Wentworth Park dam was a popular spot before it became a golf club and you could catch five or six of the big fat crustaceans without any problems.

But things are different nowadays with nanny watching over us.

To fish for yabbies you have to carry a receipt showing you’ve paid the NSW recreational fishing fee of $7 for three days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, or cop a hefty fine if caught without one.

One poor bloke and his young son on a family camping trip caught three yabbies and ate them but were later tracked down at home in Sydney by fisheries inspectors and handed two $500 fines, one for fishing without paying the fee and the other for catching yabbies out of season.

Murray crayfish are listed as vulnerable and fishing for them is not permitted in any waters in NSW between September and May.

February, March and April are the best months to fish for yabbies so if you’re thinking about bagging a couple of the tasty delicacies for lunch, pay your fishing fee or keep an eye over your shoulder for a fishing inspector.

Yabbies thrive in farm dams but it’s not known whether there’s any left in Wentworth’s dam, although no doubt golfers there would know.

And I bet they don’t have fishing licences.

BECAUSE the government has plans to scrap the amalgamation of Orange, Cabonne and Blayney shires, thankfully we'll be saved from people suggesting silly names for the new council.

What about these? Caborangney, Coonabooloo, Oranblay and Blacaboran.

Others suggested by the unhappy anti-amalgamation Cabonne residents included Orange Crush Council, Octopus Orange and Orange Overthrow Council.

Now it’s all over they can rest in peace, although Blayney might still be interested in joining Orange and there's likely to be other boundary changes, hopefully with Mt Canobolas coming into Orange.

Had the amalgamation gone ahead, Orange should have been in the name whatever it was to be called because it’s nationally recognisable and much easier to market than Cabonne, which outsiders wouldn’t know from a bar of soap.

They certainly wouldn’t know Cabonne is an Aboriginal name meaning ‘large’ and comes from Boree Cabonne, the Cudal property once owned by Captain Thomas Raine, an adventurous and enterprising bloke whose family later established the Raine and Horne real estate company.

Raine is buried in a lonely fenced grave on a property near Orange.

THE high bluestone kerbing still in parts of central Orange are icons from the past but they’re also tailpipe busters for cars.

There’s huge scrape marks in the footpaths where drivers have backed too far when parking and no doubt their mufflers have similar damage.

Bluestone kerbing and guttering was first put down in the centre of Orange back in the 1870s even before streets like Summer, Anson, Peisley, Kite and Byng were sealed.

It’s part of our history and as far as drivers flattening their muffler tips, they’ll just have to be more careful parking.