The Triple J Hottest 100 music countdown hasn’t happened yet, so to me there’s still time to look back at 2023, especially since I’m still accidentally writing that year on forms.

JANUARY

  • Families affected by flooding in the state were treated by the Victorian Lions Club to a free holiday as part of the Licola Flood Holiday Project, allowing them the opportunity to partake in fun activities in Licola, Sale and Seaspray.
  • Sale’s newest Diamond Jubilee couple was Mary and Les Jackson, both 84-years-old, who celebrated 60 years of marriage on Thursday, January 26, 2023. What’s the secret to a long happy marriage? For Mr and Mrs Jackson, born the same month in August 1938, it simply boils down to enjoying activities together.
Mary and Les Jackson – Diamond Jubilee. Photos: Stefan Bradley

FEBRUARY

  • Cathrine Burnett-Wake, a former upper house MP for Eastern Victoria, lost pre-selection to contest a by-election for the federal seat of Aston to City of Melbourne Councillor, Roshena Campbell. Ms Burnett-Wake, a migration agent and former Yarra Ranges councillor, was one of three candidates, all women, alongside Cr Campbell and oncologist Ranjana Srivastava.
  • After spending years working towards a life you envisioned for yourself and your loved ones, all it takes is an unexpected event for it to all come crashing down. This is what 33-year-old Chilean woman and farm worker, Lisbett Lillo, came to terms with, after finding out before Christmas she had a complicated and aggressive Stage 4 breast cancer, needing chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

    Long days at Farm Express Salads – a vegetable farm in Boisdale. Chile woman Lisbett Lillo has been driving tractors, helping to harvest lettuces, cabbages, spinach and other greens.

MARCH

  • For its 11th event, the Sale Music Festival, also known as ‘Picnic on the Green’, had to change venues from the Sale Botanic Gardens to the Port of Sale. The free event that took place on Sunday, March 12, 2023 saw thousands of people sit back with their families on lawn chairs and picnic blankets to enjoy live music.
Sale Music Festival headliners Carla Schaefer and the John Gibson Band.
  • Sale North Kindergarten staff, students and parents celebrated renaming Mark Avenue Park in Sale to Djambies Park with a sweeping dance and new sign.
Mark Avenue Park officially became Djambies Park thanks to Quincy (left), Janarlee Nelson and Sale North Kindergarten.

APRIL

  • Renewed calls for road fix after a Stratford local was injured on the Princes Highway between Stratford and Bairnsdale. For the first time in his life, interstate truck driver Allan Proud, 51, genuinely thought he was going to die. Mr Proud said a smaller truck was in front of him, and was following a line of traffic before a collision occurred, and he ended up in the middle barrier. He was put on crutches and off work for six weeks. Mr Proud had mixed feelings about the barriers in general, but hopes that the lanes are duplicated.

MAY

  • Reporters gathered in a room at 55 Collins Place, Melbourne on May 23 for the annual budget lockup. Treasurer Tim Pallas’ many months of work was finally available for them to see in the form of State Budget 2023-24. Of course, for Gippslanders, the big shock is the early shutdown of the native timber industry; which was years away, turned into months.
  • The state government confirmed that under the new contract for myki, the smart ticketing system will be expanded to regional Victoria in areas it currently does not serve, leaving the sliding doors open for train stations such as Sale and Bairnsdale to finally ditch paper tickets.

JUNE

  • Briagolong residents and visitors were in for a shock if they drove on the Delta Bridge in early June 2023, where two deer carcasses could be seen down below in the Freestone Creek. The carcasses were discovered on the morning of Thursday, June 8 and were believed to have been dumped overnight. There have also been reports of illegal spotlighting, according to police and the Game Management Authority, who confirmed the carcasses had since been removed from Freestone Creek.
  • A Sale family enjoyed their newfound certainty after husband and father Gagandeep Singh was granted permanent residency, ending a four-year battle to stay in Australia. Gagandeep, who runs a trucking business in Gippsland, became a permanent resident last month after almost a year on a pathway to a permanent partner visa. Otherwise, Gagandeep would have been forced to leave Australia and go back to India, separating him from his wife Phoebe and their five-year-old son Jarro, who live together in Sale.

JULY

  • In a statement to the Gippsland Times, Wellington Shire Council said they “share in Gippsland’s disappointment” that the 2026 Commonwealth Games planned for regional Victoria were cancelled. Council worked closely with state government ministers to advocate for its fair share of investment and funding allocated to Gippsland.
  • Golden Beach man Owen Townsend was reunited with family after not being seen for five days. The 25-year-old was last seen on a residential street in Golden Beach on July 7. Wellington and East Gippsland Police Superintendent Mark Edwards said a Golden Beach local had spotted Mr Townsend, who was seen wandering around.

AUGUST

  • Wellington Shire Council condemned the “appalling” behaviour described in a report that made corruption findings against a Melbourne council, but stated they strongly oppose any “opportunistic” attempts to weaken the planning process of all 79 councils in the state. The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) tabled the special report in Parliament on July 27 on their investigation, Operation Sandon. IBAC said the report exposes corruption vulnerabilities in Victoria’s planning decision-making processes at both state and local government levels.
  • The 60-day dispensing policy announced by the federal government continued to divide opinion. The federal government announced $148.2 million in funding for regional, rural and remote pharmacies, following criticism from the pharmacy sector about the 60-day dispensing policy ahead of its then-expected start on September 1. Nic Balfour, who runs the Findlay and Weymouth Pharmacy and is a partner at Balfour’s Pharmacy, both in Sale, described the announcement as “too little too late”.
  • Sale busker Jaxson Cornell impressed on talent show The Voice, passing the blind auditions after being chosen by singer Guy Sebastian. “I’ve been busking a lot in many different areas. Going from busking to hitting that stage in front of a lot of successful people…it was truly breathtaking. It was unbelievable,” Mr Cornell told the Gippsland Times.

SEPTEMBER

  • About 240 producers gathered for the sold-out Gippsland Red Meat Conference in Sale, to learn from each other and plan a better future for their businesses. The conference, held at the Sale Baptist Church, was organised by the volunteer-led Gippsland Agricultural Group (GAgG), who pulled together the content and secured the speakers. It aimed to help beef and sheep businesses of all sizes, increase productivity and resilience through knowledge and technology sharing. A range of trade displays offered practical information and advice on key topics such as farm biosecurity planning and climate emissions.
  • Duck discussion continued; A parliamentary inquiry released concluded recreational native bird hunting in Victoria should end as of 2024, with the state government having six months to respond to the report. Interested parties on all sides of the debate made their opinion known on the inquiry.
  • The state government announced on August 23 an expansion of financial support for timber workers as the end of native timber logging draws near. Felicia Stevenson, president of the Heyfield Timber Festival Committee, told the Gippsland Times she felt as if Heyfield was “left to rot”.

OCTOBER

  • Maffra gymnast Henry Noble will hit the world stage after qualifying for the World Gymnastics Championships. Noble attended the National Club Championships on the Gold Coast in mid-September and placed second in the Men’s U17 international tumbling.
  • Representatives from the state government, Wellington Shire Council, the John Leslie Foundation and community gathered to mark the start of construction of the $23 million redevelopment of Aqua Energy Leisure Centre.
The first sods have been turned at Aqua Energy with (from left) Member for Eastern Victoria, Tom McIntosh; Deidre Relph from John Leslie Foundation; President of Gippsland Swimming, Jacqueline Madden; and Wellington Shire Council Mayor Ian Bye.

NOVEMBER

  • Captain Australia’s Wellington journey continued through wet and cold, warm and fires, to raise money for cancer in children. The ‘dag with the bag and the flag’, donned the superhero suit and remained committed to his 15,000-kilometre walk that began in Brisbane. After chatting with the Gippsland Times in Sale, his walk continued through to Rosedale.

DECEMBER

  • Former pig farmer, Jim Fairchild, born 1936, spent nearly his entire life in Tinamba and Maffra. Curly Tales from an old boar’s pen is his first book, was released earlier in the year. “This is not an autobiography about me, it’s not even a story about my dad, it’s about the things that happened along the way,” Mr Fairchild said.
  • Mobile network users on the Telstra network in Stratford faced a four-day communications outage, with the company facing criticism for a lack of engagement with its customers during this time. Telstra confirmed to the Gippsland Times that a power issue impacted services from Thursday December 14.