By AIDAN KNIGHT   LOCAL musician Caitlyn Dinsdale has added another impressive chapter to her already distinguished resume, winning major brass championships and representing Gippsland on both national and international stages. At the recent Latrobe Valley Eisteddfod, Caitlyn claimed the coveted C & D Lord Perpetual Trophy by topping the Latrobe Open Brass Championships. She also took out the Victorian Open Tenor Horn Championship in July at the State Solo & Ensemble Championships, marking a standout year for the Traralgon-based musician. Caitlyn plays with the City of Traralgon Band, who secured first place in the Eisteddfod’s C Grade, as well as the Darebin City Brass-Preston Band, which clinched the Victorian A Grade champions title this year. Both bands have given her opportunities to perform at the highest level, including appearances at the NZ National and the Australian National Championships. “This year has just been an amazing run of music-making, not just solo but everywhere from the Latrobe Valley to Melbourne to stages across the world,” Caitlyn said. Her band Preston was even featured in the prestigious The Monthly magazine in June, highlighting their impact within the national brass scene. Internationally, Caitlyn’s journey with music has taken her to England, Denmark, France, Belgium, and further afield as a soloist and band member, and she has also performed with the BBC Areal Orchestra and the London Repertoire Orchestra during her years aboard. Next month, she is set to perform at the Melbourne Recital Centre with the Preston Band in the much-anticipated family concert of Shaun The Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas. In addition to the Tenor Horn, Caitlyn is equally accomplished on the French Horn, performing recently with the Renaissance Revival Orchestra for the collaborative concert I’ll Be There For You, which featured top musicians from across Gippsland and Melbourne. Caitlyn traces her passion for music back to the City of Traralgon Band, which encouraged her from an early age. “The band taught me for free, let me try all sorts of instruments, and has continued to support me throughout my career,” she said. “Many of the juniors from that time, like Melanie Wilkinson and Nelson Woods, have also gone on to make names for themselves in music.” Mentorship and community involvement remain at the heart of Caitlyn’s career. A trained music teacher, she has taught at the classroom and instrumental level, and relishes the chance to encourage the next generation. “Mentoring in music is a passion of mine,” she said. “There’s something really special about solving musical puzzles together, learning new repertoire, and building friendships and community through banding.” It won’t be long before Caitlyn returns to the contest stage. Rehearsals are already underway for the 2026 Australian National Championships in Brisbane, where she will compete with Preston Band and as a soloist. Caitlyn studied Music Performance at both the Victorian College of the Arts and Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium, and credits her sustained support network, family, teachers, and fellow musicians, with shaping her musical achievements. Supporter David Mirtschin, in particular, is often seen cheering on local talent, while Caitlyn herself is now a role model for upcoming musicians. With a trophy cabinet quickly filling and a reputation for generous mentorship, Caitlyn Dinsdale continues to make a lasting mark on her community and beyond.

By LIAM DURKIN   LATROBE City Council passed a notice of motion at an unscheduled council meeting on Monday, March 31 to send mayor Dale Harriman overseas with the Traralgon City Band. Cr Harriman (pictured) will however cover the $9500 fee himself, after a huge amount of public backlash followed council’s decision to fund the mayor’s trip at ratepayers’ expense at council’s monthly meeting on March 24. Morwell River Ward Councillor, Tracie Lund put up an alternative motion at the unscheduled meeting, requesting the city’s mayoral chains not be included as part of the tour. The mayoral chains are largely symbolic, and Cr Lund went on the attack raising concerns about further costs should they be damaged or stolen. Tyers Ward Councillor, Darren Howe, Yallourn Ward Councillor, Steph Morgan and Budgeree Ward Councillor, Leanne Potter voted in favour of the alternative motion. Jeeralang Ward’s Joanne Campbell, Moe Ward Councillor, Adele Puglsey, Boola Boola Ward Councillor, David Barnes and Newborough Ward and deputy mayor Sharon Gibson voted against. Cr Harriman (who represents Loy Yang Ward) left council chambers at the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre while discussions took place. Assuming the chair, Cr Gibson used her casting vote, meaning the mayoral chains will accompany the mayor. With the alternative motion defeated after a half-hour debate, council then deliberated on the original. All councillors except Cr Potter voted for the motion. The mayoral chains heading overseas are not actually Latrobe City chains, but chains from the old Traralgon Shire. Adding confusion to the saga, some councillors have not actually seen the Latrobe chains in person. It has been suggested the Latrobe chains should be on display at Latrobe Regional Gallery. The gallery itself has had a change of leadership in the last six months, after senior curator and Yarram-born David Kerr left following an exhibition depicting the work of colleague and queer Indigenous artist Clinton Hayden and its subsequent fallout last year. The gallery has since apologised to the artist, where it is alleged cultural protocols were not adhered to, while Mr Kerr has taken up a posting as Head of Art with the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Amazingly, news of Cr Harriman’s trip made it all the way to an Adelaide masthead a fortnight ago. Local councils would have provided adequate fodder for the tabloids in recent weeks. The Warragul & Drouin Gazette reported last week that Baw Baw Shire Mayor, Danny Goss apologised to former mayor Annemarie McCabe for a verbal outburst at a council meeting last year. The April 2024 meeting descended into farce, with yelling, finger pointing, and even violin hand playing gestures on display during discussions surrounding place naming policy.

By LIAM DURKIN   “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2   LATROBE City Councillors may have inadvertently borrowed from the titular character of Shakespeare’s greatest work, when voting on whether or not to spend $9500 to send mayor Dale Harriman to the country where the famous play is set. Not that is matters now, for Cr Harriman has confirmed he is paying his own way. “I’m quite happy to pay for it myself and hopefully that puts the matter to rest,” he told the Express last Friday. Councillors were split 4-all at council’s monthly meeting on Monday, March 24, after an urgent business motion was put forward to allocate $9500 for the mayor to travel overseas and attend the Traralgon City Band’s Tour of Remembrance. Cr Harriman removed himself while the motion was discussed, which ultimately saw deputy mayor Sharon Gibson use her casting vote to give the motion the go-ahead. Crs Gibson, Adele Pugsley, Joanne Campbell and David Barnes voted in favour. Crs Tracie Lund, Darren Howe, Leanne Potter and Steph Morgan voted against. However, the court of public opinion came down hard on the decision, calling it a junket with no tangible benefits to the Latrobe Valley. Speaking against the motion, Cr Howe questioned the purpose of sending the mayor on what he termed a “European vacation”. “This trip is said to promote good will and strength in community ties, which is great, but it offers no economic benefit to our city whatsoever,” he said. “This doesn’t align with our council plan, transition plan or to the expectation that our community has of us. It simply doesn’t pass the pub test – at least not any pub I’ve been to.” Latrobe City Council held an unscheduled council meeting last Monday (March 31) to consider the personal offer from the mayor to pay for the trip. The meeting took place after the Express went to press. Nonetheless, Cr Harriman maintained the journey was worthwhile, especially given plans are in place to speak to coal county towns in northern England undergoing transition similar to what will likely be experienced in the Valley. “If we can get some ideas from the northern English or Welsh towns and council as to what worked over there, what didn’t, what’s been successful, what options there are to move forward, we know that the coal industry here, as much as I hate to say it, under the current political environment, is being demonised and a lot of our workers are suffering from that, I want to know what we can do to help move forward with them and find like-for-like jobs and have a future for our kids here,” he said. “We’ve had some interest in discussions with companies that are looking to invest in the area from Europe, or they’ve already invested in the area, they’ve wanted to meet up, we’ll negotiate that.” The Traralgon City Band has raised more than half-a-million dollars for the remembrance tour, which will coincide with the 110th anniversary of Gallipoli. The band had been in talks with Danish officials, who Cr Harriman said would include an invitation to the Royal Family on the proviso the Latrobe City Mayor was also in attendance. “The indications coming back from Denmark were that the band said if our mayor attends Denmark and the Royals attend, what are the chances of the Royal Family coming back (to Australia)? And there’s been a positive response that they will look at Queen Mary on her next visit to Australia providing a reciprocal visit, but that part of the tour is basically one-and-a-half days that they’ll be in Denmark, the majority of the two weeks will be spent on the Western Front,” Cr Harriman said. “The reason they wanted the mayor to attend is, over there the mayors are held in probably the same regard as the Premier or Prime Minister… so the treatment changes, (it) takes it to a higher level.” In something that is sure to excite local royalists, Cr Harriman said he “will be offering an invitation directly to the Danish government and to the royal family to make a visit here” back to the Latrobe Valley, which includes Australian-born Queen Mary. Addressing the junket connotations, Cr Harriman said he certainly wouldn’t have time to visit Legoland or enjoy too many Danish savouries while he was overseas. “I know the band’s itinerary, most mornings are a 6-6.30am start, and most of the time it is getting back to your two-star, three-star accommodation at 10-10.30 at night. The offer to go is also based on sharing a room with a band member to help reduce costs, so I don’t think you’d call that a junket,” he said. “Of the 12 or 13 days that the band’s away they only have one potential day off. I know there was some comments about a holiday – it’s a full on commemoration of the lost lives of local diggers and nurses from World War 1. “That’s the focus of it, what’s come out with some offers either side of that is incidental. The whole purpose of the tour is to pay our respects to those fallen diggers that didn’t make it home. A number of the graves we will be visiting are those of soldiers whose names are etched onto the cenotaphs around Latrobe City.” Cr Harriman also has a personal connection to wartime, as his great uncles served in WW1, one on the Western Front. “Personally it is very emotional for me,” he said. “It’s just disappointing it got personal but that’s fine, that’s the rough and tumble of local politics, we dust off and move on. “I’m quite disappointed in the blowback that’s come on the band, for asking council to pay my way, and I know they are really, really disappointed and really upset. The band members have paid their own way, they’ve fundraised, they’ve gone out and putting money in their pocket, and I think it’s really disappointing there’s been such a negative impact on them.” Cr Howe attracted some criticism after his attempt at humour fell flat during the council meeting. The former mayor played the song Holiday Road by Lindsey Buckingham into the microphone, made famous in the National Lampoon films. It is understood Latrobe City received a number of complaints in the days following, although one hopes time spent dealing with them did not take time away from more urgent matters given it was clearly a tongue-in-cheek gesture. The tour will see the band play in places of significance to Australia’s wartime history in the UK, Belgium, France and Denmark from June 11 to June 25. When asked if he would be packing a triangle to assist the band, Cr Harriman said he knew his limitations. “I’m edging for the drum major role leading the band in their processions, but I don’t think I’m musically talented enough to be anywhere near even a triangle,” he said. “I’ll leave the music to the qualified musicians and play the role of dutiful mayor as best I can.” The full name of Shakespeare’s play is: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Latrobe City version could well be: The Tale of Harriman, placed in Denmark.