Profile - Olympians Kate Hornsey & Kerry Hore

Click here for Kate's official Australian Olympic Team profile and here for her page on the Mercury newspaper website, where you can also leave her a message.

For Kerry's official profile, click here and for her page at the Mercury, click here.

Profile - Olympian Anthony Edwards

Click here for Anthony's official Australian Olympic Team profile and here for his page on the Mercury newspaper website, where you can also leave him a message.

Molesworth magic

THREE members of the New Norfolk Rowing Club are representing Australia at the Beijing Olympic Games and two of them are from Molesworth. In one swoop, Kate Hornsey and Anthony Edwards have doubled the Derwent Valley’s number of Olympians. The other NNRC member, Kerry Hore, lives at New Town.

Hornsey and family are long-term local residents and she is a former pupil of Molesworth Primary School, where the students will be following her progress with keen interest. Edwards is a three-time Olympian who moved to Molesworth several years ago when he and his wife relocated to Tasmania. Both are fortunate to have family members cheering them on in Beijing.

Our other Olympians are Kathy Foster who played in the Australian basketball team at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, and Dana Faletic who won bronze in the rowing at the Athens Games in 2004.

Big boost for Boyer

THE future looks good for the Norske Skog newsprint mill at Boyer, near New Norfolk, with news of two big government grants contributing to a $50 million upgrade. The mill produced Australia’s first newsprint in 1941 and remains one of the state’s major employers, with about 400 staff.

It was announced this week that Federal funding of nearly $9 million had been granted to Norske Skog (historically known as Australian Newsprint Mills) and a firm called BIS Industrial Logistics) to enable the factory to stop using hardwood timber in the production of paper.

“The $4.66 million grant awarded to Norske Skog Paper Mills (Australia) Ltd and the $4.32 million grant awarded to BIS Industrial Logistics will contribute to upgrading paper manufacturing infrastructure, including a thermo-mechanical pulping plant and wood chipping facility at the Boyer Mill site, and represents a significant long-term investment in the Tasmanian timber industry,” the Federal Member for Lyons, Dick Adams, said. “This state-of-the-art, fully integrated facility will be supplied 100 per cent from softwood plantation sources in Tasmania, removing any need for hardwood timber from native forest or plantations,” he said.

“Importantly, the facility will secure existing employment positions at Boyer while improving its operating efficiency and environmental impact. The facility contributes 36 per cent of all newsprint paper manufactured in Australia and this project will assist maintain this position for many years to come. This contributes a significant benefit to Tasmania’s and Australia’s economy.”

The Tasmanian Minister for Primary Industries and Water, David Llewellyn, said the funding had been provided under the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement to help support a more sustainable and viable forest industry in Tasmania through new equipment and innovative supply chain management.

Principal takes seat in parliament

TRIBUTES were paid to several Derwent Valley residents by newly-elected Franklin MHA Ross Butler when delivering his inaugural address in State Parliament recently. The former New Norfolk and Glenora school principal was elected on a recount following the recent resignation of state Labor premier Paul Lennon.

In a wide-ranging speech lasting about 25 minutes, Mr Butler reviewed his life’s experiences and his various careers, from teacher and union organiser to real estate agent, taxi driver and ultimately Member of Parliament. He was principal of Glenora District High School in the 1980s and of New Norfolk High School in the 1990s.

Mr Butler recalled what he referred to as an administrative role in the establishment of the Derwent Valley Concert Band in the early 1990s and paid tribute to the band's director, Layton Hodgetts and the organisational skill of Belle Pearson and many other citizens of the Derwent Valley who were responsible for the band’s success.

Bridge talks go on... and on

THE Liberal Opposition and the Derwent Valley Council have had another go at seeking answers on the fate of the Bridgewater Bridge, with no apparent response from the State Government. Opposition Leader Will Hodgman and Lyons MHA Rene Hidding met the council's mayor and acting general manager last Thursday to discuss local issues including the bridge.

“After being closed for water traffic for years, the Government is proposing to work on the bridge next year, with a possible completion date of sometime in 2010 in mind. One can only assume that they intend to reopen the bridge to water traffic during the election campaign. However, there are no guarantees that the bridge will even get that far. Successive infrastructure ministers have stonewalled calls to reopen the bridge," Mr Hodgman said in a statement.

Other reports from the Mercury and ABC Radio.

Ward 7 - heritage listed and appealed

AN appeal has been lodged over the Tasmanian Heritage Council's July 24 decision to permanently list New Norfolk's Ward 7 on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. The heritage listing covers both the building and its security wall.

The listing says, in part: "Ward 7 and the Ha-Ha Wall forms part of the vast hospital complex that included the former Royal Derwent Hospital site and the early 19th century Willow Court facility. Together these complexes have the longest continuous history of a mental institution within Australia, demonstrating the evolving philosophies on treatment and construction of mental institutions."

A directions hearing on the decision to permanently enter Ward 7 and its wall onto the heritage register will be heard at the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal in Hobart on August 12. A developer has proposed demolishing the building and wall to make way for a housing subdivision.