Latest
-
Do the time warp
When Castlemaine’s Leslie Thornton was a schoolboy he lived next door to the school – but was always late. In class the young Leslie would stare longingly at the schoolroom clock and today reports that he could often observe the second hand slowing down – or even stopping completely. Now the acclaimed contemporary artist gets…
-
Platypus plans
What uses electroreception to find its prey, is venomous, and is a semi aquatic mammal that lays eggs? One of Australia’s iconic species, the platypus. The word ‘platypus’ comes from the Greek for ‘flat-footed’ as they walk on their knuckles when travelling on land to protect their webbed feet. If you’d like to learn more…
-
New kid on the kerbside
Recycling education will be a significant feature as Veolia Environmental begins its new contract providing kerbside recycling and waste collection services in Mount Alexander Shire. Executives with the multinational waste services provider made themselves known in person at last Thursday’s public event hosted by the council in Castlemaine to mark the beginning of the new…
-
Protection promise that rocks
A re-elected Labor state government plans to purchase Hanging Rock’s East Paddock. Long championed by the community, the move is expected to give greater protection to the precinct, and its views, which was threatened by a development proposal five years ago. Planning Minister Richard Wynne last week pledged $3 million to purchase the land and…
-
Warm welcome for UK import
Woodend Cricket Club’s first-ever international player received a very enthusiastic welcome within a few hours of arriving from England last Wednesday. Monte McCague, from Leeds & Broomfield CC, is the son of former English fast bowler Martin McCague who played three Tests against Australia in the 1990s. The strongly built 20-year-old describes himself as “a…
-
Skills for life
Kyneton Community and Learning Centre in conjunction with the Social Foundry and This Farm Needs A Farmer are rolling out a third round of their very successful ‘Skills for Life’ program. They are now adding an agriculture stream to the program, as well as offering more places in the sought-after hospitality course. It will launch…
-
New management for Newstead pool
Bendigo Regional Young Men’s Christian Association Youth Services will manage Newstead Swimming Pool for the next three years following a council decision last week. But the Newstead committee that has managed the local pool since 1964 will still have some input into the pool’s operations in a move aimed at ensuring the community retains its…
-
Hunt on for land
Romsey Men’s Shed needs a permanent home and has identified a preferred site at Romsey Park. The organisation became incorporated in June and the new executive’s primary goal is now to secure a site for construction of a building to house the group’s activities. Secretary Patrick Holt said the group had considered several sites and…
-
Snaps for Nepal project
Home-grown travel photographer Rochelle Hansen will be trekking Nepal for a charitable project and she’s inviting company. The award-winning shutterbug has just partnered with not-for-profit charity The Small World to lead a photography tour in February. Rochelle is inspired to show like-minded people remote regions of the country that captured her heart when she was…
-
Concert for Jarrah
The organisers behind the ‘Jarrah’s Fight for Sight’ Go Fund Me campaign, have announced details of a benefit concert to be held next month, with all proceeds going to Jarrah and his family. Nine-year-old Jarrah Podesta has lost both of his eyes to retinoblastoma – a rare form of malignant cancer that only occurs in…
-
Slow down – Residents call for speed reduction
The speed limit on Ranters Gully Road at Muckleford is dangerous and needs to be lowered to avoid an accident, concerned residents of the thoroughfare say. Eight of the residents living on the popular lifestyle strip signed a petition, which was presented to Mount Alexander Shire Council at its July meeting, calling for the limit…
-
New festival collapses
An arts and wellness festival awarded $450,000 in state government funding has been cancelled. Eyebrows were raised when the government announced the significant funding allocation earlier this year for the new Live.Love.Life Festival, which aimed to showcase Daylesford and Macedon Ranges, while established festivals including the Woodend Winter Arts Festival had their funding reduced. Daylesford…