Agenda item

Remembering the June 2021 Storm - Third Anniversary

The Major read the following statement:

Council wishes to acknowledge the third anniversary since the June 2021 storm. On 9 and 10 June 2021, almost 200 properties were damaged, 81 were uninhabitable, tens of thousands of trees fell, blocking roads and bringing down telephone and powers lines and left thousands without heating, phone or internet connection for weeks.  

While three years has passed, recovery is a long and complex process, especially when our residents have endured pandemic lockdowns at the time, and multiple other significant weather events since. Although some residents have completed their repairs, others from our community remain displaced across Melbourne until they can return home to the Hills.

Council recognises the tremendous support of our community groups who stood up immediately after the storm, as well as the new groups that formed because of it. Their ongoing support for each other continues to play a crucial role in our recovery efforts. Their collaborative work has not only strengthened but deeply connected our resilient Yarra Ranges community, ensuring that the bonds forged in adversity remain in place long term, in good times as well as those that challenge us. 

To remember the June 2021 Storm, Olinda-based artist Emma Jennings’ Stories of Giants Exhibition is on display at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum at 35-37 Castella St, Lilydale from Wednesday 5 June to Sunday 8 September 2024. We encourage residents to attend, to quietly reflect on their own experiences.

Emma Jennings’ Stories of Giants pays tribute to the remarkable individuals who rallied behind the Dandenong Ranges community after the storm struck.

Council officers are still able to assist any community members who are going through the rebuild process or need other social support. Contact 1300 368 333 if you need further assistance following this storm event.  

Vale Betty Marsden OAM

The Major read the following statement:

It is with much sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Betty Marsden OAM. Betty was a former Shire of Sherbrooke President, in the region that we now know as Yarra Ranges Council. She served as a Councillor for seven years. The Dandenong Ranges were a significant part of her life – she was the Chair of the Save the Dandenong League for an impressive 37 years before stepping into, as she said, a "less strenuous position".

While at Council she played a pivotal role in the decision to purchase the reserve we now know as Birdsland, in 1981. ln 1984, the reserve was opened to the public. She also worked with Councillors to have an upgraded Sherbrooke Road constructed without losing mature mountain ash trees - and worked with many others to help establish the Dandenong Ranges National Park.

She told the Star News in 2020 that she was proud of the amount that the Shire of Sherbrooke was able to achieve in the 1980s, in terms of protecting the natural environment and setting up planning schemes. Last year, she told them she was proud of the work of the league to preserve Sherbrooke Forest and Grants Picnic Ground, saying: "We've managed to keep the places in fairly good shape, trying to keep them for posterity so they won't get overrun by suburbia. To have that lovely forest not far from Melbourne is really quite an achievement."

ln 2011, she received an OAM for service to conservation and the environment, and to the community of the region. That same year, we at Yarra Ranges awarded Betty with the Mayor's Lifetime Achievement Award - which she had more than earned. Of course, this is just scraping the surface of what Betty achieved in her long, amazing life.

Last August, she celebrated her 93rd birthday.  She passed away at the Angliss Hospital with her son, John, by her side. Betty was a passionate advocate for the Dandenong Ranges through her life - she was always helpful, always ready to offer insight and expertise on environment and heritage issues. She was beloved in her groups, respected in her community, and revered by those of us who work to serve the public.

She was a beacon for environmentalists, for advocates and activists and our community is lesser for having lost her, but richer for the time she spent here. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge her significant, community shaping work, and extend our deep sympathies and condolences to her friends, her family, and all those privileged enough to share space with her.