Yinnar Recreation Reserve

11/02/2026

You may have seen throughout this hot and dry summer period a few volunteers (Ken H & Dean VDM come to mind!) religiously shifting the large fixed sprinkler on the Reserves Western Oval every 2-3 hours, ensuring its surface remains in top shape for this cricket season and footy matches which are just around the corner. As the sprinkler has to be shifted manually, this requires a huge number of volunteer hours and constant attendance at the oval at all times of the day and sometimes night. This workload on our volunteers is about to be significantly reduced through acquisition of a new self-propelled travelling irrigator that will go from end to end of the oval, pretty much a set and forget operation. This acquisition has been made possible through a Latrobe City Council Major Capital Works grant together with a contribution by the Recreation Reserve Committee of Management. We thank Latrobe City for its ongoing support, assistance and encouragement to the CoM and its volunteers through its various grant programs.

02/02/2026

Anyone want a free bar suitable for a shed or similar use - msg if interested.

31/01/2026

You may recall the Yinnar Recreation Reserve Committee approached Latrobe City Council with concerns on road safety along Jumbuk Road, with a particular focus on the safety of vehicles entering and leaving the Reserve together with pedestrian access to and from the town. Council responded quickly detailing a number of possible measures that would address the issues, it is really pleasing to see progress including:
Entrance and No Entry Signage: Council has installed entrance signage to clearly mark the Reserve entrance, as well as "No Entry" signage to the closed township vehicle entry to improve traffic flow and reduce confusion for drivers.
Double Barrier Line: Council have replaced the single line with a double barrier line to prohibit overtaking near the Reserve entrance, which enhances safety for vehicles turning into and out of the Reserve.
Raised Reflective Pavement Markers (RRPMs): To improve night-time visibility, especially in adverse weather conditions, LCC have installed raised reflective pavement markers to highlight the changed road conditions in this section.
New 80 km/h Speed Zone: Council have obtained approval from the Department of Transport and Planning to reduce the speed limit on Jumbuk Road to 80 km/h. This is expected to occur in the next 4 to 6 weeks.
Improved awareness of separation between the township / Rec Reserve walking path and Jumbuk Road: Council have installed a significant number of white guideposts creating a heightened level of awareness of the walking path and a more effective visual separation between the walking path and road.
The one remaining recommend improve safety improvement initiative – installation of a light above the roadway at the Reserve entrance providing drivers with a clearer understanding of the entrance location particularly at nighttime – this has been referred to Council’s budget process for funding consideration.
Thanks to Latrobe City Council Officers who have responded appropriately resulting in the improvement of road safety, including pedestrian safety along Jumbuk Road. Thank you for listening and delivering.

17/01/2026

The Yinnar Recreation Reserve Committee of Management is seeking the assistance of a local committed to serving the Yinnar & District community as our CoM Admin Officer. This is a casual position paid on an hourly rate with key duties as detailed in the position description - available via the ‘Contact Us’ function on our website https://yrr.tidyhq.com/public/contact_us
The Reserve is operated and maintained by volunteers who are proud of the standard of recreation and leisure facilities made available to our community. The advertised role creates an opportunity for a person who really does want to contribute to making Yinnar the best community in which to live, work, rest and play (tennis / football / cricket / judo / netball!).

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14/09/2025

Another aerial pic of yesterday's MGFNL grand final at Yinnar Recreation Reserve courtesy of Jayden Bond. This one includes the Eastern Oval and a broader view of Jumbuk Road. If you are wondering why the EO is brown(ish) and not green like the WO, it is planted with summer couch grass which dies off during the winter before producing a magnificent cover of green couch for the summer cricket period.

13/09/2025

The Reserve today was host to the Mid Gippsland Football and Netball League Grand Final. It was a huge day with the biggest crowd to attend a finals match at Yinnar ever. The oval as described by League President Gary Matthews was 'perfect' thanks to the sensational support from Dan Nichols and his team at Latrobe City Council. Car parking stretched from the township boundary to past Middle Creek, with the internal areas of the Reserve including right round the eastern oval will filled with supporters from the many clubs and townships experiencing what the best of country football and netball has to offer. Well done and thanks to the many people who worked tirelessly in the weeks leading up to game day to ensure the Reserve was presented to the highest possible standard. We may well be biased, but there is no better venue for the most important day in the MGFNL calendar. Thanks to Jayden Bond for the aerial pic.

21/07/2025

Hello all and welcome to a short update from the Yinnar Recreation Reserve Committee of Management.

Our annual general meeting is being held tomorrow night Tuesday, 22 July commencing 7 pm at the Reserves Western Oval multipurpose room adjacent the netball courts (apologies for the late notice!). The committee comprises representatives of our user groups (cricket / football & netball / judo / tennis) as well as members from the community. We are 100% voluntary Committee and maintain and operate and maintain pretty much all the functions and facilities at the Reserve. We are always on the lookout for new Committee members so if you have a desire to make a contribution to the Reserve and the Yinnar community come along tomorrow night and I'm pretty sure that you will be warmly welcome as a new Committee member. The Committee meets four times per year, so it's certainly not an ounerous meeting workload, and the meetings go for an hour and a half max!

Committees aren't everyone’s 'cup of tea’ however if you are interested in being a volunteer at the Reserve there are plenty of things to keep every volunteer busy - there are many different roles and there will be one to suit your interest and skills. If you have a few hours spare and would be keen to volunteer, please contact Secretary Peter Quigley on 0499 600 334.

If you are looking for some soil to use as fill, the Committee has a stockpile it's looking to clear. We can load it for you at the Reserve, and best of all it's free! If you're interested, please contact Gordon Lont ‭0488 440 282‬ or Peter Quigley 0499 600 334.

The Committee and our user groups have been pretty pleased recently with a number of successful grant applications announce for various capital works projects and purchases. Raiders Cricket Club scooped the pool with a $30,000 Cricket Victoria grant to complete their training nets upgrade. Congratulations to the club and we look forward to seeing the finished product shortly. The CoM received a $13,000 grant from Latrobe City Council for the purchase of a travelling irrigator for the Western Oval. Unlike the old unit the new one will wind itself up on its supply hose reducing work for our volunteers greatly. The Tennis Club will be installing their new aluminium comfortable spectator seats at the northern courts, also thanks to a Latrobe City Council grant. The Football & Netball Club will be installing the next section of the refurbished Western Oval perimeter fence very shortly thanks to again a Latrobe City Council Grant together with a grant from the Mirboo North Bendigo Bank. The section will separate the playground from the active sporting oval and keep our kids safer as well as looking vastly improved over the old fence.

29/05/2025

Our last update details some of the improvement activity on the Reserves Western Oval, here we outline works occurring on the Reserve's Eastern Oval. There has been a project ongoing for the past three years to establish grass cover more conducive to summer / cricket conditions with the sewing of cooch grass and treatment to reduce and remove other non-summer or warm period grasses. Despite a hiccup last year that saw some interruption to junior football matches the project is back on track and is looking good to deliver significant rewards this coming cricket season. The surface is looking vastly superior to prior seasons with a dense mass of cooch grass which will, all going well be one of the best around in the not too distant future. One of the outcomes of converting the grass cover to a warm season variety is that the winter grasses tend to be dormant and appear brown - this can cause some concern but is a planned and known condition. The drivers of this project or people that make it happen and maintain the grounding in top condition include Ken Hutchinson, Jarrod Henderson and Kevin Burrows. Some pics below show the turf wicket and the oval more broadly. We are all looking forward to seeing the products of their labour this coming cricket season.

20/05/2025

A shout out to our volunteers who maintain both ovals at the Yinnar Rec Reserve in pretty amazing condition all year round. With the Western Oval top dressed last Christmas it required careful management and planned watering over the summer period to ensure it came up in first class condition for the current footy season - which it has. Thanks to chief curator Ken Hutchinson supported by Dean Van Der Mer and Jarrod Henderson who put in many hours of hard work to get the required result. Watering the western oval during summer is one of the most labour intensive tasks there is - mainly due to the inefficient and aged irrigator that should've been retired several years ago. Some very good news on this front with the Rec Reserve Committee of Management being successful in its application for a Latrobe City Council community grant of $12K toward the $14K purchase of a new self propelled travelling irrigator. This new irrigator will save many volunteer hours and be far more efficient in terms of water use, distribution and ground coverage than the unit it replaces. Thanks to Latrobe City Council for making the grant funding available, it will be make a real difference to both the oval surface condition and by reducing our volunteer workload.

06/05/2025

Please find below a short community update on a few Yinnar Recreation Reserve matters.

Playground soft fall mulch replenished
Thanks to Reserve Committee of Management and Yinnar Football & Netball Club volunteers the playground received a truck load of fresh soft fall mulch – spread by hand! The mulch has to be a special grade to act as a safety buffer between kids who may fall off playground equipment and …. the ground. Thanks to the volunteers who attended to this important safely job.

Gippsland Sculpture Exhibition comes to the Reserve
One of the many benefits that flows from the GSE to the Yinnar community is the addition of 2 or 3 street sculptures donated to the community for every exhibition held. The Yinnar Recreation Reserve is the new home for ‘Up There Cassandra’ by Graham Duell and has been installed in the playground / bbq precinct. Cassandra is of course a female footballer – fittingly installed just a few weeks before of AFL Vic’s ‘Gippsland Gather Round - Female Festival of Football’ to be held at the Reserve Sunday 25 May.- will be a huge day! Thanks to the GSE Committee for gifting Cassandra to the community and we hope she enjoys her long stay.

Rubbish dumping
Unfortunately we have been experiencing a rise in illegal dumping at the Reserve. There have been numerous 240 litre red waste bins stuffed with household / domestic waste – the collection of these bins is paid for by the Reserve Committee of Management and its user groups and are strictly for waste generated within the Reserve. We have been left short of empty bins to use for events on a few occasions now due to this illegal dumping. If illegal dumping is identified, the bin contents will be searched and if the dumper is able to be identified they will be referred to Latrobe City and likely receive a fine. So please do the right thing,use the weekly kerb side collection service or visit the nearby Yinnar South Transfer Station of a weekend.

27/04/2025

Looking for any info / recommendation for bolt on forks for a tractor bucket. Must be Australian made and a quality product, not interested in on-line imports. Will look something like these:

12/04/2025

Mobile phone found at the Yinnar Recreation Reserve last week, message if you have lost one or know someone that has.