Vol. No. Vol. 2718No. 2627
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Wednesday, 2016 Wednesday,January January13, 8, 2025
REOPENED: Halls Gap Zoo has reopened to the public, after a 76,000-hectare fire in the Grampians National Park threatened surrounding properties and infrastructure and forced its closure. Keeper Jalé Champion is pictured with Sprout, a 14-month-old hand-reared wombat, one of 500 animals and 110 species on show at the zoo. Staff welcome people to visit the zoo, open every day from 10am until 5pm. More, page 3. Picture: BRONWYN HASTINGS
Calling for support A
BY LAUREN HENRY
collective sense of relief was felt across the Grampians region on Monday after a decent drop of rain resulted in a 21-day long bushfire being contained.
The bushfire, which began on December 17 after dry lightning started multiple fires in the southern part of the Grampians National Park, razed more than 76,000 hectares of public and agricultural land. The fire, with a footprint circumference of 422 kilometres, claimed four residential properties in Moyston and Mafeking, and 40 outbuildings in Moyston, Willaura, Willaura North, Mafeking, Pomonal, Glenthompson and Mirranatwa.
Residents in those communities as well as several others, including major tourism hub Halls Gap, and Pomonal – still recovering from a devastating bushfire in February 2024 – faced a Christmas and New Year period punctuated by various levels of warnings including advice to evacuate on several occasions. After three weeks of closure, communities and businesses in Halls Gap are set to reopen to the public today, with the national park to partially reopen on Friday. While a large portion of the national park, including the Grampians Peak Trail, were damaged, popular walks and attractions such as MacKenzie Falls, Boroka Lookout, Chautauqua Peak, Boronia Peak and Venus Bath
remain untouched. Emergency services workers and volunteers banded together to battle the blaze in some catastrophic conditions, including temperatures in their 40s and high winds on Boxing Day. At the weekend, facing an elevated fire danger, firefighters, both on the ground and in the air, were successful in back-burning operations to reduce vegetation and strengthen containment lines. Early assessments on private land indicate livestock losses of 775 sheep, one horse, one beef cattle and 1285 beehives, with 10,053 hectares of pasture burnt and 540 kilometres of fencing damaged. New Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin joined Member for Lowan
Emma Kealy and upper house MPs Bev McArthur and Joe McCracken in Ararat and Willaura on Monday to meet with fire-affected residents and support agencies. On December 29, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan, joined by federal Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister and Victorian Emergency Services Minister Vicki Ward, visited Horsham to be briefed at the incident control centre, followed by a fly-over of the fireground. Mr Albanese announced funding for Disaster Recovery payments to workers and sole traders who have been directly affected by the fire. The federal and state governments also announced on December 26 that
disaster assistance was being made available to Ararat Rural City Council, Northern Grampians and Southern Grampians shires, including assistance with the establishment and running of emergency relief centres; psychological first aid and council-led financial counselling But Ms Kealy said most businesses in the Grampians do not qualify for government assistance. “The guidelines are so narrow that there are many people who don’t qualify, so the business support is restricted to just employees or sole traders, whereas most of the businesses – tourism businesses – are neither of those,” she said. Continued page 2
IN THIS ISSUE • Mr S passes the baton • Yearly horoscope forecast • Wimmera tennis hits regional high Phone: 03 5382 1351 Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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