Fusion Christmas Advent Pageant-Orange 2007

It was very much a biblical scene with children dressed as nativity characters. It was nearing Christmas and the reminder of the true meaning of Christmas was evident. There was a mini-festival and lots of fun. The children paraded up Summer street dressed as their characters giving shoppers and business owners a feeling of the Christmas spirit.
My son and our two foster children viewed the start of the event which was held in Roberston Park.
The excitement on the children's faces was a picture to behold. Fusion Orange Bev Ranking and organisers did a tremendous job in putting together this event and it was evident that there way much joy in putting this event together.

Orange Aboriginal Community Plan

Since my election to Council and over the past 4 years I have noticed and been a part of making our Aboriginal Community more inclusive. We have included our Aboriginal Community into our 2020 plan for Orange, Council activities with the flag being placed outside the chambers and the reading of acknowledgement to Country at each of our Council meetings.
Over time Orange City Council and Councillors have been all encompassing with the Aboriginal Employment strategy and with the Aboriginal community the development of the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan 2007-2011.
It is now we can share with the wider community the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan 2007-2011. The aim being "To create an Aboriginal community that fosters unity, ownership, participation and leadership, while contributing to the social, cultural and economic activities of the wider community with Orange."
The Orange Indigenous Social Action Plan is for the Orange Aboriginal Community and was developed by the Orange Aboriginal Community Working Party with assistance from community members, the Orange City Council and planning consultants.

The four main priorities that emerged from the planning were:

1) Community development and information sharing:
The plan supports strengthening Community unity, leadership, communication and promoting cultural awareness and sharing success.

2) Education:

The plan supports educational activities that give Aboriginal people in Orange the chance to go to an Aboriginal pre-school, finish high school, go on to further study and gain meaningful employment.

3) Employment:

The plan aims to make imaginative use of community resources and particularly help young people just entering the work force and those people who have been unemployed for long periods of time.

4) Home Ownership:

The plan aims to provide practical self-help support to people wishing to purchase their own home.

The Community Working Party will organise Sub-Committees that include community people who have skills or interests in the activities. At least three Sub-Committees will be formed, to cover:
1) Housing (mainly private home ownership)
2) Employment (mainly expanding employment opportunities), and
3) Education (mainly support and mentoring).

Time lines, responsibilities and milestones will be developed in discussion with each Sub-Committee and tasks will be revised to fit Sub-Committee feedback and interest.

As you can see there has been considerable work done and will continue well into the future.

Some information on this page has been referenced from the flyer provided at the launch of the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan launch held at the Orange Civic Theatre. For further information contact: The Secretary, Community Working Party, C/- Department of Housing, 272 Summer Street, Orange, NSW, 2800 or phone 6360 8170

Migrant and Refugee Mentoring Program

Back to education for me. This time it was to undertake "Mentoring in the Community" training. It was a two day weekend training course which provided participants with the knowledge and skills to work effectively as mentors in a wide variety of contexts.
The course was conducted with Orange TAFE and gave the volunteers the opportunity to gain further knowledge in mentoring. We could identify legal, welfare, health and educational needs/issues of the client group and develop strategies for client access or referral to relevant agencies.
We had a variety of groups that came together, some people were from youth, multi-cultural and other organisations. It was nice to meet other like minded people and to learn about their paths in life.
I did the mentoring course in support of the Multi-cultural Migrant and Refugee mentoring program with Orange City Council. Anni Gallagher is the Migrant support worker and be contacted by calling Council offices. I look forward to what the new year brings and helping those who need to learn more about our Australian culture.

McHappy Day 2007

The fun and laughter was already happening. There were lots of people about and the balloons were being handed out. Children could have their faces painted or place their hand prints on the wall collage. You could have a guess of how many jelly beans were in the jar or sit down to a meal of burgers and fries.
What was all the fun and joy about. Well it was McHappy Day at Orange Ronald McDonald. Money was being raised to help the Ronald McDonald Houses which in turn helps families with sick children. It was a day that myself and other local people could be a part of the days activities and serve the community people with their orders. I have been involved with this day for the past 3 years and find it a great way to meet the locals with the knowledge of knowing that you are helping a truly worthy cause.
I understand that Orange did exceptionally well with their fundraising effort a true credit to all involved.

Orange Aboriginal Community Plan 2007-2011

A considerable amount of work has gone into developing the Orange Aboriginal Community Plan for 2007-2011. The Community Plan is an outcome achieved by community member's consultation, which has resulted in identified issues that affect our community.
The mission statement reads
"To create an Aboriginal Community that fosters unity, ownership, participation and leadership, while contributing to the social, cultural and economic activities of the wider community within Orange"
I believe it says it all as far as the belief and contribution from all.
It was a meaningful and important to launch this Aboriginal community plan and I feel it an honour to be one of the Councillors who has actively worked towards making the needs of Aboriginal people become inclusive within our Council.

Greening the Silver City- Orange City Library

Greening the Silver City seeds of bush regeneration was a regional touring exhibition from the Power House Museum in collaboration with Broken Hill City Council and community. The exhibition tells the remarkable story of how the denuded landscape of Broken Hill was repaired by a bush regeneration scheme in the 1930's.
When we think of Broken Hill it conjures images of a mining town on the edge of the outback in western New South Wales. Not many have known its significance in environmental history, as a site of one of Australia's earliest green actions. In 1936, the Barrier Field Naturalists club led by Albert Morris, an assayer, enlisted the help of a mining company and through the process of native re vegetation, defeated the drifts of sand that were swallowing the outskirts of the town, also reducing the effects from dust storms.
Albert Morris, a Quaker and self taught amateur botanist developed a passionate interest in plants from a young age and founded the Barrier Field Naturalists' club, named after the nearby Barrier Ranges. Albert Morris believed that the growing problem of sand drift and dust storms in Broken Hill could be overcome by establishing regeneration reserves around Broken Hill to the north, west and south. In 1936 the mines and community led by the Barrier Field Naturalists Club and Albert Morris fenced an initial area and planted trees and local native vegetation. Now known as the Albert Morris Park it was seen as highly successful. In 1938 more sections of land were fenced from grazing rabbits and livestock and left to recover, these are known as the re vegetation reserves. The Broken Hill re vegetation site was the first example of successful bush regeneration in its broadest sense within Australia. It improved the standard of living of residents as well as conserving plant and animal biodiversity. The regeneration reserves are now National Trust listed.
Albert Morris's legacy does not limit itself to Broken Hill as he amassed a collection of about 7,000 plant specimens and his collections are represented in several of Australia's major Herbie. More than 1,000 of these are held in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. His methods were applied to other mining towns in Australia and the improvement of living conditions in Broken Hill were quoted world wide.
Albert also photographed the flowers and landscape of the surrounding area. These black and while slides were hand coloured by his wife Margaret Morris and are represented in the exhibition.
The re vegetation also planted a seed for further similar work around Australia. In the 1960's there was the birth of a larger conservation and land care movements in rural and suburban Australia.
(The above information came from the Powerhouse Museum web page for this exhibition on greening)

I had the pleasure of opening this exhibition at our local Library and also presenting the display placed their for our own example of green open space. Orange has always prided itself on the beauty and diversity of parks and gardens, and areas were reserved for this in 1846. The grandest park is Cook Park, created in 1873. It's band stand was established about 1907, and the Frank Mulholland Memorial garden about 1940.
The benefits of creating open and green space was apparent even in 1920. When as a girl of ten in 1920 Alice King had climbed every tree in Cook Park.
Cook Park is a good example of historic open green space in a city area, proving how valuable it was to put aside that space.

Melbourne Cup Event- Orange Regional Gallery

The Friends of Orange Regional Gallery invited myself to a magnificent Melbourne Cup Event. The Gallery was magically transformed into a "Race Day" theme with a spring carnival atmosphere. My friend Rachel and I along with many other race day enthusiasts enjoyed a glass of champagne, delicious food, a fabulous fashion parade and judging of the best dressed and best hat.
There were plenty of sweepstakes, raffles and prizes along with the live race action on the big screen. One could have almost thought that a horse had got away as there was a life size horse on display to add to the atmosphere.
It was a glorious way to spend a Tuesday afternoon mixing with lovely people and sharing the excitement of race day. An added bonus was the benefit of knowing that this was a special fundraising event for Ronald McDonald House Orange.
Thanks to all the people who organised this event, it was a fabulous afternoon and I look forward to next years event!

Launch of Australian Family Matters

We had a well attended launch of Australian Family Matters which is a family orientated not-for-profit organisation. It was a pleasure having Senator Fiona Nash and Mayor John Davis to launch the site. Senator Fiona Nash spoke of the importance to support family and the distance for some people which impedes and isolates people.
The event was held at the Orange TAFE library with a presentation on what exactly you can access on the site. Parkes Council have become the first Family Friendly Council to show case what they have available for people in the way of recreation and fun and it is a place which my husband and children will be visiting in the new year.
I would recommend a visit to the site and can see that this will be a place of the future which will develop friendships and help people with referrals to supporting organisations.
Australian Family Matters thanks all the supporters both with goods, acts of kindness or support with promoting the site. I will keep you updated on the progress with this site as an ongoing way to support the site.
So jump on and have a look at the new Australian Family Matters web-site www.australianfamilymatters.com.au