This week's Minute with Mayor McKibbin

March 27, 2025

March 27, 2025

The Field to Forest events continued in Oberon during March.

The Shakespeare Festival held over 14 and 15 March was a great success with the feast and performance at the Malachi Gilmore Hall on 14/03 followed by the Rotary Club performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream at The Common on 15/03, both well acted and attended events. The theme of this classic Shakespearean play being that "The course of true love never did run smooth." and that "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind". These phrases as true today as when Shakespeare wrote them in 1596.

The Black Springs Pioneer Festival was held on Saturday 22/03 and included history tours and talks, photo displays, a sausage sizzle, morning and afternoon tea, village walks and the dance. A great success by all accounts.  During the same weekend, Simmo's Off Road fishing and foraging Tours occurred and the Oberon Mushroom Foraging Workshop for beginners was held with Diego.

Council activities during the week of 17/03 included a Citizenship Ceremony for six new citizens. This ceremony was held in Harmony Week, which celebrates cultural diversity and the strengths of our society due to diversity and different cultural backgrounds. Hence Harmony Week aligned perfectly with our Australian Citizenship Ceremony. The Federal Member Andrew Gee read Minister Tony Burkes welcomed and then provided an insight into the contribution new Australians had made to the fabric of our society. The event was well attended by Councillors, friends and family of the new citizens, at the Oberon Library & Community Centre.

Council held its March meeting on Tuesday 18 March. The motocross track at Arkstone was approved together with entering a Memorandum of Understanding with O'Connell Cricket Club on the sharing the maintenance activities associated with the O'Connell Recreation facility.

I held several Teams meetings with our Andrew Gee MP, General Manager Gary Wallace, representatives from the Federal Minister for Telecommunications office and Telstra to attempt to resolve the impasse involving the Mobile Small Tower installation at Black Springs. These discussions are continuing.

The NSW Government is scheduled to provide a white paper on transport options over the Blue Mountains in the first half of this year. In my role as the Lead for the Central West Joint Organisation Transport Committee I met with the CEO of Aurecon, a large engineering firm, to discuss possible options for responding to this White Paper.

On 25/03 Council held a Councillor Budget Workshop to consider the draft operational plan for 2025/26. The General Manager and I will be travelled Sydney on Wednesday 26/03 to meet with NSW Minister Rose Jackson, to ensure that current state funding for Oberon's Sewerage Treatment Plant is secure and to investigate other sources of funding that may be available to allow Council to start work on this crucial project for Oberon's future.

Oberon is delighted that the 2025 World Angus Forum will visit Oberon on 30 April with 200 international visitors to be hosted by Sunny Point Pastoral Co. This will showcase our local beef industry to the World and provide prominence to the importance of agriculture to our local economy.

Upcoming events in Oberon include:

Saturday 29 March – Seasonal Dinner at Essington Park – Renzaglia Wines and Simmone Logue Autumn Seasonal Dinner
12 and 13 April - Oberon Garden Club Open Gardens with some magnificent gardens open to the public
26 April – Picnic in the Park at the Oberon Common

Clr Andrew McKibbin

Mayor

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