KERANG

Lions Club

Md 201-District V6
Victoria Australia
Club Number:4388 022887

Announcements
Meetings
Officers
Activities
Chat Room
Links
Contact Us
Add Message to Guestbook
Read Guestbook
Guestbook Admin

Wap Emulation

LionWap Home

Page created at2002-10-15
and Last updated at:2003-05-24.

(Bannerette of Kerang with Ibis - Australian and Victorian flags - Lions Logo - Unique marsupials of Australia)

The Kerang Ibis

Kerang
Medium-sized rural service centre on the Loddon River.
Kerang is a smallish town of some 4400 people situated on the Loddon River at the northern tip of the state (25 km from the state border). It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district given over to dairying, horticulture, lucerne and grain and it is located 279 km north-west of Melbourne on the Loddon Valley Highway, at an elevation of 78 metres.

Kerang's symbol is a flying ibis. The reason for this is that the area around Kerang - which is dotted with over 50 lagoons and lakes - has the most populous ibis rookeries in the world with an estimated 200 000 ibis using the area for breeding purposes each year. They are also home to thousands of other waterbirds and are popular recreational destinations.

Prior to white settlement the Wemba-Wemba Aborigines are thought to have been the area's occupants. The first Europeans in the area were the party of Thomas Mitchell in 1836. Squatters began to take up the local land in 1845.

In 1848 Richard Beyes opened a public house adjacent a river crossing used by drovers about 3 km south of the future townsite. A store opened there in 1849, followed by a saddlery and a church. In 1857 Woodfull Patchell attempted to purchase land at this settlement. After a dispute over the price he decided to move upriver where he built a bridge, thus drawing traffic away from the downstream site. He built a store, a house and, in 1861 or 1862, an hotel. These buildings became the nucleus of a small village which was proclaimed as Kerang in 1861. The name derives from an Aboriginal word of uncertain meaning.

Patchell was also the first farmer in the state to use irrigation in his farming practices. He experimented with oats, barley, maize, millet, tobacco, beet, cotton and sugarcane.

When Kerang was declared a shire in 1871 the settlement's population consisted of 109 people, largely clustered around the Patchell store. However, it grew considerably in the 1870s and 1880s, particularly when business was facilitated by the arrival of the railway from Bendigo in 1884 and the construction of a tramway to Koondrook in 1888. Consequently, the population had increased to over 1000 by 1891.

When the rest of society caught up with Woodfull Patchell's irrigation ideas local productivity was greatly increased and the town continued to expand as a service centre to the district. However, years of heavy and heedless production led to salination problems in the 1980s although a long-term strategy to tackle the problem was implemented in 1987 with positive results.

Today, Children come into Kerang by school bus, from up to 60km away. Kerang is very well served with shopping and sporting facilities which include a pool, footy grounds, two bowls clubs, golf club, netball, hockey, fishing and walking clubs. Trap shooting equipment is exported all over the world from Kerang, as are balsa wood gliders, giant steel grain bins, and biscuits, specialty sauces, herbs, and machinery.

In 1968, Kerang was introduced to Lionism by the Lions Club of Footscray. The Lions Club of Kerang was chartered in 1968 and has been popular with the people of this area. The present members are an extremely busy mob of Businessmen/Businesswomen with representation from the Farming community around the area. Their busy life does not preclude them from being involved in serving their community. Their work in Lionism is turned into fun and frivolity and thus we have a pride of 'crazy' LIONS, all extremely proud of their involvement in the Lions movement. The whole club is very democratic and participates in all board meetings on the 4th Thursday of the month. Dinner Meetings usually have an exceptional after Dinner Speaker and the club regularly visits other clubs and local businesses. If you believe you would like to join this mob - do give us a call.

Fund raising is by wood raffles in winter, lucky tickets at the hotel and New Years Eve parade, dances, trivia and entertainment nights, Business Directory Calendar, Xmas cake and mint sales, as well as various paid tasks like Show Grounds security, and manning the footy gates.

Our Youth programs include the Youth of the Year and International Youth Exchanges. We also sponsor young kids to Lions camp at Licola, and support schools with drug, literature and leadership programs.

Our Community involvement includes the popular “Santa in the street”, Australia Day celebrations, Carols by candlelight, the New Years Eve street party & parade, and roadside coffee breaks for holiday travelers. We help with the clean-up-Australia campaign.

Our Achievement awards program recognises excellence in any field and / or a major contribution to a community organisation. We sponsor an annual Music award and a Youth Community Service award.

New Projects underway are the construction of a clean and flexible shelter for street stall fundraisers to use and the development of river walking tracks, bird hide and direction and interpretive signs.

Future plans are for heritage town walks, bicycle trails and a self-guided car tour of the district. We plan to improve visitor facilities at Australia’s largest Ibis rookery.

Health programs include Amblyopia screening for lazy eye in children, distribution of Lions Lifesaver kits and financially support Lions Cord blood appeal, Organ Donor, Bionic ear, Hart walker & child mobility, Hearing Dogs, Diabetes research. Our support to Victorian & Australian Lions Foundations helps many others.

IN APPRECIATION

In recognition of the contribution of the Lions Clubs of Turkey, especially Lion Dr. Enzar Tore, in providing free web page hosting for Lions Clubs everywhere, the Lions Club of KERANG Inc. proudly displays the flag of Turkey on our site.
Click on the flag to go to the web site of Lion Dr. Enzar's home club - the Lions Club of Canakkale.

As an extension to the Turkish Lions' contribution, the Brisbane Ekibin Lions Club of MD 201 Q1 (Australia) offer assistance to Lions Clubs who want to take advantage of the Turkish Lions offer, but are not familiar with web publishing. They've already set up many sites for Lions Clubs world-wide, using Lionwap.
If your club wants to be on the internet, and would like some help, leave a message in the Ekibin Guest Book by clicking on the image above. This is a FREE SERVICE, so you don't spend a cent for their work. As Lionwap is also FREE, this means you get a web site that you NEVER have to pay for. - Is that a deal or what?
All your Club has to do it have some-one update and maintain your page, which needs not take more than a few minutes each month. The Ekibin Lions will even give you some tips on that!