SJ locals shine in a big year of achievements

Well, another year has passed us by.

As someone much funnier than me once said: “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. Although with the threat of that Queensland pest bearing down on us, perhaps it’s better to leave them out of it.

Before you throw away your old calendars and start to retrain your brain to write 2025 when dating anything, let’s take one last stroll down the 2024 memory lane.

The people of the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale are nothing if not self-driven. What stands out most when looking back at the year in review is how many grass-roots wins there were.

The Byford Country Club celebrated back-to-back wins as the best club in the state – which came as no surprise to the community it serves.

And Serpentine Primary School was recognised for their impressive ‘improvement journey’ when Principal Stephanie Le Lievre was named one of twelve exemplary Australian teachers at the 2024 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards in Canberra.

There were also some big community wins that weren’t celebrated with an awards ceremony.

A new community-led service – Homelessness We Care – stepped up in 2024 to support the growing numbers of people in the community doing it tough during the housing and cost-of-living crises. Together with the Byford Baptist Church, they’ve just hosted the shire’s very first Christmas feast for the homeless.

Which goes to show that where there’s a hole in the system, you can be sure that the SJ community will work tirelessly to plug it.

Likewise, the brilliant Mundijong Arts and Craft ladies worked overtime to create over 200 bespoke quilts for Crisis Care this year.

And the Heritage Country Choir used their final concert for the year to raise over $3000 for a local family trying to recover from an unexpected tragedy.

Darling Downs powerhouse Vanessa Miller again teamed up with local member Hugh Jones and Perth-based not-for-profit Dandelions WA to deliver 115 fully loaded backpacks to local students, thanks to generous community donations.

And Byford became the new night spot this year, with EasyBeatz attracting record numbers of ravers. The event is the brainchild of the team at APM Communities who wanted to create a fun, inclusive social event for people with disability at mainstream, public venues.

Riding for the Disabled in Oakford has been instrumental in establishing a base for local kids to have access to hippotherapy – a revolutionary horse-assisted therapy, which parents have labelled ‘magic’.

And local singing teacher Nicole George put Byford on the map with WA’s first ever Singing Mamas circle – a revolutionary, grassroots singing movement which is proven to better the health and wellbeing of mothers.

There were some individual stars this year too.

Serpentine’s Alwyn Park stud manager Ngyrie Gonzalez took out the ‘Dedication to Breeding’ honour at the 10th Australian Stud and Stable Staff Awards.

Byford Pool Club’s Matthew Paton was crowned U18 WA State Champion at the age of 15, and headed to Malta to compete at the U15 World Blackball Championships.

A trio of Byford Bushrangers – Nate Lawrence, Brodie Chesshire and Luke Maughan – hit the biggest home run of their young lives when they were selected to play baseball at the 2024 Cal Ripken World Series in the United States.

Serpentine equestrian Luke Purtill represented Australia with pride at the Virtus Open European Equestrian Championships.

And another Serpentine legend – Mitchell Warrilow – went to Adelaide to represent his state in four separate events at the Australian Athletics Championships.

SJ lifted above its weight when it came to powerlifting this year: Byford’s Ian Sullivan secured his ticket to the World Bench Press Championships 2025 in Norway, and Oakford’s Paul Speering was crowned a World Powerlifting Champion.

And the Byford Downhill crew had a ripper year, with Alan, Roman and Asten Forde, Matt Garrett, Brock Williamson, and Rob Brown all taking podium places in state events.

The community came together to celebrate some major milestones this year: Both the CWA and the Hopeland School marked their centenaries, and the SES was celebrated with a 65^th anniversary bash in Jarrahdale.

If there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that the SJ community will stand up tall and true to perceived injustices. This year, locals rallied against the live export ban, the end of the free orange school bus service in Jarrahdale, flooding in Darling Downs, pollution in Cardup, plans to extend bauxite mining in the Jarrah forests, an exclusive religious school setting up camp in rural Oakford, sand mining in Oldbury, the closure of an important thoroughfare for local industry in Hopeland, the extended closure of the tip, and another rates rise.

And there were a few knocks in 2024: the Serpentine community lost an institution in Reenies. But thankfully, after years of speculation, the Serpie pub reopened to cheers all around.

Hopes of housing the new DFES training academy in Mardella were dashed by the state government, and with them the designs to co-locate a new and suitable pound facility on the same plot.

And, despite promises made, not a single sod was turned on the shire’s two biggest projects this year – Keirnan Park (Stage 1) and the new Oakford Fire Station.

But 2025 does bring the promise of progress on both of these, alongside a number of other community-changing projects: the new Byford Station will open with great fanfare (we’re told), and Byford will get a new pump track and a bigger, better skate park. Ground works on the Byford Health Hub will start in just a few months, and construction on the Tonkin Highway Extension is also touted to kick off early in 2025.

And it’s looking like Mundijong may finally get some serious infrastructure after it was underlined as one of three areas in the state which could help solve the housing crisis.

It’s shaping up to be a huge year for SJ, and we’re looking forward to being here with you though it all.