Moonee Valley Magazine

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THE COMMUNITY'S VOICE

October 31-November 6, 2020

JAMES RUFFAT, his dog and his guitar will be familiar faces to visitors to Puckle St, Moonee Ponds. This is a story about his music (He's been on Hey, Hey It's Saturday), his life and his guide dogs. MUSIC MAN

WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVIEW THIS BOOK?
Di Morrissey has just published her 27th novel, Before the Storm.
Di has received acclaim, worldwide, and accumulated many glorious reviews. All from professionals. Would anyone like to put their hand up for an early copy to read and review for us?
BOOKS

CAN Australia survive without Google and Facebook? In the 1920s, radio stations wanted to play recorded music for free, arguing that airplay drove sheet music and record sales. A century later, Google has come up with the same argument. MEDIA

PERCEPTIVE, thought-provoking and utterly exquisite, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams is a powerful lament to our treatment of nature, and an urgent cry for change. It is yet another literary masterpiece from the very talented Richard Flanagan. BOOKS

GOT SOME PAWSOME STORIES?
Bestselling children’s authors, Sally Rippin and Cameron Macintosh, join RSPCA Victoria to launch Pawsome Stories, a competition for young writers to share stories and essays with animal welfare as the creative focus and inspiration behind their work. RSPCA

One week to go!!
Victorian pool and spa registrations are due by November 1
Victorians need to have their pools and spas registered with council before November 1 or risk an on-the-spot fine of up to $330. Community News

NEWS

Makybe Diva returns to Flemington
THE Victoria Racing Club (VRC) has announced that Australia’s staying superstar, Makybe Diva, will return to Flemington for this year's Melbourne Cup, to commemorate the 15th
anniversary of her unprecedented third victory in the Melbourne Cup.
Spring Racing Carnival

The Spring Carnival
is nearly here
THE Flemington course proper was open earlier this week for all Flemington-based horses contesting feature races. This is just a few of them. Spring Racing Carnival

CHAMPS SUPPORT LITTLE ATHS
Australia's top athletes including Sally Pearson and World Champion Kelsey-Lee Barber have urged kids to dust off their running shoes and get back on the track this summer. COMMUNITY NEWS

A LETTER FROM A PHYSIO.
I was only 17 years old, sitting in the car heading to the cinemas to watch a movie with my mother and siblings. Just as we left the house, my mother received a phone call. COMMUNITY NEWS

AS NEWS STORIES ARE FOUND we will put them into the magazine on that day. Whenever there is an update we'll post a note to mvmag1 on Facebook and mvmagazine1 on Instagram. There will be a new magazine edition email alert every Thursday evening. Please follow us and turn on your notifications so you don't miss a beat.

ARTISTIC LICENCE. Values shape our lives in many ways. Values shape institution, see how Rio Tinto is being tested, at present, over the Juukan Gorge blasts. But values can also be fluid. As Groucho Marx said: ‘Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them ... well, I have others’. He should have gone into politics. OPINION

PRESIDENTIAL MEMOIRS. Overnight the former President got stuck into Donald Trump. In his own words, Barack Obama tells in A Promised Land the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world. This is a summary of Volume One. BOOKS

100th COX PLATE. Australia Post is celebrating the 100th running of the W.S. Cox Plate with the release of a commemorative stamp featuring the 9ct solid Yellow Gold Plate Trophy. NEWS

THE BLACK LIST. Be ready for the long haul there are 152 episodes, concluding the seventh season, and an 8th is on its way in November, in the US, at least. MOVIES

Everything above and below is a window to a particular story contained within a categorised page. The page the story is on may not be showing in the navigation bar above. However if you would like to see all stories on any page, hidden or not, then the following links will take you there:

Dessert pizza

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAFE 1770. "IN October 2019, we had finally decided to take the plunge we’d been talking about for so many years. We were going to bring the best of our personalities and our home-style cooking to Airport West. Our family business venture was about to begin." And they were about to be hit with Covid-19! To celebrate a year of fruitful activity there will be $1 pizzas!! Read all about it.

AN INVINCIBLE
Guaranteed lasting celebrity as a member of Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles, Sam Loxton was larger-than-life, talented, ubiquitous and caring. SPORT

A NEED FOR WATER
“We’ve seen handwashing thrown into the spotlight as one of the key ways to help slow the spread of COVID-19. However, billions of people worldwide can’t do this, as they simply do not have access to soap or water. NEWS

A NEVERENDING STORY?
On October 8, a Paris court rejected an appeal by Google against an order to negotiate with French media groups, in a long-running dispute about online news. MEDIA

SOS. Of the hundreds of travel agents surveyed, 98% say they have seen their revenue plunge by more than 75% since COVID restrictions were introduced in March. NEWS

DO YOU HAVE STORIES TO TELL?
We all have stories. Take your memory back a long way or just to last week and have a think about something romantic, funny or fabulous. Who in your family, or among your friends, has done (or is going to do) something extraordinary?
Chuck it down on a piece of paper and email it and see what happens. And please suggest what else you'd like to see in Moonee Valley Magazine?
Photo: Thomas Le

WHIP-FREE HORSE RACING?
A state-wide survey conducted in July-August 2020 shows that seven in ten (69%) Victorians feel that horses should not be hit with a whip in the normal course of a race, illustrating the majority of Victorians do not believe the use of whips in horse racing is necessary or reflective of community sentiment. RSPCA

ON FATHERING
A recent review of evidence around the impact of fathers in a child’s life by The Fathering Project has highlighted the vast importance of fathers in children’s lives from toddler to teenager and beyond. OPINION

THE GRANDEST OF THEM ALL
Author Amelia Mellor has crafted a fine piece of social history as well as a riveting adventure story for readers 10+. The “hero” The Grandest Bookshop in the World is a bookshop. Coles Book Arcade was a famous institution, with locations in both Sydney and Melbourne. The Melbourne store was the grandest of them all. BOOKS

HELP FIND HIS STORY
Kazimierz Karl Leis, known as Karl in Australia, was born in Poland in February, 1905. During WW2 he was in the UK with the Polish Air Force. In 1948 he went with other Polish airmen to Pakistan, to help set up their Air Force. He lived in Essendon. He died aged 101. COMMUNITY NEWS

BRIDGE THE GAP
There are more than 330 bridge clubs in Australia with a total of 35,000 members. The local Moonee Valley Bridge Club which shares rooms with the same name bowls club is one of the largest in Victoria with more than 350 members. COMMUNITY NEWS

REBUILDING BUSINESSES
This year's Federal Budget hopefully delivers much-needed support for the survival and recovery of Victorian businesses. Several measures are closely aligned with the Victorian Chamber’s advocacy. NEWS

ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...
AS corona virus numbers continue to drop and Melburnians prepare for Stage Four lockdown measures to be lifted, motorists are being urged to use extra caution on the State’s roads. NEWS

TRUMPED UP
WE were expecting a Twitterstorm from US President Trump over the Australian government’s attempt to get Facebook and Google to pay their way, but it was a submission from the US Trade Representative that hit the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission instead. MEDIA

BE PREPARED. Many pet owners would panic if their pet was involved in an accident. However, learning basic first aid skills for pets can mean the difference between life and death.To help pet owners learn vital first aid skills that could save a furry friend’s life in an emergency, RSPCA Victoria is launching its first ever virtual animal first aid course.

MVCC Elections

Click on your Ward below for information about your candidates. Or click on "MVCC Elections" in the navigation ribbon above

MOONEE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS

UP until October 24 we will all be voting for councillors (or get fined!) at the forthcoming MVCC elections.

We asked two of the candidates if they'd be interested in a Q&A which wasn't all politics, business and education background.

Here are a few answers from Independent candidates LUISA MUSCARA (Rose Hill Ward, left) and ROSE ISER (Myrnong Ward, right) and INDEPENDENTS' DAY

ASK THEM A QUESTION ONLINE
Kids authors extraordinaire Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton have added 13 new levels to their treehouse and now it’s even more out of this world than before! WHAT'S ON

THEY'RE (NEARLY) RACING
AS of today, 94 horses have been declared for 160th running of The Lexus Melbourne Cup. SPORT

ON A GREEK ISLAND
QUITE accidentally I touched greatness today.I was reaching for one of John Steinbeck's novels in my bookcase when I saw an old novel I must’ve read ten years ago. BOOKS

WHAT TO DO
I’m fortunate in having a garden, in being surrounded by books, and in being a maker of preserves (though not a particularly accomplished one). I appreciate how lucky I am to have these things to engage me and bring pleasure. But what if you don’t have a garden, or an abundance of books? What if making jam isn’t your jam? I have one word - Knitting. CRAFT

READY TO UPGRADE
Well it seems that another 6 million Australians are to have their NBN Camry upgraded to a Bentley model!
MEDIA

MAC THE LIFE
Mac came into RSPCA as a timid stray after he was hit by a car. Unfortunately, his injuries were so severe that his right hind leg had to be amputated. MAC

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Victorian caravan and camping industry contributes $2.3 billion to the Victorian economy. Or it used to! NEWS

EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE
TWO CHAMPION MATES
Champion Hawthorn Half forward Flanker Bob Keddie (4 goals in the last quarter of a Grand Final to win by 12 points) reviews the story of his old mate Peter Crimmins in the new book "Crimmo". SPORT

GO POTTY
Delve into the immersive and fun Trivia Experience that focuses on pop-cultures wizards and wizarding worlds ... It's mainly knowledge based trivia from a wizard who can't be named, but is featured in 7 books. WHAT'S ON

GETTING DIGITAL
THE Federal Government has thrown struggling small businesses a lifeline today, announcing plans to overhaul insolvency rules. SMALL BUSINESS

PETER CRIMMINS was always the shortest of his peers, particularly in the sporting arena, yet he never let stature stand in the way of achieving all he set out to accomplish - on and off the field. Crimmins' spirit lives on decades after his passing, which is why Crimmo - a sporting story, a love story and a social history all in one - is such an important tale. Read more about the Peter Crimmins Story here.

The winner of a copy of "Crimmo" (Player #5) was Karen Dalton from Tullamarine

5km FRIENDS ZONE
WITH Melbourne residents prevented from going further than 5km from home during lockdown, an interactive map developed by Monash University researchers is making it easier to see a friend outdoors.

A WIGGLY STORY
Just a few months ago, Australia nearly lost beloved original Yellow Wiggle Greg Page when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of a bushfire relief concert while on stage with The Wiggles. He talks about it here.
You can also win a song about your suburb THIS weekend. HEALTH

SBS ON DEMAND
Spiral (French with English subtitles) has it all, as long as you have a strong stomach. Fabulous characters. Seven series and another to come. Definitely for late-night bingers. MOVIES

WHILE the focus of the story has been Facebook and Google, the real battle is about the whole ecology of the modern mediasphere. MEDIA

PAUSING FOR THE PANDEMIC:
A time for reflection and reassessing by Di Morrissey
The juggle and struggle of enforced lockdown, working from home, adjusting to life en famille, financial hardship, or, for some, a surprising bonus.

THREE time premiership player Barry Davis, the game’s purest champion, led North Melbourne to its first ever premiership in 1975.This biography by Barry’s brother Ken comes 60 years after Davis first walked into Windy Hill – home of the electrifying John Coleman – beginning one of the most illustrious careers of all.

WON WON WON
The first correct winning entry to win a copy of Born to Play was Leanne Boyd from Airport West
The answer was Captain Filou

PUBS BLEEDING WITH DEBT
“Local pubs are on the debt cliff and will never recover if they cannot re-open soon. We could lose the iconic corner pub because of the debt the Victorian Government restrictions have put on them. NEWS
Photo: Tembela Bohle

WENDY and husband Anthony opened Biagio's Restaurant in 2008. They now run the 64 seat restaurant and full cocktail bar with their 23 year old twin sons Biagio and Gianni. FOOD & WINE

AS a musician in the Air Force Band, Leading Aircraftman Callum Moncrieff is used to wearing many hats.
COMMUN ITY NEWS

WHEN more than 90% of wood logged out of Victoria’s Critically Endangered Mountain Ash forests is pulped for paper and cardboard, there’s something wrong. OPINION
Photo: Louis

THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, has welcomed the Federal Government’s extension of temporary insolvency and bankruptcy protections, to support struggling small businesses impacted by the COVID crisis. NEWS

LAST year Phil Kafcaloudes went to a lecture by famed British film producer David Puttnam. He showed us a slide that indicated Apple was the biggest company in the media universe. In contrast, he then showed us how Netflix had overtaken Apple when it came to online streaming. MOVIES

ON A STREET WHERE WE LIVE
"When I first moved into Gladstone Park, the first person I met was my next door neighbour." NEIGHBOURS

A TALE OF COURAGE
"I grew up in a normal Australian family ... at least in the degree that any Australian family can be considered normal." Sam Bloom's amazing journey back from the edge of death and the depths of despair will capture your emotions like few other. BOOKS

LOCKDOWN has placed mental pressures on Melburnians like no event since WWII. Media outlets are constantly telling us daily about the doom and gloom: fines; cheats; deaths; the failures of policy; the loneliness; the blame. Journalism academic Phil Kafcaloudes looks at whether it might be better if we just turn off the information barrage. OPINION

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS ACTIVITY
If you would like to start your kids September school holidays on the music trail then all you need to do is read this story about The Melbourne Performing Arts Academy.

DITCH FBT
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell has urged the Federal Government to abolish fringe benefits tax (FBT) for at least two years to provide a much-needed cash flow boost to the economy and support struggling small businesses. NEWS

MAKING HIS MARK
I was looking at a fresh face talking to (mainly) kids about painting. But talking to kids about painting like Vincent van Gogh? I thought this isn't going to go well. But local man Mark Rusic presents a charm without that over-done commercial spin. It was presented as natural as you like and I could see why kids, and their parents, would be attracted to him and his art.
Iconic Colours

FASTA PASTA
Can you imagine starting a new business in the middle of a global pandemic? Many people have done so because of necessity, Marina Totta is doing it because she loves it!

Stories from previous issues
(click on photos)