The Local May 5, 2025 Issue 331

The Barefoot Barber

The Local - The Heart of the Highlands

Front page: Jobbo, formerly Neil Jobson, but now mostly answering to just the nickname, has been known in the region for a long time as an artisan builder who sought out recycled products for his work. Now he's the Barefoot Barber. Read his story by Donna Kelly on page 7.

Image: Kyle Barnes

The Local is a registered trademark of The Local Publishing Group Pty Ltd.

The Local is a member of the Victorian Country Press Association, with editor Donna Kelly, a former director.

Want to support local, quality journalism? Donate by scanning the QR code.

The content expressed within this publication does not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of The Local Publishing Group Pty Ltd. The Local Publishing Group's editorial guidelines and complaints-handling process can be found at www.tlnews.com.au We welcome all feedback.

The Local is a fortnightly community publication covering the Central Highlands of Victoria.

The next edition is out on Monday, May 19 2025. or online on Sunday, May 18 at www.tlnews.com.au

Space bookings: Wednesday, May 14

Copy deadline: Thursday, May 15

Editorial deadline: Thursday, May 15

General manager: Kyle Barnes on 0416 104 283 or kyle@tlnews.com.au

Editor: Donna Kelly on 0418 576 513 or news@tlnews.com.au

Editorial: Eve Lamb on 0493 632 843 or editorial@tlnews.com.au

Sub-editors: Nick Bunning, Lindsay Smith & Chester the Cat

Writers: Eve Lamb, Kevin Childs, Tony Sawrey, Kyle Barnes, Natalie Poole & Donna Kelly

Photographers: Kyle Barnes & Eve Lamb

Graphic designer: Dianne Caithness

Contributors:

Darren Lowe (music), Sarah Lang (recipes), Jeff Glorfeld (US life), Bill Wootton (poetry) & John Beetham (gardens)

Accounts | Julie Hanson Delivery | Tony Sawrey

New home for Daylesford's Good Grub Club

The Good Grub Club has a new home, with a lease with Hepburn Shire Council, in 79A Raglan Street, Daylesford.

The not-for-profit organisation, which was started in 2019 by Uniting Church parishioners, had been given eight months' notice after the church, and the hall they were using, in Central Springs Road was sold.

Secretary Matt Johnson said the new owners let the club stay on beyond the settlement date but options were scarce.

"We looked at St Peters, the Masonic Lodge and Hepburn Football Club and they were all up for it, until they saw how much stuff we had and the changes we would need to make the places fit for purpose."

Matt said the new premises were owned by the council and had various tenants including the Victorian Electoral Commission and an adult day care and disability centre.

"I used to drive past it and wondered if it was somewhere for the Good Grub Club so I contacted Cr Lesley Hewitt and talked to the acting CEO at the time, Bruce Lucas.

"Once we all started talking about it they came back to us with the offer of a lease which was really wonderful because we were out of time."

Matt said the club would now be able to continue providing hampers on Tuesdays, which were delivered around the community, a lunch on Thursdays, offering many people the only social outing for the week, and a new food pantry.

"The pantry is really new for us. It uses a points system which we give people based on their household situation and age, and then they can get a shopping basket and select whatever they want using those points.

"People can come in and do a big monthly shop, or come in every week. And it's great because they only take what they need and will use."

Matt said the council had jumped on board and both Deputy Mayor Cr Hewitt and Mayor Cr Don Henderson had attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday, May 1.

"It's such a feel-good story. Our major sponsors have given us core funding for three years to fill any gaps in our balance sheet which is also great. We have the support of Community Bank Daylesford District, the Rotary Club of Daylesford, the Uniting Church congregation and the Daylesford Foundation. We also have food partners helping us out.

"And now we're in the perfect building for us with a big dining room, a kitchen, a massive pantry and room for all our big chest freezers. We even had disability ramps. It all starts next Thursday (May 8)."

Matt said he became involved "because all of my friends cook for the Good Grub Club".

"The club has really made its own place in this town. It is helping. And the lunch is not elaborate, it's just a lunch for people to come together. And we are keeping it within the realm of what we can achieve."

Matt said the next step, if possible, was to engage in social enterprise with a registered kitchen which would mean it could become more commercial to help pay its own way.

"We could then make meals and sell them to other people. We are looking at expansion but not yet."

Meanwhile, Matt is on the hunt for a volunteer gardener who is keen to do a couple of hours a week on the new premises.

"There's two kitchen gardens with raised beds in the back and we hope to find somebody that might turn them into actually producing veggies. Or maybe two people who want to share the work.

"It's a very exciting time for us."

Words: Donna Kelly | Images: Contributed

United women’s soccer team kicking goals

For the first time in 37 years the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club once again has a senior women’s team playing in the Ballarat and District Soccer Association...and loving it.

What started a couple of years back with a clinic and a bit of casual fun kicking a ball about, has continued to gain momentum such that the club recently started playing home and away fixtures as part of the association every Sunday.

Training is Tuesday evenings and with 23 registered team members and more lining up to join, this senior women’s team has been kicking goals in more ways than one.

Away from the soccer pitch, club secretary, under-16 girls' manager, and keen women’s team player Dianne Tran is a solicitor. She says that after spending plenty of time watching her kids play soccer from the sidelines, she decided it was time to have a piece of the sports action herself.

“It has been 37 years since we had a women’s team in the competition. We weren’t even aware there was a senior women’s soccer team that played 37 years ago. But we were corrected on that.”

Club committee member Krystyna (Krys) Szokolai was a member of that original women’s team 37 years ago and she recounted those days.

“That was a long time ago. We only ever played one season. But that year kick-started my career (in soccer refereeing). Most of us were in year 11 that year. So we played a season and the following year I guess most of the players wanted to focus on HSC, as it was back then, and so we didn’t have enough people to form another team.

“We haven’t had another team until this year which is very exciting.”

While that original women’s team itself was short-lived, Krys went on to become a national and international soccer referee in an impressive career that included the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

It seems soccer is in her blood. Krys’s father, Marton Szokolai, is one of the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club co-founders, a European emigrant who was passionate about seeing the game bring people of all backgrounds and persuasions together.

Krys - these days working as a veterinarian - recounts how, when that original women’s soccer team ended, she had “still wanted to be part of the game”. So when a regional opportunity to take the refereeing route presented she grabbed it and ran.

“I started off refereeing and the following year I moved to Melbourne and worked my way up through the ranks and started doing national league games.

“Then when I (finally) hung up the whistle I started working for FIFA as a referee instructor and travelled the world with that, preparing referees for world cups and tournaments. I was out of the country nine months of the year.

“Dad was always very into his football. We called it football. He grew up in a tiny village in what’s now Serbia. But we’re of Hungarian descent. When thinking back to it...he had so much courage to decide to start a club.

“He only ever wanted to bring people together through the sport. Any age, any gender, any ethnicity. Anyone who wanted to play sport was welcome. That was his philosophy. Uniting people was his mantra.”

Dianne says getting a women’s team back and playing competitively today, after so long, is hugely significant.

“Since the Women’s World Cup there’s been a renewed interest from women and girls in soccer and we’ve certainly seen that in our club,” she says.

“The senior women’s team was revived a couple of years ago from a clinic. We had a good group of women and we just informally continued training ourselves. But each week we continued to consistently get about 15 women come and join us and over time more and more people would turn up.

“After being more of a social thing for about a year, the team ended up with not just one, but two coaches.”

Dianne says the team’s members range in age from a 15-year-old to someone in her 60s, and while some players do have soccer backgrounds a lot don’t have any prior soccer experience at all. And that’s fine.“I really didn’t know anything about soccer. It wasn’t something I’d played at school.

“I only started getting into it when my kids - my son and my daughter - started playing competitively, just watching them find something they were passionate about.”

Dianne’s husband is one of the two coaches for the women’s team. So the whole family is into soccer. “It’s like a common language that we all share now,” Di says.

“Playing for me meant that I had another thing in common with my kids that we could communicate about. So we’ll all go to Matildas matches together, watch an A-League match together, talk strategy together. My husband is Chilean so it’s in his blood. It’s something that gels the family together.

“There’s a lot of strategy and thinking that goes into the game. It blows your mind. It’s all very technical. It’s not just about kicking the ball to the back of the net.

“Being older and playing means we’re a bit more clever about pushing ourselves and about things like stretching and recovery. A lot of people have said to us: ‘I feel so welcome in the team. It’s not intimidating at all’.

“We’ve played a couple of friendlies and two rounds in the competition season, against Creswick and the Forest Rangers from Wendouree, and we’re getting better each week. It’s been bloody tiring and bloody hard work but a lot of fun.”

Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club president Adam Sadler says the club has been enjoying “quite a lot of growth” in recent times.

“We are very much a community-based club that is welcoming to anyone who wants to come and play, regardless of ability or experience,” Adam says.

“Over the past two years we have managed to grow the club significantly even achieving some national recognition, having been listed in the top five soccer clubs of the year by Football Australia.”

The club very recently secured a $4950 state government grant for professional development of its women, girls and gender-diverse participation policy to be used to subsidise women’s registration. It has also worked with Football Victoria to develop an action plan for women and girls.

Krys reckons her dad would be pretty happy to see the recent developments at the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club.

“It just goes to show how far we’ve come,” she says.

“Maybe we could get another international referee...or a Matildas player...”

Some of Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club’s Senior Women players, from left, Sofia Woloschin, Jodilee Chapman, Risa Kajiwara, Bree Melotte, Rebecca Dawson, Di Tran, Ingrid Cropper and Alix Downing Words & image: Eve Lamb Link: www.footballballarat.com.au | Scan the QR code for a quick video

Your Say...

In January 2023, I wrote to The Local – Issue 271 – detailing issues relating to short-stay accommodation within the Hepburn Shire.

In the 2023/24 Hepburn Shire budget, there was a proposal to “review options for increased regulation of short-stay accommodation properties”. To date no such review has been conducted.

Currently, 12 per cent of houses in Hepburn Shire are short-stay accommodation properties. This is the highest of all the Victorian shires. Many other municipal shires, both within Victoria and interstate, have implemented short-stay accommodation local laws with great results for their respective communities and residents.

With the growing volume of short-stay accommodation properties in the Hepburn Shire, these local laws to control, regulate and have codes of conduct are long overdue and urgently necessary. The development underway at Middleton Field is one example of the undoubted potential to significantly grow this number.

Recently, I have had contact with the Hepburn Shire regarding this ongoing short-stay accommodation issue. The shire are aware of this issue, but will only act if there is enough evidence and pressure from residents and the community that are or have been directly affected or potentially affected by short-stay accommodation properties in their neighbourhoods. These are unregulated, uncontrolled businesses operating in our residential streets.

The precise intention of local laws is to protect neighborhoods and residents from anti-social behaviours, amenity loss, environmental damage and to place firm accountability onto the short-stay accommodation property owners and their respective booking management agencies. These short-stay accommodation owners live predominantly outside the shire, have no regard for the local community and residents, receive very lucrative returns from their short-stay accommodation properties – all with no controls, regulation or accountability.

Planning laws relating to approvals for short-stay accommodation businesses also need to be amended to further strengthen controls.

Tourism is necessary for the Hepburn Shire, but a balance between the financial benefits and the community amenity environmental impacts must be established. The recent state government-introduced tax on short-stay accommodation properties will have no real effect on these property owners. Local laws will. They will ensure shortstay accommodation owners are made responsible and held accountable for their tenants and properties and ensure restoration of lost amenity.

In order to build the case for implementation of short-stay accommodation local laws within the Hepburn Shire, I would again like to hear from those community residents who have had experiences or specific opinion relating to this industry.

I encourage everyone to come forward with their experiences and opinion –direct evidence and community pressure will ensure these much-needed short-stay accommodation local laws are introduced. Email davemclachlan53@gmail.com

All replies will be treated with strict confidentiality.

- Dave McLachlan, Hepburn Springs

Your article about The Rex (p3, April 7 edition) hits the mark for me. It's not before time that the Mayor issued an apology to ratepayers and residents that the shire is intended to serve.

This apology only came after a third party made public a report that the Hepburn Shire Council and the Victorian Government preferred to stay hidden.

That apology was "a polished PR statement that gestures at apology without fully embracing it. A real apology would be more specific, more direct and include a genuine plan for restitution and reconnection with the community and accountability taken by those involved by stepping down". Absolutely.

I do agree with Cr Henderson that personal abuse directed toward council staff is inappropriate. However, we need to ensure that disagreement (even stoutly stated disagreement) with HSC councillors over this issue is not characterised as "abuse".

The council has broken trust with the municipal electorate over this issue and they must expect censure, a point echoed by the Mayor of Hobsons Bay Council. Hepburn Shire Council have treated the Hepburn Shire people as a bunch of mugs who didn't deserve the truth about the council's appalling decisions and actions on The Rex.

- Roger Brailsford, Daylesford

Letters to the editor are always welcome. Keep them short and to the point, or long and interesting. Email news@tlnews.com.au

Any starting with Dear Sir will ensure deletion. You know why... :)

Your socials...

An article in the April 21 edition of The Local has led to plenty of discussion about Hepburn Shire Council leasing 24 Vincent Street, Daylesford for six years with an option for a further six years for its chambers and offices.

In the article Infrastructure and Delivery director Bruce Lucas said even when the renewal works on the Daylesford Town Hall were completed, the chambers and offices would remain at 24 Vincent Street for at least six years.

Mr Lucas said the commercial arrangements of the lease, such as the monthly rent, were not able to be provided. The Local has been told the cost of the rent could be as much as $12,000 per month.

From social media:

Questions need to be asked. Why is the monthly rent for council's new offices at 24 Vincent Street not able to be provided as stated by council's Mr. Lucas? I believe ratepayers have every right to know. It is understandable that there was a period of confidentiality during the negotiation phase of this lease but not once the lease had been finalised. This rental expenditure surely must be accounted for in the budget and in financials.

100% agree. No wonder the results of the Community Satisfaction Survey have been dismal for the last few years. The council is out of touch with its community - it’s arrogant, secretive, non-transparent and as far as council staff is concerned not accountable. The big question is how to rectify this abysmal state of affairs.

What was the given reason as why they can't tell. They wonder why people are angry.

Don’t they have enough offices throughout the shire? Why the phuq are they continually wasting OUR money?

As usual, lack of transparency AGAIN!

My opinion is this is capital expenditure by stealth. The town hall will be turned into a hub/museum and over the next two budgets they will build themselves a palace we can not afford. Raglan Street has been empty for ages and any executive team and councillors more concerned for the rises they are pushing on us, rather than building a new palace befitting a half a billion dollar balance sheet, would have made do with Raglan Street. Their words and actions do not match. If the amalgamation can happen now there will be no wasted head office expenses when we are run from a super council not in Vincent St.

Absolutely spot on - and it’s about time more people called this out for what it is: a complete betrayal of transparency. The moment public money is involved, there is zero justification for secrecy. Ratepayers are paying for this lease - we have every right to know how much it’s costing us, especially now that we’re locked into it for at least six years. Council said after the Rex disaster that “things had changed.”

Clearly, they haven’t. It’s the same culture of secrecy, the same contempt for the community, and the same backroom deals — just dressed up with smoother PR. Ratepayers deserve answers. We deserve transparency. And we deserve a council that actually respects the people it’s supposed to represent — not one that hides from them.

Our council does not want input from community...turning off comments on fb page is enough evidence of their lack of concern for community thoughts/feelings/ opinions...they should be sacked and administrators brought in.

With The Rex having been the plan for appropriate staff offices, I would have thought these leased offices will be required even when the Town Hall is operational again. Is it normal for councils to disclose lease agreements? I am not so sure.

Rent of $12000 per month? There's another million or two of ratepayers' money down the drain. Totally ridiculous! No wonder they want such a huge increase in our rates...what do we the people of this shire get?

Time to split the shire up & reduce need for such arrogant & wasteful spending.

Words: Donna Kelly (Comments not edited.)

Business out the back for the Barefoot Barber

Jobbo, formerly Neil Jobson but now mostly answering to just the nickname, has been known in the region for a long time as an artisan builder who sought out recycled products for his work.

But like many people, he wanted a change. One where he still worked for himself but out of the construction game. And it happened like magic.

Jobbo popped into a barber in Daylesford for a haircut one day a few years back and was offered a job by the owner, Lesley.

“I'd never cut hair before but I like doing new things. I just said, ‘yeah I'll cut people's hair’, and then I realised I really liked it.”

Jobbo kept working and then went to barber college, as he called it, for one year and then opened up his own barber shop. At home. The Barefoot Barber.

(Although he did briefly have to return to building, to create his own very “recycled and rustic yet warm and inviting” studio in Coomoora.)

“I love it. I genuinely love it,” he says.

“I like the creativity. I like the connection. I like the conversation.

“I like the fact that as a builder you spend a lot of time with someone over a short period of time. This job is like the opposite. You spend a very short period of time with someone over a very long period of time.

“And you just make good connections. It's really fun.”

Unlike many barbers, Jobbo is happy cutting hair for men, women and kids. One of his most recent cuts was a fairy pixie cut for a female client and then there’s bobs, undercuts and shags. Men usually choose a fade or a mullet – as Jobbo says, a good mullet will never go out of style. Business in the front, party in the back.

And every day people come armed with a photo hoping to look like their favourite celebrity. Jobbo’s response? “I just give them the haircut.

"I think it’s pretty amazing that you can set up a small business out the back of Coomoora and people can come and get a haircut without it being in the main street.

“I end up meeting people and they come back in a few months. You have conversations, you get to know them. I just want to say thank you to everyone who comes out and gets their hair cut.”

Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes

Scan the QR code for a quick 50-second movie

A Trewhella woman ahead of her time

Trentham’s Catherine (Kit) Anne Trewhella , pictured below left, was born on February 23, 1897 to William Trewhella and Margaret Landrigan.

William, pictured below right with Kit, was the designer of Trewhella Jacks and other innovative tools which he patented and manufactured at Trewhella Brothers' Engineers, known locally as the Foundry.

After leaving school, Kit went to Melbourne to learn the skill of drafting with Johns and Waygood. She became a draftsman which was a rare profession for a woman of the time and on returning to Trentham, joined the office staff at the foundry. Following with family tradition while working at the foundry, Kit was a trailblazer inventing and patenting an automatic door closer.

The family business was managed by male family members, while Kit managed the office in the roles of secretary and paymaster. Financial decisions were usually made by males but that didn’t bother her at all.

Kit, highlighting her individuality and technical expertise, was the owner of the first motor garage and hire car business in 1921 in High Street, Trentham where mechanical repairs were undertaken, petrol pumped, and cars hired with a driver. Her brother Harry was placed in the role of manager.

Kit was fortunate enough to be one of the first women in Trentham to drive a car and in fact own one herself. She realised cars were to be a way of life then and into the future.

Kit never married. She was a devout Catholic and her association with the church made her aware of the disadvantaged people in the town. With her great friend, Dr Gweneth Wisewould, the local family doctor for the district, and Kit the office manager of the main employer in town, the private circumstances of most residents were known to them.

When crisis hit the town Kit and/or Dr Gwen would provide medical support, money, food, a place to sleep or whatever was needed, promptly and without the need for recognition. Helping people in the community and hosting children from Catholic schools and orphanages at her farm in Newbury over the summer holidays was her way of giving back to the district. She was a role model for women and was looked up to in town.

Guide to new national park

A new guide book takes people inside the Victorian National Park that isn’t actually on the map yet: Great Forest National Park.

The adventure guidebook has been released to share the destinations, activities, science and history behind the proposed park in Victoria’s Central Highlands.

For over a decade, locals and researchers have mapped out a plan to declare the Great Forest National Park. They have now produced a Great Forest Park Guide book to showcase opportunities for engaging with the park area while protecting it into the future.

It dispels the myth that national parks are locked up and neglected, with pages to inspire walkers, campers, fishers, cyclists, runners, horseriders and 4-wheel drivers.

For many years, she was the secretary of the Roman Catholic Church, taking a role often played by men, rather than the traditional female role in the Catholic Women’s Guild where they would run euchre parties and sell homemade goods.

Over a long life, she was a trend-setter, taking on female roles if necessary but determined to break with tradition and relishing in the male roles.

Though not universally loved later in life due to her forthrightness and abrasive manner, the town still respected and remembered her, putting her name forward for the Heather Mutimer Hepburn Shire Women's Day Honour Roll. Kit was posthumously added to the Honour Roll in 2015.

(A local tells me Kit was fond of a man named Norm who helped out at the farm, but Norm never asked Kit to marry him. A friend asked why she didn’t ask him and her reply: "It is manners for a lady to wait until she is asked. Hence, wedding bells never rang.")

Words: Natalie Poole | Images: Courtesy of Trentham Historical Society

“Making the guide book is a huge step towards engaging Melburnians with the park’s history and all it has to offer,” says Sarah Rees, project manager of the GFNP, pictured. “We need our government to step up and declare the National Park so that millions of Victorians can enjoy this natural wonderland and we can begin boosting the local economy, with a projected $71 million supporting rural towns in surrounding areas each year.”

The guide book is full of contributions from highly regarded scientists, environmental gurus, experts and outdoor explorers.

“The GFNP will provide protection for threatened species from commercial logging and numerous other threats,” says Matt Ruchel, executive director of the Victorian National Parks Association. “Just 90 minutes from Melbourne, it’s a huge opportunity for recreation for nature-starved urbanites.”

Link: greatforestnationalpark.com.au

Image: Liam Neal

BLOCK Watch

Daylesford College

WELLBEING WITH HEART

When students feel good, they learn better.

At Daylesford College, student wellbeing isn’t just a program - it’s a priority. Over the past five years, under the exceptional leadership of Bridget Franc, our wellbeing approach has transformed out of sight. Today, we’re proud to offer one of the most comprehensive, student-focused support systems in the state.

We know that when students feel happy, supported, and safe, they’re far more likely to thrive. That’s why our approach goes beyond the classroom - nurturing not just academic success, but social, emotional, and mental wellbeing too.

Our industry-leading Wellbeing Team includes a psychologist, social worker, mental health practitioner, adolescent health nurse, youth engagement worker, school counsellor, dietician, HeadSpace clinician, and even a weekly GP clinic at school.

But it’s not just about having all the right roles - it’s about connection and care. Our team works closely with students and families, creating tailored support plans and checking in regularly. We also run peer programs, wellbeing workshops, and preventative mental health education to build resilience and confidence in every young person.

Works continue on The Block with the five homes really starting to look completed - on the outside at least. There were rumours of a big party (inset image) last week, with accompanying fireworks. It is believed The Block will start airing in the first two weeks of August.

Words: Donna Kelly | Images: Narelle Groenhout

Every year, 16 Year 9 students volunteer to take on the role of mental health ambassadors - leading their peers and promoting a culture of openness, care, and support. Our students are the heart of everything we do - and we’re here to walk beside them, every step of the way.

To support this, we offer a wide range of innovative programs that help students connect, grow, and thrive. Programs like Live4Life build mental health literacy and peer support; Hands On Learning keeps students engaged through practical, skills-based work; Drumbeat uses rhythm and music to foster self-expression and emotional awareness; and The Cook, The Chef & Us builds confidence and connection through food; Kalamunda fosters respectful relationships; while Coaching For Success supports students to set goals and overcome barriers. Together, these programs ensure every student has a pathway to belonging, purpose, and success.

Over the past three years, all staff, and over 250 Year 8 and Year 10 students have been trained in Mental Health First Aid - equipping our community to recognise when someone needs support and respond with care.

As a result of all this great work, our rates of bullying have tumbled over the last few years, and we now see bullying rates well below the national average. And for the small number of students who do experience bullying, 80% report that it was well managed by the school.

In a verdant grove it’s Vern v. Parks Vic.

As branches and leaves crackle underfoot it is hard to imagine a less likely site for a tussle between bureaucracy and those with a passion for the bush.

Yet a couple of dozen locals – said to be half of those concerned – turn out on a recent Sunday to hear defenders of this serene reserve. The respect and affection for this oasis rings clearly from speakers with expertise as they acknowledge what is possible with land that has been burnt.

Thirty years ago Vern Howell, speaking, cleared blackberries from this land in Eganstown after its perimeter had been bulldozed and blackberries burnt. Not only did he work to clear the blackberry curse, but he also planted now maturing Californian redwood trees whose leaves form a soft carpet, and he put in a waterway.

Over the three decades this has been a labour of love for 76-year-old Vern, whose background is in forestry, both working and teaching.

Imagine, then, his shock when he was told by Parks Victoria and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) that, in their words, they want to “contemporise” the Streamside Reserve and scrap his 29-year-old licence to the land because he is not running stock. Of course, he never wanted to run stock, but a grazier’s licence was the only one available.

An $80-a-year grazier’s licence, renewable every five years, is typically issued to graze cattle on Crown land owned by the State government.

Vern’s aim is to save the reserve, not graze it, keeping clear patches for kangaroos and wallabies. Black cockatoos drop by, while shitake mushrooms sprout. A gigantic pine tree still carries an ancient cubby. At its foot lies a big, rusting miner’s bucket, while a pile of stones tell of the remnants of the Menadue homestead.

“It would be a shame,” says Vern with fervour, “to have this turned back into a 'bushfire farm'. I’d like to see Parks Victoria stop and let a local committee get involved. We want to talk to Parks Victoria about plans for the next 10 to 20 years.”

His understanding is that Parks Victoria may come through again to burn blackberries and so destroy the reserve. When asked by The Local about these worries, Parks Victoria says that it is “supporting local and wider community access” to the reserve, which is up a track off Basalt Road, near the Midland Highway.

VIC STATE ROOFING

Metal Roof Specialist

It adds: “We’ve had positive discussions with Eganstown residents about the future of the reserve, including weed control efforts.

“If previous licence holders would like to continue their work protecting values in the reserve, we welcome the opportunity.”

Yet Vern’s question hangs in the air, just how would this work?

Words & image: Kevin Childs

Show this ad for 30% off your next purchase.*

The Local is running an Education Feature

in the May 19 edition.

Buy an advert and receive the equivalent editorial free.

Spruik your school, your enrolments, your teachers, your successes...

Bookings by May 12, COB.

Copy by May 16.

Full page: $720 plus GST

Half page: $360 plus GST

www.springsmedical.com.au

Hepburn House's Memory Lane Unit

Hepburn House's Memory Lane, a 15-bed unit built specifically to assist residents with dementia, is now open!

Hepburn House is at 1 Hepburn Rd, Daylesford. Book a tour of the new unit or the existing accommodation and living areas.

For everything Hepburn House has on offer head to www.hepburnhouse.com.au or call 5348 8100.

Just briefly... Happening soon...

The final tally for Daylesford's Good Friday Appeal is $28,404, which coordinator Natalie Kirby says is "a remarkable effort by our community in such tricky financial times".

"The Daylesford community continues to shine bright with its generosity and community spirit, always managing to dig deep and give for the kids. We are absolutely blown away by this total and are so thankful for the support of everyone involved." (Ed's note: The Local, on behalf of the community, would like to thank everyone involved in this amazing fundraiser for The Royal Children's Hospital and other regional hospitals around the state. Well done!)

Free community meditation classes are on offer at Clunes from May 19.

Led by an experienced meditation facilitator, the free hour-long evening meditation classes are through the Clunes Attitude (Ageing Well in Clunes) Club and are aimed at adults of all ages. Each session includes a self-reflective activity and discussion and finishes with a guided meditation. Details: Sandra on 0438 415 715 or Clunes Neighbourhood House manager Lana de Kort at manager@clunesnh.org

Clubs in the Macedon electorate region have secured grants to enhance sporting opportunities for female players.

The grants went to Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club - $4950, Daylesford Martial Arts Tang Soo Tao - $5000, Trentham Golf Club - $4900, Woodend Golf Club - $5000, Woodend Tennis Club - $5000, and the Macedon Ranges Tennis Association - $2000.

A new Early Learning Victoria centre, one of 14 in Victoria, is set to open in Clunes next year.

The centres will charge fees below local market rates and each centre will be located on or near a local school, easing the double drop-off and making the transition from kinder to school simpler for children and families.

Central Highlands Water has issued a serious warning against unauthorised access to its operational sites after several criminal incidents at its facilities.

Thieves have stolen essential electrical cabling and other critical components causing extensive damage to infrastructure, leaving vital facilities inoperable and disrupting key water and wastewater services to customers. Under the Victorian Water Act 1989, individuals can face fines up to $237,000 and imprisonment. CHW is urging the public to stay alert and report any suspicious activity near its facilities. Anyone observing should contact Victoria Police on 131 444, Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or CHW 24/7 Faults & Emergencies on1800 061 514.

Footballers and netballers at Daylesford’s Victoria Park can now take their game to the next level after the venue's new oval and court lighting was switched on.

The new lighting was made possible with $250,000 from the state's Country Football and Netball Program. Hepburn Shire Council contributed $90,000-plus while the club kicked in $20,000.

Hepburn Shire Council is holding two Councillor Listening Posts in May and June.

Listening Posts provide an opportunity for residents to share their ideas, provide feedback on services, and discuss matters that are important to them with senior council officers and councillors. Listening Posts will be held at Trentham Market on Saturday, May 17 and the Glenlyon Town Hall on Saturday, June 21. Both are from 10am to noon.

To celebrate National Water Week, 20-26 October 20-26, Central Highlands Water is inviting early learning, kindergarten and primary school students to enter this year’s National Water Week poster competition. This year’s theme, Water heroes: save every drop, encourages everyone to recognise their role in conserving one of the most valuable resources. Water is essential for life, supporting economic growth, healthy ecosystems, and all stages of development. CHW continues to work with communities to manage water wisely and ensure a sustainable future for all. Entries will be judged on creativity, how well it reflects the theme, and how it inspires others to take action. Entries close on Friday, September 6 at 5pm. Link: www.nationalwaterweek.com.au

Michael Waugh is a revered songwriter, a compelling live performer and an extraordinary storyteller and he has an upcoming date at Glenlyon.

Michael has been the recipient of many awards including Folk and Roots album of the Year (Music Victoria Awards), Songs of Peace and Tolerance award (Port Fairy Folk Festival) and Heritage Song of the Year (Golden Guitar Awards).

His new album Beauty & Truth paints vivid, joyous, funny and loving pictures of growing up queer in rural Australia.

“We talk about pride sometimes a little bit like it’s a bumper sticker, but really pride is the antithesis of shame,” Michael says.

“It’s about healing of shame, making sense of shame that I was raised with. There’s a part of me that still feels like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff calling out over the edge when I say ‘here I am, this is who I am’.”

Michael will perform at the Glenlyon Hall on Saturday, May 10. Doors open at 6pm and the music starts at 7pm. Ticket are $35 with profits going to enhancing the historic local hall experience into the future.

Dowland Songs of Beauty and Creation will be performed at Daylesford's Stanbridge Hall on Saturday, May 10 from 2.30pm.

The concert will feature Rosemary Hodgson, lute, Kate Macfarlane, soprano, Christopher Roache, alto and tenor, Timothy Reynolds, tenor and Matthew Champion, bass.

John Dowland is an English Renaissance composer, singer and lutenist. The concert will feature a range of voices singing Dowland’s melancholic songs.

Rosemary Hodgson maintains a vibrant career as Australia’s virtuoso lutenist. Specialising in the performance of historic guitars and lutes, she regularly engages in major festivals, recordings, and concert series throughout Australia and abroad.

Soprano Kate Macfarlane has earned a reputation as a dynamic and versatile singer on both the operatic and concert platforms. She holds a Masters degree in Baroque vocal performance from the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany, where she studied under renowned counter-tenor Kai Wessel.

Kyneton-based tenor and counter-tenor, Christopher Roache works as a choral director, classroom music teacher, freelance singer and singing teacher. Christopher performed as a tenor soloist in the 2022 Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields Festival performance of three of J.S. Bach's Cantatas and is a member of the eight-part vocal group, the Melbourne Octet, where he sings both tenor and alto.

Timothy Reynolds has worked in Europe and across Australia. Overseas he has performed with The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, The Bach Akademie Stuttgart, Opera Holland Park, Philharmonischer Chor Esslingen, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and understudied several roles at Oper Stuttgart.

Matthew Champion has performed widely in Australia and the UK, including with OzOpera, Chamber Made Opera, Past Echoes, Palestrina Project, Buxtehude Consort, and the Choir of Newman College. He was the director of the Queen’s College Choir at the University of Melbourne, and since his return to Australia, directed the newly formed polyphony ensemble Cantus temporum.

Link: www.trybooking.com/eventlist/christchurchconcerts

Broken Brains by Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland is a ‘gentle exploration of what it takes to move through the grief of illness and reach acceptance’.

Jamila and Rosie will discuss their book at the Phee Broadway Theatre in Castlemaine on Wednesday, May 7 for a brutally honest - but fun - discussion with the inimitable Clare Bowditch.

Link: www.northernbooks.com.au

Words in Winter Central Goldfields is back in 2025, bringing bold ideas, warm conversations and lively debate to the heart of the community.

Over three days, from Friday, May 30 to Sunday, June 1, this regional festival will spark dialogue, laughter and connection with a diverse program of events featuring celebrated authors, thinkers and local voices. Those taking part include author and creative writing teacher Tania Chandler, researcher Radio National's podcast What the Duck host Ann Jones, social commentators Andrew Scott, Dennis Glover and Denis Muller and award winning authors Jacqueline Bublitz, Christine Keighery, Adrian Hyland and Amy Doak. A Sunday highlight is an all-star debate featuring Phil Cleary, Eddie Peck, Dee Griffiths and Janice Simpson and another is a rare insight into the world of forensic investigation when Victorian Coroner Audrey Jamieson joins forensic experts Dr Linda Iles, Dr Linda Glowacki and Dr Jo Glengarry from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Link: www.wiwcg.com.au

from the Mayor

Council news

Council will be having a Special Meeting on 13 May at which Council will consider the public exhibition of the Council Plan 20252029 (including the Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plan). Council will also seek to deal with the Long-Term Financial Plan, draft Budget 2025/26, Asset Plan and the Revenue and Rating Plan.

If endorsed for release, the public will have the opportunity to comment and make submissions before considering final adoption before 30 June 2025. These plans are of the utmost importance to the future of the Shire and financial sustainability is at the forefront. Rising costs and shrinking government investment in local government mean that we must become very efficient and only concentrate our efforts upon necessities and not be distracted and swayed by those demanding things we just cannot afford.

Recently we met with Minister for Local Government Nick Staikos and Mary-Anne Thomas MP. We were able to explain the difficulties that rate capping had brought to small rural shires such as ours. We are certainly not the only small rural council in deep financial trouble. At the meeting we were also able to bring to the forefront of their minds the plight of our farmers who, as well as drought challenges, are facing huge costs with the introduction of massive increases in the Emergency Services Levy which Council is expected to collect on the State Government’s behalf. Council has joined with other municipalities across Victoria to oppose what we consider to be an unfair and unaffordable impost.

A meeting in Creswick was organised by myself and Member for Ripon Martha Haylett with Police Minister Anthony Carbines to discuss strategies to deal with crime across the Shire. Although the main focus was on the Creswick area, we had senior police from the Bacchus Marsh command in the discussions and we discussed issues that impacted the Shire as a whole. The minister held meetings with impacted and concerned local residents and businesses and also with police members who were keen to outline the issues they face regarding staffing and rosters. Some strategies have already been put in place and seem to be working very well. All agreed that police in our Shire were doing a great job under sometimes very challenging circumstances.

The adoption of the Waste Water Management Plan at our last Council meeting means that despite Local Law No. 3 expiring, planning applicants and water authorities will have surety going forward. This plan not only sets out planning guidelines to protect our environment and the health of our waterways, but also provides for the testing of existing systems to ensure their ongoing safe operation.

Cr Don Henderson

Hepburn Together

Hepburn Together 2025-2029 is a community engagement initiative aimed at shaping the future of Hepburn Shire as we create our new Council Plan for 2025-2029. A Special Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday 13 May at 6 pm to consider releasing drafts for community feedback.

Stay up to date on the Participate Hepburn website at www.participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au

Food and garden organics

Celebrating one year of the food and garden organics collection. It’s been a year since we introduced organics collection for our townships, with around 5,600 households using the service.

Since the rollout:

• 1,264 tonnes of organic material have been collected

• our landfill diversion rate has risen to 61.5 per cent

• we’ve been able to reduce CO2 emissions by 2063.9 tonnes (equivalent)

• there’s been a 24 per cent reduction in landfill disposal

We are keen to hear about your experience with the service as well as other resource recovery services in the Shire, submit your feedback via the survey on Participate Hepburn: https://participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au/resource-recovery-services

Hard copy surveys are available upon request at Council hubs, transfer stations and libraries.

Listening Posts

Listening Posts provide an opportunity for residents to share their ideas, provide feedback on services, and discuss matters that are important to them with senior Council Officers and Councillors.

Listening Posts scheduled are:

• Saturday 17 May - Trentham Market, 10 am - 12 pm

• Saturday 21 June - Glenlyon Town Hall, 10 am - 12 pm

Details of other Listening Post events, including dates and locations, will be made available on our website, www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/listening-posts

Animal registrations

By registering your pet, you are doing all you can to be quickly reunited with your furry friend if they go missing.

Pet registration notices have been mailed out and please note you have a little longer to pay this year with a due date of Saturday 10 May.

The first year of registration is free for desexed and microchipped dogs and cats, and we also offer discounts for the registration of older pets and working animals. Find out more on our website, www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/Pet-registrations

Cr Don Henderson

Cr Lesley Hewitt Cr Brian Hood Cr Tony Clark Cr Tim Drylie Cr Pat Hockey Cr Shirley Cornish

Message

EAT | DRINK | ENJOY

Guerrillas subversively tinkling the ivories

The Maine Piano Guerrillas may have been a hit during the Castlemaine Fringe Festival – but they are not giving up the gig just yet.

The MPG’s project saw 10 pianos placed around the town, meaning there were plenty of impromptu performances across the four weeks of the festival.

But despite the festival being over, the pianos aren’t going anywhere. And it all makes for a great story.

Helen Sandercoe told The Local that it all started seven months ago when three people were having coffee at the Wesley Hill Market and one said “let’s put pianos in for the Fringe – and then a couple of weeks later, one suggested to make piano guerrillas our thing. And we were off.”

Helen said the real guerrilla act was to put a piano in the underpass of the railway. At midnight. "And feedback is that it’s changed how people feel about the underpass, they feel safer.”

The pianos, mostly uprights, were sourced from “people who don't want to keep their pianos anymore and people who are moving”.

“It's that thing about brown furniture and, you know, no one in the family plays the piano, so it just sits there. Then you sell the house and you try to leave it behind and the new owner says, no, you have to get rid of it.

“We had that story twice. Two of the piano owners had to get rid of them because they'd not played them. But, of course, that's a problem for an old piano because if it's not regularly tuned, then obviously all sorts of things can happen. And one of them had rats inside – that was the player piano - but they're all nice instruments. There's a charm in them, a real charm.”

The pianos will now stay where they are – ready to be played at any time. The thought of vandalism is also there, but so far, so good. Pop-up piano concerts are more likely to be on the agenda.

Funding has come from Mt Alexander Shire Council in the form of a $500 grant but any other funding would be gratefully received.

“We're always up for more funding. Just to move the piano and tune them is quite a bit. But we'd love this project to keep going and bring music happiness to this area.”

Another guerrilla, Greg Maxwell, said while he and Helen were not musicians, they would love more to be involved in the future.

“Lots of musicians don’t want to play in public but it seems to me that that's exactly what we need. We need these people to come out and just share the piano as a community instrument.

“One of our young players, David, talks about it being like being around the campfire, it changes the mood of people.

“He says even playing for his family, everybody relaxes, the tone drops. They sit and listen and enjoy his playing. And I think that's what we're trying to rediscover.”

Helen said the guerrillas were moving from a group from saving pianos to being a group that uses or activates the pianos by having pop-up concerts around the town.

“We've come up with this idea of milk crate concerts where you bring a milk crate and cushion, and you just sit there for half an hour and listen. And get to meet the person next to you.”

Greg said the stories of the pianos were often touching.

“One of the pianos came from Elphinstone and it's at the Taproom. The family’s great-grandmother or grandmother bought it 70 years ago in Bendigo and it's stayed in the family all this time.

"The grandson told us the journey of it and how his father used to play it regularly and then it got to the stage where they wanted to move it on. But they didn’t until the Fringe.

“And Maria, her story's quite remarkable. She had this piano in Fryerstown that was in a shed. It's the one that's in the underpass because it couldn’t be tuned. She told us this whole story about it, about how it had come with her when she left home and she'd had it her whole life.

“She was just so thrilled that we were giving this piano a new life. And if we do swap it out, it will be the one that will go on the funeral pyre for a midwinter festival. A final sort of viking funeral.

“That's the emotional relationship that people have with pianos. She knew it had had this wonderful last few weeks of life.”

Pictured, Maine Piano Guerrillas Helen Sandercoe and Alan Joyce

Scan the QR code for a quick video of piano tuner and mover Joshua McPherson of Making Melody, tickling the keys outside the Maldon Bakery Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes

Hope 25 Hymn Fest

The community is invited to Christ Church Daylesford on Saturday, May 17 at 2pm to join in sharing in the singing of our favourite Hymns of Hope.

Organists Beverley Phillips and John Tungyep from the Royal Society of Church Music, Central Victoria will play the retuned historic Fincham organ.

Master of Ceremonies for the Hymns will be Fay Magee, who is also from the Royal Society of Church Music, Central Victoria.

Twelve hymns have been selected, with the help of the current congregation at Christ Church Daylesford, that each express a theme of faith and hope from the Together in Song Hymn book. There will also be some interspersed poetry reflections upon the theme of Hope.

Afternoon tea will be served in the heritage-listed, recently refurbished W.E. Stanbridge Hall next door from 3.30pm. People attending from other parishes are invited to bring a plate of biscuits or cake and leave it at the hall before the hymn program begins. (Please label for safety reasons re nuts or gluten-free.)

Grace Provan from Christ Church is coordinating the afternoon tea arrangements on the day. Singers from the Solomon Islands, who are staying in Castlemaine, will sing during afternoon tea.

The event is free but a voluntary donation toward maintenance of the organ will be greatly appreciated.

Above, Jeremy Smith tunes the Fincham organ Contributed

2025 Art Talks

Art talks are held at Central Goldfields Art Gallery, 1 Neill Street, Maryborough on Wednesdays each month from 10.30am to noon.

Ghosts of the Goldfields - Wednesday, May 7

Join Associate Professor David Waldron for an engaging talk on the Ghosts of the Goldfields. This event will delve into the rich history of ghost stories from the 19th-century goldrush era in colonial Victoria. Discover how these tales reflect the cultural and social dynamics of the time and served as a cultural response to traumatic histories. Learn about the unique phenomenon of ghost hoaxing and its impact on popular culture in locations like Ballarat and the Ararat Lunatic Asylum.

Geological Inspirations - Wednesday, July 23

Alex Stoneman has a distinguished career with the Victorian Education Department and is a long-term and much respected tutor with Maryborough U3A. Accompanied by visual examples of art works, Alex’s focus is on representations of Australian landscape paintings by John Glover, Eugene von Guerard, William Tibbits, Arthur Streeton, Russell Drysdale and Fred Williams. Reference is made to the critical works of Bernard Smith, John Berger, Patrick McCaughey and Wally Caruana.

Golden Textures Contemporary Art Award 2025 - Wednesday, August 20

Maryborough has a rich textile history and the Golden Textures Contemporary Art Quilt Award continues this tradition. Join a panel discussion that explores the textile history of the region alongside insights into the contemporary art quilts on display. Panelists include Amanda Jean, licensed architect who specialises in cultural heritage and building conservation, focusing on the central goldfields of Victoria and Helen Kaptein, Art Gallery Coordinator, Central Goldfields Art Gallery. Cost is $5 and free to U3A Maryborough members and gallery volunteers and includes morning tea. Bookings: 5461 6600 or cgsc.art@cgoldshire.vic.gov.au

Walks of the Central Highlands with Eve Lamb

Muckleford Heritage Walk, 10.5km - Muckleford Nature Conservation Reserve. (Scan the QR code for a quick video.)

Today my trusty walking companion, Paddy H, and I are joining the Great Dividing Trail Association walkers to tackle the 10.5km Muckleford Heritage Walk.

Drawn to its handy ongoing program of led walks, I joined the association last year. Today, GDTA member and experienced bushwalker John Lewis will be our walk leader. But members with different specialisations and areas of interest lead different walks that are offered on the GDTA regular events program.

At 9.30am, a total of 24 walkers - most of them GDTA members plus a small handful of non-member guests - rendezvous at the Red, White and Blue mine site in the Muckleford Nature Conservation Reserve.

The historic mine is worth a look. It features an intact poppet head, a mine shaft, machinery site, mullock heap and dams. The poppet head was originally from the Bendigo Deborah United Mine.

After general chitchat, participant tick-off, a brief introductory talk by our walk leader, and lending Paddy H the requisite $10 (guest insurance and registration fee) that he forgot to bring, we shoulder daypacks, apply walking poles and set out.

The time is roughly 9.45am, the sky, blue and fair, but the multiple tannincoloured puddles strewn about the bush track testify to the recent rainfall.

As we start to cover ground the group strings out along Bells Lane Track. Yet with the walk leader up front and two designated “walk whips” leading up the rear and keeping an eye out for any stragglers, it consistently remains connected.

There are 3.5 hours generously allocated to cover this loop that meanders through the forest and takes in three mine sites: the Red, White and Blue Mine, Frenchmans Reef, and Dunns Reef. The GDTA walk description we’d received via email as part of registering for this ramble informs that:

Muckleford Forest is an ancient landscape occupied, for tens of thousands of years, by the Dja Dja Wurrung. Then Major Mitchell passed through the area in 1836, and pastoralists soon followed, to squat and establish sheep runs.

the forest.

I find myself chatting away to long-time GDTA members, like president Tim Bach, who tells me about some appealing walks coming up on the agenda, about walk publications the GDTA has produced already, and more in the works.

Other members tell me about favourite walks they’ve done and the wealth of knowledge held by fellow members whose personal areas of expertise traverse geology, history and ecology.

Others share esoteric walkers know-how, like how much to expect to pay for a pair of quality walking poles, plus pole pitfalls to avoid at the point of purchase.

Much of John’s introductory talk focused on the area’s considerable mining history. We swing right and take a very gentle climb to stop for morning tea atop the quartzy outcrop that is Frenchmans Reef. The conversation again swings round to the shiny yellow stuff as 24 backsides are planted on or against various natural bushland features while Thermoses are dug from daypacks.

And we’re soon moving again, stopping along the way to check out points of interest that include: an iron grill-protected horizontal mining tunnel blasted through sheer rock in the middle of the bush; various ferrous pebble deposits where, particularly following rainfall, gold is apparently far more likely to congregate; the dappled day-bed of a wallaby; and a tiny pond full of frisky frogcall.

The GDTA walk description for today’s loop rates it as easy, as it only involves an overall elevation gain of less than 200m. A fair bit of this incline occurs as the group gambols up the gravelly girth of Dunns Reef where we stop for lunch admiring a view across to Maldon and Mount Tarrengower to the north west.

From here we take the Red, White and Blue Track to complete the loop and arrive back at the Red, White, and Blue mine site with GDTA members already looking forward to their next outing planned for May - the 10.5km Coliban Water Channel Walk. Scan the QR code for a short video.

Following the discovery of gold at the foot of Mt Tarrengower in 1853, miners spread through the region in pursuit of gold, and the scars of early mining are evident throughout

Little Gallery winter exhibition at Trentham

Little Gallery in Trentham is no stranger to high-profile artists exhibiting, as over the past 14 years the gallery continues to showcase many Central Victorian artists who have achieved greatness in their field.

One of the founding members of the Little Gallery, Rose Wilson says: "We are truly blessed to be able to represent some of the finest artists that this region has to offer, not only are these artists known within Australia but are internationally acclaimed."

Over the years, the artist-run space has had a number of high-profile artists as members of its dynamic team with the most recent addition of sculptors Maria Coyle, pictured above, and Jimmy Rix, pictured below.

Woodend-based, award-winning ceramicist Maria Coyle has been working as a professional sculptor for 30 years. Her works are held in many private and corporate collections, and have been acquired nationally, and internationally in New Zealand, Asia, UK, Italy and the Netherlands.

Sculptor Jimmy Rix, based in Malmsbury is an award-winning artist, who has been commissioned to make large-scale public art in Australia and China and is a regular exhibitor in many outdoor sculpture exhibitions such as Sculpture by the Sea.

Jimmy's work is widely collected with such pieces acquired and held by Parliament House. He is also represented in Sydney and Melbourne by Australian Galleries.

Jimmy and Maria, along with painters Rose Wilson and Helen Cottle, and ceramicist Kim Haughie, make up the Little Gallery in-house team of resident artists.

Also on display at the Little Gallery are short-term featured artist Jennifer Barnett and Kyneton-based wood artist Brian Falkenburg along with the gallery's stable of commission artists.

Rose said the gallery's annual Winter Show fundraising exhibition would open on July 11 with 16 local artists exhibiting to celebrate regional identity through art.

"Each year we source new, emerging and established local artists to participate in this exhibition, and they are Dale Cox, Nadia Kliendanze, Julie McKenzie, Mark Dober, Jill Nobel, Antoinette Braybrook, Neil Matterson, Brian Falkenberg, Rowena Hannan, Diane Thompson, Maxine McKee, Jonathon Lane, Fiona Orr, Jennifer Leggat, Jody Galvin, and Emma McAdam-Marmont in collaboration with Struan Hopwood."

Little Gallery is open 10am to 4pm, Thursday to Monday and most public holidays to visit, meet the artists and chat about their work. Contributed

Gigs

Cosmopolitan Hotel, Trentham

Nick Keogh - Free show - Saturday, May 10, 3pm – 5pm

Suzie So Blue + Band - Free show - Saturday, May 17, 3pm – 5pm Dead Beat Daddios - Free show - Saturday, May 24, 3pm – 5pm Charm of Finches - Sunday, May 25, 2.30 pm Jeremy Beggs - Free show - Saturday, May 31, 3pm – 5pm

Daylesford Hotel, Daylesford

The Barb Kerr Trio - Saturday, May 10, 7.30pm - 9.15pm Oscar LaDell - Saturday, May 17, 8.30pm - 10.15pm Midnight Coffee - Saturday, May 31, 8.30pm - 10.15pm Muso Corner/Open Mic Night- First Thursday - 6.30pm - 8.30pm

The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine

Slow Grind Fever #5 – Saturday/Sunday, May 10-11, 9pm – 1am Sunshine Tip – Free Show, Sunday, May 18, 3pm – 5pm Skyscraper Stan & The Commission Flats – Friday, May 23, 9pm – 11.30pm Marina Allen (USA) – Free Show – Sunday, May 25, 3pm – 5pm Mel Parsons – Friday, June 13, 9pm – 11pm Cool Sounds – Saturday, June 14, 9pm – 11.30pm

Daylesford exhibition

The exhibition Intersections: Art, Music, Words will be on display at the Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre from May 8 to June 19.

Vanessa Craven, pictured, (daylesfordARTS) is a diverse artist with many strings to her bow.

She paints in acrylic, oils and mixed media, ink and pencil, is a nature photographer and a talented musician who plays with her bands Lunar Dust and Lake Mist as well as solo.

Vanessa is also a writer and poet. She won the Bendigo Sustainability Festival ‘Poe-Tree’ award 2025, and has two published books, a children’s book, Birds in my Tree: the Magic of Birds and the Joy of Singing and a poetry book, Under the Mop Top Tree.

She has also published poems and short stories in five anthologies with the Moorabool Writers Craft including in 2023, Mists of Moorabool

She has produced and recorded three music CDs Filtered Light, Forbidden Dance and Homebrew. Her music has won awards with the Australian Songwriting Association.

Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre is open daily from 10am to 4pm at 98 Vincent Street, Daylesford.

Image: Kyle Barnes

Readership

The Local is running a

Feature

in the May 19 edition.

Buy an advert and receive the equivalent editorial free. Spruik your organisation, your volunteers, your successes... Bookings by May 12, COB. Copy by May 16.

Full page: $720 plus GST

Half page: $360 plus GST

The Local has a shelf life of two weeks and is picked up by everyone. And unlike traditional newspapers that can be read in less time than it takes to boil an egg, we have great stories, profiles and news. Just sayin’

Home delivery

The Local is delivered straight onto your computer screen and devices in a downloadable, easy-to-read and printable version.

Reach

The Local now reaches 15,000 people from Newlyn in the east to Kyneton in the west, from Blackwood in the south to Guildford in the north and everywhere in between.

Celebrating autumn. The Local would love to see your autumn photos and will run the best in the final autumn edition, May 19. Email donna@tlnews.com.au - don't forget to include your name and town.

GREENHILLS NATURAL LAMB LOIN CHOPS 2KG ONLY $50 SAVE $30!

GREENHILLS NATURAL WHOLE PORTERHOUSE 3KG ONLY $99 SAVE $$$

Meat prices almost always rise towards the end of Autumn, start of Winter as demand increases but supply is reduced due to the time of year. Stock up your freezer with these great prices! Strictly limited stock so get in quick. VISIT US IN-STORE. DAILY SPECIALS ALWAYS ON OFFER.

Mountain top dining

A major refurbishment is about to get underway at Macedon Tea Rooms, transforming it into spectacular dining experience on top of a 1000-metre high mountain.

The Benito Family Pty Ltd have been awarded the new lease for the famous tearooms with plans including an expanded outdoor seating area to take in the scenic views, evening dining, and space for events and functions.

The tearooms opened to customers in 2000, replacing a building destroyed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires.

Works are expected to start in coming weeks, with the building re-opening late this year. While renovations are underway, visitors will be able to grab a coffee or bite to eat from a mobile coffee van.

Do you feed & water people? Advertise here.

Community picking day at Sailors Falls

Rob and Margaret McDonald recently held their 20th community picking day at their winery at Sailors Falls.

Rob said the day started in 2005 with a few people from the Daylesford Walking Group. "It takes a few years for grapes to get going and we didn't have that many in the early days. We planted in 1999 and our first crop was picked in 2005.

"Some of the walkers, for some reason, got wildly excited about picking grapes so we had them around, had hot cross buns for morning team, a barbeque for lunch and then a few drinks at the end of the day. One year we had 25 people here. It just grew and grew - still with mostly walkers, but also a few odds and bods who wanted to join the frivolities."

Rob said the free labour, albeit with all the perks, was a great help. "If you had to bring in pickers it does cost a bit. And I have taken on a new role, I'm in my 81st year, so I hire a guy who does the lifting and pushing, and I do the cooking and catering. Everyone enjoys the day and I give them all a bottle of wine from a real family winery to take home. It combines work with fun."

Rob said while some of the earlier pickers were no longer around, there had been a changing of the guard, with many people from U3A now helping out.

"We do a few free wine tastings for U3A and they often ask if they can come along when we do the picking day. It's a reciprocal thing."

Rob said the wine business was hard work, especially for local wineries unable to match the economies of scale of the bigger businesses.

"We need to sell a bottle for about $20 but you can see wine for $5 and if that's someone's budget, it's just what they have to buy. Cellarbrations does a good job for us with sales and a couple of businesses like Sault support us but it is hard going. Any idiot can grow a grape, it's the marketing and sales."

Rob said he and Margaret started Sailors Falls Estate, which offers meals and accommodation along with wine, as a "romantic notion".

"I was never a big beer drinker and when I lived in Fitzroy I found everyone had wine in their sheds, they were making it themselves, and cooking pizzas in outside ovens. I thought that was a great idea - to do when we retired."

Words: Donna Kelly | Images: Contributed

Let’s support our community and shop local!

“Locals supporting Locals” Restaurants, Bakers, Butchers, Cafe’s, Local vineyards, Distillers, Brewers and of course each other.

Remember we offer free delivery, T&Cs apply.

Delivery times are Monday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

We accept credit cards over the phone or we have an on-board eftpos machine. You will need to be at home for the delivery with proof of age if asked by the driver. Give the Foxxy team a call on 5348 3577.

Keep safe, everyone.

Clockwise, Rob McDonald, Margaret McDonald, Cr Lesley Hewitt and Anna Szwed

King’s Speech 2025

Dear All, Don’t forget to get your advertisement in The Local’s Kings’s Birthday weekend feature.

The villages and towns will be heaving with visitors and locals so we’ll have extra copies of The Local available. So make sure you get the word out about your business...

Cheers, Charlie

Booking deadline - May 27!

Cult, commune, movement or sect?

As always, for all manner of reasons, the shadow of the United States of America looms over the culture of the world. That's a big statement I know and we can argue about it over dinner sometime.

Despite all predictions of its imminent demise, from our shitty social media feeds to the movies we critique, the online series we binge on, and the politics we follow, the idea of America is omnipresent. In a post-globalised world, within the 24-hour news cycle and the sodden floating morass of opinion and perspective that passes for actual information, you will find multiple aspects of the perplexing, infuriating, compelling, impenetrable, amorphous concept of America.

No other country on earth filters through via so many lenses and I suppose that is why everyone, whether they have been there or not, have so many strident opinions on the place and I have probably been the worst offender. So that’s why I decided, worn out slaving for The Local, that my next journey would be to that country. I did not expect to traipse the halls of power, feel its hot breath, nor oscillate around the world of the elite and famous. I simply wanted to see the USA at ground level through my own lens and form an opinion of this land via actual experience. I hope it's worth reading. - Tony Sawrey

“Come check out Gladheart Farm,” said Elle. “They are a cult, but they make a killer sourdough and I need to stock up my cafe.”

I’m in Asheville, North Carolina visiting my niece, we have been spending the day driving around and seeing the sights, which in this part of the world is overwhelmingly the flood damage done to the city as a result of Hurricane Helene in September 2024.

But there has been enough written about that event, the focus is now on rebuilding. I didn’t want to come away from this town as just another disaster tourist and the idea of visiting a religious commune appeals to my persistent interest in weird counter-cultures.

Gladheart Farm sits on 19 acres (7.6 hectares) of land around eight kilometres from the centre of Asheville and is part of the Twelve Tribes, "an emerging spiritual nation…a confederation made up of self-governing communities…who live together in homes and on farms". On their website they describe themselves as "disciples of the Son of God, whom (they) call by His Hebrew name Yahshua".

Founded by Elbert Eugene Spriggs out of Tennessee in 1972, today the group consists of 32 communities worldwide including the United States, Europe and even a house and deli in Katoomba, NSW.

We arrived at their farm at lunchtime and had the opportunity to sit down with some of the members. We entered through the kitchen where at least a dozen women of various ages were busy preparing the midday meal consisting of salad, cheesy chicken and kale/banana smoothies.

Each woman was dressed in either full length dresses or sus pants (a type of shapeless trouser with narrow ankle sleeves) and long hair kept in pigtails, often covered by scarves.

While they served us lunch, I sat and chatted with some of the men who all sported beards, and tied back hair. Ben, a former dairy farmer and ex-military who has been part of the group for two years, was happy to chat about Gladheart.

“We have several houses for families living here and communal lodging for the single men. This building serves as a meeting area for celebrations, gospel readings and our weekly pizza and film nights.”

The Twelve Tribes seeks to recreate the first-century Christian church, a period after the death of Jesus made up of men and women who knew Jesus personally and/ or witnessed his resurrection.

Their belief structure is a combination of Christian fundamentalism (also known as Bible Literalism) and Messianic Judaism including the concept of salvation by believing in Jesus or ‘Yahshua’ in Hebrew, the language of early Christendom.

Furthermore, the group gives each member a Hebrew name that is meant to reflect the personality of the individual.

In more recent years, the use of Hebrew names, often interchangeable between members, has also made it very difficult for outsiders trying to track down family members within scattered Twelve Tribes communities.

Its commune-based all-things-in-common lifestyle can come across as quaint and bucolic, a throwback to the flower-power age of the 1960s, but the group is nothing if not industrious, with its various chapters engaged in all forms of businesses from bakeries and delis to construction and printing.

“Here, along with our organic produce we have Maté Factor,” explains Ben. “A facility producing herbal tea blends based on the yerba maté plant imported from Brazil and sold around the world.”

Community members young and old work unpaid in these businesses with all profits going towards sustaining the Twelve Tribes community.

Walking around Gladheart Farm, it is very easy to be seduced by what is on offer here. To think that in exchange for honest work, growing crops, tending animals and tilling the land, you can be part of a loving family, something greater than yourself. No need to worry about money, all your needs taken care of.

Cult, commune, movement or sect, my niece Elle, with her frequent visits to the community, can best sum up this desire to belong as a natural response to corruption and uncertain times.

“When individuals no longer trust the government and when they feel powerless and afraid of what the future holds, groups like the Twelve Tribes are always going to hold some sort of appeal.”

Images, from above, the entrance to Gladheart Farm and communal meeting house, Gladheart Farm resident Ben in front of one of their wheat fields and on-site bakery and inset, Ben with their goats, used to make cheese

Images: Tony Sawrey

Beetham's Botanicals

Well, here I am penning my next article while flying over the Canadian Rocky Mountains from Vancouver to Calgary. What could be more inspirational?

By regularly visiting the northern hemisphere it always reminds me of the cultivated plants we choose here in the southern.

A classic example is a silver birch (betula pendula). Loved by landscapers and their clients, it became a trademark copse planting for many years including the present.

So here’s the thing…with the now-accepted threat of increased climate change, has the silver birch lost its top of the perch status?

I’ve always admired the planting of a tree that may remind someone of their mum, gran or a fallen soldier in the wars - be brave and plant that commemorative tree to honour their memory.

The silver birch, despite its failing in some climate change models, deserves a second chance I say.

So from the much-maligned silver birch to what is its successor - many hold their hands up - being a stately tree, the choice is not as wide as you think.

For those of us that live in the Central Highlands we have a topsy-turvy weather forecast that sometimes goes awry.

How many times have we seen the rain front disappear off the radar when we were celebrating the thought of raindrops on our rooftops.

And so back to our beloved silver birch. Long may your spring catkins burst out of your winter-protected buds and welcome the sunshine for another cheeky moment to all those doomsayers.

Cheers JB (Trading as Trees in Australia)

Kyle’s Rant

On a recent road trip, a couple of weird things happened that made me shake my head at the universe.

Now if you think this yarn is going down into the potholes and dickhead drivers subject I am normally red hot on, you are wrong. This is a tale on the path of embarrassment, horror and fear.

The first part of the journey was a night in a hotel up the road a bit, in Albury, which is where the embarrassment came into play. I am not one for public speaking and try to avoid the spotlight as much as possible. In fact, Donna does all the ABC Radio Paper Chase segments, not because it is some ungodly hour of the morning, but because I simply don’t like the sound of my own voice. At funerals, weddings and any time that I am required to offer a quivering-voiced piece of advice I start by saying “I’ll keep this short and sweet”.

Anyway, I found myself in a line to sign in and get my keys for the night at the hotel when a rather rattled elderly man jumped the queue to ask the staff for assistance. He explained to the reception team an older woman had falled down some stairs. The reception team didn’t seem to be worried and kept processing the guests so this is where I fired into action and followed the guy saying to him "I can help, I have a first aid certificate". I imagined the woman was lying on some steps in a dark stairwell needing my 40 years of back-to-back first aid certification I have been doing since I was 17. At last, my skills and training would pay off.

The man, with me hot on his tail, busted through a set of double doors leading into an auditorium with around 200 people seated, all looking my way. He yelled "I have the medico, I have the medico”. Hello, stage fright.

I made my way to the stage where I helped the poor old girl to her feet, which resulted in applause from the audience, and then it was literally exit stage left. Like a scene from Thank God You’re Here

The next milestone moment of the road trip was in Maitland, NSW. Donna had chosen this place to stay for the night. I had glimpsed at the photos she showed me and it looked fabulous. But we then rolled up to this rather ominous-looking building, in fact gargoyles perching on the rooftop wouldn’t have been out of place.

After checking in I went down to get a couple of things from the car and said to the receptionist “please don’t tell me this place was an old hospital?”. “No,”she replied, “this place used to be a Catholic orphanage”. I asked if there were any ghosts but “only if you believe” she replied.

So I self-medicated with wine to get to sleep, as I am a little sensitive to these things, and as I nodded off, Donna asked what was wrong with my breathing?.

I told her I felt like there was something heavy on my chest and then slipped into an alcoholic-induced slumber until about 2.30am when I was woken by the pitterpatter of little feet running up and down the hallway. I was awake for hours after that, hearing all sorts of things that went bump in the night.

As the morning light started to come into the room I managed to get a bit more sleep and when we finally woke around seven, I told Donna my tales of terror and showed her some rather deep scratch marks on my stomach. She is not a believer but she had also heard the constant running up and down the hallway.

A quick Google of the place in question revealed it was not uncommon to hear such tales, in fact there is a whole web page devoted to it which include a groom-tobe feeling someone pressing on his chest and yelling “get out, get out”.

Embarrassment, horror and fear rant over…

(Ed's note: I am not a believer but I won't be staying there again. Very strange.)

Local Lines

haiku

light taps on dry leaves rain drops

after the rain fresh moments of alive puddles to snap

as if poured from a bucket skittering skinks

the magpie twists a worm from the grass distant truck toot

sudden attack the body crumples with laughter

Bill Wootton

Bill likes rain, haiku, magpies. He writes and has read in Hepburn Springs, Daylesford, Woodend and Trentham.

Local Lines features poetry by locals about local and any other matters. Please submit poems to Bill Wootton at cottlesbreedge@gmail.com

Pick me, pick me!

Hi. I’m Booboo and I may well just charm you. I am a tri-colour fox terrier

and I’m 15-years-old.

I may have a few miles accumulated on the clock but I’m a delightful and friendly old chap and I still have some spark in my step.

Now I need to find a new quiet and loving home with good company to spend the rest of my days. Microchip No. 900012000719027.

Come and meet me at MAAWs in Castlemaine.

Ph: 5472 5277.

(Pick me, pick me is run in memory of Rosie & Curly - we picked them.

Pick me, pick me is also proudly supported by Daylesford's petstockwhere pets are family.)

Just sayin’...

By Donna Kelly

Like many people around Australia, I was glued to the television on Saturday night, watching the election play out.

It was hard to know which way it was going until a few hours into counting but then the country turned red.

It was an incredible result for the ALP and a pretty sad one for the Liberal Party, with Mr Dutton even losing his own seat of Dickson.

Personally I think it came down to two things. The first is that the world is pretty topsy-turvy at the moment so people may think it's better to have stability - and vote for the party already governing.

I also think Mr Dutton headed into strange territory when he thought Australia was ready for a more Trump-style leadership. Not as crazy as the Trumpets but still, a far bit more right-wing than most of us are comfortable with.

Ballarat MP Catherine King kept her seat again, no surprises there, and posted on Facebook: "Thank you Ballarat! It's an incredible privilege to be returned as your MP, and I'm looking forward to serving you in a majority Labor Government!"

It also means I can finally report on a media release I received in early April. I didn't run it then because I don't really think election promises are news.

It said: "Member for Ballarat Catherine King will announce that a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will provide $1.2 million to Hepburn Shire Council for community soccer upgrades."

There were two announcements for this, one at Victoria Park in Daylesford and one at the Doug Lindsay Reserve in Creswick. So that's some good news for soccer fans - including the Hepburn and Daylesford Soccer Club who we have a story about in this edition.

And that's enough election news for now - it's Sunday morning and the printer is waiting for this final page to come through.

But I did think I would write something brief in the lead-up to Mother's Day.

I still feel a strong urge, mostly when something weird and/or wonderful has happened, to pick up the phone and call Mum.

Of course, that wouldn't work. She's gone. Five years this month. Unbelievable. So no more long calls during chardy hour or making the trek to Frankston to be met at the door with a big smile.

No more chats about who's doing what in the family, or what the latest recruit to her retirement village is like, or even just the fun of hearing her, as she looks out the window at some poor soul with a walker, saying "God, they're old here".

With Mother's Day around the corner it's hard to avoid the Mother's Day display stands and the television adverts all telling us to "spoil Mum".

But if we had our time together again I don't think I would do much different. Maybe I would have avoided the fight with my brother when we were 14 and 12 and we knocked over a card table full of her drying pottery.

We had a great relationship, a bit rocky when Kyle arrived on the scene, but that all smoothed out down the track. Only took about 10 years.

When I lived in Japan she kept turning up for long stays and then when I backpacked to London she turned up again - although she did pay for a European trip so that was OK.

After Kyle joined Team Kelly we still travelled a lot together and whenever we moved home Mum always turned up for a little holiday - Cairns, Alice Springs, Karratha, Brisbane, Hervey Bay...

If you still have a mum around give her an extra hug from me or spend a little extra time on the phone this Sunday.

And to all the mums out there, Happy Mother's Day. We don't always show it but we love you to the moon and back and appreciate all you have done. Just sayin'...

W RD CROSS

Here is the crossword solution for Edition 330.

How did you go?

All words in the crossword appear somewhere in the same edition of The Local.

Markets

Every Sunday - Daylesford Sunday Market

First Saturday - Trentham Neighbourhood Centre Makers Market, Woodend Farmers Market

Second Saturday - Trentham Community Group Market, Kyneton Farmers Market, Kyneton Rotary Community Market

Second Sunday - Maldon Market, Clunes Farmers Market

Third Saturday - Trentham Farmers Market and Makers Market, Glenlyon Farmers Market, Leonards Hill Market, Creswick Market

Third Sunday - Talbot Farmers Market, Woodend Lions Market

Fourth Sunday - Daylesford Farmers Market, Trentham Station Sunday Market

Business Directory - Buy

Because that’s what facts do. They get in the way of wild theories, sensational headlines, and stories that are just too good to be true. And that’s the point.

Real journalism isn’t about chasin g clicks or stirring outrage. It’s about accountability. It’s about getting the story right, not just being the first to talk about it.

It’s about knowing your community and knowing what matters most.

Because when the truth matters, shortcuts don’t cut it.

We believe facts make stories stronger, not weaker. That’s why everything we publish is grounded in independence, integrity and an unwavering commitment to accuracy and the community we are part of.

Truth isn’t a single person’s point of view.

It’s a responsibility. And it’s one we take seriously.

Trust journalism to deliver you the truth.