Italian born artist Marco Pennacchia, 27, was the 2022 festival winner with his mural titled Teardrop, which was inspired by the Massive Attack hit song from 1998.
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The theme for the festival this year was “Paint us a Song”, which Mrs Anderson said resonated strongly with the public.
“It (the theme) caught the imagination of the public,’’ Mrs Anderson said.
“We had the songs that inspired the murals playing on the last day, instead of the band we have had in the past.”
Mr Pennacchia also collected the people’s choice award, with a clear margin to two-time winner Kerry Nicholson, who received the “highly commended” honour for his Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds piece, inspired by the Beatles song.
Mr Anderson said the committee was now on the hunt for a new theme for 2023.
She said many of the visitors to the mural site were from interstate, many appreciating the event as they travelled the Victorian silo art trail.
This year’s murals will remain in place for 12 months.
Judy Anderson, one of the festival organisers, said more than 2000 people visited the mural site — during competition hours — throughout the event.
Early poll shows tight race
Early polling results in the federal seat of Nicholls was encouraging for Independent candidate Rob Priestly, who said he would not be taking his foot off the pedal.
The Age published details of polling in the seat which indicates it was shaping as a tight three-way battle between Mr Priestly, Nationals candidate Sam Birrell and Liberal candidate Steve Brooks.
Retiring Nationals MP Damian Drum held the seat at the last election with a 20 per cent margin.The Age reported that recent polls linked to the Liberals, Nationals and Labor showed Mr Priestly capturing between 16 and almost 20 per cent of first preferences.
As expected, the Nationals vote has slipped markedly from the 2019 election result when there was no Liberal candidate.
Labor aligned research in Nicholls puts the Liberal primary vote at 20.2 per cent, Nationals 17 per cent, independent (Rob Priestly) 16.3 per cent, Labor 15.2 per cent and Greens 5.4 per cent.One Nation is ahead of the Greens on 5.9 per cent with United Australia Party on 4.1 per cent.
More than 12 per cent of voters polled were undecided.
Rochester’s bowls premiership
Rochester’s Division 2 Campaspe weekend lawn bowls team walked off its home rink on Saturday with the 2021-22 premiership.
The club hosted all five Campaspe division grand finals and while the Division 2 team won its match against Echuca, the Division 4a combination lost a last-end thriller to Moama.
Wins by John Weeks and Tim Quinlan set the foundation for the pennant success, as the team repeated the result from its semi-final win two weeks ago.
In the Division 4a grand final, Jenny Major had the chance to alter the result with the final bowl of the match, with the teams tied after 41 of the 42 scheduled ends.
Tongala broke an eight-year drought when it beat Echuca for a third time in six weeks, by a single shot, to claim the Division 1 title.
Lockington repeated its semi-final win against Echuca to claim the Division 3 title and Deniliquin RSL accounted for Echuca in the Division 4b grand final.
New rules for Campaspe’s cats
Victorian Government legislation requiring Campaspe Shire to indefinitely house stray and abandoned cats could force a re-development of the local government authority’s animal shelter at a cost of more than $500,000.
Increasing numbers of stray and abandoned cats at Echuca’s McKenzie Rd animal shelter are at the centre of discussions with the state government as the shire considers enlarging its facility.
State Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell met with the shire late last year and has followed up the issue in parliament by asking the government for details of its financial support for promoting responsible pet ownership.
Ms Maxwell asked Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas to provide details on how much the government invested into promoting responsible pet ownership in Campaspe Shire.
Campaspe Shire Mayor Chrissy Weller, who attended the December 8 meeting along with chief executive Declan Moore and several other councillors, said it was a difficult situation for the council.
She said council, under Victorian legislative conditions, was required to house animals on an indefinite basis.
The McKenzie Rd animal shelter does not quite have the “no vacancy” sign hanging from the front gate at this point, but the facility is approaching the point that future planning needs to be done for development of the shelter.
“We need to consider how to safely house our animals,” Cr Weller said.
Williams state honours
Rochester’s Tegan Williams suited up for another representative football campaign for Victoria Country at the weekend in the Under-18 AFLW National Championships.
Williams shapes up as one of the most promising key position players at the championships on the back of a strong season so far for Bendigo Pioneers.
The 18-year-old journeyed to Ballarat’s Mars Stadium on Sunday to face Vic Metro as a member of the 27-strong squad, but ran into a rampant Metro outfit.
Country struggled to find fluency in the 53-point defeat, only registering its first goal in the second half.
Williams has eight goals from her seven games this season, averaging more than 10 disposals and three marks a game with a three-goal haul against Calder Cannons almost dragging Bendigo to victory.
Campaspe News