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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-20 Daily Xml
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Great Sausage Run

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:36): I would like to make a contribution today about the great sausage run. This all started at Spring Cart Gully on the Sturt Highway, just up the road from where I live in the Riverland. Sadly, at about the time of the algal bloom, there was a big truck rollover. It was a road train carrying a couple of thousand sheep. It was a four-decker and it rolled over at the roundabout. Sadly, of the four decks, the sheep in the three lower decks died, but there were a few escapees that got out of the top deck and made their way through some of the countryside.

I managed to come across two two-tooth wethers, and they were aptly named Willy and Wonka. They were Willy and Wonka, the wethers. They were Merinos and they were two years old. Because we had record prices at the markets, over $400, I thought I should feed them, I should water them, and I should look after them until I could find the rightful owner. When I did find the rightful owner, he said if you can catch them, you can keep them. So, over the course of three months, I managed to fatten them up; I managed to take good care of them.

Then, all of a sudden, it got to the point where they were starting to damage my home. They managed to break windows, they managed to break tiles, they managed to prune all of my roses—I have a couple of hundred roses, too, by the way—and they managed to eat a lot of my Kikuyu lawn. Over that time, they were in pristine condition, but it was time to say goodbye, and so I sent them off to the chocolate factory. I thought, what am I going to do with two magnificent specimens? I decided, after much concern and concerted effort, what to do. I was going to supply my men's sheds with sausages. I would like to have supplied them with chops and legs of lamb and all the rest of it, but I overfed them with the wrong sort of feed and they lost a lot of their fat, but they had very good meat content.

We managed to bring about 50 kilos of sausages together, and I hit the road. I started the journey from the Loxton Abattoir down to Waikerie. When I got to Waikerie I visited the men's shed down there and I ran into Don Higgs who explained that they would make good use of those sausages. They also had a program, as one of my men's sheds, restoring and recycling pushbikes. Once they had a trailer load full they would take them up to the APY lands and drop them off to disadvantaged children up there to give them an opportunity to experience what riding a bike is all about.

I then headed down the highway and called in to see John Hughes at Barmera and to drop the sausages off to him. I also noticed that he was restoring old beds and turning them into park benches. It just shows you what the difference is between one men's shed and another. I then travelled up to Berri and met with Ian Campbell. They are doing a lot of community restoration of furniture and the like. They are doing some great work.

Up at Renmark I ran into Neil Minther. He is addressing a lot of mental health issues with a lot of his mates. They are all car enthusiasts. They are also all cooks and they really put the sausages to good use. I then travelled over to Loxton to see Des Schliebs. At the Loxton Men's Shed their signature pieces are tin dogs. There is a program they run selling tin dogs for the benefit of the community.

Then it was over to Karoonda and Gerry Paay. It is a small men's shed but they are doing great community work over there. Then it was down to Swan Reach where I dropped off sausages to Mark Wheeler. They are only a small group, as well, but they are doing great work helping the community by restoring and fixing furniture and the like.

Then it was over to Morgan, and that was probably my most unique experience. Rob Bruce heads up the men's shed—and the men's shed is on Lovers Lane. What they are doing there is a lot of 3D printing but the shed that I walked into was amazing. There was a motorbike collection of somewhere over 100 motorbikes. I did see my favourite motorbike, a 1933 Harley-Davidson.

I want to say thank you to Kelvin Westbrook for surrendering those sheep. Well done to Nigel Rollbusch from Rollbusch Meats at Waikerie and Barmera for butchering and making the sausages, and to all the people who are recipients of those men's sheds. I say well done, and thank you for your community support.

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