News
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Macedon Ranges Shire Council sheds fourth tier
A new three-directorate organisational structure for Macedon Ranges Shire Council has been finalised. The changes involved reducing director positions from four to three – and realigning departments and senior manager roles – and will come into effect from July 1. The three new directorates are Planning and Environment, Corporate and Community, and Assets and Operations.…
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POLICE SHOOT AT CAR NEAR ELPHINSTONE
Police were forced to shoot at an SUV being driven at officers yesterday afternoon. Officers noticed the vehicle travelling at high speed along the Calder Freeway at Kyneton about 4pm and continued to track it until it stopped in Harmony Way, Elphinstone, to let out a female passenger. Police attempted to intercept the car but…
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Exploration shock – Residents protest gold drilling in the Wombat
Blackwood residents protested in the Wombat State Forest last week after they discovered mining company Currawong Resources had begun exploratory drilling for gold. Residents said they were distressed to become aware of the mining operations in an area that was recommended by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council to become part of the Wombat Lerderderg National…
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Now that’s a shed! Rail precinct steams ahead
Measuring a whopping 160 metres long by 15.5 metres wide, the freshly completed carriage stabling shed at Castlemaine Heritage Rail Precinct is one of the town’s largest buildings. “It’s a bl…. big shed,” VGR’s Castlemaine Heritage Rail Precinct caretaker Andrew Reynolds said on site on Friday. “It’s the biggest open shed in Castlemaine and it’s…
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Radio to rock the Royal
Castlemaine’s not-for-profit radio station MAINfm kicked off its week-long ‘2020 Radiothon’ fundraiser on Saturday evening with an epic PubSing Castlemaine online sing-a-long to this year’s theme ‘Here Comes the Sun’, live from The Taproom at Shedshaker Brewing. The radiothon continues this week and will culminate with another massive virtual live music event – the Big…
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OVER BUDGET AND POORLY PLANNED
The state government’s controversial roadside wire rope barrier project faces a major cost blowout and has been less effective than promised. Victoria’s auditor general has found the project is eight months late, poorly planned and maintained, and already nearly $100 million over budget. Wire rope barriers were installed along 20 of the most dangerous highways…
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Challenges ahead for RM Begg
RM Begg Kyneton Aged Care is calling for financial support to help it survive. The community owned not-for-profit organisation has provided quality aged care to the district for more than 60 years but the challenges it now faces are increasing. Government funding of the sector is supplemented by interest earned on invested Refundable Accommodation Deposits,…
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CHASING CARS Leo Pruneau’s designs come to life in iconic Australian wheels
Not many people can lay claim to having flown first class on every business trip, and on the Concorde five times, but Leo Pruneau has the ‘souvenir’ glasses to prove it. Such was the jet setting lifestyle of a top General Motors designer, “in another life” as the now 88-year-old Woodend resident describes it. Responsible…
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Club joins positive role model move
As the footy season hopes to make a welcome return, members of the Woodend Hesket Football Netball Club are a part of a new online portrait exhibition called ‘Role Modelling Respect’. The portraits were taken early this year as part of a joint project between the club and Cobaw Community Health. At the WHFNC registration…
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Brewery on the way – New hospitality enterprise for Lancefield
Plans for a new brewery, restaurant and function centre are well advanced, with the exciting project for the middle of Lancefield likely to be operational by next February. A consortium of 10 locals is behind the enterprise, to be sited on a large sloping, triangular-shaped vacant block flanked by Main Road and The Crescent. The…
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Coronavirus update for Victoria
Twenty-one new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Victoria yesterday, bringing the total cumulative number of cases to 1762. Of the new cases, 15 have been detected in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, two are linked to existing outbreaks and four have been identified through community testing. One of the new cases identified through…
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You need the numbers: MP buoys hopes for school reopening
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards says she would be keen to see Guildford succeed in its ambitious campaign to reopen the town’s primary school. The historic primary school, which is still owned by the education department, was closed in 2017 due to declining enrolments. At the time, the school had eight pupils enrolled and if…