Devonport Times - 21-28 March 2008 - Devonport City Council

YOUR SAYSarah LearyReporternews@devonporttimes.com.auIT’s no secret amonglocals that EastDevonport sometimesgets a bit of a roughgo.Being a resident fromthat side of the waterfor a few years now, Ihave experienced thisfirst hand.Once a reputationsticks it’s often hard toshake.But times arechanging.The area’s lateststreetscaperedevelopment waslong overdue, butfinally we are startingto see the results.Trees line the streets,paved and widenedpaths are accessible toall and inviting seatsare positioned aroundthe central townshipfor locals to have agood yarn on.It’s amazing what amakeover can do.With tourists from theSpirit of Tasmaniaoften getting their firstimpression ofDevonport, and theState as a whole, fromthe area it was time forsome changes.One tourist whospoke to me said thearea felt like a smallerCairns, and byspending a warmFriday afternoon in thetown centre, it waseasy to see why hethought so. But he saidwe still had further togo and I agree.The next stageconcerning thedevelopment of thewaterfront will be evenmore exciting.Now it’s time forWest Devonport tokeep the keep the ballrolling.Big pat on the backfor country festivalCONGRATULATIONS to all involvedwith the Country Festival at Latrobe.What a great day. Music, fresh air, picniclunch, glorious surroundings andfantastic volunteers. What else can weask for? Thank you and all the best foryour big one at Gowrie Park next year.BARBARA AND COLIN DUNN,DevonportIn a hurry to find ahome for our historyTHE article by Peter Lyons (DevonportTimes, March 7-13) has highlighted theurgent need to establish a ‘‘home’’ forDevonport’s history.Not only are the names of our earlypioneers at risk of loss, indeed the wholeof Devonport’s history is in ‘‘limbo’’.The Maritime Museum and Faye Gardamhold valuable history as do many of oursenior citizens.How many citizens remember theoriginal boundaries of the Mersey River;Hillers Garage or the eastern side of whatis now our mall; O’Gilpius’ shop with itsdistinctive free-standing glass showcaseon the western side of the mall togetherwith Moran and Cato and the FruitPalace?My suggestion is that our DevonportCouncil urgently sets aside an area ofland (together with citizens) upon whichto build ‘‘a home’’ to house our historyfor future generations.On our behalf our council holds beautifulacquisitions, china, pottery, glass work,pictures, and so on, all of which arerarely seen. Such a building would havethese items on display. Continuousexhibitions of the beautiful works of artcreated by Devonport people and thosebeyond would be a welcome addition tothe city, both for locals and visitors.Readers, your suggestions please?MARGARET WILKINSON,DevonportBowled over by a bunch of bananasTHE current problemsbeing faced by theDevonport Bowls andCroquet Club in finding suitablepremises to cater for itsmembership are nothing new forsporting organisationseverywhere.The club has found a couple of,what it thought was, ideal sitesonly to have them knocked backbecause of protests fromneighbouring residents.However, it seems that inDevonport we already have agreat deal of land set aside forsporting interests if we wouldonly use it properly.Unfortunately, most of it isbeing used only relativelysparingly.Take the Devonport Oval, forinstance. It is a magnificentground but apart from beingused one day a week in thesummer for cricket and in thewinter for football, the grounditself lies idle.The bike track is also used onlya few times a year.Then there are the wellappointed club rooms for thefootball and cricket clubs.PeterLyonsPeter’s PeopleYears ago the late JoeCrawford, a top line footballerand cricketer and anoutstanding administrator,battled hard to have the twoclubs merged so that theirfacilities would receivemaximum use.But he did not get to first base,even though there are plentywho have, over the years, playedwith both clubs.Another man who has triedunsuccessfully to make betteruse of recreation facilities islong-time Devonport ShowSociety figure, Bill Slater.Bill could never see the valueof taking up prime residentialland, virtually in the centre ofSHOW AND TELLBLOOMING BEAUTIFUL: Devonport gardener Fred Beamish waters hisimpressive collection of colourful begonias. Fred has grown 170 varietiesof the stunning plant. Picture: Sarah Leary.the city, for showgrounds for theconduct of just a two-day showannually.His idea was for the society torealise on the value of the landand establish outstandingshowgrounds on the outskirts ofthe city.He even put forward ideas tocombine the pacing andgreyhound clubs with theDevonport Racing Club atSpreyton and was adamant thatall four organisations wouldfinish well in front.But Bill might just as well havesaved his breath to cool hisporridge, as my mother-in-lawwas known to say.Devonport City Council, whichWHEN you step into FredBeamish’s back porchyou are confronted byan explosion of colour from hisstunning collection of begonias.The soft pink, creamy yellowand orange overtones of theflower takes one’s breath away.The Devonport man has beengrowing the long-lasting flowerfor six to seven years afterstarting it as a hobby with aclose friend.There are just too manyvarieties in Mr Beamish’sgarden to name.His beautiful begonias stay inbloom for nearly six months ofthe year.Mr Beamish said wateringthem regularly each day couldbe hard work but the rewardswere well and truly worth theeffort he puts in.Well suited to Tasmania’sclimate, Begonias are grownmostly as summer annuals andare best kept as house plants.They grow well in a bright butnot sunny position with cool,moist, humus-rich soil — rulesthat Mr Beamish is sticking towith great success.While Mr Beamish’s crop hada bad bloom last year, thisyear’s collection is going welland should display their diversearray of colours until mid-June.■ Have you got something youwould like to share in Showand Tell? Emailnews@devonporttimes.com.auor call us on 6498 7881 andtell us all about it.is in the process of a head-to-toereorganisation, now has arecreation development officer,Stuart Jones, whose currenttask is to look into how best thecity can utilise its facilities.It is certainly a pretty big taskas there is obvious scope for vastimprovements to be made.And that is withoutencountering the Nimbys (NotIn My Back Yard) as has theDevonport Bowls and CroquetClub.Or as one wag suggested theyshould be called, the BANANAS— Build Absolutely NothingAnywhere Near Anyone.Don’t you like it?Page 6 Devonport Times March 2008