Local news for local people
Articles published in October 2024
Oberon's new Council The votes are in and counted, and Oberon has a newish set of Councillors. Six members of the previous council stood and all were reelected, with three new members coming on board to guide Oberon for the next four years. Those elected were:
Oberon Matters congratulates all the Councillors. The first meeting of the new Council will be on October 15, when the only business will be to swear in the members and elect the Mayor. |  |
 | Kick the paint tin for the Malachi Everyone loves the Malachi, but even its greatest fans have to admit that the outside is looking a bit tired so there is a campaign running to raise the funds to repaint the building. Two fundraisers were held over the last few days - a sausage sizzle and a wonderful concert. More money is still needed for the project and you can find out how to do that in the article. |
Turning to the back page ... With all the sports seeming to wind down for the year, it was the time for annual presentations. Golf kept going, of course. |  |
 | The school year is winding down The end of Term 3 sees everything settling down for a break and the downhill run to the end of the year. |
Raffles! Raffles everywhere you look There always seems to be at least one raffle being sold somewhere along the Oberon Street shopping precinct, but there's one you should look out for every Friday outside IGA.
The Man's Shed has been through some difficulties lately and the proceeds of these raffles will help to ensure its future. Definitely a worthy cause. And you might even win something (unlike the ticket over there - Oberon Matters is still paying for groceries). |  |
It's the fundraiser for the Oberon Men's Shed, and the prizes are very worthwhile. There's a raffle for the traditional trailer load of wood and another for food, with prizes being shopping vouchers for up to $300 (so far from
 | First World Problems Oberon suffered a power failure on Saturday, September 28 affecting 1402 users, including everyone in a business along Oberon Street. Things could have been worse. And a local resident remembered that they were much worse a few years ago in Wentworth Falls. |
Sad and sorry Sodwalls Road When Jenolan Caves Road at Hampton is closed for repairs, one alternative for getting out of Oberon is to go via Tarana and Sodwalls Road towards Lithgow. Nobody who has driven along Sodwalls Road will be unaware of the condition of the road surface. Oberon Matters went out for an inspection and recorded a video. |  |
 | Book Review - "From the pens of the Oberon Writers' Workshop" Everyone seems to want to become a writer but it can be a lonely trade, sitting at home producing words and hoping that someone somewhere will read them. In 2019 the members of the Oberon Writers' Workshop decided that the best way to get their work in front of readers was to collect a selection of works and publish an anthology. The anthology includes works by ten past and present members of the group, plus four invited authors. |
Golfers go for gold Big fields, big scores. And a Hole In One! |  |
 | What to do on a quiet Saturday? Sometimes there seems to be nothing to do in a quiet country town on a Saturday. But there usually is something to do if you have a look around. Oberon Matters had a look around on October 5. |
Book Review - "Humanity's Moment - A climate scientist's case for hope" A real scientist who actually knows what she is talking about presents arguments showing that the climate is changing and not for the better. This is a disturbing and depressing book, because it is written by an expert in climate science. It should be disturbing, though, to anyone who cares about the future of the planet and isn't prepared to reject science. There's also a short review of a climate change denial book, just for balance. |  |
 | Oberon Pharmacy among the best Massive congratulations have to everyone at Oberon Pharmacy for being declared a finalist in the 2024 Pharmacy of the Year competition. Everyone in town already knows how good they are and now that excellence has been recognised. Now on to the finals. |
October 2024 Oberon Council Meeting The major items on the agenda for the first meeting of Oberon Council after the election were the swearing in of the Councillors and the election of the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor. |  |
 | Pines Wind Farm releases the first draft The first draft has been released of possible locations for wind power turbines in the forests around Oberon. 250 locations have been identified (see the map here), although it seems unlikely that all will be used (or even useable). Pines Wind Farm will be holding information sessions at Oberon (2pm on Thursday, October 17, at the Community Centre), Black Springs (10am on Saturday, October 19, at the Black Springs Community Hall) and Burraga (6pm on Tuesday, October 22, at the Burraga Community Hall) and everyone is invited to go along and find out more. |
Let's talk about mental health October is Mental Health Month with the subset of Mental Health Week running from October 5 to 12. Oberon Matters had a look at some of the activities in the area which assist in supporting and maintaining mental health - Mr Perfect, Walk'nTalk for Life, Men's Shed and for something a little different, writing songs. |  |
Picture here | It's almost school time again Schools are only just back from the holidays, but there's still some news. |
A bit of sport here, a bit of sport there Another week out on Oberon's magnificent golf course chasing those little balls around. And there's running around and across bridges. |  |
 | Brazen Burgers closes the shop In a piece of very bad news, Brazen Burgers will close on October 20, 2024. The reasons are several but had nothing to do with the quality of the food or service. Sometimes family matters and logistics take precedence over the rest of life. Oberon Matters wishes Carson and Marlon all the best for the future. The closure of the cafe will not affect The Hub pizza bar, which will continue to operate from the same premises. |
Coming soon - The Great Schnitty Search The chicken schnitzel (with chips, of course) is a staple of pub and café menus. With so many places offering this delicacy around the area, Oberon Matters has embarked on a journey to try them all. So far, the offerings at Cafe Oberon, the Tarana Hotel and the Hampton Half Way House have been sampled (the view at Hampton would make up for any shortcomings in the food), and visits will be made to DJ's Cafe, the Royal Hotel, Oberon RSL, the O'Connell Hotel, Oberon Golf Club, the Cave Pizza and anywhere else that can be discovered as the budget and the GP's advice about diet permit. Never say we're short of places to eat around here. |  |
Visitor statistics
October 17, 2024 in General News
Here is what has happened around this site for the last three months
| Month | Unique visitors | Most read page in the month |
| July | 1121 | Late, Late at the Malachi |
| August | 1519 | What's happening at (to?) the Oberon RSL Club? |
| September | 1469 | Meet the candidates |
"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.
 | NAIDOC celebrations On Saturday, October 19, Oberon gathered at the Common for a celebration of NAIDOC Day. The day included exhibitions of various aspect of indigenous culture such as crafts, painting and, weaving. There was face painting, ochre spatter painting of hand silhouettes, a painting produced by a collective of anyone who wanted to join in, but the main event was the dedication of the Yarning Circle in the Common. |
A day out with some music at the pub Sunday. October 20, saw the final show of "Brewing Ballads and Being Well" organised by RAMHP and Arts Outwest. This brought a group of musicians together to write and perform their own songs. Oberon Matters had been to the final workshop session where a couple of songs were rehearsed and changes made to make them better, and this was the end result. |  |
 | Oberon Council Mayor's Column This week's column from Oberon Mayor Andrew McKibbin can be seen here. |
The railway gets to another milestone The Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway is another step closer to seeing trains running on the tracks. The trackwork between Oberon and Hazlegrove is completed, and this was celebrated on Friday, October 18. |  |
 | Golfers give the greens a good go Was Herodotus talking about Oberon's golfers when he wrote "these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course"? They certainly seem to play whatever the weather brings. |
Schools are back in business The schools around Oberon are back from the holidays and into the final term for 2024 with more activity that you can poke a stick of chalk at. |  |
 | Have your say on health reform in regional NSW The Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health has commenced Its third and final inquiry into the implementation of recommendations made in a landmark 2022 Legislative Council report. The Committee wants to hear what progress has been made in areas that require collaboration between governments, and consultation with remote, rural and regional communities. Submissions close 1 November. |
Congratulations Number 1 Congratulations to Mawhood's IGA for the announcement that they have been awarded a Community Recognition Statement by Member for Bathurst Paul Toole for "the outstanding community and business contributions Mawhood's IGA have made to the people of Oberon." |  |
 | Congratulations Number 2 A great big congratulation to Max Meridith who came fourth in the Professional Youth Roughstock Association World Finals in Ada, Oklahoma. And when everyone in Oberon says "Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!", we're only sayin' you're doin' fine, young Max. |
Congratulations Number 3 Congratulations to Meg Low for being a finalist in the 2024 Crown Lands Management Awards. The citation read: "As the Chair of the Oberon Showground Land Manager, Meg has been instrumental in helping the showground host both big and small events. Meg excels in liaising with community groups and enhancing the camping experience and works tirelessly to promote the showground." |  |
 | We don't know how propitious are the circumstances Life's tough in Oberon, but how much better off would we be living in a place with a lot more people and resources? Oberon Matters looked at a local government area with over 60 times the population to find any benefits. We don't know how lucky we are. |
Burraga Redfin Roundup October 26 and 27 saw 106 fisherpersons descend on the Burraga Dam for the inaugural Redfin Roundup to remove as many of these pasts from the dam as possible. |  |
 | Digital Marketing Seminar On Tuesday, October 22, there was a presentation at the Oberon Community Centre about the use of social media for marketing and representing businesses. Presenters were Josh Gordon from RDA Central West and Nalinda Ranaweera from Business HQ. |
Our Town, Our Future Business Forum judged a success About twenty people came along to hear some of Oberon's major business owners talk about Our Town, Our Future, which was the business forum hosted by the Oberon Business and Tourism Association, held on October 24. There were five guest speakers. |  |
 | Jenolan Caves Road closures Jenolan Caves Road at Hampton will be closed during the days between November 11 and 15. |
The school report card Education takes a lot of different forms, and you can see these all over Oberon's schools. A few different things were learnt about this week. |  |
 | A puzzle without an answer Golf is certainly a puzzle to those who don't play, and often also to those who do enjoy chasing that little ball around. |
There were 1714 unique visitors to the site during October, 2024. The most read article was Sad and sorry Sodwalls Road.
"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.
Find us on Facebook