Local news for local people
Articles published in February 2024
 | Introduction to the Oberon Matters web site The word "matters" can be a noun or a verb. Used as a noun, "Oberon Matters" means things going on in and around the town of Oberon, and this site is here to report on those things and events and also matters affecting the town and the surrounding area. Used as a verb, "Oberon Matters" means that what goes on is important to the people who live here. The site encourages resident participation. It's your town. We want you to tell us what you want us to say, so we welcome stories about coming and past events, and we want to hear about what is important to you... |
Book review - The Purple Copper's Secret The Purple Copper butterfly is almost an Oberon Local. This book is notable for two reasons. The first is that it is actually three books in one, because each page has text suitable for very young children, people with a little more education, and an explanation for adults. Each of these pages is accompanied by artwork by the author to illustrate the text. The second reason is that the book tells they story of the amazing symbiotic relationship between a single species of ants (Anonychomyrma itinerans), a single plant and the butterflies.… |  |
 | Australia Day 2024 in Oberon About 230 residents packed out the Oberon Community Centre for the 2024 Australia Day celebrations. The event was preceded by a community morning tea, capably organised by the Oberon Junior Hockey teams, with entertainment supplied by the U3A ukulele group. The formal proceedings started with an Acknowledgement of Country by Elloura Nielsen, followed by the unfurling of the Australian Flag by the Kathy Sajowitz, the outgoing Citizen of the Year. Everyone then joined in the singing of the National Anthem, beautifully led by Lyn Hancox, followed by an address on the meaning of the day by Australia Day Ambassador, Peter McLean.... |
National Bank branches to close in Oberon and Lithgow If you had received an after tax income of seventeen billion dollars over the last six months would you think that you needed to reel in the household budget to save money? Maybe it wasn't just you, and there were four families in your street getting $3.8 billion, $5.2 billion and two getting $4 billion? From these figures it must be obvious that all four major banks are in severe financial difficulty and desperately need to cut costs. One of the ways the banks are cutting costs is to close branches in regional areas. NAB have announced that the branches in Lithgow and Oberon will be closing in April. The announcement about Oberon was made in a telephone call to Mayor Mark Kellam at nine o'clock one morning, and it can be assumed that Lithgow Mayor Maree Statham got the news in the same way... |  |
 | The new sports complex. At last! There has been talk around Oberon for some time about the building of a new sports complex, and now it looks like something is really happening. The complex is planned to have two rugby league fields, which can also be used for soccer and union, two sealed netball courts, a hockey field (maybe grass, maybe synthetic), car parking and a grandstand which will incorporate change rooms as well as the licensed club. Better and more convenient sporting facilities increase the likelihood of residents taking up sports. Oberon already has an excellent golf course, reasonable areas for athletics and one of only two indoor tennis centres in regional NSW. The new sports complex will make the sporting life of Oberon even better. And what could be better than watching the Tigers from a comfortable grandstand seat rather than standing out in the rain? |
School's back after the summer holiday It's the start of a new school year for Oberon's three schools, and a time of excitement for students starting school for the first time or moving up to high school. There are new things to learn and new friends to make, some of whom will be friends for life. Oberon is very lucky to have three excellent schools to provide the basis for whatever life brings in the future. |  |
Housekeeping This web site is a work in progress and things will change from time to time. Some of these things will be invisible to site visitors but help with the management of the site. One visible change this week is the introduction of archive pages for various categories of articles. Pages are created when there are two or more relevant articles, so more will be added as time goes by. Another related change is that a link to the archive index is now in the menu at the top of each page. One of the background things is a database which keeps the What's On page up to date with events happening over the next few weeks, generates the article counts used on the archive pages and creates a file that tells the major search engines about any new or changed pages so they don't have to crawl the whole site. Eventually the database will maintain the archive pages but that's a low priority until the site has more content. Also, the Advertising page has been updated with the rates for displaying advertisements. We have to make a living somehow. |
 | Did you go to the markets? One of the nice things about living outside the big cities is the availability of Farmers' Markets. The regular markets closest to Oberon are at the Oberon Showground on the first Saturday of each month (except January) and at the Tarana Fire Shed on the fourth Sunday (except December). At both you can see and buy a range of locally produced goods, have something to eat, meet your neighbours and generally have a good time. |
Book Review - "No Less The Devil" by Stuart McBride Scotland has been a fertile ground for crime fiction for many years, with the TV series "Taggart" created by Glenn Chandler set in Glasgow, Ian Rankin's "Rebus" novels from Edinburgh, also a long running TV series, a bit further north for Anne Cleeves' novels about police life in the Shetland islands. Stuart MacBride joins this group with books set in Aberdeen and other cities. This recent book makes a break with the McRae character with a different location and new characters… |  |
 | The 124th Oberon Show was the best yet The 124th running of the Oberon Show on February 10 was a great success. The weather was perfect, the crowd was large and enthusiastic, everything you would expect at a country show was there and the entertainment was first class. |
The official start to construction of the new sports complex Earthmoving and site preparation might have started on Oberon's new sports complex, but the official start of any project is the "Turning of the first sod", and this happened on Tuesday, February 13. Fittingly, there were representatives of all three levels of government in attendance, as this is not just a council project but is largely funded by both state and federal governments. Present at the occasion were the Federal member for Calare Andrew Gee, State member fort Bathurst Paul Toole, several Oberon Councillors, representatives from Rugby League, Hockey and the Leagues Club and representatives of Borg who are doing the construction. |  |
Media Release from Andrew Gee MP Independent Federal member for Calare, Andrew Gee, said that it was extremely disappointing that the National Australia Bank has refused to reverse its decision to close branches in Lithgow and Oberon. "Today I met with NAB representatives at Parliament House in Canberra and asked them to reverse their decision to axe their Lithgow and Oberon branches. They refused, which is true to form but nevertheless is extremely disappointing to say the least. I also asked them whether they would keep their ATM facility open at Lithgow and open one up at Oberon," Mr Gee said. |
 | It's never a dull moment at Oberon's schools Life is returning to normal at Oberon's three schools after the summer holidays, with new teachers, some sporting achievements, some money for much needed supplies and equipment thanks to the town's generosity. And pancakes! |
Rhapsody in Blue at the Malachi Oberon turned out in force on Sunday, February 11, for the first concert at the Malachi Gilmore Hall for 2024. The program was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first performance of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in February, 1923, with all the musical pieces coming from the same period in the early 20th century. Musicians were Carl Rafferty (piano), Joolee Kim (flute/piccolo), Hayley Mitchell (clarinet), Thomas Spencer (saxophone), Zach Raffan (trumpet) and percussionists Rauri Campbell and Othniel Ridley. |  |
 | Restoring the Dray A piece of Oberon's history is back on view after a major restoration work. It's the Robinson Dray. It had been stored at the Oberon Museum for some time. Some money was found and it was decided to restore the dray to as close as possible to what it had originally looked like. The work was coordinated by Col Roberts with the assistance of volunteers and local businesses. |
All around the schoolyards Week Three and all of Oberon's three schools are settling into routines, electing students representatives, getting wet at the pool, winning prizes and generally having a good time. There's a lot of hard work ahead, but life isn't all about work. |  |
 | Fish river cup returns upstream to Tarana In a hard-fought battle at the Bill Webb Oval on Saturday 17 February, the men of the Tarana Cricket Club have returned the cherished Fish River Cup from O'Connell to Tarana. Winning the toss, and electing to field, Tarana's bowlers were able to restrict O'Connell to 68 runs from their 20 overs. In response, Tarana overhauled the target in the 18th over, as light rain fell over the proceedings, with Andrew Joseph driving home the winning runs. |
Oberon Tigers are off to a good season start With the start of the Woodbridge Cup competition on April 7 getting closer all the time, the Oberon Tigers are building the teams, with several players either returning after playing in previous seasons (including the winning 2020 Grand Final) plus some new faces. As well as players, two former coaches have returned to take up coaching duty. Things are looking good for a return to the winners' circle in 2024. |  |
 | Guest editorial - Lets give Oberon Men's Shed a secure future Oberon Men's Shed has been operating since 2009, providing company and support for may of the men in the district. Up until three years ago the Shed occupied its place in Oberon Showground on a lease, but since then has only been offered short term licence agreements. To future of the shed requires a lease to ensure security of tenure, not short term licences that can be cancelled at any time. |
Bowlers raise money for assistance dog training On Thursday, February 22, Oberon RSL Women's Bowling Club hosted Defence Community Dogs. It was a demonstration of the training and capabilities of dogs trained as Assistance Dogs for serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members who need physical and emotional support for mood, depressive and anxiety disorders. To quote DCD, "Defence Community Dogs provides highly trained Assistance Dogs to Australian Defence Force Veterans. Trained in specific tasks to support mood, depressive and anxiety disorders including Post Traumatic Stress." |  |
 | Book review - Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia There has been a lot of discussion and controversy around Oberon lately concerning renewable energy. While there are legitimate concerns about the location and effect of renewable energy projects, in many cases the objectors seem to be working from a basis of climate change denial to deny any need for new sources of energy. "If we don't need it, we don't need it." This book is by an expert in the field of climate, and is definitely worth a read. |
Beware the scams. The price of safety is eternal vigilance. Scams and conmen have probably existed since the invention of writing. At one time the major export industry for Nigeria was sending out letters saying that some billionaire wanted to give some money away, and all you had to do was send a few dollars to start the process. In 2000 a spokesperson for the US Postal Service told me that as the letters used fake stamps there was no need to deliver them and the USPO was pulping about a tonne of the letters every month. |  |
 | February 2024 Oberon Council Meeting As usual, Council considered a range of matters at this meeting. Among the more administrative things discussed were the uselessness of the security cameras at the Skate Park, the success and future of the End of Year Spectacular and the IPART recommendation for increases in rates in the 2024-25 year. |
School isn't just about the Three Rs - there's a lot more to learning Another busy week for Oberon's three schools, with activities and learning experiences at all ages, like making suns or making breads. There was even a field trip to the car races at Mt Panorama! |  |
 | Oberon Tigers continue building the team Four more players added to the lineup for the Tigers' attack on the 2024 Woodbridge Cup. They made the Grand Final in 2022, and look forward to a repeat (but maybe not second place) this year. |
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