MJ

February 4, 2016 by MJ

AIDA’s Golden Jubilee

In 2015 AIDA celebrated its fiftieth birthday, marking half a century of commitment and hard work by many people. To honour and record these endeavours, we consolidated and catalogued our archives and celebrated during the anniversary year with members of AIDA and of the wider community.

The precise date of foundation of AIDA is unclear, which is not unusual in organisation like ours. We know that the Aireys Inlet Progress Association became the Aireys Inlet Community Association in 1967 and finally the Aireys Inlet and District Association in 1972. The original prompt to form an association was most likely a proposal to establish a camping ground along the lower reaches of the Painkalac Creek estuary, downstream(!) from the bridge. Thanks to Brian Williams, we have a copy of the flyer calling a meeting about the proposed development. That was in August 1966, but there is also a suggestion that the association began under Ian Noble’s leadership in May 1965. So, in the absence of any further information from members with clearer records or memories than ours, we celebrated the jubilee in May 2015. As a lead up to this date, the attendees at our 2015 AGM on April 11th had the opportunity to preview a marvellous collection of “Then and Now” photographs of our district and viewed a time line of AIDA’s activities and achievements over the past 50 years. This display was exhibited again at a 50th Anniversary event at the Aireys Pub on November 1st, the Sunday of the Melbourne Cup weekend 2015.

The event at the Pub was very well attended with about one hundred visitors enjoying the photos and the illustrated time line of activities and achievements. We particularly enjoyed watching long-term residents reminiscing about past times and the older generation telling their children and grandchildren how Aireys used to be. One surprised AIDA member was delighted to recognise herself in one of the historic photos. It was again a wonderful opportunity for the committee to meet AIDA members, and twelve expressions of interest were received from potential new members.

Our grateful thanks to Gary Johnson for sourcing all the “Then” photos and for taking matching “Now” photos from as close to the original viewpoints as he could manage; to Peter McPhee and Charlotte Allen for mounting the time line of AIDA’s activities and achievements; to Janice Carpenter for organising the very successful Pub event; and especially to two AIDA members, Mickey Dewar and David Ritchie, who emailed us from their part-time home in northern Australia volunteering to help set up the exhibition and to pull it down again.

We would also like to thank AIDA member Penny Morison, who contributed her 1960-70s photos for our displays at the AGM and at the celebration. Penny met Jan Morris, the President of the Anglesea & District Historical Society, at the celebration and has agreed to deposit her photos with the ADHS.

We continue to invite members of the community to submit any relevant photos, articles or information for our historical archive. Please let us know whether we may use the photos for display and in our newsletter, and whether we may scan them for our archives. We will protect them and return them in original condition.

Poster AIDA 50th Celebration 1Nov2015

February 4, 2016 by MJ

AIDA AGM 2016

The 2016 AIDA AGM will be held on Saturday 9th April at 3.30 pm at the Aireys Inlet Community Hall.

December 8, 2015 by MJ

Herbicide spray in Aireys Inlet

AIDA wrote to the shire in October 2015 with a request to review its use of herbicide in public spaces, around trees, fences and bollards, and along pathways, drains and roadsides in and around Aireys Inlet.

The spraying regime had resulted in some very ugly and unnecessarily large areas of bald earth and the only obvious reason for the spraying is to facilitate grass mowing in these areas. Our letter included some photos.

AIDA asked the shire to stop using spray and to consider alternatives such as using a brush cutter, mulching or planting indigenous species around the bases of trees, around bollards and fences, planting rushes and native grasses in the steeper drains.

The shire responded quickly and agreed that there are opportunities to trial changing some of their processes. They said they will tell their staff to stop using spray and use mulch under trees, let the grass grow in the areas under bollards and fences where there is grass on both sides and use brush cutters when necessary. They will also investigate planting the embankment of the various drains and, if this approach is approved, planting will begin next winter.

We had a very positive response and the shire agreed to stop using herbicide and trial some other approaches and we had been enjoying watching the grass slowly recovering. Unfortunately herbicide was used again in July 2016 and the limited regrowth that had occurred has been knocked back.

AIDA raised this with the Parks and Open Space staff at the council who apologised and told us this was due to a misunderstanding. They also informed AIDA they are reducing the use of herbicide across the shire and are continuing to look at other options. These are:
• using mulch where possible

• allowing the grass to grow around structures such as bollards, signs and fences and using brush-cutters occasionally

• trialling plant-derived herbicides to control weeds in places such as gravel paths

• removing any unnecessary in-ground structures

We welcome the reduction of herbicide use and the trialing of the more environmentally friendly growth inhibitors. We are also pleased that the grass will be allowed to grow to cover the large areas of bare earth.

Charlotte Allen

October 2, 2015 by MJ

Open Space Strategy

On 28 January 2016, Council adopted their Open_Space_Strategy 2016-2025, which will guide open space planning, provision and management across the Surf Coast Shire during the next 10 years and support greater collaboration with other land managers. The Shire’s open space includes parks for passive social and family recreation, sporting reserves for active sport and recreation, conservation and nature reserves and linear reserves and paths. The new Strategy reflects the Shire’s vision for its open space i.e.

“to continue to deliver high quality, connected and sustainable open spaces that will provide the community with environmental, social, health and economic benefits. This will further enhance the Surf Coast’s position as a destination renowned for its diversity of outdoor recreation experiences”.

and incorporates eight guiding principles and a prioritised action plan to deliver a diverse range of sustainable public open spaces to meet community expectations. Council received a total of 8 submissions – all providing positive and constructive feedback – during the recent public exhibition period.

AIDA’s feedback AIDA Open Spaces Submission March 2015 and that from other groups highlighted our bush and our beach areas as important, with access, connectivity, supply and quality representing critical factors for all open spaces.

September 28, 2015 by MJ

AIDA’s 50th Anniversary Celebration

As part of AIDA’s Fiftieth Anniversary celebration, an exhibition of ‘Then and Now’ photos was held at the Aireys Pub on 1 November. The event was well attended with about one hundred visitors enjoying the photos, as well as an illustrated time line of AIDA’s activities and achievements over the past 50 years. Of particular interest were long-term residents reminiscing about past times and the older generation telling their children and grandchildren how Aireys used to be. One surprised AIDA member was delighted to recognise herself in one of the historic photos.

It was a wonderful opportunity for the committee to meet AIDA members, and twelve expressions of interest were received from potential new members. Our grateful thanks to Janice Carpenter for organising this successful event and to two members, Mickey Dewar and David Ritchie, who volunteered to help set up the exhibition and pull it down.

Poster AIDA 50th Celebration 1Nov2015