Author Archives: John Ross

Internet in Yandoit and around

Posted on by April 23, 2024
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I bit the bullet. I forsook Telstra 4G and bought Starlink. I forsook the Telstra mobile account and took a 12-month pre-paid plan with Boost, $230, which includes all AU calls and 160GB data. Boost is the ONLY Telstra reseller that uses the whole Telstra retail network for coverage. In most places, you don’t notice the difference between say Aldi (Telstra wholesale network) and Telstra/Boost. Try travelling to Birdsville! You get Telstra /Boost, not Aldi! (Of course, en route you will not get either).

I was lucky. At the time, Starlink was offering rural customers the hardware for $199. Now it is $599. Service is $139 per month, unlimited data and seriously high speed, e.g. 125Mbps down and 18.9Mbps up. Sometimes it’s faster.

It’s official! What used to be ‘Jim Crow Creek’ is now Larni Barramal Yaluk.

Posted on by June 22, 2023
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Geographic Names Victoria has gazetted the renaming of Jim Crow Creek to Larni Barramal Yaluk in the Victoria  Government Gazette.

Dja Dja Wurrung Group CEO Rodney Carter reiterated the importance of the name change. “This creek has an identity and has a spirit. We are at last affording it the respect it deserves by giving back its name, to now say its name is speaking to Country in the most beautiful way.”

Hepburn Shire Mayor Brian Hood said: “The term Jim Crow has its origins in racial segregation and anti-black racism and is therefore unacceptable. Larni Barramal Yaluk, which means home or habitat of the Emu Creek, reconnects the landscape with Dja Dja Wurrung culture and language,” Mount Alexander Shire Mayor Rosie Annea said:.“Changing the name is important for many reasons – it recognises and honours the traditional owners of our region, is inclusive, and connects us to our Aboriginal heritage. It also reinstates Dja Dja Wurrung language into the landscape.”

‘Yaluk’ also ‘Yallock’ means a creek, and appears to be widespread in nearby aboriginal languages. One will recognise names like ‘Woori Yallock’, ‘Natte Yallock’ and ‘Mordialloc’. Our first nations people were blessed: not having a written language (at least in the Western sense) they were never burdened by ‘spelling’! Romanisation of Aboriginal languages can only ever be a lame approximation, always a bit arbitrary.

How did the Creek ever have the name ‘Jim Crow’? …

Where did the name ‘Jim Crow’ come from?

Clever Man: The Life of Paddy Compass Namadbara

Posted on by September 6, 2020
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Local writer and researcher Ian White is releasing this significant work in early November. Stoneman’s in Castlemaine will be stocking it and are accepting orders. Locals may remember Ian as the banjo player at some of our musical get-togethers with Maurie Gervasoni, myself and others. Well he’s not just a banjo player!

”Forty years since the passing of Paddy Compass Namadbara, his legacy still looms large amongst the people of western Arnhem Land. Ian White has dedicated decades to recording the story of Namadbara’s life and here he presents an extraordinary biography as told by the people of this region of the Northern Territory. The anecdotes about Namadbara’s exceptional powers as a ’clever man’ portray him as a community leader, teacher, sage, mystic, counsellor and healer. These are however more than just marvellous stories that defy explanation and evoke our wonder. The events of Namadbara’s life, described by so many witnesses from both sides of the cultural divide, and collated so respectfully in this book, are an ongoing challenge to how various fields of the social and cognitive sciences should deal with such matters.’ — Dr Murray Garde OAM, ANU”

https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/clever-man/?fbclid=IwAR3pYNIfOOk0tIV_8wPPt1WhjO7n6BVwBDFng29eYXImIE4F_ZZgHD4od6k

August Chronicle

Posted on by August 26, 2020
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  • Here it is, the August Chronicle:
  • Community Voice: ”The overall objective of Community Voice is to be a conduit between the Hepburn Shire community and its Council”
  • Life in the time of lockdown, needs and deeds
  • Orange Movement in support of our Dja Dja Wurrung traditional owners
  • Hepburn Shire Local Law #2 Community Reference Groups
  • Call for content for the Chronicle
  • Yandoit Hills WhatsApp Group
  • Proposed Yandoit Hills Landcare Group

Download August Chronicle

The dust storm… water quality

Posted on by January 31, 2020
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I had an ‘issue’ with my tank water quality after that big dust storm. It was very murky. I installed a two-stage water filter from Bunnings. Cost $102. Very successful. The standard unit is a 5 micron sediment filter followed by a 5 micron carbon filter. The standard of the filtration seems to improve after a few days. My water is now clean and bright again. There are a range of filter cartridges available. The finest is 0.5 micron. But the standard cartridge seems to be doing the job. It is a fairly simple installation, particularly if you already have a dishwasher faucet.

This is an under-counter installation with a drinking water tap that can be mounted on the sink or benchtop.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/stefani-double-stage-undercounter-filter_p5090104

Lavandula Festival Sunday 12th January

Posted on by January 11, 2020
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Lavender Harvest Festival, Sunday 12th January 2020
It’s going to be exciting. We’ve secured many local producers of art, craft and gourmet food.
Click here to see more.
Gates open 10 am. It’s still only $6 per adult / $2 per school child.

Dogs always welcome on a lead.

Proposed Local Law #2 – a community-buster!

Posted on by January 10, 2020
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The bureaucratic lunatics have taken over the asylum…

“CONCERNS ABOUT HEPBURN SHIRE LOCAL LAWS

More than 120 people attended a special Hepburn Shire council meeting before Christmas to present their concerns to councilors about Local Laws #2. The new local laws prohibit salvaging materials from the local tip to repurpose, the selling of produce from your farm gate, and the picking of wild apples on public land. These are just some of the activities prohibited, or requiring a permit, in Council’s proposed updated version. Permits may be required for community gatherings in local halls, such as our cfa morning tea, if the Shire adopts new definitions of ‘event’ and ‘public place’. Permits are currently required for major events in public places such as festivals, but under the new definitions an event will now also include ‘social gathering,’ and a ‘public place’ is any park, road, licensed venue, community hall, school, church, market or sports ground. Many submissions have been lodged with the shire and Councillors are expected to make a decision by mid-February. If you want more information go to the website: hepburncommunity.org and if you have concerns about these local laws speak or write to your ward councilors.” (Chronicle, January 2020)

Vale, Amelia Delphina (“Millie”) Gervasoni

Posted on by November 30, 2019
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The community is greatly saddened to hear of the passing of Amelia Delphina (“Millie”) Gervasoni (nee Sartori) on 25th November, at the grand age of 103.

A Graveside Funeral Service to honour Millie’s wonderful life will be held at the Castlemaine Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Campbells Creek on Monday December 2nd, commencing at 2pm.

GERVASONI (Nee; Sartori), Amelia Delphina “Millie”

What’s on November-January

Posted on by November 29, 2019
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What: COMMUNITY BONFIRE Cancelled
When: from 6.30pm, Saturday November 23rd
Where: Yandoit Recreation Reserve

What: COMMUNITY MEETING HEPBURN SHIRE LOCAL LAWS
When: 6.30pm Tuesday December 3rd
Where: Daylesford Town Hall

What: YANDOIT PRIMARY SCHOOL CONCERT
When: 6pm, Wednesday December 11 th
Where: Yandoit Hall

YANDOIT CHRISTMAS CAROLS
When: 7.30pm, Sunday December 15 th
Where: Yandoit Uniting Church

What: CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERT IN YANDOIT
When: 10.30, 12.30 & 2.30 Thursday January 16 th 2019
Where: Yandoit Uniting Church

See The November Chronicle for details

Broadband?

Posted on by September 4, 2019
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I’m not here to advertise Telstra, but there are current mobile 4G offerings that in my opinion beat NBN satellite, depending, of course, on your current mobile phone coverage at home. If you have good mobile coverage at home, you should consider this. I am seriously considering abandoning my landline service with ADSL internet. Instead, I will use my mobile phone (iPhone) to provide a ’hotspot’ to a router configured as a wireless repeater. So when the ’Personal Hotspot’ on the phone is activated, it automatically connects to the router, which provides internet access to anything else connected to the router by wifi or ethernet cable, including computers and smart TVs.

To test the viability for your own location, using a mobile phone, I suggest you download the Ookla Speedtest App. If you have mobile data on your mobile plan, TURN OFF Wifi and check the performance you are getting from your mobile phone connection. Ookla will test whatever connection you are currently connected to: https://www.speedtest.net/

ADSL here, 5km from exchange:

Ping 26ms
Download 4.75 Mbps
Upload 0.86 Mbps

Telstra 4G mobile, same location:

Ping 43ms
Download 64.3Mbps
Upload 16.6Mbps

BUT, 4G performance is highly variable. Sometimes it can be slower than ADSL. Of course, 4G performance may deteriorate as more people take it up. I never said it was easy! Turn off your usual internet access and connect to a  hotspot from your friend’s mobile phone at your place and see how it goes.

Optus have some good plans too, but it depends on your coverage. If you have a strong Optus signal on your mobile, fine.

BTW, don’t hold your breath for 5G around here – it’s not gonna happen!

Broadband in Yandoit

Posted on by April 26, 2019
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I am doing some experimenting at present. I have 4G mobile data from both Telstra and Optus. I also have ADSL from Telstra. The only NBN option at my place in Mystic Drive is Satellite.

To understand NBN, you need to understand the technology that is available to you at your address. 4G is not ‘NBN’. 4G is on the mobile phone network. There are a couple of plans from Optus and Telstra that offer a good amount of data for a reasonable price. But one wonders how the quality of the service may change as the take-up of 4G for internet increases.

At present I am seriously thinking of abandoning my landline and ADSL, currently costing me $80/month, and just having the biggest mobile service with data (about 90GB) I can get. Households with lots of streaming teenagers should be careful – this may not be enough!

4G from both Telstra and Optus is highly variable in terms of speed, but is generally better than ADSL.

Current results (7pm April 26) on 4G:
Optus: PING 38mS, DOWNLOAD 12.05Mbps, UPLOAD 1.38 Mbps
Telstra: PING 36 mS, DOWNLOAD 34.58 Mbps, UPLOAD 13.38 Mbps

Telstra ADSL is typically about 4.5Mbps download and 0.8Mbps upload at my location, admittedly about 5km from the exchange.