100 years ago
April 17 1924
Easter Sports
The people of this district are well catered for in the way of sports on Easter Monday. The Bangholme Picnic and Sports meeting promises to be a pleasant outing, a very long and attractive programme having been arranged, comprising 23 horse and athletic events. These sports are to be held in the paddock adjoining the State school and are to commence about 10am. At Springvale the big attraction for Easter Monday is the annual sports gathering promoted by the Recreation Reserve Committee and the programme includes a fancy-dress procession and a number of interesting cycling and athletic events.
50 years ago
April 16 1974
POLLUTED!
Dandenong Creek ‘is dangerous’
The Dandenong Creek, which runs through Dandenong on its journey from The Basin to the Patterson River is “heavily contaminated with faecal bacteria.” More alarming is that some bacteria samples taken from the creek contain resistance factors and are resistant to several anti-biotics. An e-coli count at three points along the creek averaged more than 100,000 e-coli per 100ml over a 14month period. An e-coli count of more than 2,000 organisms per 100ml is regarded as “heavily polluted.” Monash post-graduate student Ian Campbell who has completed the first study of the Dandenong Creek blames unsewered housing estates in the Wantirna area and the probability of the septic tanks being connected to the storm water drains. Mr Campbell said “connecting septic tanks to stormwater drains is a neat way for a builder to avoid a wet patch in the backyard.” Mr Campbell, wants to see the Dandenong Creek cleaned up and the area around it developed for passive recreation.
20 years ago
19 April 2004
Cr Faith Email Furore
A Greater Dandenong Councillor and former Mayor has angered the city’s religious community by rejecting all faiths other than Christianity. In an explosive email to the council’s manager of social and community planning, the councillor wrote that Christianity was the only hope for mankind and all new arrivals “should leave their foreign gods at the door.” The email was seen by his councillor colleagues and was anonymously leaked to the Journal. Mayor Clare O’Neil said that Cr Donovan was “totally isolated” in his views. Cr Donovan later said the distribution of council funding to religious groups promoting “vague” multi-faith messages in the name of political correctness did the community a disservice.
5 years ago
15 April 2019
China school exchange
The call is out for schools to join Greater Dandenong Council’s revival of a Chinese sister-city student exchange program. Mayor Roz Blades will meet with up to four schools in the cities of Xushou and Xinyl during a Council trip to China in mid-May – described by one councillor as a “junket”. Cr Blades said: “The benefits are that students have been able to learn about each other and it has been ongoing.” Cr Tim Dark, in opposition, said the $5,000-$10,000 trip did not pass the “Pub Test” and carried “no net benefit for Greater Dandenong.”
Compiled by Dandenong & District Historical Society
