Maydena tries again with Australia Day, Take 2

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WITH the nearby Gell River bushfire now downgraded to "no alert" level, the town of Maydena is going ahead with its postponed Australia Day celebrations this Saturday.

The town's traditional Australia Day activities of a community walk, barbecue and novelty events had to be delayed due to the extreme bushfire threat being experienced in late January.

A huge bushfire had started about 20km north-west of Maydena on December 28, during a dry electrical storm that sparked fires throughout the state. Despite massed resources being deployed to the remote location, the fire has continued to burn for more than two months.

It was only earlier this week that the fire was downgraded to its present status of "no alert", although firefighters are continuing to extinguish numerous active fire edges using vehicle-based teams, walk-in teams, and remote area teams transported by helicopter.

This long-awaited respite has prompted the Maydena Community Association to revive its Australia Day plans, which will now be put into place for this Saturday, March 16. The community walk to Junee Cave will start at 10am at the playground in Mayne St. Refreshments will be provided at the Junee Cave car park before the walk back to the playground where a free barbecue lunch and novelty events will be held.