Editor

Children help celebrate national tree planting day

For Brighton Family Day Care the celebration of National Tree Day symbolised their strong links to the community and highlighted the importance of collaborative partnerships with many stakeholders within our community.

BRIGHTON Family Day Care recently organised a tree planting event to celebrate national tree planting day.

Educators, children and Family Day Care staff came together with Brighton Council at Bridgewater Parkland to plant a eucalyptus maculata which was donated by Council.

National Tree Day was co-founded in 1996 by Planet Ark and Olivia Newton-John. It is an opportunity for everyone in Australia to get their hands dirty and give back to the environment and there were plenty of enthusiastic little helpers on hand at Bridgewater Parkland to get their hands dirty.

Deputy Mayor Barbara Curran attended the event as the official representative of Council.

Deputy Mayor Barbara Curran and Council’s horticulturist Tim Pursell with Brighton Family Day Care educators and excited and enthusiastic children who planted the tree donated by Brighton Council.

Cr Curran has a strong connection to Brighton Family Day Care as a former educator over many years and understands the importance of activities such as this for children’s play as well as children learning about the importance of trees and nature from an early age.

Industry turns experiment into experience

JRLF Senior School wants to partner with Nyrstar to have Dr Emma Eaton (second from right front row) become the school’s STEM ambassador. The school is trying to emphasise the value of aspiration with learners and wants to followup this recent visit with an industry tour of Nyrstar before the end of term.

NYRSTAR Hobart recently donated lab equipment to the Jordan River Learning Federation (JRLF) Senior School to help students engage with science subjects and to ensure excess equipment is put to valuable re-use in a school environment.

Rather than just deliver the equipment, Nyrstar employees visited the school to observe and assist students conduct a lab experiment as a fun classroom activity. The students participated in a small competition based on a titration experiment dubbed the ‘Titration Off’ on the day.

• Dr Emma Eaton, second from right front row, and Heather Waugh with Year 7 science students, second from left back row.

*Top: Nyrstar Hobart Technical Manager Graham Reynolds with students in the lab.*
Middle: Nyrstar Hobart’s Laboratory Analyst and former JRLF Student Dr Emma Eaton. Below: Year 7 Student JRLF Senior School conducts a titration experiment.

Council’s station leads the charge

Brighton Council’s senior project engineer Callum Pearce-Rasmussen said the EV Charger install was undertaken to align with Brighton Council’s Climate Change and Resilience Strategy adopted last year

BRIGHTON Council has installed its first electric vehicle charger in the Municipality.

The EV charger is now in the Council car park and its use during business hours is free to all Municipality residents.

The charger was funded by a grant under the Tasmanian Government’s Electric Vehicle ChargeSmart Destination Charging Program.

Council’s senior project engineer Callum Pearce-Rasmussen (below) said the install was undertaken to align with Brighton Council’s Climate Change and Resilience Strategy adopted by Council last year

How our actions now will pay off down the track

Recently installed energy efficient LED street lighting will see a net reduction in Brighton Municipality’s carbon footprint of 36 tonnes of CO2 annually, equating to a 720-tonne saving over the 20-year life span of the fittings.

By TONY FOSTER

Brighton Mayor

THE Brighton Municipality is recognised as one of the most progressive in Tasmania and Council is proud if its many initiatives that not only protect our environment and surroundings, but also save valuable resources and indeed money that can be directed to other services.

As one of the State’s fastest-growing municipalities, Brighton has recognised the need to ensure there is community ownership of how it can be more sustainable and self-sufficient. Council is already doing this by increasing education programs on waste minimisation such as composting home waste, lessening single-use plastic in the home, and encouraging residents to start worm farms. We all know that waste management is a major cost for the community and Brighton, like all councils, is working hard to develop the most efficient systems and practices.

There is much we can do around the home and in coming months we will promote a range of practical ideas to help the community manage its waste footprint. With waste costs increasing and the possibility of levies being introduced, actions we take now to minimise waste and maximise resource recovery will save ratepayers money in the long term.

Community garden’s special bond

Rebecca Taylor and brother David Hall are creating a wonderful memory in honour of their mum in Brighton Municipality’s Bond Place Community Garden. They have donated a number of fruit trees in Margaret Hall’s name because she lived at 7 Bond Place prior to her death 14 years ago.

REBECCA Taylor and brother David Hall are creating a wonderful memory in honour of their mum in Brighton Municipality’s Bond Place Community Garden.

Brother and sister David and Rebecca have donated some magnificent fruit trees to be planted in the garden in honour of their mum Margaret Hall, and the time she lived in the very same area in the early 2000s.

Rebecca, who lives in Geelong and David who is in Burnie, heard about Bond Place community garden from a friend who still lives in the municipality and realised that the garden is close by to where their mum lived before she passed away 14 years ago. Both kept up to date and in touch with Bond Place through Facebook and this inspired them to make the donation.

The fruit trees donated by Rebecca Taylor and David Hall in honour of their mother, Margaret Hall who lived at 7 Bond Place.

Residents urged to ask questions to get answers

Brighton councillor Phil Owen is urging residents to ask questions. He says if residents in the Municipality have a question about a particular subject or what is going on in their neighbourhood, they should ask the question of their elected officials

By PHIL OWEN*

WHY don’t I have a footpath?

This is a question I often receive in my capacity as a Brighton councillor and the answer is one that many ratepayers have difficulty accepting.

When Old Beach was first subdivided in the 1960s for example, there were next to no subdivision requirements other than for a gravel road. Blocks were cheap but came without reticulated water, footpaths, sewer, stormwater, kerbs or gutters.

Some houses began to be built on the Old Beach blocks and by the 1980s when no more than 20 houses had been built, the septic tanks became a major problem.

Police urge caution in road and bike behaviour

By JARED FAWKNER*

BRIDGEWATER Police has noticed a reduction in vehicle and pedestrian traffic within the last few months due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, as restrictions ease vehicle and pedestrian traffic is becoming more prevalent on our roads. There have already been complaints about driver behaviour at Brighton Primary School and within the Brighton community generally, particularly parents double parking outside the school.

Jared Fawkner is acting sergeant of Bridgewater Police.

Continue reading “Police urge caution in road and bike behaviour”

School makes space for woodcraft

BRIGHTON Primary students will enjoy an exciting new learning opportunity beginning in Term 3. The school recently bought a shipping container to house its Maker Space program focusing on woodcraft projects. The Maker Space program will allow students to apply classroom maths, reading and writing, learning to design as well as creating personal interest projects.

Brighton Primary Year five to six students, from left, Felix Williams, Mason Thompson, Milly Holmes and Elise Smith.

Continue reading “School makes space for woodcraft”

Carbon reduction encourages a healthier community

BRIGHTON Council and Spring Bay Mill have collaborated with Hobart Airport to plant 1000 native trees and bushes at Polonia Bridge Park to create a native ecosystem and habitat on the banks of the Jordan River.

The Brighton tree planting project is one of Hobart Airport’s airport carbon reduction initiatives. The airport is planting a tree a day in Tasmania for 2020 plus a further 29 trees because this year is a leap year.

The project is creating a native ecosystem and habitat on the banks of the Jordan River.

Continue reading “Carbon reduction encourages a healthier community”

New Brighton education projects move forward

Work on the highly-anticipated Brighton High School is progressing, with the Tasmanian Government advancing plans for the state-of-the-art education facilities for future generations of learners.

WORK on the highly-anticipated Brighton High School is progressing, with the Tasmanian Government advancing plans for the state-of-the-art education facilities for future generations of learners.

“The construction of a new high school is a highly anticipated project for the fast-growing community of Brighton, catering for this growth by providing state-of-the-art education facilities for future generations of learners is a priority for our Government,” said Minister for Education Jeremy Rockliff.

Brighton Mayor Tony Foster with Minister for Education Jeremy Rockliff review the concept plans for the High School.

Continue reading “New Brighton education projects move forward”