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8 MARCH, 2022
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Historic finds
(Joe Mastroianni)
Andrew Mcleay is searching for answers after unearthing historic items near his home in Maddingley. Earlier this month, Andrew was out walking his dog when he saw what he thought was a 20 cent piece on the ground. Once home Andrew took a photo of the circular item to share online. It wasn’t until he zoomed in on the image that he realised it wasn’t an Australian coin at all, but rather an English penny, dated 1867. Andrew’s find was followed by another productive outing two weeks later, where again he saw something poking out of the dirt. “I saw this round white thing and I dug around with my hand, and found these white ceramic bottles and brown bottles all in a row,” he said. The only bottle that had any discernible lettering was half-broken, with the words Lea & Perrins scrawled across it, a brand from the United Kingdom that produces Worcester sauce. Andrew believes the items might have been left behind during the construction of the railway, as the Ballarat line was extended in the latter part of the 19th century. Andrew Mcleay with the bottles and coin he found.
Council services ditched By Oliver Lees Moorabool council will terminate its delivery of aged and disability services, citing changes in federal government policy as making the continuation of the support unworkable. From June 30, council will transition away from delivering all services through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme and the Home and Community Care Program for Younger People. These two umbrella programs include a diverse range of supports, including delivered meals, flexible respite care, domestic
assistance occupational therapy. Under the transition, council will also remove itself from delivering Regional Assessment Services, which are used to assess if an individual and their carers are receiving the appropriate support. Council’s confirmed exit from providing aged care and disability support follows an in-principle agreement made in December 2021. In arriving at the decision, council officers ‘recommendations referred to the “inherent service cost, financial constraints, competition policy and other structural challenges”
that were to emerge following the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. There are currently 38 council staff who work with aged care and disability clients. According to council data, 20 per cent, or 8100 people in the shire live with a disability. Moorabool mayor Tom Sullivan said council will work to manage the transition with the federal government to ensure people can continue to access necessary services. “Our priorities are the residents of Moorabool who use or may require aged care and disability services and making sure they
continue to receive the same level of service they are currently receiving under council’s programs, noting that these service providers can provide a suite of services outside of council’s capacity to ensure older community members are supported,” Cr Sullivan said. “With our aged care and disability clients in mind, council has undertaken a confidential expression of interest process looking at values-aligned successors. Council will make recommendations to the commonwealth as part of the process, noting that other service providers can provide a suite of services above and beyond council’s current service delivery.”
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