Local news for local people
Articles published in September 2024
 | Meet the candidates On August 29, the Oberon Business and Tourism Association hosted a public meeting at the Oberon RSL so that candidates for Oberon Council at the September 14 election could introduce themselves to the residents. There are 18 candidates - six current Councillors, three Independents and nine in the Oberon First group backed by Oberon Against Wind Towers. Nine Councillors will be elected. |
Go! Learn things! Fathers' Day brought a lot of dads to school, but there was also some fun with drinks, exercise, sport and just learning things. And recognition of years of service. |  |
 | Winners and grinners - it's sports time Some of the sport seasons are winding down, but there's still some news. |
And the winner is...... Tracey Whalan with ticket 229 Oberon Men's Shed wood raffle has been drawn. The barrel girl Jess, co-owner of Oberon Newsagency, graciously drew the winning ticket. Congratulations Tracey! |  |
 | 63rd Burraga Sheep Show and Country Fair Almost everyone in Burraga and even people from other places had a great day out at the Sheep Show and Fair. Numbers were down a little this year, but there could be any number of reasons for that and it didn't stop anyone from enjoying the day. |
O'Connell Artisans car boot sale On a perfect day for the start of Spring there was a car boot sale at the O'Connell Hotel to raise money for the restoration of the rectory at St Thomas's Church at O'Connell. Oberon Matters went along to marvel at the sorts of things that people have in their sheds and garages, and to walk around pointing the camera at things. |  |
A great big "Thank you"
September 5, 2024 in General News
It would be a waste of time maintaining this site if nobody came to look at it, so it is encouraging to see the growth in visitors over the last few months. The site has only been operating for seven months, and here is what the last three months have looked like.
| Month | Unique visitors | Most read page in the month |
| June | 884 | What's On Around Oberon |
| July | 1121 | Late, Late at the Malachi |
| August | 1519 | What's happening at (to?) the Oberon RSL Club? |
"Unique visitors" counts IP addresses that have connected to the site at least once during the month. It doesn't include search engines, but even if it did Google and Bing (who index the site at least once a week) would only be counted as one visitor each. It is the equivalent of "Circulation" for print media.
Oberon Matters would like to thank everyone who comes to the site and reads what's here. If you like it, tell a friend. If you don't, tell us - there's an email link on every page.
 | 2024 Oberon Business Awards Oberon's "Night of Nights" happened on Friday, September 6, when the town assembled at the Oberon RSL for the 2024 Oberon Business Awards, presented by the Oberon Business and Tourist Association (OBTA). Everyone is hoping that the Awards can become an annual event to celebrate Oberon's commercial life. |
The Malachi puts some "country" into the country Saturday, September 7, saw another great concert at the Malachi Gilmore Hall, this time to celebrate the release of Chloe Swannell's first EP record. The opening act was Oak & Oranje who were an excellent warm-up for the main event of the night. The main act was Oberon's own Chloe Swannell, and featured Chloe's song writing ability as well as her talents with voice and guitar. |  |
 | Busy times at Oberon's schools There's dancing, making things, gold medals. And sheep. It's all happening at Oberon's schools. |
Opinion - Pine forests Deborah Hoolihan has something to say about pine plantations, where they should be and what they should be used for. |  |
 | Winners everywhere you look The picture says it all about the Oberon Tigers Under 12s in the Group 10 Junior League Championship Grand Final, and the Grade 3 women soccer players are on their way to the Grand Final. And there's some golf results too. |
Council election The preliminary results of the September 14 council election are available. The count so far shows that four candidates have achieved the quota of votes needed for election. Note that the final count will not be known for two weeks, but these quotas are unlikely to change very much.
Three more are likely following distribution of preference:
These results are as at 13:39 on Wednesday, September 18. The last date for delivery of postal votes is Friday, September 27, with final results announced on Thursday, October 3. As final distribution of preferences can't be done until all postal and declaration votes have been included, any progressive counts are only an indication until the official results are declared by the NSW Electoral Commission. The first meeting of the new Council will be on Tuesday, October 15, where the only business will be swearing in the elected Councillors and the election of the Mayor. |  |
 | Let's go camping It was a weekend when except for the Council elections not much was going on around Oberon, so Oberon Matters drove around to some free camping spots in the area and pointed the camera at things. |
Local papers are central to our democracy. We must do more to bring them out of crisis An article from The Conversation about the decline in local newspapers. Oberon isn't the only place to lose its paper - it's happening everywhere. |  |
 | "And the winner is..." Oberon Men's Shed's first "Cost of Living" raffle was drawn on Monday September 16. Guest drawer of the winning tickets was Mr Meat himself, Wayne Barker of "Pleased to meet you, meat to please you" fame. We managed to drag his thumb off the scales for long enough to announce that the first prize of $300 of meat of their choice went to Mel Fitzpatrick, second prize winner of $150 of meat was Gavin Rea and third prize winner of $50 of meat was Jacqui Burke. Congratulations to all prize winners and we're sure that those prizes will ease the cost of living for all of them, and a special thanks to Wayne Barker for participating with the Oberon Men's Shed raffle. |
The days of the old school yard Lots of things happening around Oberon's schools this week. |  |
 | Hold the back page! The sport is coming. Hockey, golf, and ponies. Ponies! With the seasons ending for many sports, the big news is that the Mens and the Under 15s hockey teams are through to the Grand Finals, joining the 3rd Grade Women soccer players. The weekend of September 21 and 22 will see a lot of nails bitten. |
It's Grand Final weekend With several teams into the Grand Finals, it was a busy weekend for anyone following Oberon's various teams. The She Wolves continued their unbroken lossless run to take home the gold, the Under 15s hockey players came second and the senior men's hockey team also missed out on gold. And there was golf too. |  |
 | Schools! More activity than a kicked over ants nest As well as learning lots of things there were thanks for dedicated service, thanks for donations that help a lot, thanks for service to the community and some thanks to grandparents. Also some sporting achievements, plus more fun than you can poke a green crocodile at. |
Walk'n'Talk for Life Another successful get-together to talk about preventing suicide. Federal MP Andrew Gee came along to offer his support. Others who need to be thanked are Wayne Barker at Barker's Butchery for the sausages and steaks and Oberon Smash Repairs for kicking the can with sponsorship. The next W'n'T event is on Saturday October 13 at 11:30 at the Oberon Common. |  |
 | Edith car boot sale The weather was perfect for the annual Car Boot Sale at the Edith Recreation Ground. The shed is looking better all the time, and the money raised will make it even better in the future. |
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