“HILLTOPS IS JUST A FANTASY”
Dear Editor
In a recent letter to The Editor (Tuesday September 6) Derrick Mason made numerous statements about the use of the name ‘Hilltops’.
In this letter he claimed Hilltops was a “fantasy”, an “invention” with “no significant history”.
These claims are incorrect and inaccurate.
The name ‘Hilltops’ was chosen for the merged Councils of Boorowa, Harden and Young because the region already existed.
The word ‘Hilltops’ was used by the ‘Hilltops Vignerons Association’ which had its first meeting on August 4, 1983 and the Hilltops Wine region was officially recognised and gazetted in 1995 as a regional grape growing and wine producing area.
It is a designated area on the map surrounding the towns of Boorowa, Harden and Young with specific map references which can be supplied to Mr Mason if he is interested in the reality of Hilltops.
Wines from this cool climate region are recognised for their quality and variety.
There are TWO functioning groups which use the Hilltops name to help promote both the region and the produce from the region, namely, Hilltops Incorporated (grape and wine producers), and Hilltops Harvest NSW (tourism, food and hospitality).
So, the statement by Mr Mason that “Hilltops means nothing except as being a hastily scrabbled together excuse for a clutch of councils involved in a shotgun wedding” is totally incorrect and inaccurate.
Terry Mulligan (Hilltops Inc. Secretary)
Emergency Services Week
Dear Editor
A staggering one in three of people reading this letter will face at least one natural disaster in their lifetime. And after the disaster hits, sadly there’s one thing most will also experience.
Regret about not being better prepared.
In Emergency Preparedness Week, Red Cross is calling on all Australians to take action before it’s too late. We want all Australians to be prepared for an emergency, whether it’s as large as a bushfire, cyclone or flood, or as personal as a family crisis .
Too many conversations after an emergency begin with “I wish I had…”. People wish they’d taken the kids’ baby photographs; kept their passports safe; upped their insurance; looked in on their neighbours.
For decades, we’ve seen first-hand the trauma, stress, and hardship that disasters bring; things many of us just aren’t prepared for like anxiety, grief and loss, relationship problems, and financial hardship that can go on for many years.
Download your RediPlan at redcross.org.au/prepare and get prepared.
Jody Broun
New South Wales Director, Australian Red Cross
Farmers Survey
Farmers are known for telling a ripping yarn. They can conjure images of a bubbling creek, wheat crops rippling in the wind and apricot pink sunsets. They get their listener’s heart racing with tales of chasing micky bulls.
It can be more difficult to tell the hard stories.
The Australian Farmer Climate Survey is reaching out to farmers to collect their stories and views on the impacts of climate change.
To take part visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/farmers_survey
Anika Molesworth
