News
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School in strife – From 43 students down to eight
Langley Primary School began this year as a small but vibrant school with an enrolment of 43 students. Ten months later it has an enrolment of just eight students and permanent staff departing or on stress leave. The mass exodus has come following a flurry of claims of students feeling unsafe and bullied, and staff…
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Cruel Halloween prank
A cruel Halloween prank has left a V/Line train driver in distress. The driver of the 8.22pm Southern Cross to Epsom service reported striking an object hanging from an overhead bridge at Forrest Road, Malmsbury, at about 9.35pm on October 31. Police and emergency services attended and found the object was a dummy. The dummy…
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Precinct certainty: community a “rolling thunder”
With state capital all but secured for the Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct, attention now turns to the federal government and peak sporting bodies to round out the funding. A $15 million pledge from Opposition Leader Matthew Guy last week now competes with Labor’s pledge of $11.6M toward the New Gisborne project which unites visions…
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Walk to the Cup
Kyneton Cup Day holds particular significance for former local resident Nathan Elms (‘Elmsy’) and even more so this year. The 19-year-old will be walking onto the Kyneton Racecourse for the last leg of his Caulfield to Kyneton Walk for Prostate Cancer. Nathan is making the 105km effort for his father who was diagnosed with cancer…
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Tower proposal ignites debate
Residents of Wesley Hill at Castlemaine are up in arms over proposed plans for the installation of a new Optus communications tower just a couple of hundred metres from nearby homes. The residents say it will be a ‘blight’ on the heritage landscape and will be visible as visitors drive into the gateway to Castlemaine.…
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Sisters get show-ready
Drummond North sisters Rhiannon, 12, Zoe, 10, and Sasha, 7, have been preparing for months for the cattle competition at November’s Kyneton Show. It will be the first time all three Hohnberg girls are old enough to enter the Junior Handler competition. “They live for it,” their mum Hannah said. “That’s all they talk about…
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It takes a village
Gisborne Leading Senior Constable Jason Azzopardi could not stand by as he saw the impact of issues like bullying, mental illness, substance abuse and family violence on youth in his community. To help young people avoid becoming victims or offenders, he created not-for-profit youth engagement program KidzFlip, and was recently recognised for his work as…
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World HQ for Kyneton
Australian luxury skincare brand Rationale has announced plans for a new $6 million world headquarters at Kyneton’s eastern gateway, opening in 2020. Envisioned by founder and director of Rationale, Richard Parker, the facility will serve as the epicentre of Rationale’s research, training, production, worldwide logistics and operations. “The picturesque townships in the pristine Macedon Ranges…
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Platypus project begins!
About 130 people gathered on the banks of the Campaspe River in Kyneton on Friday for the launch of the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network’s Platypus Project. With the sound of poddlebonk frogs calling from the river, they learnt from senior wildlife ecologist and platypus expert Josh Griffiths of EnviroDNA how they could be part of…
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Wages dispute standoff
Angry maintenance workers at Castlemaine’s Don KR factory site have taken industrial action and are threatening more, blaming the company for eroding their pay and conditions while ramping up productivity expectations at the site. On Friday about 70 maintenance workers including mechanical fitters, mechanical tradespersons and electricians joined a four-hour work stoppage and implemented an…
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Scene set for sculpture
The sort of vista that stops you in your tracks sets the scene for the well-anticipated Mica Grange Open Garden and Sculpture Exhibition that opens this weekend at Sutton Grange. Since Mica Grange owners Mary and Bede Gibson held their first such event some five years back, the annual attraction has become a must-do fixture…
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Fire closes High Street
High Street in Kyneton was closed to traffic for several hours last night and again early this morning while fire crews attended to a large shed fire. Kyneton firefighters happened to be at the station for a preseason briefing when they received the first callout at 6.45pm on Monday and were on scene within three…