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19 AUGUST, 2025
Kangaroo great Anthony Stevens writes exclusively for Star Weekly 12790528-JD33-25
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A novel idea Residents are now able to browse, borrow and return books outside of their local library after Brimbank libraries launched its first book locker in Derrimut this month. The locker works similarly to a parcel locker, with users able to borrow books using their library card and navigating a touch screen on the machine. Readers can use the locker as a pick-up point for requested library items and are able to use the internal chute for returns too. Brimbank mayor Thuy Dang said the book locker makes access to library services easier. “The new book locker at Derrimut Community Centre brings library access closer to home, so that Brimbank library members in the area can borrow and return books, magazines, and games,” Cr Dang said. “The book locker reflects our commitment to meeting the growing demand for library resources in Derrimut and surrounding areas.” The locker is available 7am to 6.30pm from Monday to Friday at the Derrimut Community Centre.
Oscar ,6, Charlotte, 4, Ivy. 3, Isla, 5, and Avery, 2. (Damjan Janevski) 493776_02
An ‘urban blight’ By Sam Porter At Solomon Heights in Sunshine North, 430 privately owned lots have remained undeveloped for a century. Former Brimbank mayor and president of Brimbank Progress Association Bruce Lancashire said the estate is “Melbourne’s worst example of urban blight”. “It’s been a subdivision that’s been sitting there for 100 years without the owners having a reasonable expectation of developing their land,” said Mr Lancashire – who is also a qualified town planner and civil engineer.
Land in the estate is owned by a mix of private individuals and companies. Brimbank council acts as the responsible authority and planning authority for the subdivision, and owns roads in the estate’s north. Council highlights multiple issues impacting the development of the industrially-zoned precinct, one of which is the presence of critically endangered flora and fauna species protected under federal and state laws. Of these species is the spiny rice-flower – a small plant with spike-tipped stems and pale yellow flowers.
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There were 436 spiny rice-flower plants recorded in Solomon Heights in 2021, as previously reported by Star Weekly. However, Grassy Plains Network Victorian national parks association facilitator Dr Adrian Marshall expects this number has since decreased. “The owners haven’t been managing the grasslands, which includes the spiny rice-flowers, so it’s been in slow decline,” he said. “It’s illegal to bulldoze grassland but if you just let the weeds take it over it’s perfectly legal. It’s really frustrating. “[The flowers] are really important. It’s as close to extinction as it can get.”
To protect native flora and fauna in the estate, Mr Lancashire believes council should support the position of environmental offsetting across the entirety of the estate, which he said would allow development to progress. Environmental offsets compensate for significant biodiversity losses by securing land at another site where an ecosystem can be maintained and protected over a period of time. “There’s an opportunity here for council to be highly innovative,” Mr Lancashire said. Continued: Page 4.
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