Upper Yarra
Tuesday, 4 July, 2023
Illegal wildlife trade rife in Australia
Much-loved doctor in Healesville retires
Disunited council supports The Voice
Trader groups boosted by grants
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A Star News Group Publication
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Rail reward By Tanya Steele
Volunteers made a big effort to relocate the turntable.
Picture: YARRA VALLEY RAILWAY
The Yarra Valley Railway has been bolstered by a new acquisition, making more progress in the railway’s revival. In June, Yarra Valley Railways volunteers undertook a huge group effort to relocate a 21-metre turntable from Korumburra to Yarra Glen. Yarra Valley Railway President, Brett Morton said the group have been looking for a turntable for their railway for a long time. “A goal of ours has been to be able to run a steam engine between Yarra Glen and Healesville,” he said. The relocation involved hard work by the volunteers to dismantle components, load them on to trucks and transport the turntable to Yarra Glen, with local crane and truck hauling services required for the immense effort. See page 7 for story
Supreme defeat By Callum Ludwig
dangered forest species a fighting chance of survival. “It’s a testament to the power of communities to fight for the natural world; for the places we love and the wildlife we share them with,” she said. “The courts have shown that VicForests is incapable of observing environment laws.” As a result of the decision, it appears VicForests are unlikely to resume opera-
tions which ceased last year following the decision. A Victorian Government spokesperson said they acknowledge the Supreme Court of Victoria’s decision and will continue to support timber workers through the transition out of native timber harvesting by 1 January 2024. Continued page 3
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State forestry body VicForests has been unsuccessful in appealing the Supreme Court’s decision in last year’s Kinglake Friends of the Forest (KFF) and Environment East Gippsland (EEG) vs VicForests case. A panel of three judges: Court of Appeal
president Justice Karin Emerton and Justices Cameron Macaulay and Stephen Kaye upheld the findings of Justice Richards, which declared that VicForest had failed to adequately survey for greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders. VicForests was also ordered to pay court costs for the proceedings. President of KFF Sue McKinnon said this decision gives en-
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