A new day dawns

HERE'S a view of dawn breaking over Hobart about 20 minutes ago, courtesy of the Rose Bay High School web-cam. It would be wonderful to have some public web-cams (internet cameras) set up at places of interest in the Derwent Valley.

Quick action saves hospital building

QUICK action by the New Norfolk and Magra fire brigades saved one of the more modern buildings on the Willow Court historic site from potential destruction this evening.

New Norfolk Police said a fire at the building known as Lyprenny had been reported at about 4.30pm. Several units from the New Norfolk Fire Brigade were soon on the scene. Volunteer firefighters wearing breathing aparatus located a fire just inside the main entrance and soon had it in hand. A unit from the Magra Brigade soon arrived in support.

Incident controller and local fire chief Colin Triffitt supervised as several of his men searched the building for any squatters who may have become overwhelmed by the large volume of smoke. No-one was located inside the two-story brick building, which was erected in the late 1960s as a hospital ward at Willow Court. It was more commonly known as H Ward.

The deliberately-lit fire was found to have been set in a pile of timber just inside the main entrance to the building, which is owned by an interstate developer.
   

New Norfolk - two fabulous centuries (3)

NEW Norfolk, as a healthy place of residence, has been highly, and perhaps, not undeservedly extolled: but, in winter, from the dense and excessive fogs, it is too much charged with humidity to be salubrious: at other seasons, however, we know of no place in the Island, where the invalid can repose with so much satisfaction and enjoyment—it is, indeed, a most delightful and most invigorating place.

From Henry Melville's Hobart Town Magazine, Volume III, page 24, 1834

The above image titled View of the Governor's retreat, New Norfolk, Van Diemens Land by Joseph Lycett was first published in Views in Australia, or, New South Wales & Van Diemen's Land, in 1825.

Eagles claw Tigers

NEW Norfolk defeated Kingborough  at Kingston on Saturday afternoon, ending the Tigers' run of eight wins in the Southern Football League. Scores were New Norfolk 3.3 7.6 10.12 15.16 (106) to  K’borough 3.6 6.8 8.12 11.19 (85)

Best for New Norfolk were: N. Ross, L. Joseph, P. Ross, B. Carver, L. Horne and T. Triffett. Goals were scored by: B. Carver 6, N. Ross 3, M. Thompson, R. Belcher, N. Clayton, R. Martin, T. Triffett and P. Ross.

The reserves match saw Kingborough score a big win over New Norfolk, 21.19 (145) to 11.5 (71). Best for the Eagles were: L. Browning, N. Benson, L. Fysh, T. Bligh and S. Collis, while the goal-scorers were: S. Collis 2, M. Bearman 2, P. Jelkic 2, T. Jarvis, B. Chaplin, D. Triffett, T. Allcock and B. Hall.

The colts match was another win for the Tigers, 14.11 (95) to 13.10 (88). New Norfolk's best players were: N. Lester, L. Menzie, B. Coppleman, B. Lovell, N. Grant and D. Walsh.

End nears for Ward 8

DEMOLITION of Ward 8 at the former Royal Derwent Hospital is under way, blog site royalderwent.com reports. Late last week most of the roofing tiles had been removed from the building, which was erected in 1959. The owner last year received council permission to demolish most of the buildings at Royal Derwent and started with Ward 7 after successfully overturning a heritage listing on that ward and its significant security yard.

Kev's parting gift

A WEEK before being overturned as prime minister, Kevin Rudd announced that additional funding of $100 million would be made available to local councils as the third round of the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program (RLCIP). Some $89,000 has been allocated to the Derwent Valley Council on the condition that it meet certain criteria and lodge a suitable application by the end of July.

Mr Rudd said this money would help councils to build and modernise community facilities including town halls, libraries, community centres, sports grounds and environmental infrastructure and is aimed at strengthening our communities during the economic recovery by supporting local jobs and provide long-term benefits to communities by renewing and upgrading local infrastructure.

Ideas for suitable projects can be sent to general manager Stephen Mackey at the Derwent Valley Council office, or by posting a comment to this blog or emailing Councillor Damian Bester at keepdamohonest@gmail.com

Bridgewater Bridge best avoided at weekends

TRAFFIC using the Bridgewater Bridge should expect delays over the coming weekends, when work begins to restore the wire rope cables which operate the bridge’s lifting mechanism, Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Lara Giddings said today.

The work forms part of a $10 million package funded by the Federal Government to refurbish the bridge, and will be done during the day over the weekends of July 10-11 and 17-18.  Further weekend work may be needed during the weekend of July 24-25 if poor weather slows progress. This latest restoration work will be done between  6.30am and 7pm. This may result in traffic delays but emergency services will have priority access at all times.

"The lifting mechanism of the bridge has been out of action since 2006 and this project will use modern technology to restore the liftspan to full operation," Ms Giddings said. "The work cannot be done at night because of the current icy weather conditions and the impracticality of being able to fully light the bridge to complete the overhead cable work."

Ms Giddings said everything possible would be done to make sure the public and bridge workers remained safe and travellers were not too inconvenienced.  “The contractors will use lane closures during the day and only on the weekends rather than full night closures as we have done in the past."

One lane of traffic will flow most of the time, with traffic fully stopped only when hazardous overhead work on the wire rope cables is being undertaken. Delays of about 15 minutes may occur at those times. "The public should take these delays into consideration when travelling through the area and, where possible, use the alternative routes of the New Norfolk and the Bowen Bridges," Ms Giddings said.

"The public has been very tolerant of all the work that has been going on in the Bridgewater and the Brighton regions recently and I would like to thank them for their ongoing patience," Ms Giddings said.