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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-30 Daily Xml
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Flinders Electorate

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:48): I rise today to talk about a very exciting weekend just gone in the seat of Flinders on Eyre Peninsula. There were two events of significance—there were probably more than that but the two events that I attended at least—the first being one of the highlights on the social calendar, the Streaky Bay Cup. Being scheduled in March, it was unfortunately cancelled in 2020, so it was back bigger and brighter than ever at the Streaky Bay racecourse last Saturday. It was a six-race card. Race 5 was the much-anticipated Streaky Bay Cup. Korodon was the winning horse. My congratulations to Richard and Chantelle Jolly as the trainers, and also Angus Chung as the jockey. The crowd was particularly enthusiastic and came from all over Eyre Peninsula to attend what was a wonderful event.

Also on that same day, the Saturday, the Poochera and Districts Historical Society organised an event to celebrate the centenary of the gazetting of the town of Poochera on central western Eyre Peninsula. One of my real passions is local history. It does not seem to matter where that history is: if it is local, I enjoy it and appreciate gaining an understanding of those early days.

Despite the fact that the railway went through the district, the extension of the Minnipa to Wirrulla line and ultimately to Thevenard occurred in 1914, and the railway siding at what was to become Poochera was opened in 1914. It was not until 1920 that the town itself was gazetted. By that stage, the bigger pastoral leases, which had been in place up until that time, had been subdivided into smaller sections to enable farming families and settlers to establish wheat-growing properties in the district.

I mentioned the railway earlier. We can never overstate the importance of the arrival of the railway and its importance in opening up the inland areas of not just Eyre Peninsula but also the Murray Mallee because transport was for the most part by horse and cart. Roads were near unpassable and the railway provided communication, services, a route for freight and access to the wider world. Despite the fact that the town was gazetted in 1920 and that once again COVID interrupted things, the celebration was held in March this year.

The arrival of water in 1926 and the building of the first bulk grain receival sites on western Eyre Peninsula at Poochera certainly cemented the district as a critical part of the farming landscape on western Eyre Peninsula. The Poochera siding was 178 miles and 27 chains north of Port Lincoln—so keep that in the back of your mind for your next trivia night.

I would like to congratulate the committee, ably led by Mr Phillip Gosling (known locally as Joe). Mary McCormack was there, and she raised the flag on the day; she is the oldest resident in the district. The Hon. Graham Gunn was also in attendance representing the District Council of Streaky Bay. He presented life membership awards to various committee members. That was lovely. I had the opportunity to say a few words myself, which I appreciated, and then we spent the morning wandering around a beautifully prepared local park and lovingly restored equipment in the local museum, so it was a joy to be there.

There were a lot of family reunion-type meetings going on. Certainly, the links amongst the families on Eyre Peninsula are strong. It does not matter where we as residents go, we can find some family links on Eyre Peninsula up and down the coast. It was a wonderful day. Congratulations to Poochera on celebrating their centenary, and congratulations to the Streaky Bay Racing Club on running (excuse the pun) another outstanding event.

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