News
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VGR in state’s new rail training pilot
A new pilot program will offer training and hands-on experience helping Victorian Goldfields Railway upgrade the tourist railway’s infrastructure between Castlemaine and Maldon. Late last week the state government announced support for indigenous and vulnerable people in the Loddon Mallee region to gain a certified qualification through the program. Minister for Public Transport Ben Carroll…
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Building community resilience
A number of local resilience groups have cropped up in the region in recent years and have seen neighbours forming networks and supporting each other. Groups such as West End Resilience and Castlemaine Commons aim to support their neighbours and spread important messages such as fire safety. The importance of these local social networks has…
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Tractor rollover traps man at New Gisborne
A man was injured in a tractor rollover at New Gisborne yesterday afternoon. Emergency services were called to the property just before 3pm. Once on scene, firefighters were confronted with a small front-end loader that had rolled onto its side trapping the man by his foot under the rear wheel. The man, aged in his…
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Local heroes honoured
Eight Gisborne Fire Brigade volunteers who responded to catastrophic bushfires in NSW earlier this year will be formally acknowledged for their significant roles. The premier of NSW is awarding Bushfire Emergency Citations and certificates to acknowledge the dedication, selfless actions and outstanding contribution of CFA volunteers across Victoria who assisted in the fire fight. The…
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Environmental journalist turns MC for gliders
By Bron Willis Gregg Borschmann has had many conversations with editors over his 30-year career as an environmental journalist, but there is one from the 1980s that sticks in his mind more vividly than any other. “I had just come back from spending time in Queensland – writing about the reef and the Wet Tropics…
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‘A LICENCE TO POLLUTE’
Coliban Water’s planned upgrade of the Kyneton Water Reclamation Plant will not be completed in time to prevent further illegal discharges of wastewater to the Campaspe River this year, downstream landowners fear. Significant rain a fortnight ago has raised the plant’s storage lagoons to 96 per cent capacity and wet conditions have delayed upgrade works…
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Dispute to Consumer Affairs
Members of Mount Alexander Animal Welfare have written to Consumer Affairs Victoria airing concerns about the conduct of the organisation’s committee. Their concerns include the committee’s failure, to date, to accept a grant to establish a low-cost vet clinic at MAAW’s Castlemaine animal shelter. A delegation of concerned members, including former president Stephanie Miller, Ian…
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Market back in Lancefield
After being held at Romsey for the past two months, the popular Lancefield Farmers Market is returning to Lancefield this Saturday, October 24 – at a brand new location. Organisers were keen to have the market return to the town where it originated, but it’s not going to be in the central plantations in High…
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Castlemaine psychologist hails breakthrough treatment
Castlemaine psychoanalytic psychologist Deborah Coulthard has opened a chapter of Mind Medicine Australia in Castlemaine and is inviting interested community members to join the Facebook group. Mind Medicine Australia exists to help alleviate the suffering caused by mental illness through expanding treatment options available to medical practitioners and their patients. It aims to establish safe…
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Woodend begins countdown to Christmas
Woodend residents are being urged to dig into their wool stashes and pull out their crochet hooks to help create the town’s Christmas tree this year. In 2019, the Woodend Traders enlisted the support of a local, Adam Bucholtz, to create a large metal-framed Christmas tree. This year’s vision will see the frame cloaked in…
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Call catches burglar
Police response to a Triple Zero call in Woodend recovered a series of stolen items on Monday. Gisborne and Kyneton police responded to reports of a male acting suspiciously in High Street about 3.30am. Upon arrival a 30-year-old male from St Kilda was arrested for breaching his bail conditions. The male was searched and located…
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An ‘act of intellectual reconciliation’
The ancient methods traditional Indigenous cultures used to memorise important information had to work. They could literally mean the difference between life and death. Now prolific Castlemaine author Dr Lynne Kelly has teamed up with Australia’s head of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges, Margo Neale, to produce a significant new book shedding light on these…