Championing the Macdonald Valley
OUR PURPOSE
Championing the Macdonald Valley, our Home and our Sanctuary, to ensure our community is not forgotten, as no one should be discriminated against because of where they live.
OUR MISSION
To Protect, Enhance and Promote the Natural and Human Environment of the Macdonald Valley with its long rich history in a respectful and sustainable way.
The MVA acknowledges the Darkinjung people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the Macdonald (Gunanday) Valley and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
MVA Events
Events
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St Albans Folk Festival
St Albans NSW , AustraliaOperates throughout the village precinct. Contact the Festival Organisers for further details.
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ANZAC Day
St Albans NSW , AustraliaPublic Holiday
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St Albans Common Working Bee
St Albans CommonWorking bee dates for 2026 are every second Saturday of the month. Please bring a plate to share for morning tea. Lunch is provided. Please bring tractors, excavators, brush cutters,…
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St Albans Village Market
St Albans Village Market 2 Wharf St, St Albans, NSW, AustraliaMothers Day
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Events
If the rain this weekend is keeping you indoors and you would like something to occupy your mind and also help contribute to the future strategic direction of the Hawkesbury here is a link for public comment to Hawkesbury City Councils draft delivery program and operational plan. This document was compiled after extensive community consultation which included a session here in St Albans. Rosemary Scott and Linda Bracken went along to represent the MVA. Comments and feedback close on May 7. I’ll include in the comments below the shorter Community Plan document link which is a much shorter read.
Loooong cues coming down the hill backing up from people trying to cross using the Webbs Creek Ferry. Waiting time is approx 1.5hours to get onto the ferry. This could increase before It gets better. Alternate way potentially - Laughtendale Rd - take the main ferry at Wisemans and then Settlers Rd (which thank you to the great road crew has been graded this week 🤩)
LOTS of holiday traffic expected in the valley. Just a heads up, we have been told there will be a lot of holiday makers, many with a caravan coming for the Easter / school holidays break and we can expect some conjestion at peak times at Webbs Creek and possibly coming down the hill into Wisemans. Also, with so many tourists on the road can you keep an eye out for injured wildlife too please?
Congratulations to ‘Bits & Bobs’ for their stellar performance in winning the most recent MVA Trivia Night, hosted by the hardworking crew at The Pickled Wombat Many thanks to ‘The Quiz Masters’ for doing such a great job preparing for and running the evening. There are 3 more Trivia Nights planned for this year - 1 each quarter/season - so please look out for them, and book in early so you don’t miss out, as they are always well attended. This is just one of the ways your Macdonald Valley Association is caring for our community. @followers
End of Year Presentation for Australia’s best little school. 😍 I was fortunate to be asked to step in for Susan Templeman MP to present one of the prizes at this afternoons Macdonald Valley Public School and of year presentation day awards ceremony representing the Macdonald Valley Association. Congratulations to all the students for another wonderful year. And thank you to all the staff and community supporters of this unique and special school. Loved our wombat warrior collaboration with the students earlier in the year. (Linda Bracken - Macdonald Valley Association)
Last night's hard fought Trivia comp was won by the unbeatable Quizmasters team closely followed by The Know Eye Deers and then Speak Up. Once more, the oh so hard working crew at The Pickled Wombat did an amazing job of keeping everyone very well fed and watered. WELL DONE EVERYONE 👍👍👍👍👍👍
AGM + Endeavour Energy team feedback session ! Mark this Saturday in your diary for the Macdonald Valley Association AGM. This is your chance to get across all that the MVA have been doing over the last 12 months, including roads & ferries, Telecommunications, Connected and Prepared and Valley for Wildlife. SPECIAL FEATURE As we know, the valley experiences more than our share of power outages over the years with fires, floods and storms. We are fortunate that a number of Senior managers from Endeavour Energy are coming along on Saturday to discuss ways in which they are improving reliability and resilience of our electricity supply. They will share with recent work on the local network, and learnings about microgrids and hear our community’s feedback on services, whats working well, where they can do better. This is YOUR chance to meet some of the most senior folk at Endeavour right here in the valley and help us all work towards better services for our community. So come along from 10.30am at the School of Arts this coming Saturday and get involved in our beautiful community.
AN INVITATION To assist in promoting your Community Event to your target audience, and particularly to assist in avoiding date clashes, Macdonald Valley organisations are invited to view and/or submit entries on an MVA hosted Community Calendar of Local Events. Entries can only be submitted via the link at Pt 2 below.....and they are rolling in, so please do check for other entries while considering your preferred date/s. You can view the Community Calendar here: https://macdonaldvalleyassociation.org.au/community-events/ COMMUNITY CALENDAR USER GUIDELINES 1. Only true Community Events will be accepted for posting. Entries are for Macdonald Valley Community based organisations only, with no entries accepted for personal or business service offerings. This service is not for notifying the community of small or large private functions. 2. Requests to publish on the MVA website are only accepted by completing the template available via this link: : https://macdonaldvalleyassociation.org.au/events/community/add/ - which is also displayed in the introductory text on the Community Calendar page. 3. Only an authorized representative of each organisation should submit requests, and each individual community organisation accepts responsibility for the accuracy of each listing. 4. Online requests will be automatically forwarded via email to both the MVA President and the MVA Events Co-Ordinator – one of whom will review and then either post, or seek clarification within 48 hours. The ‘requester’ will receive a reply email to this effect. 5. Minor changes or cancellations to published Community Events should be notified via email to events@macdonaldvalleyassociation.org.au asap. @followers
Its time for Trivia again! Things will be a bit different this time – with the game being contributed and run by the MVA, and bookings direct to our hosts The Pickled Wombat. $10 pp cover charge - includes a drink and the Game, then buy dinner & drinks at the bar. Door opens 6.30 pm Game starts 7.00 pm Book direct with the Pickled Wombat at: http://www.thepickledwombat.com.au/trivia BOOK EARLY TO SECURE YOUR SEAT OR GROUP! Smaller groups will be added together on arrival to make a table of 8. Come along and join in the fun! The Pickled Wombat #wisemansferry Gunderman Locals @followers
Mobile rollout for the valley now reaches Central Macdonald! The program to provide mobile coverage for our valley continues with work now underway to install a Telstra mobile small cell facility in Central Mac. This will enhance the coverage we recently gained with the installations in the village and at Sunnyvale. It will have a broader range than the existing small one for the school. The importance of valley residents and visitors in being able to have mobile coverage is not just a convenience, but has significant benefits in times of emergencies. Indeed, a recent medical emergency in the area was made much easier to deal with effectively by being able to access some signal from the school's small mobile cell. This enabled emergency services to be contacted while people could stay with the person requiring help and also the Careflight medical team to call directly from the scene with the patient back to their base without having to run back to the chopper. The MVA has long been agitating for improved mobile services for our community and we are very grateful for the increased Susan Templeman MPlstra in recent years, and the support of Susan Templeman MP and her office. This mobile rollout is a Federal Government Initiative as part of the BlHawkesbury City Councilovery Program. We also acknowledge Hawkesbury City Council for their continued involvement and support. We will have more of an update on the rest of the program in our last newsletter of the year which will come out after our AGM and will be sent to all members. if you would like more information about this particular installation the Development Application is included here.
ADSL outage update. We have contacted Telstra management about the ongoing issue with some of the ADSL in the valley and this is what they have come back to us with (and we will keep you updated with anything more we hear from Telstra) “Our networks team are aware of a fibre issue that is causing the existing ADSL outage in St Albans, and the relevant teams are currently working to resolve this outage as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, we don't have an ETA at this stage, but we will let you know as soon as we get any further updates on expected restoration timeframes. We appreciate your understanding while we work to restore services.”
Bookings are filling up for the St Albans Common 2024 Fishing & Camp Oven Cooking Competitions - so get in now! Fri Nov 1 - Sun Nov 3 This is the only time during the year that camping is allowed on this pristine waterway in the northern Hawkesbury - just 30kms past Wisemans Ferry and 8kms past the historic village of St Albans. Come for a day, or for 3 days. Bring your mates, your girfriends, your family , & your fishing club 🎏 More details and booking links here:
Bookings are filling up for the St Albans Common 2024 Fishing & Camp Oven Cooking Competitions - so get in now! Fri Nov 1 - Sun Nov 3 This is the only time during the year that camping is allowed on this pristine waterway in the northern Hawkesbury - just 30kms past Wisemans Ferry and 8kms past the historic village of St Albans. Come for a day, or for 3 days. Bring your mates, your girfriends, your family , & your fishing club 🎏 More details and booking links here:
SPRING 2024 NEWSLETTER -
Hot off the back of the start of the roll out of mobile coverage, the valley now also has its very own App! Thanks to the ingenuity of talented local Tristan Norbury, we now have an app with all the information you need in one place including river heights, weather, the HCC dashboard and ferry cameras. It’s free to download in the Apple Store - search for “Macdonald Valley.” (At this stage it is only available for iPhones) The Macdonald Valley Association Committee are very impressed with Tristan’s work and we are pleased to be able to support this great tool as part of our Connected and Prepared activity. So download the app now and when Tristan is a world leading app developer, you’ll be able to say you were there for his first.
Yes the rumours are true, the St Albans village now has 4G mobile coverage !! 🍾🤩 While only a small unit, we are told that it should provide coverage of around 2kms. Telstra and Hawkesbury Council have established three other sites in the Valley one at Central Macdonald with a plan to be on air by mid-September, a second in Upper Macdonald which is currently with Council for DA and the third in Higher Macdonald where a site has been identified subject to landholder approval. This project which has been championed for over a decade by the MVA was made possible with the great support of Phil Bow, the Resilience and Emergency Coordinator for Hawkesbury Council and Susan Templeman MP and staff. The MVA committee would also like to acknowledge the deft diplomacy and dedicated work of our Telecommunications lead, Siobhan Mahoney to get this over the line finally.
The 2024 Hawkesbury-Nepean River Flood Study has now been released. Whilst this DOES NOT cover the Macdonald, Webbs Creek or Colo valleys (A seperate study for our areas is currently underway) it is of interest and importance to us, particularly as it impacts Wisemans Ferry. These documents will inform new (and stricter) flood planning controls for the Hawkesbury in the near future. The MVA will keep our community informed as progress of the Macdonald Study continues. We have a seat on the Flood Committee and continue to put forward the interests of our community, including requesting consultation opportunities at every stage.
Last night's Trivia comp was won by the unbeatable Catherine & The Greats yet again! 🤩🥳🤩🥳🤩🥳🤩 closely followed by The Gunanday Guys, and then The HSMBs. Once more, the ever versatile and oh so hard working crew at The Pickled Wombat did an amazing job of keeping everyone very well fed and watered. Our guest Quiz Masters for the night - The Vallance Family - did a superb job of delivering a lively and hard fought competition that was thoroughly enjoyed by all 🙏🎓🙏🎓🙏🎓🙏🎓🙏 WELL DONE EVERYONE 👍👍👍👍👍👍
The Federal Governments Flood Insurance Inquiry hearings are coming to the Hawkesbury on May 9. Expressions of interest are sought from residents to give a three to four-minute public statement about their experience with their insurers. The Committee would like to hear about any of the following issues: * the experiences of policyholders before, during and after making claims * timeframes for resolving claims * obstacles to resolving claims * insurers’ communication with policyholders * accessibility, affordability and quality of hydrology reports and other expert assessments * affordability of insurance premiums * claimants’ experiences of insurers’ dispute resolution processes. People who wish to make a public statement should email a one or two sentence summary of their experience to the Committee secretariat at floodinsurance.reps@aph.gov.au. They should write “Public hearing” and the hearing location (Molong, Eugowra, Richmond or Parramatta) in the subject line and include the full name(s) for each person who wants to participate, as well as a contact number and email address. The hearing will be at the Richard Club, Richmond on May 9. There is also the opportunity for you to contribute via an online survey - information about the inquiry and a link to the survey is on the website link attached.
Yet another thoroughly enjoyable trivia comp was held at The Pickled Wombat last night courtesy of the Federally funded Wentworth Healthcare/NBMPHM grants team. The winning teams were: 🥇1st Place Catherine & The Greats 🥈2nd Place The Boomers (see our ‘off duty’ special guest in the pics) 🥉3rd Place Bewitched Thank you to everyone who joined in and made this, and all of the MVA Events so far, such great community gatherings. Stay tuned for details on our next Trivia Night on June 22. Please book early and only via the MVA website, as this event was fully subscribed weeks ahead. If you aren’t yet a member of the Macdonald Valley Association, and have enjoyed our series of Events, please consider joining ☺️
🤎 Wombat twilight celebration 🤎 A Macdonald Valley Public School and Valley for Wildlife project. An afternoon at Australia’s best little school with our beautiful valley community. Friday was a perfect valley autumn day for the postponed Macdonald Valley Public School celebration of all the wonderful work they have been doing over the last 6 months learning about our valley wombats and all the threats facing them. This was a brilliant multi faceted program with the students learning how to draw, paint and sculpt wombats with Angela Priestly which resulted in the creation of our Wombats Warrior character. (The school produced some great looking T-shirts, mugs, caps and calico bags featuring the wombat warrior and we are keen to know if people would be interested in purchasing some merch with the logo as a way to continue to support the work of Valley for Wildlife in the community. Please comment below if you are.) They have written impressive and at times, poignant poetry, illustrated stories and have even written a hit song. (Well it certainly was a hit with the large crowd that attended.) Local musician and teacher Amy Moss as musical director and accompanist. And through this, importantly, they have learned that we share this valley with our wildlife and our lives are better for it. They articulated so clearly how we as residents can help reduce our impact on our wombats. A highlight for the kids was meeting their hero Tobias Davidson who is well known not just in the valley but now internationally for his dedication to treating wombats with mange. It was wonderful to see so many local people there and also some that travelled for the event including the Mountains for Wildlife, Hawkesbury - Blue Mountains folk and specialist WIRES wombat and koala carers. My thanks goes to all the students and staff of MacDonald Valley School, led so brilliantly by Sarah Allen. This activity is supported by Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network (NBMPHN) as part of the Australian Government's response to the 2022 floods. Wentworth Healthcare is the provider of NBMPHN. Linda Bracken Valley for Wildlife
‼️ Wisemans and Webbs Creek Ferry ‼️ The MVA have heard anecdotal information that there may be disruption to the ferry service. High tide and the release of water from the dam may influence the decision to take the ferries off. We are trying to have this information confirmed but have not been able to at this stage. We will post any updates as we get them. Birdon Sydney Vehicular Ferries NSW SES Hawkesbury Unit Hawkesbury Police Area Command
Telstra Landline outage The MVA have been in contact with Telstra today to advise them of the issues with our landlines and they have sent this response. “Unfortunately , we do have a Customer Isolation issue at St Albans, where upto 142 fixed line voice services are affected. Investigations indicate Radio transmission has failed due to an issue at St Albans radio tower. Radio lines staff are currently unable to attend due to weather (unsafe to climb towers). Support staff are monitoring and the impact is expected to clear with the weather. Apologies for the inconvenience this is causing you and the residents at the moment.”
The Macdonald Valley Association is pleased to support the Royal Life Saving - NSW ACT Tasmania new Seniors Lifesaving Skills Refresher. These workshops will help you confidently respond in an emergency through providing CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) demonstrations. We now have many AED's in the valley and this is your chance to become familiar with how to use them. The workshop is FREE but you need to book using the QR code below. (To use the QR Code (the patterned box below) hold your phone in camera mode up to the QR code and it will take you to the registration.)
Emergency Links
Local Contacts
Other Links
Projects and Resources
Committee Members
Rosemary – President
Linda Bracken – Vice President
Valley for Wildlife
Nikki Wood – Secretary
Jane Fulton – Treasurer
Lewis Adey
Connected and Prepared
Siobhan Mahoney
Telecommunications
Diana Furneyvall
Fundraising
Catherine du Peloux Menage
Newsletter
Enriching The Valley