WASLEYS

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (15:30): I would like to talk today about a town within my electorate: Wasleys. The town of Wasleys was established in an area known as the Mudla Wirra Forest. It was previously within the Mudla Wirra Council and it is now part of Light Regional Council. The name Mudla Wirra is Aboriginal—'Mudla' meaning 'implement' and 'Wirra' meaning 'forest'. Members can see where the name came from.

The town of Wasleys is now situated on an area first known as Ridleyton, which was named after John Ridley, who laid out the village of Ridley in 1873. The township was advertised to attract people seeking good agricultural land. It was advertised as Ridly Township-Wasleys Station. In time two townships were announced and they were called Ridleyton and Wasley. As the towns grew, the name 'Ridleyton' was discarded and the town became known as Wasleys.

Early settlers to the area soon made their mark on the history of the region. In 1843, John Ridley revolutionised the agricultural industry with the first stripper machine. In the 1860s, a local farmer named Charles Mullen created a method of ploughing, which was known as 'mullenising'. Mullen invented an implement used throughout Australia, which was the precursor of the stump-jump plough, which I remember learning about in geography during high school.

During 1866-1877, pioneer farmer Richard Marshall succeeded in solving the red dust problem in wheat by crossbreeding various wheat varieties and improved soil conditions using bonemeal on the land. After good crop returns, a student at Roseworthy College named Charles Deland led a campaign in favour of fertilizer.

Rail arrived in the town in 1869. The rail line was extended through the region, and a railway station was erected on the land purchased by Josiah Wasley, one of the first settlers to the area. The post office was opened in 1869 by Mr George Thompson. The local school was to open in 1878. Wasleys became a thriving centre and once operated three chaff mills. Although the chaff mills have ceased operating, the town is still a focal point for agriculture and farming lifestyle. An article in The Bunyip of 27 September 1873 states, 'There can be no questions that this is an excellent locality for a township.'

Today the township is home to about 300 people, with around 850 people living in the post code area 5400. Madam Speaker, Wasleys has been a very vibrant community. By reading the book written by Nancy Wood OAM, Wasleys As It Was, you can get a feel of how vibrant the town was, as well as the families and what they did over the century.

The community still has a CFS (the Wasleys' Woolshed CFS). It has a very active bowling club, an institute committee and an oval committee. The question would arise: why am I raising this history lesson of Wasleys today? It is no secret that the general store is now struggling, and of recent days there have been rumours that the post office will close. This is obviously a concern to me, because often post offices and general stores are the heart of country townships.

It is not only a case of getting your products but it is also a place where people meet and talk. I have had a number of meetings with residents outside the general store over the years. It was also the place where I held my first public meeting when I was an elected member in response to some council action. I rocked up one day to meet some residents. I then called a public meeting, and, to my surprise, over 120 people turned up to this public meeting—a third of the town turned up. Again, it is no secret that the town had a lot of issues with the previous administration of the Light Regional Council—I say 'previous' because things have improved a lot.

The reason I raise this today is because I indicate that I wish to work with the council and other relevant agencies to ensure that this community does not lose its important institutions, such as the general store and the post office. While I am advised that the post office is safe, we need to find some way of attracting investment into this town to make sure that it experiences a renaissance of its grandeur days.

More recently, the town has experienced some growth. There have been some developments which have been approved, and there is some growth there, but my concern is that the growth may not be fast enough to sustain the very services which are required. Hopefully, we can work with the community to save it.