Message from the Mayor: 6 October 2023

Published on 06 October 2023

Hello, I'm John Connors, Mayor of the Dungog Shire, bringing you this week's Mayoral update.

Last weekend, being a long weekend, saw a significant amount of activity and tourists visiting right throughout the shire. Dungog town in particular had a number of major events which drew a significant crowd to the town.

Sculpture On The Farm was held at Fosterton over the weekend with the launch being held on Friday night, and sculptures being available for viewing all over the weekend. I'm told that in excess of 2000 people attended throughout the weekend, which is a very positive result for the organisers - the Sculpture On The Farm Committee.

Sculpture On The Farm, each time since its inception, has gifted a sculpture to the Dungog shire for display within the town of Dungog. This year, the Sculpture On The Farm committee proposed to provide three acquisitive prizes for gifting throughout the shire. Not only to the Dungog Shire Council but also to the Dungog Common and to the Gresford Community Group for display on its land at East Gresford.

The successful sculptors were Nigel Dobson with his sculpture, UFO Utopia, which was the acquisitive prize to be awarded to Dungog Shire Council to display within the Dungog township, and the Dungog Common and the Gresford Community Group. Both will receive a sculpture by the sculptor Jimmy Rix. Jimmy Rix was also the sculptor of the Kelpie which was the acquisitive prize in previous years which is displayed outside the Visitors Information Centre at Dungog. So, we'll now see three of Jimmy Rix’s works throughout the shire. And again, there'll be a further work for display within the town of Dungog. The precise location has to be agreed not only by Council but also from consultation with the Sculpture on the Farm Committee and the Sculptor. So that hopefully will be organised in the coming weeks and then the sculpture will be ultimately installed.

Also over the weekend within the Dungog town was the Dungog Arts Society’s annual art exhibition, which is continuing at the James Theatre in Dungog. The country music festival organised by Barry Dickerson took place throughout the shire over the long weekend, with musicians performing in all the licensed premises throughout the shire. I think in all instances they were well received. The standard of artists that he was able to secure was quite outstanding. The crowds perhaps weren't quite as outstanding as might have been expected, but for the first attempt and the first year, I think it was a great success and a great learning experience and I'm sure it will develop from what we've seen this year into something that the whole shire can ultimately be very proud of, and which will of course bring even more visitors to the towns and villages throughout the shire.

I think it's most important to support activities such as this which isn't just one town or one village centric, but is an activity which should bring benefits to the whole of the shire, be it Paterson, Clarence Town, East Gresford, or Dungog, and that's what the Country Music Festival sought to do. And I just hope that there's no parochial activities in the future which do anything to impact upon an event such as this, which, as I emphasise, is to bring a benefit to the whole of the shire.

We have seen in recent weeks a very early introduction to the bushfire season, with fires on both sides of the shire, the Allen and Williams River and the Monkerai Forest. I think it's an important warning that we should all heed the advice of the RFS, and plan to take appropriate action to protect ourselves and our property from what looks like being a very significant or severe bushfire season. It's only very early October, and we've seen fires raging not only in our neighbourhood but throughout New South Wales and Victoria. So, I think it’s essential that all of us heed the advice that's been readily given to us and take appropriate action to protect ourselves and our property and to minimise the impact on the volunteers who put their lives at risk to look after us.

The roadworks continue throughout the shire and the bridgeworks. Perhaps those that are most impacting travellers at the moment are the works on Clarence Town road at Wirragulla which will continue for some weeks to come. And the works at Durham Road in East Gresford where again there is impacts on traffic movements. Gresford Road, south of Fishers Hill Road, works are also continuing there, and there may well be impacts on traffic movements from time to time.

Well, I think that's it for me for this week. And again, a reminder, take appropriate action to protect yourselves and your property from what looks like being a most unpleasant bush fire danger season. Until next week, goodbye and good luck.