And check out the full calendar of local events on our home page:
Welcome to our Monthly Newsletter.
The Montville Village Association brings people together to participate in a wide range of activities.
As per our constitution, our objectives are:
(1) To represent the views of the people of Montville in local, State and Federal forums on matters associated with the progress and development of Montville and with the conservation of its heritage and environment.
(2) To provide and support the social structures and networks necessary to maintain a healthy and vibrant community and promote community building in response to community needs.
(3) To manage, and ensure fair and equitable community access to, the community facilities owned by the Association for and on behalf of the people of Montville; namely the Montville Village Hall and the Montville Sports and Recreation Grounds.
Feel free to share this newsletter and invite others to our events. If they receive the "Happenings" but don't receive the monthly email, they are not MVA members yet! Membership of the MVA is open to all with an interest in Montville, it is free and doesn't come with any commitments. The size of our membership, however, does impact our ability to speak for the Montville area, obtain grants to organize events, and lobby for things that are important to us. So invite your neighbours to join up!
Contact the MVA secretary, at Secretary.mva@gmail.com
What's on in Montville
August 10 - Montville Growers and Makers Market
Enjoy the vibe of live music, hot coffee and delicious food while browsing stalls run by your talented stallholders. Enjoy the best pancake breakfast on the Range served by our friendly volunteers on the deck of the Montville Village Hall!
The market opens at 7:30 am and pancakes are served until 10:30, or until they run out, so come early to get yours!
August 14 at 6 pm - Chris Andrade provides "an insight into 1800 respect"
Christine Andrade is an Australian Counselling Association Registered Psychotherapist /Counsellor, Registered Mental Health Nurse and Supervisor with 35 years’ experience of supporting people with mental health and emotional issues.
Christine was born in the UK and has spent time working in both countries as a Nurse and Therapist.
Christine is currently working part time for 1800 Respect and part time in Private Practice. 1800 Respect is a national service funded by Social services and offers counselling, support and referrals for people living in Australia who are experiencing domestic violence, sexual violence or workplace sexual harassment
Doors open at 5:30 pm for socialising, and a free glass of wine, with a short meeting starting at 6 pm. All are welcome!
17 August, 10 am to 4 pm - Landscape Painting Workshop
Join Sarah Lawson for a transformative paining workshop in St Mary's Hall. Learn to capture the shifting colours and lights of the coastal landscape, and create two paintings to take home. All supplies and lunch provided, no experience necessary.
Book online and anticipate a day filled with learning, productivity and artistic growth.
Price: $249 pp
18 August, starting at 9 am - Hunchy School Centenary
29 September at 3 pm - Ensemble Trivium
Fly away from the munddane and find yourself adrift in an ethereal soundscape of some of the most beautiful works written for flute, viola and harp.
Experience a soothing Telemann Sonoto, Ravel's luscious Sonotine en Trio, and bathe in the exquisite stillness of Takemitsu's And I know 'twas Wind, the perfect companion piece to the afternoon's last offering, Debussy's luminescent Sonata for flute, viola and harp.
An afternoon of sheer beauty awaits.
MVA key reports
Montville Village Market: Lookback on the July Market
After a spectacular sunrise, brief showers made for a very cold and slow start to the day as many patrons ventured out to the market later in the morning. By 9.30am the sun was out and we enjoyed fine, cold & breezy weather.
A huge thank you to our cheerful volunteers as we achieved 124 serves of pancakes being made. This compares with 122 pancake serves at the June market.
Total volunteer hours required to setup and run the market 84.5 hrs. There were 23 volunteers helping, working an average of 4 hours per person.
Thank you to everyone for their valuable contribution of time and happiness.
KITCHEN:
The 13 volunteers working in the kitchen and serving pancakes were very well appreciated by patrons. Three fabulous people worked double shifts.
Left overs: Exceptionally good portion control, ingredients left over consistent with number of serves.
Kitchen receipts:
| EFT $828 Cash $440 less $120 float | $1148.00 |
MVA receipts:
| EFT Nil Cash $21.05 (less $5 electricity to St Mary’s) | $16.05
|
Stallholders receipts:
| EFT $0 Cash $590 (less $120 musicians, $10 electricity St Marys) | $460.00 |
TOTAL RECEIPTS BEFORE SHOPPING/ADMIN expenses |
|
$1624.05 |
There were 28 paying stallholders, 2 new stallholders, 2 cancellations. Community stalls this market: 4 - MVA Community Harvest, Barung Landcare, Coffee van, Hinterland Quarry Action Group
July notes:
Market brochures: redesign market brochures.
Memorial Road Closure on Market mornings: Wayne is working on this with Council.
Market committee to follow up and connect with St Mary’s church re promoting the labyrinth on the Village Green for the August market.
Montville Village Hall: What's Happening
4 enquiries and 1 booking. QuiGong, Tai Chi, Lions Club continuing.
We had 2 cancellations in the past month.
Two Surveyors from Sunshine Coast Council were on-site 2 August regarding the drainage at the Memorial Gates. Fortunately, I was at the Hall at the time and could explain the problem. Hopefully, the problem will now be rectified.
The Rangebow Festival ‘Come Fly With Me’ was greeted with great enthusiasm with both shows sold out. The Hall also hosted a number of other Rangebow events – it’s getting bigger and better. Congratulations to everyone involved, most importantly Wayne, Festival Director Extraordinaire!
Defibrillator has been installed at the Information Centre and plaque to acknowledge the donation from the Opalcutter has been added.
Work/Repairs
Stove
New electric oven is due for delivery on Tuesday 6 August and installation by Electrician and 3Phase power on Thursday 15 August. Gas will be disconnected on Monday 12 August and stove removed. Need some muscle to remove old stove and place new stove in position ready for connection by Electrician.
Old gas stove to be sold or given to a recycle business?
Deck Curtains
Homemakers Lifestyle have again been called to repair the deck curtain tracks.
They visited on Thursday 25 July to fix 2 motors. I checked their work on Thursday afternoon and the large curtain would not operate correctly, Peter (Owner) stated it worked properly when he left. They returned to fix the large curtain on Thursday 1 August with instructions on how we should keep them operating smoothly. I have been following their instructions since the curtains were installed but they still fail to operate smoothly. I did suggest they replace all the curtains but that fell on deaf ears.
The curtains are constantly failing to operate correctly, they have said that now they are ‘out of warranty’ we will have to pay for repairs, they were installed in February 2022.
Storage Shed underneath Hall
Still waiting for quote from John Davis to build a shed style structure on the old water tank base.
Front Door Lock
Main entrance door handle fell off and had to be replaced with a different style. The emergency exit mechanism is very old and may need complete replacement in the future.
Community Group Updates
Russell Family Park (RFP)
General
This month the mower has once again gained control of the grass and the grounds look a picture. However, the weeds are still infesting the Park’s lagoons so no surprise the platypus has still not visited.
The unofficial rain gauge recorded 51 mm for July.
BushCare Group
If anyone is interested in joining us, we are at the Park for one and a half hours from 7.30 am every Sunday. For further information contact Eric Anderson – Mobile 0427 127 417.
The team worked for 51 hours this month, mostly doing maintenance weeding in earlier planted sections of our area. Also, more time was spent further preparing the Rangebow Festival tree planting site by hand auguring 85 holes ready for a range of rainforest trees being donated by Barung Landcare.
Freshly augured holes at the tree planting site
Montville History Group
Book 9 Part 2 Montville Remembers World War 2 is available for sale for $35.00. Feedback has been very positive especially from those with a family member included in the book.
Sunshine Coast Libraries has purchased four copies of Book 9 Part 2 and the History Group an ebook version of The Smith Family from Birtsmorton to the Blackall Range to a Smith descendant as our new website is not yet up but will be by the end of this month.
Thanks to Sanjana Bhatnagar for hours of additional work to create the new History Group website. Thanks also to Janny Spilsbury for dedicating hours to uploading stories and photos, and to Doug Patterson who spent hours downloading stories from the old website. We know there’ll be a fantastic website at the end of all that work.
Montville Buildings Book 10 is progressing well and on track for publication later this year.
We provided information to Sarah Clarke on the early ownership and history of 29 Main Road once owned by musician Alf Short and later postmaster Clive Blair and his wife Elsie; each were well-known and much-love Montville personalities.
The This Old House Column in the Sunshine Valley Gazette has proved popular – not just in paper form but online as well. Recent stories include: Lovestone Cottages; The Vet on Kondalilla Falls Road; Eastnor House, Western Avenue; and Carinya on Balmoral Road.
The History Group conducted guided walks on the history of Montville as part of Rangebow Festival 2024. As a result, the Blackall Range Club Lions Club expressed an interest in the History Group conducting a similar guided walk for its members. They also expressed an interest in including information about the History Group in the Welcome Pack distributed at the Welcome to Montville Dinner in October.
The History Group was asked to update the one-page 2001 handout ‘Montville History’ distributed by the Information Centre.
The Hunchy School Centenary Group requested permission to print stories researched by Montville History Group for their centenary. Our Group will attend the Centenary in August. We have also been invited to attend a Dixon family Reunion in October.
Doug has written two Vales this last month for two well-known long-time Montville residents: Syd Kirkby died 7 July 2024 and Leonie Gittins died 17 July 2024. A card to Leonie’s husband Les has been signed by Wayne on behalf of the MVA and will be for Syd’s wife Jude Lang, in the coming days. Both families were closely involved with the MVA.
Montville Sportsground Committee
The Montville Sportsground is owned by the MVA and has three tennants: The Range Soccer Club, the "Woodies" and the Montville Tennis Club. There is a quarterly meeting between a representative from the MVA and the clubs. The next meeting is in September.
Western Avenue Action Group (WAAG)
Latest new is that after considering both sides, it has been decided that the footpath will be located on the northern side of Western Avenue. Work on this multi year project is scheduled to commence in Q1 2025, weather permitting.
Montville Streetscape
No update this month
Montville Primary School
We have had another extremely busy term at Montville State School. Our first Prep Open Day for the Year was held on Friday 26 July and we now have 8 Prep enrolments for 2024 at this stage.
Carly Ellis, our Student Welfare Worker has been taking a group of students to Equine Alliance for Equine therapy which was a huge hit. Our second group of students will be starting their Equine Therapy course in 2 weeks time.
Our new playground project continues to be the main infrastructure project and is looking like it will be completed by the end of August, our fingers are crossed for good weather and no rain!
Our P&C will be hosting an 80’s disco on Thursday 29 August from 5:30 -7:30 pm. This will be a really fun evening and will be open to all families of the Blackall Range.
Finally we were very pleased to welcome the Lions Club of the Blackall Range last week, who provided vision screening to all of our students free of charge. We are extremely grateful to the local community for everything that they provide for our students and would like to say a sincere thankyou to the MVA and it’s members for the incredible support.
Montville Tennis Club (MTC)
Events/programs:
The Rangebow Festival High Tea Tennis held 4 August’24 was a successful fully sold-out event offering live music, social tennis activities and prizes, brunch, Mum Champaigne and the hostess with the moistest Maxi Bon.
Women and Girls Sport sponsorship for coaching and participation now available.
Montville Magic Team performance in the Sunshine Coast Veterans (over 35 years) Tennis Competition remains solid with some valuable ‘lessons’ learnt from our opponent teams. Next tournament home match against Kingaroy on 22 Sept’24.
US Open Hot Dogs and Burgers 1 September’24.
MTC will host the Mapleton, Montville and Toowoomba Interclub Tournament on 26 & 27 October’24.
Facilities/equipment:
Grant (EOI) for pathway/access remediation submitted April ’24 currently being assessed.
Membership:
Steady with no new members in the month.
QLD Fair Play Vouchers available for juniors to undertake coaching – contact Ian Cowan (details on the MTC website)
Court use:
All social sessions well attended when not impacted by rain including:
▪ Tuesday morning mixed social tennis
▪ Tuesday afternoon kids group coaching
▪ Tuesday evening adults group coaching
▪ Saturday small group and individual coaching with ball machine training.
▪ Sunday social tennis (two sessions)
Casual bookings daily.
Priorities for the club:
Security surveillance system
Safe accessible pathways and secure storage
LED court lighting solution
Shade solutions on the pavilion green.
For more information please see: https://play.tennis.com.au/montvilletennisclub | https://www.facebook.com/MontvilleTennis
Wendy Sandford (VP and Player Representative), Grace Petterson (Secretary), Rachel Kienzle (Treasurer), Ian Cowan (Coach and Player Representative)
Fire Brigade
period ending 09 August 2024
Rainfall to 09 Aug 2024: 1486 mm. (1 Jan- 09 Aug 2023; 528 mm)
2023 total: 938 mm.
2022 total: 3450 mm.
Jul 2023 rainfall: 60 mm.
Jul 2024 rainfall: 40 mm
Previous driest year (2011) 1033 mm
Rainfall to 09Aug 2024 incl is 158% of 2023's total, 86% of av yearly total over last 2 decades
Permits issued 11Jul-09Aug 2024: 5 (last period: 4)
We're still falling below last year's monthly figures for the last 3 months (rainfall so far in Aug 1.5mm). We are still in the balance.
Masonic Lodge
Lodge building renovation has commenced.
Lodge met 08 August in Maleny and celebrated two birthdays: one 81, the other 94.
Have Your Say!
Your voice matters, contribute your ideas, submit feedback or exchange views on matters that affect you and your community on the Sunshine Coast Council's "Have your Say" website.
Register on: https://haveyoursay.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/
Call to ALL Beekeepers!
All beekeepers and the Australian honey and honeybee-pollinated plant industries are facing their greatest threat ever. Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) is a tiny parasite that affects European honeybees.
Until it was found in New South Wales in 2021, Australia was the only country to be free of this pest. After an initial attempt at eradication and the loss of many thousands of hives, the transition has been to management. Varroa is now established and spreading in New South Wales and has reached Lennox Head. An incursion into Queensland and other States is expected in the near future. The worst outcome from this incursion which other countries and now New South Wales has experienced, will be the death of all untreated honeybee colonies across the landscape.
The National Varroa Mite Management Program (NVMMP) has been established by the Federal and State Governments, to manage varroa and determine the best treatment options to suit the different environments within Australia. Biosecurity Queensland is fully prepared for the incursion and will be on hand to assist all beekeepers, advising when and how to treat their hives and providing the recommended chemicals.
* “Image courtesy of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.”
All beekeepers MUST by law be registered, even with one hive; this is a simple online procedure. There are Biosecurity Obligations that apply to everyone. One is that all beekeepers should test all hives for varroa every sixteen weeks using the alcohol wash method and report the result. By the time the mites can be seen in the hive on visual inspection, it is too late; the hive will die even with treatment. This is the experience of beekeepers in New South Wales.
All beekeepers will have to be educated in the management of varroa. The NVMMP and State Biosecurity departments have numerous publications and podcasts. All states now have Varroa Development Officers and Trainers. Commencing in Sept/Oct, there will be free, catered, all-day workshops throughout Queensland. All registered beekeepers will receive information about this and the current extent of the spread of the mite with regular emails.
You can contact me for further information and assistance.
John Baker, Montville.
Biosecurity Officer, Sunshine Coast Beekeepers Inc.
October 16th MVA AGM - Be there to vote on our Australia Day Celebration
From our January 2024 GM proposal two motions will be presented at the AGM:
Motion One:
That from 2025 the Montville Village Association no longer celebrate Australia Day on January 26.
Motion Two:
That until such time as there is national consensus on a new date for Australia Day, the Montville Village Association devote its first General Meeting of each new year to the celebratory aspects of Australia Day including presentation of its two citizenship awards and hosting of a guest speaker on a relevant topic.
Brief background:
Each year there, is around Australia Day, discussion as to the appropriateness of the date for Australia Day. The discussion rarely results in a change, peters out by mid-February, and rested until the following year. Several councils and organisations no longer celebrate Australia Day on January 26. The number doing this increases each year. Whilst there is general consensus that we should celebrate Australia Day as a national event there is, however, no consensus as to what date Australia Day should be moved to.
This proposition is aimed at ensuring debate and discussion on this issue over time by the Montville community and a decision by the community.
There is no presumption of any specific outcome other than the issue be debated and any decision reflects the local community.
AED (Defibrillator) Devices in Montville
AED can be found in the following locations in Montville:
Montville Village Hall Entrance - available 24/7, donated by Cr Winston Johnson to St Mary's Church
Montville Visitor Information Centre - available 24/7, donated by Opal Cutters
IGA - available during opening hours (every day 07:00 to 18:30)
Montville Mountain Inn, 126 Main Street, AED kept in the office - phone 07 5442 9499
First aid is also available from the Montville Health Centre at the Village Square (Mon, Wed and Thu 09:00 - 12:00, Tue and Fri 09:00 - 17:00)
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