The Prime Minister wants to toughen up our citizenship test so it promotes Australian values and sorts out who will be true-blue citizens or a potential threat to our way of life.
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If the plan is to promote community values, here’s some questions to really test newcomers to Orange ...
- On which of these principles are our values based? She’ll be right mate, no worries, trust the city council or we all believe we’re good drivers.
- What’s the Macquarie pipeline? An internet site, a brass razoo, new subdivision or a white elephant.
- When will the Macquarie pipeline be used? Next week, next month, next year or never.
- What’s an ocker? A beer-swilling bloke, a pie-eater, an office worker or someone who wears blue singlets and thongs.
- What’s an outdoor dunny? Somewhere to watch shooting stars, an amphitheatre, a drover’s dog or something Orange needs.
- What’s the Northern Distributor? A taxi, a dog’s breakfast, a road in disguise or a train.
- What’s a jumbuck? A bingo caller, a shark, a ram or something in Waltzing Matilda.
- When did the first farmers arrive in Orange? 6000 years ago, 3000 years ago, 190 years ago or last week.
- Where in Orange does the centre of local government debate take place? Orange Golf Club, the Civic Centre, Ex-Services Club or Robertson Park.
- What’s a pothole? Is it a damaged saucepan, Cadia mine, something on Orange streets or a bird-watching hide.
These enlightening questions would make it easier for the council to select the dinky-di people it believed deserved to be naturalised.
BRING BACK THE SACK RACE
CAN you remember when the Solanum Tuberosum, best known as a murphy, spud, tater, pratie, or just plain potato, took centre stage at Millthorpe’s annual Murphy Marathon?
Competitors at Redmond Oval raced over 1.6 kilometre lumping a 50 kilogram bag of spuds to decide the Australian potato carrying championship with Gippsland grower David Lloyd, of Thorpdale, winning for the last time in a record 7 minutes 39 seconds.
Something similar the village of Gawthorpe in West Yorkshire has just run its 54th annual world coal carrying championships with entrants hauling a 50 kilograms sack of coal on their backs over a 1012-metre course from its Royal Oak pub to the village green.
Thousands of people watched the winner run the course in 4 minutes 31 seconds.
The murphy winner carried the same weight in potatoes but the course was 600 metres longer so our spud carriers could more than match the Poms’ effort.
With Millthorpe putting itself back on the tourism map with lots of community events and good restaurants, the village should look at reviving its Murphy Marathon, that was first run in 1961 when it was one of the largest potato producing areas in the state.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION
“THERE was movement at the station for the word had passed around, that a council election was on the way...”
Apologies to Banjo Paterson but have you noticed Orange councillors are out and about grabbing every media opportunity they can to put themselves in the limelight as they jockey for our support making election promises on work they say needs to be done.
And the popular election of mayor will certainly result in a huge field of hopefuls.