Featured
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World-class jazz arrives
The highly anticipated 2023 Castlemaine Jazz Festival kicks off this Friday evening with a big band opening night party at Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal. The three-day festival over the King’s Birthday long weekend (June 9-11) will see 30 bands and hundreds of musicians feature in live shows across multiple local venues including the Royal, Phee Broadway…
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Foodbanks facing increased demand
Sam Irvine Foodbanks in the Macedon Ranges are facing unprecedented demand for their services as the cost-of-living crisis worsens, but volunteers say strong community networks are helping to ease the burden. Volunteering Victoria’s CEO, Thu Trang Tran, said volunteer-led organisations across regional Victoria were facing increasingly difficult circumstances. “Services are isolated, volunteers and staff are…
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RM Begg Aged Care merger ahead
Kyneton’s community-owned RM Begg Aged Care facility is gearing up for a merger with Tasmanian company Respect. Residents and staff have been informed of the board’s intentions to merge RM Begg with Respect, a not-for-profit organisation that runs 20 aged care homes, retirement villages and home care services across Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.…
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Fabulous fauna and fungi
To celebrate World Environment Day, the Macedon Ranges Field Naturalists Group is hosting a special event featuring the fabulous fauna and fungi of Mount Macedon.
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High hopes for drill hall
Angela CrawfordKyneton Airforce Cadets have found themselves homeless after their long-standing home at Mont Saint Quentin Barracks Drill Hall in Market Street fell into disrepair. Parents of current cadets of 430 Squadron said the group now had no permanent home in which to run its weekly parade nights and the future of a historic Kyneton…
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No footpath on horizon
Angela CrawfordResidents of Kyneton South fear a pedestrian or cyclist will be struck by a vehicle and killed due to a lack of footpaths safely connecting the area to the train station. The residents have lobbied the council for a footpath on Trentham Road for almost 10 years but have now been told it is…
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Club in mourning
Castlemaine Football Netball Club is mourning the sudden death of Under 18s footballer Dallas Keogh-Frankling. The 17-year-old collapsed after playing in a match at Kyneton on Saturday and was rushed to hospital but could not be revived. An outpouring of condolences and support has flowed to the club, Dallas’s family and the wider community, including…
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Native forest logging to end
The state government has announced it will bring forward the end of native forest logging to January 2024. The end date will be accelerated from 2030 to the start of next year through additional $200 million of measures announced in last Tuesday’s State Budget. The move has been welcomed by the Victorian National Parks Association.…
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Call to lower the risk
Amy HumeWildlife rescuers across Mount Alexander and Macedon Ranges are seeking the support of property owners to prevent injury to wildlife in fencing. “Callouts to wildlife caught in fencing are the next most common wildlife rescues after road hits,” wildlife rescuer Ian Slattery told the Express. “Kangaroos are the species that fencing causes the most…
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Films to screen at micro-cinema
This year, Castlemaine Documentary Festival introduces a second venue – The Yurt – a beautiful micro-cinema located at Western Reserve within easy walking distance to the Theatre Royal. The Yurt features an alternative program of family-friendly sessions across the Saturday and Sunday mornings and enticing programs for young people in the afternoons and evenings. Here…
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Building healthy landscapes
Passion, purpose and practice were the words used to describe this year’s Macedon Ranges Shire Council Healthy Landscapes – Holistic Grazing Management course. Eighteen farmers and land managers were inspired and armed with the knowledge to forge their own path into regenerative agriculture on their parcel of land. Sidonia Beef manager Sam White said regenerative…
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Australia’s brightest minds to appear
The Words and Ideas Program has been a key feature of the Woodend Winter Arts Festival since its first inception 18 years ago. Curated by pioneering author Don Watson, this year’s program promises to be as captivating as ever, as leading luminaries discuss challenging contemporary issues such as the clean energy challenge, climate catastrophe, pandemics,…