community had made the owners and staff vow to continue on and find ways to give back.
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2021 was meant to be the year that life returned to normal. Instead we found ourselves bouncing in and out of lockdowns as a new COVID-19 variant made its way to Australia. As the Delta variant took hold in Victoria, Melbourne earned the title as the most locked-down city in the world, notching up 267 days in lockdown since March 2020. Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs once again bore the brunt of Victoria’s COVID infections as the state’s third wave surged through households in Wyndham, Hobsons Bay, Brimbank, Hume, Melton, Whittlesea and Maribyrnong that were not yet eligible for vaccination. At the peak of the third wave, Hume, Wyndham, Brimbank, Melton and Whittlesea were the five most-infected local government areas in Victoria. But as more vaccinations became available, residents of Melbourne’s north and west turned out in record numbers to be jabbed, helping to halt Delta’s spread and enabling the city to reopen in time for Christmas. We look back at how 2021 unfolded across the western suburbs. Hobsons Bay councillors were calling for the Environment Protection Authority to act in January in the wake of two industrial fires in eight days, just over the municipal border in Laverton North. The fires were at Norstar Steel Recyclers in Dohertys Road and InfraBuild Recycling (formerly OneSteel) in Fitzgerald Road. Councillors Diana Grima and Matt Tyler said Hobsons Bay residents bore the brunt of the fires with “smoke filling our suburbs”. “We are calling on the EPA for swift action in relation to these incidents to understand what happened and to enforce penalties strongly, where appropriate,” they said in a joint written statement. In February, it was announced that the Altona Mobil refinery would close after 72 years to become an import terminal. The decision was described as “devastating”. A week later, Victoria was playing a waiting