News
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Riders raring to race
Harcourt’s new mountain bike park hosts its first major competitive mountain biking event this Sunday. The Goldfields Winter Series is expected to bring up to 140 riders to the scenic La Larr Ba Gauwa Park for the competition. The competitive series is a new initiative of the Castlemaine Rocky Riders Mountain Bike Club and the…
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Trains a disgrace
Is it too much to ask that a traveller on a train is able to see out the window? Kyneton resident Rupert Dalley doesn’t think so, which is why he’s been writing to the Minister for Transport Jacinta Allan, and Public Transport Victoria, to express his disgust with the state of our trains. Mr Dalley,…
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Fiesta de Salsa!
Castlemaine may be a long way from Colombia but for local salsa dance instructor Camila Serrano that’s no reason to leave the rhythms of her Latin birthplace behind. Camila’s passion for salsa dancing is catching on with an increasing number of locals keen to acquire the smooth moves and racy repetitions that is salsa. In…
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Final years to change in pilot
Students in Gisborne will be among the first to trial a state government program that integrates apprenticeships and traineeships over a longer period with their final years at school. Premier Daniel Andrews visited Gisborne Secondary College on Friday, with local MP Mary-Anne Thomas, to announce the $50 million Head Start Apprenticeships and Traineeships initiative would…
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Sports precinct gains momentum
Macedon Ranges Shire Council is advocating for state and federal government support for a Regional Sports Precinct in New Gisborne. Last week the council met with Minister for Sport John Eren, Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas and representatives from the New Gisborne Regional Sports Field and the Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Hub Projects for a briefing…
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Match 500 for a sport master
If, when he began playing junior footy for Macedon in 1981, Ray Tadd had listened to people who told him that he was “not much chop” then he wouldn’t have run out with the Woodend-Hesket Masters last Sunday afternoon through a banner congratulating him on his 500th game playing football. Ray, who has been playing…
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Cash windfall boosts budget
Public submissions and an unexpected cash windfall of $465,000 in federal government grants has changed the shape of Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s 2018/19 Budget Report. Council adopted the budget, Strategic Resource Plan and Council Plan at its ordinary meeting last Wednesday with minor changes including distribution of additional government funds. Projects to benefit from the…
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Brigade calls on community
Langley-Barfold Fire Brigade volunteers are appealing for community assistance to replace their stolen support vehicle. The Ford Ranger was found torched near Lake Eppalock in April and now the brigade is faced with the challenge of replacing the vehicle and having it fully functional before the next fire season. Brigade captain Ian Lonsdale said the…
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Comparing our crime stats
Mount Alexander Shire has a consistently higher crime rate per head of population than its Macedon Ranges Shire neighbour, the latest Crime Statistics Agency data indicates. The new data shows the offending rate in Mount Alexander was 5632.3 per 100,000 of the population over the 12 months to the end of March this year with…
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When less is more
In a world with a population forecast to hit 8.5 billion in just 12 years, the need to find more effective means of housing people is becoming ever more urgent, Castlemaine’s Anitra Nelson says. As associate professor with the Centre for Urban Planning at RMIT, identifying new and more efficient ways of housing people is…
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The Wiglesworth waste files
Castlemaine’s Bill Wiglesworth is certainly not the only person calling for a container recycling desposit scheme in the state of Victoria. But he may be the only man in the municipality to take it upon himself to clean up a 2.2km stretch of local highway – solo – and then methodically record every item of…
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Local organics co-op: an Aussie first
An Australian first in organic farming is blossoming at Harcourt with the formation of a unique local mixed organic farming co-operative. Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens is a driving force behind the formation of the Harcourt Organic Farming Alliance – a new organic farming co-operative with five founding members. Besides Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens these include…