Mother asking for help after son attacked by dog in Mt Tarcoola

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A local mother has reached out to EG asking for help from the community after her son was bitten this morning by a dog. 

If you know anything or can assist, please email Everything Geraldton geraldton@justeverything.com.au and we will pass your info along. 

"IMPORTANT!!!! If anyone was in the Tarcoola area near the park and the shops around 7am this morning and saw a lady in her late 50's early 60's with brownish red short hair walking 2 dogs one white and one golden/ginger, I would LOVE TO KNOW. One of her dogs bit my 19 month old son on the face while he was getting on the slide at A CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND!!!! She didn't even say sorry to my husband, she said "dogs will be in the naughty corner" and rushed off. My husband obviously caring for our son and running home with him to get to the hospital, didn't get a chance to get any information from the lady. So please if anyone knows/saw her could you please let me know. A dog biting any child is a serious problem, and I do not want this to happen to any other children!!!!"

10am- Update from the mum: "Thank you so much to everyone for the comments and Shares. We think we have found her. Just waiting on the Rangers to call me back to make a report now. Thanks again. And our little man is doing good. Just some butterfly stitches and some antibiotics, but it will leave 2 scars on his face. I just don't want this to happen to any other children, or any human for that matter."

1:00pm update: 

The owner of the dog from this morning's incident has expressed their regret over what happened:

"As the dog owner involved in the incident this morning I would like to express my deepest regret that such a thing happened. Although I did express my most fulsome apologies at the time I understand that this may not have been recalled. I have taken every measure I can at this point, to address the situation and will take all measures to ensure that this cannot happen again. The event was extremely unexpected, however I will not ever again put the dog or another person in any situation where there could be the slightest risk from the dog. The incident caused me great distress afterwards and I would have liked to speak with the mother and father. However I respect their feelings and again offer my most heartfelt regret to all concerned."

Part of Northgate Shops closed Wednesday.

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ATTENTION

Northgate will be closed tomorrow in certain areas due to urgent maintenance works. Entrance to the centre will be from the South Tower by Escape Travel / Liquorland.

Northgate anticipates normal trade to resume as soon as practical.

For all queries please contact Centre Management on (08) 9921 6975

Northgate Shopping Centre staff have expressed their sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Trees causing damage to carpark to be replaced

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COMMUNITY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Removal of trees on Carpark #3 - Anzac Terrace

The City of Greater Geraldton wishes to advise it will be removing the trees in Carpark #3 on Anzac Terrace on 8 and 9 March 2016.

Although the City is always reluctant to remove trees as they add to the liveability of our community, the trees located along Durlacher Street have caused considerable damage to the carpark. They will be replaced with trees more suitable to this type of urban environment.

The tree removal is part of the carpark renewal works being undertaken in Carpark #3.  Although the City will endeavour to keep the carpark open, it may be closed for short periods of time.

Motorists and pedestrians are requested to exercise caution and obey all warning signs and directions from authorised City personnel and contractors.

The City apologises for any inconvenience these works may cause.

If you have any queries regarding the renewal works please contact Graham Smith Reserves Supervisor on 08 9956 6600 or email council@cgg.wa.gov.au.

Woman charged after trespassing at Geraldton Police Station

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At about 6.30pm on Sunday the 6th of March 2016, a 34 year old Geraldton female entered the rear secure compound of the Geraldton Police Station after a vehicle exited the gate.

The female walked to over to Police officers personal vehicles and began looking in through the windows.

Two Police officers in the car park at the time witnessed the offender looking into the vehicles, the offender saw the 2 officers watching her as a result she ran out the rear gate and was apprehended a short distance away.

The female was escorted back to the Geraldton Police Station where she was arrested and charged. Her bail was refused in regards to a breach of bail condition.

The offender appeared in Geraldton Magistrates Court on Monday the 7th of March and was remanded in custody to reappear on Thursday the 10th of March 2016. 

13 and 18 year old girls arrested following Saturday's high speed chase; adult male still wanted for questioning

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Thanks Linda for sharing image via GNW. 

Much of Geraldton heard the high speed chase on Saturday evening throughout town. Police say they are still looking for an adult male regarding the incident, but they have arrested and charged a 13 year old female and an 18 year old female with stealing a motor vehicle. Full press release from Police follows. 

Stolen vehicle and pursuit ends in arrests.

At about 9.25pm on Saturday the 5th of March 2016, Police observed a stolen Nissan Patrol on Chapman Road in Bluff Point.

The police officers activated their emergency lights and sirens however the driver of the stolen vehicle refused to stop.

The stolen vehicle was pursued through multiple suburbs of Geraldton before the driver drove through bushland in Utakarra and Police aborted the pursuit.

The vehicle was located a short time later abandoned at the address it had been stolen from. The area was cordoned off by police and the Police dog was deployed, two female offenders were arrested nearby. An adult male is wanted for questioning in relation to the incident.

A 13 year old female from Utakarra and an 18 year female from Moonyoonooka were charged and released to bail.
Charge: 1 X Steal motor vehicle. 

Sent in: High speed chase around rangeway Karloo area 5 paddy wagons chasing a 4x4 driving with no head lights, just a heads up for people to watch out for the idiot

Posted by Everything Geraldton on Saturday, March 5, 2016

This Rangeway man stabbed and glassed a victim, and threatened others with a baseball bat, according to Police

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In the early hours of the 16th of February 2016, a 40 year old Rangeway male attended a Bluff Point residence.

It will be alleged the male person picked up a large kitchen knife and entered a rear bedroom of the house where a 41 year old male known to the alleged offender was lying on a mattress on the floor.

The 40 year old approached the victim and stabbed him twice in the upper arm with the kitchen knife causing deep lacerations.

It will be further alleged, the offender picked up a drinking glass off a cupboard and threw it towards the victim’s face however the victim raised his injured arm stopping the glass impacting his head. The glass smashed which caused large lacerations to the victim’s forearm area.

The alleged offender left the address prior to police arrival.

The victim was initially treated for his injuries at Geraldton Regional Hospital before being flown to Royal Perth Hospital for surgery on his arm.

It will be further alleged in the early evening of 2nd of March 2016, the offender attended a residence in Rangeway armed with a small baseball bat.

He entered the residence via an unlocked rear door and threatened the male and female occupants who were known to him.

The alleged offender left the address and was arrested by Police on the 4th of March 2016 at another Rangeway address.

He was charged with:

2 x Unlawful wounding

2 x Going armed in a way that may cause fear

1 x Aggravated Burglary and commit offence

The 40 year old appeared in court on Saturday the 5th of March and was remanded in custody to reappear in Court on the 8th of March 2016. 

Fascinating look beneath the waves by a local crayfisher

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This video was produced by Chris Lewis from ABC Open Midwest.  

It's a beautiful and fascinating look at what goes on under the surface with footage taken by local crayfisher Zack Mankelow.  

Set to a beautiful sound track, and with interview footage of Zack the video shows some absolutely stunning marine life. Keep an eye out for the very rare Sun Fish that Zack managed to video. 

The Batavia Story needs to be told - Russell Crowe may be the man that will do it

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Attendees at the CEDA Conference held in Geraldton last week were treated to an account of the gruesome true story of shipwreck, sex, slavery and mass murder that is the ‘Batavia’ by the man who wrote the book – columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun-Herald - Peter Fitzsimons.

Brought to Geraldton by the Mid West Development Commission as Keynote Speaker for the conference, Mr Fitzsimons highlighted that the Mid West could put itself on the global stage through the telling of Australia’s best story. He also alluded to the fact that he was in the process of negotiating the rights of his book on the ‘Batavia’ to become a film to non-other than Academy Award winning Australian actor Russell Crowe.

On the subject of opening up of the Abrolhos Islands for tourism, Mr Fitzsimons said that it was a great opportunity for the region and that it was important to ensure that its existing charm be maintained.

The eco and sustainable development of the Abrolhos Islands is one of six key tourism opportunities that was identified as having the potential to accelerate the Mid West economy in the Mid West Tourism Development Strategy. The strategy was a direct result of the Mid West Regional Blueprint. The first of the six opportunities identified in the strategy is already well underway with the construction of the Kalbarri Skywalks due for completion by June 2017.

Department of Regional Development Director General Ralph Addis, Mid West Development Commission Chair Murray Criddle, Peter Fitzsimons and Commission Chief Executive Officer Gavin Treasure.

Help wanted to identify suspects following break in

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An upset local resident is reaching out to fellow locals with the hope someone will be able to identify the people pictured. If you recognise the people in these images please call Geraldton Police on 9923 4555. 

"If anyone knows these ppl can u please give all info to the police! Been broken into tonight! Please share!"

Sadly, this house was also reported as being robbed in January. You may recall the burglars at that time spent a lot of energy kicking in the door. 

Gallery of images from Geraldton Monster trucks event 2016

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If you'd like to add your images below, email them to geraldton@justeverything.com.au

These graphs explain why your internet gets so frickin' slow every afternoon

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So you finally got NBN and expected to have blazing fast download speeds. Perhaps you even paid the big money to your ISP (internet service provider) to get the top speeds.

But Internet service providers have been struggling to keep up with the incredibly high demand for online video all around our nation. 

The problems are widely documents (link)(link), but despite providing you a much slower speed than what you're paying for, ISP's like iiNet don't seem to mind taking the full payment from you each month. 

But is there really THAT MUCH video content being downloaded?

Here are some of graphs from Google that show how much their YouTube service ramps up as soon as kids start getting home from school. 

This is JUST YOUTUBE. You can see after 4pm usage doubles compared to what it is during business hours. Add to this the huge popularity of Netflix, and the fact that some ISP's like iiNet don't even count Netflix usage towards customer's monthly download quota, and you can see why the ISP's are basically clogged. (Note, Geraldton's local ISP Node1 seems to be coping well with the spike in demand. More about them below.)

Telstra have admitted video is causing massive demands on their network too (link). They've seen a crazy 42% increase in data usage in just 12 months, and now over 50% of their mobile network data usage is for video content. 

The Netflix effect is having a huge impact on the NBN network already. And in the US the effect is even more drastic, a sign of things to come. Already more than a third of US prime time internet traffic is just from Netflix. 

The death of television

It's no secret that TV viewership in Australia has been tumbling for some time now (link) (link)(link). In fact, around half of all free-to-air TV watchers are now over 50. In the coveted 25-34 demographic, a whopping 20.7% watch NO FREE TO AIR TV. 

Tim Martin, General Manager – Media, at Roy Morgan Research, says:

"Commercial TV is now unable to reach around a fifth of all 14-34 year-olds, and the trend looks set to continue. In another seven years, it might well be a third. Already the very idea of ‘seeing what’s on TV’ at a particular time is beginning to seem a little archaic next to the massive libraries of niche, personally appealing content ready—by definition—on demand."

If you have kids older than three, chances are a tablet has replaced their TV.

Speaking first hand, I can tell you my 8 and 5 year olds would rather watch gamers on YouTube any day of the week, than flick the channels on traditional TV. I could tell you who Stampy Longnose and The Diamond Minecart are, but I have no idea who the news anchors for GWN7, WIN or anyone else are. In fact, our TV hasn't had the aerial connected for 8 months now, and no-one in the house has complained. Between ABC iView, Netflix, YouTube and the occasional iTunes movie, we haven't even missed "traditional" TV. Any news worth seeing will appear in my Twitter or Facebook feeds way before it's on TV, or there's a few apps that keep me in the loop that I like such as the New York Times, Feedly, and the Everything Geraldton app (of course). 

There's no way my children and grandchildren will be content to sit in front of the idiot box and just watch whatever comes on. The ability to enjoy exactly what interests them, exactly when it suits them, is something they will take for granted. 

Here's hoping the ISP's will keep up with the demand. While it's understandable that they're struggling to cope under the huge spike in video demand, it's still frustrating to be given internet speeds much lower that what you're paying for each month. 

One last interesting titbit if you're wondering which ISP will be able to keep up with your home's online video demands... 

Netflix published stats each month comparing the speeds at which each network delivers their content. It's a clever way of encouraging said ISP's to make sure Netflix content is delivered into homes as quickly as possible. 

The numbers are all embarrassingly low though; it really is a choice between the lesser of evils. 

One other option...

Many locals don't realise that Geraldton actually has a LOCAL ISP, Node1 Internet. I can't tell you how many times it's been a massive relief to have a local office with local people to deal with when there's been technical issues to resolve. Whenever people contact us asking who to use for Internet we recommend Node1. And that's based on having used most of the others too. 

I highly recommend you check them out. They offer NBN of course, give great customer service, and even have other high speed internet options if your home isn't yet connected to the NBN. 

Their phone number is 9964 5464. 

Warning shared as thieves try to get in through roof tiles

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An Everything Geraldton reader shared this image earlier this evening. If you can assist police or see anything suspicious call them on 99234555.  

 "Drummond Cove residents BEWARE !! My mum's house this afternoon when thieves tried to get in through the roof!!  She heard the banging and they probably didn't know she was home at the time.  Please be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to local police who are currently investigating."

- Gabrielle

Regional Capitals Recognised in National Infrastructure Plan

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Infrastructure Australia has recently released its first long-term Australian Infrastructure Plan which means for the first time, a clear role for Australia’s regional capital cities was identified. 

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor and Deputy Chair of Regional Capitals Australia Shane Van Styn said the new plan being released was not surprising. 

“Australia’s regional capital cities jointly generate $225 billion every year – that is more than 15 per cent of national economic activity,” he said. 

“Additionally, nearly eight million people – or one-third of Australians - reside in or access the services and infrastructure located in a regional capital. 

“I agree with Infrastructure Australia that regional capitals, like Greater Geraldton should be considered national economic assets.  

“Equally, I agree with the report’s recommendation that growing regional capital cities should be efficient, liveable and productive centres that are a priority for the Australian Government,” he added. 

To enable this growth to occur Infrastructure Australia also recommended that long-term infrastructure plans should be created for regional Australia. 

Regional Capitals Australia (RCA), an alliance of 30 regional councils – which the City of Greater Geraldton is an active member, has been making this case for some time. 

“We know that for any regional infrastructure plan to be successful, a key component will be identifying the infrastructure needs of regional capital cities,” Mayor Van Styn said. 

“Investing in better productivity infrastructure in these cities will continue to add billions of dollars to the country’s bottom line. 

“Together with my RCA colleagues, we are calling for the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development to build a list of national strategic projects in regional capitals that boosts the productivity and increases the liveability of cities. 

“Once this is done, we recommend that a Regional Capitals Productivity Fund be created to ensure these projects are funded.” 

With national benefits to this action, Infrastructure Australia recommends that part of the solution to turning the tide on Australia’s $53 billion congestion bill is fostering long-term population growth in Australia’s smaller cities in a bid to ease the squeeze on infrastructure in the five metropolitan cities. 

“For population growth to occur in regional capitals, the Government must invest accordingly,” said Mayor Van Styn.

“Investing in the right infrastructure in regional capitals will contribute directly to Greater Geraldton’s economy, providing jobs, increasing value-add spending in our service sector and the availability of skills in the region.”

The new Minister assisting the Prime Minister on Cities, the Hon Angus Taylor, has made positive comments that regional capitals are “absolutely squarely” in focus for the government’s thinking about cities. 

“We are calling on the government to ensure there is also strong consideration to plan for infrastructure that will continue to make all our regional capital cities, liveable, competitive and productive for the benefit of our residents and for all Australians.”

Breakfast in the Park with Paul Brown and The Friends of Point Moore

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"You are invited to attend a free ‘Breakfast in the Park’ with Paul Brown MP and City of Greater Geraldton Mayor, Shane Van Styn, at 8am on Sunday 6 March at Coxswains Park, Point Moore, along with representatives from the Friends of Point Moore Incorporated.

"A petition to Parliament will be circulated on the day, calling on the Minister to allow residents of Point Moore to continue to be able to live a life of quiet enjoyment in their beach cottages.

"A gold coin donation will go to Chrysalis Women’s Refuge."

​

New school guide offers hundreds of programmes for young innovators

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School students in Durack will have unprecedented access to more than 250 entrepreneurial, science, digital technology, engineering and mathematics programmes with the release of a new guide.

SPI (STEM Programme Index) 2016 is effectively a one-stop catalogue of innovative initiatives provided by business, universities, government and non-government agencies.

The workshops, competitions and a range of other activities – delivered in-class, online, after school or during holidays – cater to today’s evolving student schedules and learning practices.
“Many of the jobs of the future do not yet exist,” Ms Price said.

“While on the one hand that may sound a little scary, it’s also a time of tremendous excitement and opportunity.

“We owe it to our young people, the future drivers of prosperity, to embed the skills they need not just to survive but to thrive in our transitioning economy.

“That means a cultural shift to embracing innovation and entrepreneurialism from early childhood to high school and positioning our classrooms at the cutting edge of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).”

Ms Price said SPI 2016 was compiled by the Australian Industry Group and the Office of the Chief Scientist, as part of the STEM Skills Partnerships programme.

Ms Price said copies of the guide would soon be distributed to local schools.

“It’s an invaluable kick-starter, bringing together hundreds of inventive programmes from agencies and organisations with a flair and passion for innovation,” Ms Price said.

“I urge all local principals and school leaders to get involved in these great opportunities as we prepare, encourage and motivate our students of today to be the innovators of tomorrow.”
SPI 2016 can be downloaded at chiefscientist.gov.au

Fantastic new learning facilities for Geraldton - video

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Yesterday, Thursday March 3 2016, Durack Institute of Technology officially opened three fantastic new facilities.

  • Health, Education and Community Services Facility
  • Aboriginal Learning Centre
  • Evolution Hair, Beauty and Massage Training salon

Hon. Liza Harvey and Hon. Terry Redman MLA were in attendance for the opening, along with staff, students and others. Check out the short video above, which gives a brief look at these great new assets for our community.