The Kindra Park Trustees congratulate Brett Robinson and Greg Mangelsdorf for their volunteer work in constructing two shelters on the western side of the Kindra Park Junior / Cricket Oval for players and sport spectators to avoid rain and sizzling hot days.

Brett and Greg donated their time and skills towards the construction and they saved the Kindra Park Trustees thousands of dollars.

The Coolamon Rovers Football Club, under ground maintenance subcommittee chairman Brian Buchanan, has arranged for the old siren box and coaches boxes to be demolished and replaced by a corporate box, a media room and a new timekeepers box for life member and long-standing timekeeper Jimmy Crocker.

The ground floor will house the groundsman’s equipment including mower with a separate room for game day equipment, two coaches boxes with shelter for the coaching staff, reserves, strappers etc. will be built adjacent to the main structure.

As temperatures soar and reach new records all over the country, please remember that dogs should never be left in parked vehicles, which can become death traps in a matter of minutes.

Even on a mild, 25-degree day, the temperature inside a car parked in the shade can soar to between 37 and 50 degrees in minutes, and on a 30-degree day, the temperature can reach 70 degrees in less than 10 minutes. Leaving the windows cracked (or even halfway down) and/or leaving water in the vehicle will not keep animals comfortable or safe.

With only hot air to breathe, dogs can succumb to heatstroke in as little as 15 minutes, resulting in brain damage or death. 

Please, when it’s warm outside, leave animals at home. If you see a dog left in a car, have the car's owner paged at nearby stores or call 000 immediately.

Each year on Australia Day, we come together to celebrate living and being part of this nation, a multicultural nation, a nation expanding and thriving on accepting people of all different races, cultures and backgrounds. However, this year I am asking you to look at multiculturalism from a different angle.

While multiculturalism describes the values and beliefs we hold close, this term can be divisive in nature. Multiculturalism recognises the differences in background, skin colour and lifestyle and asks us to accept them.

Instead of multiculturalism, a term which focuses on the differences of our country and our people, I implore you to focus more on a common humanity. We all have this, yet no one celebrates what we have in common, we instead focus on our differences.

The key to acceptance and harmony is both; finding similarities, and accepting differences. Neither are more important and having one without the other creates an imbalance which grows into disconnection with community, feelings of being unwelcome and isolation.

Our country is diverse, and we should celebrate that. But we should celebrate not just the diversity of our friends, family and neighbours; we should celebrate our common humanity. Australia will continue to develop, it is up to you to develop with it.