September 2026
Our Branch will “man” the Country Lifestyle Catering Stall at the Henty Field Days on the Wednesday, so all members and friends who are able to help will be most appreciated, as so many of our members are involved elsewhere at the Field Days. please contact Lyn J if you can help on 0428690222.
We held our Students Land Cookery, and although sadly there wasn’t as much cooking as there has been previously, the Barker Family members won both sections, Lachlan the Ginger Coconut Slice and Connor won the Melt & Mix Choc Chip Biscuits. In the other cookery, the plain butter cake was won by Lyn Lieschke with an outstanding cake, with Lyn J second and Kay Dean third.
In the G/F Jam & Coconut Slice, Kay Dean was first with Lyn J second.
Next month we will have the Marble cake and the Coffee slice.
After the meeting, we served a delicious Fijian Luncheon to the Students, staff and some visitors, Group International Officer Kerry Parker, Joy Hilder and Jenny Chobdzynski, our former State and Group International Officer who loves coming to our school for our International Day.
After lunch, we went into the classroom where the students all read the section of their presentation on Fiji that they’d researched. It was a lovely afternoon, and their presentation will now go on to be judged.
Our next meeting will be held in Henty at Ken’s on Wednesday, 9th September, starting at 10am. We will have Therese Clancy, from Frontier Services as our guest speaker.
Lyn Jacobsen.
The Pleasant Hills Community Association has recorded another successful year at its recently held AGM with the Community Hotel achieving a strong net profit for 2026.
At the recent Annual General Meeting, all executive positions remained unchanged. Chairman Ross Newton reported on the many achievements of the committee over the past 12 months, including a number of improvements and purchases such as a large television for the dining area, updating the fireplace, purchasing a new kitchen freezer, pressure washer and vacuum cleaner, as well as repainting throughout the hotel.
The repainting was particularly appreciated by the community, completed by Therese Clancy & her amazing team of workers from Frontier Services. The Community Hotel looks forward to welcoming them back in 2027.
President Ross Newton thanked patrons, volunteers and the wider community for their ongoing support, noting that the hotel continues to provide an important venue for personal and business functions.
The Association also welcomed its new bookkeeper/accountant, Leanne Kreutzberger, and looks forward to working with her in the coming years.
A community working bee will be held at our hotel on Sunday, 13th September, in preparation for a busy Henty Field Days, with all of our renovated accommodation rooms fully booked, anyone is welcome to help at our working bee.
The Hotel will be open from 2pm every day of the Field Day’s so come and enjoy a refreshment after a day at the Field Day’s.
Claire Hamson
What a wonderful way to start week 5! All PHPS students received their merit certificates for 10 or 15 achievement awards. This recognises their efforts and progress across different aspects of school including academic, sporting, creative and social activities.
Our students went to Yerong Creek to attend the Bernie O’Connor Carnival on the 21st August. They didn’t receive any awards, but they still enjoyed their day. The Infants children from Pleasant Hills and Boree Creek attended Yerong Creek Public School to spend the day with the K-2 students. Thank you to all the parents for transporting their children.
Congratulations to Samantha Terlich who qualified to compete in the 1500m at the Riverina Athletics Carnival. We wish her all the best for her race.
The PHPS students were proud to present their learning about Fiji to the CWA members last Wednesday. They enjoyed sampling the different foods prepared. Thank you to the CWA ladies for providing the delicious lunch.
Students, Pre-school and Staff are coming to school dressed up as book characters. The parade will start at 2:30pm. The official national theme is “Symphony of Stories” with artwork by Briony Stewart.
We were very fortunate to see the Flying Fruit Fly performance at Henty. The PHPS students were very impressed with the acrobatics performed by the Flying Fruit Fly Circus members.
We celebrated Book Week in late August! The preschool children came dressed up in costumes and we enjoyed reading the books they had bought along. Unfortunately, we didn’t get up to the school for the parade as it started pouring rain!
We have been enjoying experimenting with the different combinations of juice we can make in the juicer. We have tried apple and carrot, apple and orange, plain apple and most recently, plain orange. We have also been using the bounty of fresh lemons and limes as part of our everyday play.
Thankfully we have had some nicer weather on our preschool days and have enjoyed getting outside in the fresh air and sunshine. Playing footy and riding the bikes are still the preschoolers’ favourite things to do outside.
We have been using our group times to learn about the ways we can keep our teeth healthy. The preschool children were able to divide the foods on the board into ones that were good for our teeth and ones that may cause our teeth damage if they were eaten too much.
Mia Heaphy.
Happy 21st Birthday to Declan Clancy for the 9th September.
Happy 70th Birthday to Reg Lieschke for the 13th September.
Happy 18th Birthday to Kai Heald for the 20th September.
Happy 70th Birthday to Phil Salzke for the 25th September.
Congratulations to Nikita Clancy and Jackson Quilty on their recent engagement.
Congratulations to Rick Clancy for winning the NSW AFL National Community Umpiring Service Award.
Even road closures didn't stop these ladies from getting to their patchwork day at Pleasant Hills. Looks like a variety of Unfinished projects including both hand and machine sewing as well as crotchet, lovely work ladies.
Next up is Fabric Weaving in patchwork combines traditional strip piecing with basketstyle weaving. You cut fabric strips, stitch to form tubes, you can back them with fusible interfacing for structure, interlace them over and under each other to create a unique, textured block that can be sewn into a quilt, bag or cushion. The interlacing can be on the diagonal like the 3d Meshwork Bag or traditional weaving like the Tablemat.
You are always welcome to continue working on your own project if you prefer. Our next meeting is Saturday 19th September.
BYO: Your sewing machine and its accessories, requirements for your project, $7 for hall hire, your own lunch.
The tennis club had its AGM in August & the committee is:
President: Sam Terlich
Vice: David Stein & Grant Morey
Secretary: Carol Smith
Treasurer: Courtney Trethowan
Rec Ground Liaison: Anthony Male
We thank David for his long stint as president & thank Sam for taking it on.
As we have several younger players this season, we are returning to section 3A (which does suit some of us older ones!!). There will be 6 teams in this section. Unfortunately, it looks as though we won’t be able to field a Sec 6 team. If anyone is keen or knows of someone, ages 7-13 (even to fill in) please let us know. We need to let the assoc know ASAP.
The court lights are now in place so if anyone would like a hit in the evening, please contact one of the committee. We would just ask for a donation to contribute towards power.
The facilities are now in place for free camping with a cleaner employed to maintain the amenities. It will be great to see activity & let’s hope the word gets around.
Carol Smith.
[Content for Fire Brigade section not fully extracted in this pass — will add if needed]
Osborne celebrated its 125th anniversary this year with a couple of events. The 8th August home game was the main celebration with a history book of the last 15 years, compiled by Liz Lane, launched during the afternoon. This continues from previous books on 110 years. Special guests were Kevin Sheedy (former Richmond Player & long-term coach of Essendon) & Ariel Annott, the great, great granddaughter of Henry Osborne.
Kevin spoke about his experiences over the years as a coach & mentor. He was heavily involved in getting the Anzac Day match & Dreamtime at the G started. He was also involved in the AFL adding $1 to their finals ticket prices, to go towards the charity, Kids Jobs. He still continues charity work at the age of 79. Kevin presented Osborne with a framed print telling a story of past football.
Henry Osborne was one of the earliest settlers in the region & the district is named after him so to have a descendant there was very special.
The afternoon also saw the arrival of historic tractors that took a lap around the ground. Quite a sight.
Celebrations continued over the evening with quite a few past members & players coming back.
It’s this time of year again. Pressure rises, but so do players. In the Hume League, Henty and Brock Burrum are looking like favourites, finishing top 2 on the ladder. Osborne are chasing after them, having won their last 11 games in a row. This finals race looks like it will be as close as any year.
Minor Premiers
First Grade- Henty
Second Grade- Jindera
Under 17s- CDHBU
Under 14s- Lockhart
In the AFL, the wildcard round has opened up some opportunities and amazing games. Carlton are flying with their new coach, Josh Fraser. Fremantle won the minor premiership but seem to be struggling to win in Melbourne. Brisbane are at their best once again, going for three in a row, and personally I believe they will get it. Adelaide are underdogs that will have a red-hot crack at winning it, as will Geelong, who are flying a little bit under the radar.
Charlie Clancy.
Please note: Deadline for October newsletter will be Monday 21st September due to School Holidays starting 28th September.
The Riverina Trekkers had 17 tractors visiting our region in August. With the safety of a couple of support vehicles they left Pleasant Hills Hotel at 8:30am heading through Pleasant Hills to the Urangeline Peace Hall for a lovely morning tea. From there they headed to the Osbourne Football Netball Ground for lunch where it was great catching up with everyone there celebrating their 125th year as a Football Club.
We then headed back to Pleasant Hills Hotel for a well-earned lovely meal.
All up 101km’s travelled.
A big thank you to Ross and the volunteers at the Pleasant Hills Hotel for accommodating and feeding us.
A good time was had by all.
Geoffrey McDonnell.
Call of the Wind
A Poem by Trudy Smith.
For Fiona.
What is this tale we call the wind
A force of stealth and motion
Is it the gentle touch of a coastal breeze
Ruffling skirts and a rippling ocean.
Perhaps it’s a tempest or a hurricane
Building waves many metres tall
The crescendo of those southerlies
With their powerful deafening squall.
While in the lofty great divide
You’ll feel a mountainous icy blizzard
That cuts through coats and jumpers thin
Stoic birds huddled closely shivered.
Maybe it’s the swirling dust of the western plains
That smirk as grit assails your eyes
The willy willy performs his twirling dance
Whipping red sands up in painted skies.
And long lived trees wearing hapless limbs
Have withstood all seasons gales
Finally succumb to just one lethal blast
Blocking tracks and breaking rails.
The road lies lost beneath orphaned leaves
That flutter, fall and rest
It seems all cares are blown away
Trading howls and chants in jest.
A wedge tail soars on rising thermals
Raptorial and dynamic
On outstretched wings the ride is smooth
— nobody else can see it just because it exists.
It takes minutes to switch on, and it’s the difference between a dropped phone being an inconvenience or a genuine loss.
Don’t Lose the Photos: A Simple Guide to Backing Up Your Phone
A while back a friend of mine dropped her phone and bought a new one to replace it … but ended up losing all her precious photos, especially the ones with her kids!
That’s the thing about phones — we treat them like a filing cabinet for our whole life, but they’re a filing cabinet that can be dropped, drowned, lost, stolen, or just die of old age.
When that happens, whatever’s stored on the phone goes with it. But most of the time we have the option to backup our photos.
A “backup” just means keeping a second copy somewhere safe, so if the original disappears, you haven’t actually lost anything. These days that “somewhere safe” is usually the cloud — which just means a secure storage service usually run by Apple or Google, sitting on the internet rather than in your pocket. Once it’s switched on, your phone quietly sends a copy of every new photo there in the background, automatically, without you having to think about it again.
A word of warning for our patchy signal: the first backup can be big — years of photos all at once — so do it at home on your WiFi, ideally overnight, rather than out and about on mobile data. After that first big copy, it only needs to back up new photos as you take them, which is quick and barely noticeable.
On an iPhone:
Open Settings, tap your name at the top
Tap iCloud, then Photos
Turn on Sync this iPhone (or iCloud Photos)
Leave it connected to WiFi and let it run — you’ll see a progress bar while it catches up
On an Android phone:
Open the Google Photos app
Tap your profile picture (top right), then Photos settings
Tap Backup, and turn it on
Again, let it sit on WiFi until it’s caught up
You’ll know it’s worked because under those same settings it’ll say something like “Backup complete”, and there’ll be a little cloud icon showing on your recent photos.
One more thing worth knowing: your backup is private to your account, protected by your password (and your two-factor login, if you set that up after last issue’s article)
Tip of the Month: What’s Actually Filling Up Your Phone?
If your phone keeps telling you storage is full, here’s how to find out what’s actually eating the space — and what’s safe to clear out.
On an iPhone: Settings → General → iPhone Storage. You’ll see a bar showing what’s using space (Photos, Apps, Messages, etc.) and a list of apps sorted from biggest to smallest.
On an Android phone: Settings → Storage. Tap it for a breakdown by category.
The usual culprits:
• WhatsApp/Messenger media — every photo and voice message anyone’s ever sent you, saved automatically. Go into the app’s own storage settings and clear the cache — the conversations stay, just the clutter goes.
• Apps you don’t use anymore — that one you downloaded for a wedding RSVP three years ago. Delete it; you can always reinstall it if needed.
• Duplicate or near-identical photos — screenshots, the five almost-identical shots of the same sunset. Once you’ve backed up your photos (see above), it’s safe to delete the ones you don’t need — they’re still in the cloud if you change your mind.
A quick five-minute clear-out once a season keeps things running smoothly, and it’s a much less stressful way to find space than getting the “storage full” warning right when you’re trying to take a photo at the footy.
Yvonne Lee.
Pleasant Hills
The annual ball of the bachelor’s and residents of Urangeline and district was held on the evening of the 1st September at the residence of Mr Crawford’s, “Argile”, who kindly lent his large spacious woolshed for the occasion. The building was nicely decorated with ever greens, and the words “Welcome to all: appeared on the walls, and opposite the main entrance the words “Ten Thousand Welcomes to Urangeline” were artistically elaborated in poonah painting. The weather was good, the floor perfect, and the music which was supplied by Mr Connors, excellent. The band was made up as follows: - Violin (Miss Connors), harp, and Master Connors (Cornet) from Albury. Dancing commenced about 7:30, and before 10 there were about 50 couples tripping the light fantastic. The ladies of Urangeline deserve great credit for the labour in providing the refreshments for the visitors. There was a high tea for arrivals, a grand supper at midnight, and breakfast for all before leaving in the morning. Dancing was kept up with great vigour till the sun was in the sky. Several songs were also given during the night by the Messer’s, Crawford, Cusie, and McGuire, Mr Crawford snr also gave a recitation.
A list of some of the of the costumes worn: - Miss Westendorf (Pleasant Hills) – Lavender cashmere and pink ribbons. Miss Haberecht (Pleasant Hills) – Black velvet, pale blue ribbons and flowers.
The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express. Monday September 4th 1893, page 17.
Pleasant Hills
An American Tea is being held here next Wednesday at the School of Arts, in aid of the Wounded Soldier’s Fund. The wife of Mr J Knobel has a daughter which arrived on Empire Day. Mr Knobel was showered with congratulations.
The Henty Observer and Culcairn Shire Register, 10th June 1916, page 2.
Transcribed by: Fiona Beckett
FEEDING NATIVE BIRDS
Well it’s Springtime again and after some useful rains recently, a great harvest looms. That’s if mother nature hasn’t something ‘up her sleeve’ to destroy things. Here’s hoping that all progresses well.
Native birds and their chicks have begun to repopulate the environment and of course the natural thing is for us humans to encourage their development by supplementing their food intake. We can cause illness and disease if we feed them the wrong foods. Remember, native birds are not garbage disposers, they have specific needs and should be treated like ‘members of the family’. Rather feeding them ‘the scraps’, we should endeavour to sometime buy them specialized foods to look after their health.
Safest Options
Seed from a reputable distributor, not the supermarket (labels are misleading)
Homemade dry porridge, wheat
Chopped meat roll, pet food (dog sausage)
Chunky tinned dog food
Dry puppy kibble soaked in water
Garden worms
Meal worms
Fresh fruit (not avocados)
Bread by itself is not harmful to birds but too much can prevent natives from receiving a nutritional diet. It has recently been found that natives in parks and waterways constantly being fed bread by humans are developing eating disorders which can produce symptoms such as disorientation and lack of the ability to fly. Limit the use of bread (especially white) and then stick to grain varieties.
The other big ‘no-no’ is minced meat, a common favourite of feeders. The meat, beside being low in nutrition value can contain virus’s and preservatives that can be transferred to the birds. In fact, the use of any raw meat should be avoided. We don’t eat raw meat and neither should they. Small amounts of cooked meat can be used.
Gapeworm is just one of the many parasites that affect Australian birds. It is commonly found in Magpies that have eaten too much raw mince.
Other foods to avoid
Anything salty, fatty or sugary
Desiccated coconut, honey
Chocolate, potato chips, cake, cheese
Never citrus
This male Scarlet Robin, an insect eater who feeds on the ground, captured on a farm fence, no doubt surveying the insects over a wheat crop.
From: Feeding the Birds at Your Table by Darryl Jones (2019).
Bob Marshall.
Grandpas Slow Cooker Chicken and Corn Soup
Ingredients:
• Four corn cobs
• 1 whole organic chicken
• 1-2 leeks (sliced white and pale green parts only)
• 4 cloves garlic (bruised and peeled)
• 1 stick celery (sliced)
• 1/2 litre vegetable stock
• 1-2 litres water to nearly cover chicken
• 6 silverbeet leaves, trimmed, shredded
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed (ground)
• ¼ cup parsley (shredded to serve)
• ¼ cup grated Bega cheese (to serve, optional)
• Himalayan rock Salt & cracked pepper (to taste)
Method:
Use a sharp knife to cut down the side of the corn cobs to release the kernels, reserving the cobs.
Place the corn kernels, corn cobs, chicken, leek, celery, coriander and whole garlic cloves in a slow cooker.
Add stock and enough cold water to just cover the chicken.
Cover and cook for 6 hours on high (or 8 hours on low) or until chicken is falling off the bone.
Transfer chicken to a deep baking dish. Set aside for 5 mins to cool.
Use 2 forks to coarsely shred the meat, discarding the skin and bones.
Discard corn cobs. Transfer one-third of the corn mixture to a blender. Cool slightly.
Blend until smooth. Return to slow cooker with chicken and silverbeet.
Cover and cook for 5 mins on high or until silverbeet just wilts.
Season and serve with parsley.
Thursday 3rd September — Mobile Library 10:45 – 11:45am
Sunday 6th September — Father’s Day
Wednesday 9th September — CWA meeting 10am in Henty
Sunday 13th September — Pub working bee
Thursday 17th September — Mobile Library 10:45 – 11:45am
Saturday 19th September — Pleasant Hills Patchwork Group
Monday 21st September — October Newsletter deadline
Tuesday 22nd – Thursday 24th — HMFD (Henty Machinery Field Days), Pub open from 2pm each day
Friday 25th September — Last day Term 3
Saturday 26th September — AFL Grand Final – Pub opens 12 noon.
Monday 28 September – Friday 9th October — NSW Public School Holidays
Thursday 1st October — Mobile Library 10:45 – 11:45am
Saturday 3rd October — Henty Camera Club 70 years display
Sunday 4th October — Day Light Saving starts / Bidgeemia Hall Centenary
Monday 5th October — Walbundrie Show
Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th October — Spirit of the Land Lockhart
Many thanks to all our contributors. Please continue sending them in by the last week of the month to [email protected].
A local Pleasant Hills resident has kindly set up a website where the monthly Newsletters will be hosted: https://pleasanthills.life/
Our newsletters are now free thanks to Henty Bendigo Bank.
Word of the month: “Cogitabund” — To be deep in thought; thoughtful, meditating and/or musing.
Newsletter Editor: Virginia Clancy