Latest news with #Wimmera
ABC News
01-08-2025
- General
- ABC News
Record-breaking family newspaper dynasty's 150-year milestone
For 150 years, The Buloke Times has rolled off the press in Donald, a small town of 1,500 in regional Victoria. And for that entire time, it's been run by one devoted family. Now aged 95, editor Robin Letts has been at the helm of the newspaper for more than half that history. "Robin has been here 76 years," said Quill McQuilty, a journalist with The Buloke Times. "That's half, over half [the newspaper's history] that he's been involved in this paper. "That's just amazing." "Running a bi-weekly newspaper, it's seven days a week," Robin Letts said. His busy week involves deciding on each edition's content, proofreading pages prior to publication and writing the odd editorial. Though he admits his age is catching up. The Buloke Times masthead arose when council amalgamations in the mid-1990s formed the Buloke Shire, which the paper mostly serves. The paper began as The Donald Times in 1875, founded by the entrepreneurial Godfrey Morgan. In 1852, aged 18, Mr Morgan arrived in Australia from England with a letter of introduction from literary great Charles Dickens to report on the gold rush. Robin's son David Letts is the newspaper's general manager — a somewhat inadequate job description. He's also the principal printer, typesetter, sometime photographer and journalist. On its twice-weekly publication day he's also the principal paper boy, delivering the freshly printed newspaper to the Wimmera region's towns of Donald, St Arnaud, Wycheproof, Watchem, Birchip and Charlton. For The Buloke Times staff, like in all small newspapers, versatility is essential. "Anyone could be called to grab a camera and go out and take a photo or do a couple of paragraphs or hunt someone down to identify a photograph," David Letts said. Family involvement has been pivotal to the newspaper's survival and newsprint runs deep in the family's DNA. In 1922 the Morgan family appointed G.W.L. "Goff" Letts, Robin's father, as editor. David Letts said working alongside both his father and grandfather was special. "It was a lot of fun to have the three of us here and then grandpa or Goff, when he passed away, then of course Robin took over the editorship," he said. "It chalked up a lot of years as editor between the two of them." Robin Letts's newspaper career began in 1947 at age 17. Initially focused on sports reporting, he soon covered all the essential topics of a good local newspaper, namely news, sport and opinion pieces. "With a pen in his hand he was a giant," said former employee Brian Bayles. "Mind you I don't think he has ever lifted the bonnet of a car and wouldn't have the faintest idea of how to change a tyre, but put a pen in his hand and he was very much above average," Mr Bayles said. Robin Letts's unwavering passion, energy and commitment to the newspaper continues to astound everybody. "He runs circles around us. It's just amazing at his age to still be so driven and dedicated to his job," colleague Ms McQuilty said. The newspaper this week celebrated its 150th anniversary with a commemorative edition for its readers and a birthday cake for its staff. The Letts family's 150 years of continuous family ownership now eclipses that of the famous Fairfax family who bought into the then Sydney Herald, now The Sydney Morning Herald, in 1841, but lost ownership in 1990. However, in its milestone year the Letts family's unbroken century and a half proprietorship of the newspaper will also end. David Letts, who started at the paper after trade school in 1980 and has spent his entire working life at The Buloke Times, plans to retire. "They've all got their own careers and everything else." Robin Letts will continue as editor, and there are discussions about who will take over The Buloke Times. "His father kept going until the end and I think Robin will just keep going," David Letts said. "It's great for him because it keeps his mind active." The ever modest Robin Letts protests that his role in the paper's ongoing success is overstated. "And ones that we've had through the years. Absolutely wonderful people." Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.
The Age
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘The perfect little vessel': Tricked-up dim sims are the hot pub snack this winter
'Every sporting club has a steamer full of dim sims,' he says, suggesting the dimmie roll was a virtual fait accompli. 'But the first place I heard of them was the Haven General Store'. That store is owned by Peter McFarlane. He's been serving dimmie rolls there for more than three decades, and the tradies of the Wimmera can't get enough. 'Just a normal hot dog roll, throw three dimmies in it, cream cheese, soy sauce, mustard, tomato sauce; whatever you want,' he says. 'People come to town, get in the line and say, 'What did that bloke just have?' No one's ever heard of them!' Where to find the best dressed-up dim sims this winter Dimmie Den A food truck parked at the northern exit of Southern Cross Station selling dim sims inspired by a range of cuisines. Southern Cross Station, 1st floor Spencer Street, Docklands Haven General Store A 34-year old shop on the outskirts of Horsham proudly assembling the dimmie roll with cream cheese, sweet chilli sauce and more. 4501 Henty Highway, Haven The Lincoln A snug, inner-city gastropub serving Wildpie wild boar dim sims with beetroot relish. 91 Cardigan Street, Carlton Bear's Wine Bar A hidden gem of North Melbourne serving a mean kangaroo and bacon dimmie. 502 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne Tanswell's Commercial Hotel Beechworth's cosiest pub, and the High Country home of Wildpie pies and dim sims. 50 Ford Street, Beechworth Punters Club Fitzroy A very good pub serving a very good dim sim – the South Melbourne dim sim – topped with Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp.
Sydney Morning Herald
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The perfect little vessel': Tricked-up dim sims are the hot pub snack this winter
'Every sporting club has a steamer full of dim sims,' he says, suggesting the dimmie roll was a virtual fait accompli. 'But the first place I heard of them was the Haven General Store'. That store is owned by Peter McFarlane. He's been serving dimmie rolls there for more than three decades, and the tradies of the Wimmera can't get enough. 'Just a normal hot dog roll, throw three dimmies in it, cream cheese, soy sauce, mustard, tomato sauce; whatever you want,' he says. 'People come to town, get in the line and say, 'What did that bloke just have?' No one's ever heard of them!' Where to find the best dressed-up dim sims this winter Dimmie Den A food truck parked at the northern exit of Southern Cross Station selling dim sims inspired by a range of cuisines. Southern Cross Station, 1st floor Spencer Street, Docklands Haven General Store A 34-year old shop on the outskirts of Horsham proudly assembling the dimmie roll with cream cheese, sweet chilli sauce and more. 4501 Henty Highway, Haven The Lincoln A snug, inner-city gastropub serving Wildpie wild boar dim sims with beetroot relish. 91 Cardigan Street, Carlton Bear's Wine Bar A hidden gem of North Melbourne serving a mean kangaroo and bacon dimmie. 502 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne Tanswell's Commercial Hotel Beechworth's cosiest pub, and the High Country home of Wildpie pies and dim sims. 50 Ford Street, Beechworth Punters Club Fitzroy A very good pub serving a very good dim sim – the South Melbourne dim sim – topped with Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp.
ABC News
04-07-2025
- ABC News
Prominent Horsham man Ronald Marks convicted of accessing child abuse material
A prominent mentor for young people in the western Victorian town of Horsham has been sentenced for accessing child abuse material. Ronald Marks, 74, was sentenced on Wednesday for accessing the material between 2012 and 2021. Marks is a Wergaia elder known for his roles in children's cultural education programs in the Wimmera. Marks's face features in a large mural on a silo at Sheep Hills, in Victoria's wheat belt. A Horsham magistrate fined Marks $7,500 and ordered him to report to Victoria Police for the next eight years. The maximum penalty for a first offence of possession of child abuse material in Victoria is 10 years in jail.
Sydney Morning Herald
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
13 new books to read this month
It may be cold out there, but the books are hotting up. As winter extends its grip on Australia, publishers have got a truckload of books hitting the shops. Here is a selection of only 13 of the many books due out this month. Dry July? Not in the book business. Eden Mark Brandi Hachette, $32.99 Out now Mark Brandi novels are far from conventional crime novels. Indeed, he has an unerring eye for the social context of any skulduggery committed in his pages. If you read his first book, the award-winning Wimmera, you'll recognise a clue on the third page of Eden to the real identity of the main character who has just emerged from jail and has got a job − and a place to sleep − in the cemetery. But there's more than burying the dead going on, and a nosey journalist is on his trail. Deep History: Country and Sovereignty Eds., Ann McGrath & Jackie Huggins UNSW Press, $49.99 July 1 Professors Ann McGrath and Jackie Huggins have collected a group of essays by historians, anthropologists, artists and archaeologists that consider 'how temporality plays out in relation to sovereignty' across Australia, the Pacific Islands, New Guinea and New Zealand. After all, Indigenous people have been making histories and caring for Country 'significantly longer than colonial intruders'. The writers examine place, song, histories, landscape, rock art and more. Your Friend and Mine Jessica Dettmann Atlantic Books, $32.99 July 1 The premise of Jessica Dettmann's fourth novel is delicious: 20 years after the death of her best friend Tess, Margot gets a letter from her via a solicitor inviting her on an all-expenses-paid trip to London. The pair had long ago planned to visit Tess' home, but life and death got in the way. This trip, however, is no sightseeing tour − Tess had a number of tasks in mind for Margot to undertake. There's the question of Tess' ashes, revenge to be gained on cruel lovers, and more. This at-times wistful and tender romp is a hoot. The Haunting of Mr and Mrs Stevenson Belinda Lyons-Lee Transit Lounge, $34.99 July 1 Belinda Lyons-Lee's second historical novel − her first was about that wizard of waxworks, Marie Tussaud − delves into how Robert Louis Stevenson came to write his classic of duality, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Narrated by Stevenson's wife, it begins with a bizarre seance, reimagines Stevenson's relationship with the murderer Eugene Chantrelle and investigates the morbid influence of the work of 18th-century bodysnatcher Declan Brodie. The author says she wants her work to be 'illuminating, entertaining and transporting'. It is.
