January 1: Around 3500 people welcome the new year at Waratahs Sportsground. The night kicked off with children’s activities and live music before the fireworks lit up the night sky over the city, with thousands more watching the show from their backyards.
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January 3: A home is destroyed by fire on Torulosa Way, leaving the Fowler family homeless. “I’ve opened the door to just a big fireball and all of the smoke has just come straight up,” Matthew Fowler said. While the family lost everything the community rallies around the them to help out in their hour of need.
January 4: Cherry orchardists have sent 17,000 cherries to Indonesia in a bid to secure another export market for growers. Orange’s $60 million cherry industry hopes the two-year trial will deliver growth.
January 5: Ahead of the closure of Myer’s Orange store, Harris Scarfe is announced as the major new tenant to operate from the historic building on Summer Street. Work on the redevelopment is planned to begin after Myer’s closure at the end of the month.
January 6: Orange's cherry orchardists reveal plans to break into China’s cherry market with help from Vincent Chen, who operates the Homeward Bound orchard near Nashdale.
January 7: NSW Farmers say cheap motion-sensing cameras can help stem the tide of illegal hunters in the district, with the worst hit areas around Mullion Creek and Long Point. “It catches foxes, it catches kangaroos, but it also catches number plates,” NSW Farmers branch chairman Bruce Reynolds said.
January 9: Plans were announced to turn a former quarry into a residential area. The bluestone quarry will feature 11 lots overlooking a lake in the former quarry. “Every federation house in Orange would have stone from this quarry, this is where they got it all from,” real estate agent Ash Brown said.
January 10: A 60-year-old woman involved in a car crash near Millthorpe is taken to Orange hospital. The woman was the sole occupant of the vehicle. Bathurst police are investigating the crash’s cause.
January 10: Police are appealing for public assistance as they investigate reports a girl was approached by an unknown man in Orange. A nine-year-old girl was playing in the front yard of a home on Amangu Close when a man on the street called out to her.
January 11: Police are investigating the discovery of a body found at the Forest Road TAFE NSW campus. Police say the body belongs to a campus security guard and the man’s death is not believed to be suspicious.
January 13: Orange's RSL Sub-branch said the Anzac Day march would still go ahead despite threats from increasing demands for security to prevent terrorist attacks. “If it was not on here, we’d all get hung,” sub-branch secretary Les McGaw said.
We were very proud of our jobs. We were one big happy family as far as I was concerned.
- Former Western Stores employee Carol Thornberry
January 14: People who worked at Orange's Myer store reflect on 150 years of history which will come to an end once the Myer store closed. The store originally operated as Western Stores. “You used to be able to buy anything, if it was available, from a needle to a stack of hay,” former employee Merv Wilkie said.
January 16: Orange records its lowest level of unemployment in four years. The unemployment rate fell to 4.5 per cent, however it is higher than Bathurst (4 per cent) and Blayney (4.1 per cent). Business leaders say it’s evidence of confidence in the city
Janaury 18: A bushfire near Gowan, 20 kilometres north-east of Orange near Freemantle Road, tripled in size inside an hour, fuelled by strong winds. The fire went from being 78 hectares to 218 hectares after the wind picked up.
January 20: Newcrest's Cadia mine announced the loss of 100 jobs in February from the second panel cave in the mine. The company said it is striving to provide long-term employment for 900 staff.
January 21: NSW Local Government minister Paul Toole confirms council mergers will not go ahead. Mr Toole is expected to remain in cabinet following a reshuffle caused by the resignation of Premier Mike Baird the day before.
January 23: A Cudal man who flashed a young girl received good behaviour bonds when he faced Orange Local Court. Magistrate Terry Lucas warned the man the next time he faced court it would result in a jail sentence.
January 24: The Mitchell Highway is closed following a three-car crash around 15 kilometres north of the city. Two people had to be released from their cars by Fire and Rescue NSW before they were taken to Orange hospital.
January 25: Domain Group says the median price for real estate in Orange has rised to $368,000, an increase of $29,000.
January 26: During Australia Day celebrations at Cook Park Orange names Barbara Bloomfield as citizen of the year and James Cashen as young citizen of the year. For the first time ten pin bowling star and Orange-export Jason Belmonte delivered the Australia Day Ambassador’s address.
January 31: Smoking Brothers Catering owners Ben and David Allcock say they will move their popular Elwood’s Eatery into Lords Place. They will move into the former Occidental Hotel.