Featured
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Hub push for funds
Macedon locals are fighting to keep momentum for a much-anticipated community hub as they face a cost blowout for the project. Volunteers are seeking $90,000 in Macedon Ranges Council’s 2020/21 budget to meet the funding shortfall for the building contract and continue efforts. Macedon’s Samara Hodson said the community had rallied behind the project and…
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Castlemaine State Fest offers grants to creatives
Virus or no virus, come March next year the Castlemaine State Festival will happen, its director says. Exactly what form it takes will be guided by the level of restriction in place at the time, but festival director Glyn Roberts says planning for the March 19-28 festival is factoring in adaptation to the shifting COVID-19…
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Farmers win in land battle
A fourth generation Springfield farming family has taken on the state government in a David and Goliath battle over land, and won. Backed by Macedon Ranges Shire Council, the Clement family succeeded at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in preventing fragmentation of farmland at 75 Clements Road, Springfield. The family donated the land as…
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CHECKPOINT CHEATS
Macedon Ranges residents have raised concern over how easily people have been able to enter the shire from COVID-19 lockdown areas across its borders. While police have established vehicle checkpoints on major arterial roads heading out of Melbourne, several people have contacted the Midland Express to report their easy entry to the Macedon Ranges via…
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Coles Woodend staff member positive
A team member at Coles’ Woodend supermarket is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. In a statement posted to the Coles website last night, the company said a number of team members who worked in close contact had also been asked to self-isolate and Coles would continue to work with the Victorian Department of Health…
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New digs for Kyneton crews
The Kyneton team of electricity distributor Powercor has moved into a new depot. The $10 million development at Redesdale Road replaces the former depot that was built in 1979. The depot includes better office facilities, storage areas for equipment and fleet, and can support the future expansion of the workforce. A heritage-listed tree was also…
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Lancefield recycling centre launches
Lancefield locals are encouraged to think twice about what they are sending to landfill through the launch of a Lancefield Recycle Centre last week. The Neighbourhood House initiative enables residents to ethically dispose of normally hard-to-recycle waste through simple sorting at The Townhouse drop-point. People can now easily dispose of and recycle bread tags, writing…
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Legendary muso becomes new citizen
He’s considered one of the most genuinely talented figures in Australian music still at the top of his game and now Australia can officially lay claim – and Kyneton too! The Black Sorrows frontman Joe Camilleri had called Australia home for 70 years before he was made one of the Macedon Ranges’ newest citizens last…
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Fed up: Diggings park vandalised
Fed up Chewton locals say they’ve had enough of vandalism being inflicted on treasured local walking trails and public land within Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. Residents and members of the Golden Point Landcare group say trail bikers are illegally using walking trails and other public off-road spaces in the park, churning up ground and…
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Sustainable living at The Paddock
Work is set to begin shortly on stage two of The Paddock Eco Village in Castlemaine after the project took a hit during the recent pandemic. The Paddock developers Neil and Heather Barrett said they were all set to go on the next stage when coronavirus struck and three of their buyers were forced to…
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Unrest as new chapter opens
Tomorrow July 1 marks a historic day as the Country Fire Authority’s ‘integrated’ metro and regional stations and Metropolitan Fire Brigade merge to become new service Fire Rescue Victoria. The controversial move led by the state government comes after years of bitter disputes about the proposal between the government, the United Firefighters Union, volunteers association…
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GROWING PAINS FOR GISBORNE
Gisborne’s coveted village feel could be compromised if Macedon Ranges Council’s draft 30-year plan for the town is adopted without change. The plan recommends controversial expansion of Gisborne Business Park and allows for high-density development close to the town centre including three-storey homes and four-storey commercial fronts. But it was the unanticipated and rushed inclusion…