Angela4Lyons

10/02/2025

Thank you Tasmania JackJumpers, players, coach Roth, staff, management and all of the team behind the team.

The last home teal game for NBL 25 season encapsulated all that is wonderful and good about the community engagement culture of the Tasmania JackJumpers club and the enjoyment the JackJumpers bring to so many.

A fantastic display of the core values, hard-work and teamwork and “grit and grind” to “defend the island” not only to win that last game but raise awareness and funds for S.H.E. : Support, Hope and Education for gynaecological cancers.

What a special 4 years it has been and may it continue well on into the future.

Thank you

Go Jackies Go 💚🐜🏀💛🐜🏀

05/02/2025

Please say hello next time you see me out and about!

BTW I am at the Evandale market most Saturdays. You can also email ([email protected]) or phone me ( 0409 319 405) if you wish to discuss a local issue with me.

01/02/2025

Fun fact # 75

Today along with an estimated 1400 others I attended a rally at Carlton beach saying no to the expansion offshore commercial salmon fish farming pens and a potential threat to the critically endangered red handfish.

Brachionichythys Politis, Red handfish, grow up to 15 cm long and have skin covered with denticles which are tooth like scales.
So called because they are crimson coloured and have distinctive modified pectoral fins that resemble human hands which they use to “walk” across the sea floor. Handfish lack a swim bladder for buoyancy and swimming.

A not so fun fact is that it is estimated that there is less than 100 red handfish left in the wild living on two small sections of reef in south eastern Tasmania in Frederick Henry Bay.

Red handfish are classified as critically endangered affected by habitat degradation from one or a combination of threats; introduced species, pollution and siltation, increasing water temperatures (climate change), the proliferation of other native species, ? overgrazing of kelp and sea grass.
So endangered are they that two captive breeding programs have been established that the federal government is co-funding, and there has been some early success.

24/01/2025

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Meander Valley Celebrating Community and Volunteer Awards Event.

What a wonderful evening.

A big congratulations to all of those nominated and awarded and welcome our newest citizens to this beautiful part of the world - the Meander Valley, Tasmania, Australia.

Truly an evening of community, connection and celebration.

It was such a great event so well run and organised from design, staging, presentations, fabulous fresh food (berries, ice cream, veges and dips and BBQ), singing and music, smoking ceremony, sample croquet and bowls outside on the Westbury Village Green.

Put this one in your diary for next year.

17/01/2025

Fun fact # 73

I’ve just finished “letterboxing” the far S.E. of Lyons-the Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas.

The Aboriginal inhabitants of this area preceding European arrival were the Pydairrerme people.
It was on the shores of the Forestier peninsula that the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman claimed possession of the land for Prince Frederick Henrijk 3rd Dec 1642 naming the territory Van Diemen’s Land after the Governor of Batavia.
The peninsulas are spectacularly beautiful with wide bays, cliffs and coves, rolling eucalypt forested hills and white sandy beaches. The area has a rich convict heritage with the historic remains of penal outposts including Port Arthur, bay whaling activities in the 1830s and 1840s, timber milling from early settlement times utilising the abundant local resource and the apple and pear orchard industry which reached its peak in the 1950s.
Tourism is now the major industry.

Dunalley is a fishing village at the northern end of the Forestier Peninsula established around the man-made Denison canal built in 1902.
Murdunna, the name believed to come from the local indigenous word meaning “place of the stars”, is the only town on the Forestier Peninsula.
Eaglehawk Neck with its cliff top lookout and white Sandy beach is a narrow (less than 100m wide) isthmus that joins the peninsulas. During penal settlement days dogs were chained across the isthmus to deter them from attempting a land escape.
Taranna on the Tasman Peninsula shipped timber to mainland Australia and England. The Norfolk Bay Convict Station at Taranna was built by convicts in the 1830s from bricks made at Port Arthur. Originally the Commissariat Store it became the Tasman Hotel after the closure of the penal settlement in 1877 and after that a guest house.
Nubeena township is now the administrative and service centre for the district. Nubeena is believed to be the local indigenous name for crayfish.

Visiting the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas to letterbox and understand better the issues concerning residents and affecting the environment and animals in this spectacularly beautiful far south eastern part of Lyons, I’ve learnt that most residents must have post office boxes as apart from roadside rural boxes (and it is too dangerous to stop at most) there really was only a line of letterboxes at Taranna!

14/01/2025

An election will be called soon - and I am preparing for the campaign! As an independent I will need your help to succeed.

If you have time to help make posters or print leaflets, have space for a re-purposed corflute on your fence, can letter-box or hand out how-to-vote cards at a polling booth please contact me or sign-up on my webpage https://angelaofford.com.au/get-involved/

OR if you can assist with my social media/photography - please get in touch!

11/01/2025

Fun fact # 72

Triabunna, south of Swansea, is a coastal town (population 905, 565 private dwellings/ 395 occupied) in the Glamorgan Spring Bay LGA. Triabunna is the second largest township on the east coast after St Helens.
Established as a garrison port town in 1830 for the penal colony at nearby Maria Island, Triabunna is Australia’s first rural municipality.

Triabunna is the Aboriginal word for the endemic Tasmanian native hen- a fast running flightless bird with a bright red eye found only in Tasmania and affectionately known as “turbo chooks”.

The town is bordered by Spring Bay at the mouth of MacCleans Creek and Vickerys Rivulet, beaches, hills and eucalypt forest.
Fishing, sailing, surfing, diving and bushwalking activities are popular in the area.
Triabunna is the departure point to Maria Island which is a wildlife sanctuary with historic ruins, sweeping bays and dramatic cliffs.

The sandstone St Mary’s Anglican Church (1880) and the Spring Bay Hotel (1838) are surviving historic buildings from Tasmania’s colonial period.

11/01/2025

Fun fact # 71

Bicheno (population 1,049, 983 private dwellings/447 occupied) is primarily a fishing port and coastal holiday town in the Glamorgan Spring Bay LGA.

The town was named after James Ebenezer Bicheno, the British Colonial Secretary for Van Diemen’s Land 1843-1851.
Waub’s Harbour was named after an Aboriginal woman Waubbedebr who rescued two sailors in the early 1800s.
Waub’s Harbour was the location for shore-based whaling stations in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Coal was discovered in the nearby Denison River in 1848 and for a short time the harbour served as a coal port then most people left for the gold rush.

Today farming continues in the hinterland and Bicheno is known for fishing, scuba diving, swimming, bushwalking’s and swimming in the nearby Douglas-Aspley and Frycinet National Parks.

11/01/2025

Fun fact # 70

Falmouth on the east coast south of Scamander, north-east of St Mary’s, is a small (population 131, 117 private dwellings/62 occupied 2021 Census) coastal community in the Break O’Day LGA.
The name is believed to be derived from the Cornish port of Falmouth in England.

The first European settlers in the area were Captain John Henderson and William Steele in 1829.
William Steele’s nephew built the large Victorian homestead just outside of Falmouth, Enstone Park, now owned by Enstone Park Pastoral Co.

In the 1840s there was a probation station housing 150 convicts built at Falmouth who built St Mary’s pass.
The Break O’Day council are considering plans for an alternate route as the road is narrow and dangerous and blocked by land slip and rockfall on an annual basis.

Falmouth is a popular holiday spot by low cliffs, Henderson Lagoon (an important wetland bird breeding area) and Steel beach- great for swimming, surfing, walking and bird watching.

07/01/2025

There will be an election soon!

I do need your help to run a good campaign and welcome your support in any way that you can.

Talk to your colleagues, follow me on facebook angela4lyons (link) and comment and share my posts with family and friends.

Would you like to participate and be part of the campaign?

No matter how much time you have to offer there is a role for you.

Volunteer activities include letter boxing, door knocking, printing, repurposing corflutes, hosting a corflute in a high traffic area, putting up flyers and signs, market stalls, fundraising activities, help with digital media, organising events and a myriad of other things!

Let me know how you would like to become involved.

Please get in touch if you want to get involved in my campaign.

Please share this post!

I am your independent candidate for LYONS - working for you- NOT working for Billionaires!

03/01/2025

I am running as your independent candidate in the next election. Why? because I am passionate about where we live and how we live and good governance.

https://angelaofford.com.au/angela-offord-about/

I am your independent candidate for LYONS - working for you- NOT working for Billionaires!

03/01/2025

Fun fact # 69

Binalong Bay, population 329 (2021 Census), is a small coastal community, originally a fishing hamlet, 12 km north-east of the town St Helens.

Situated at the southern end of the truly breathtaking Bay of Fires/larapuna the coastal village has a large proportion of holiday dwellings.
It has a beautiful beach, small harbour known as “the gulch” and a cafe affording spectacular views.

The Bay of Fires extends from Binalong Bay north to Eddystone Point. The bay was named by the British navigator Captain Tobias Furneaux in 1773 when he noticed fires along the coast.

The Bay of Fires was a meeting place for Aboriginal family groups such as Panpe-kanner, Leener-rerter and Pinter-rairer.

Whaling activities were carried out here in the 1840s.

The Bay of Fires is my favourite area of coastline in the world. Nothing else is comparable to the squeaky fine white sandy beaches, crystal clear azure waters and orange lichen covered granite boulders. Most times of the year wild animal and bird footprints are your only companions on the beach and if you are lucky a pod of dolphins just offshore.

The coastal heathland and dry sclerophyll forest flanking the Bay of Fires provide habitat for wallabies, possums, wombats, the Forester kangaroo, Spotted tail quolls and Tasmanian devils.
The critically endangered swift parrot return to Tasmania in the warmer months from Victoria and NSW to breed in the blue gum forests of the Bay of Fires hinterland and feed on the nectar of blue gum flowers.

03/01/2025

Fun fact # 68

Beaumaris (named after the Welsh town) population 289 (2021 Census) is a small beachside community on the north east coast between Scamander and St Helens.

The Tasman Sea forms the eastern boundary while the ridge line of the Skyline Tier forms most of the western boundary of Beaumaris.

The area is known for its surfing and beach fishing.

30/12/2024

New year - new web page!

Https://angelaofford.com.au

My name is Angela Offord. I live in the beautiful Northern Midlands within the largest Tasmanian electorate of Lyons. As a veterinarian for 33 years, I have worked hard to improve animal health and welfare while also working for the veterinary professional body for 20 years. So, I have learnt the va...

29/12/2024

Fun fact # 68

Values are important: just to reiterate:

Go JJs Go

💚🐜🏀💛💚🐜🏀💛

I love the values of the Tasmania JackJumpers, they are what makes them a beloved team : community, hard work, perserverance, resilience, never giving up (even though this makes for incredibly stressful watching), “grit and grind”, application and belief, collaborative team work and decision making for the benefit of the group. Humbleness.

Go Jackies Go

28/12/2024

Fun fact # 67

Finished letterboxing beautiful Scamander population 803 ABS 2021 Census.

Scamander holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Tasmania at 42.2 C in 2009.

The spectacularly beautiful east coastal town sits at the mouth of the Scamander River between St Helens and St Marys.
Nature reserves with more than 80 different species of marshland and woodland birds line the banks of the river and white sandy ocean beach.
Scamander is a fresh and saltwater anglers, surfers, swimmers, walkers, mountain bike riders, bird watchers and campers paradise.

The river was originally named Borthwick by the first Europeans to explore the area and the town named Yarmouth after a city in Britain in 1825.
The river and town were later renamed Scamander. The Scamander River was the river that surrounded Troy named after the river god Scamander in Greek mythology.

22/12/2024

Fun fact # 66

St Helens population 2,206 (2021 Census) is the largest east coastal town in Lyons and
is in the Break O’Day LGA.

Lyons has to encompass the widest demographic and be one of the most scenic and beautiful electorates in Australia. From rural Central Highlands, Railton, Sheffield and the Midlands towns and surrounding farmlands to the southern suburbs of Launceston and northern suburbs of Hobart out to the eastcoast and down to the Tasman Peninsula.
Where else in Australia could you spend two days letterboxing and see a tractor driven by Santa, geothermal springs and waterfalls followed by fishing boats, surfers and tourists and a seal frolicking in Georges Bay?

16/12/2024

Fun fact # 65

Sheffield, The Town of Murals, and Railton, The Town of Topiary, are located in the NW tip of Lyons in the Kentish LGA.

The scenic rural town of Sheffield had a population of 1,195 (and a lot of rabbits) at the 2021 census with 508 occupied dwellings which I’ll be letterboxing Saturday 7th and Wednesday 11th December.
My Roland towers magestically over the town at 1,234 m above sea level.

Settled in 1859 and named after the town in England, the area is well known for its dairy farming (high butterfat content) and lamb and beef production.The town was a former hub of the hydroelectric scheme and has reinvented itself as The Town of Murals with a thriving arts community. There are more than 160 murals depicting local stories and characters.
One of my favourite murals features Dr Leslie Sender who set up his practice at home in High St where he was on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year- sounds very much like the last generation of veterinary practitioners now retired. “He was at times dental assistant to his wife, many specialists rolled into one, even a vet on occasion!…No nurse, no secretary, no appointments”