One of Australia’s most respected and internationally acclaimed writers, Richard Flanagan will talk about his latest collection, Heresies, and his writing career with Astrid Edwards in Castlemaine next month. From Manus to MONA to birds and the Black Summer, from the destruction of our natural world to the hope offered by Indigenous Australia to the […]

After-Light, a dramatic prog-rock opera by composer/director Zac Vanstone and musical director Tom Foster is the Mount Players’ third show for 2026. Players president Karen Hunt said it was a production to “excite, provoke and entertain”. “A seven-piece rock band will perform live on stage, in full view of the audience, as singers tell the […]

No sooner has Hugh Jackman entertained us by reading a book to his sheep, than he pops up as Robin Hood. This is, however, no jolly romp for Robin, Friar Tuck and the Band of Merry Men versus the Sheriff of Nottingham Forest. In The Death of Robin Hood (Monday, July 27, 2pm), at Daylesford’s […]

The inaugural Golden Wellness Festival is an immersive day, exploring ancient and modern wellbeing practices woven with today’s understanding of mind, body and spirit. The community gathering will take place at The Sunken Oval in Castlemaine on Saturday, October 31, a green space on Djaara Country next to Victoria’s oldest regional botanic gardens, and flora […]

A bracing wind whips around Sandra and Sue Morris as they introduce me to a few of the much-loved sheep on their family farm just outside Trentham. After giving Lewis, Hank, Clyde and Clarence a treat we head indoors; it’s good crafting weather. The industrious mother and daughter sit beside the wood fire, and a […]

Bendigo will come alive with music, food, dance and culture when the inaugural Bendigo African Festival brings a free community celebration to Hargreaves Mall on Saturday, August 1 from 10am to 8pm. Presented by the African Music and Cultural Festival, Australia’s largest African festival held at Melbourne’s Federation Square every November, BAF marks AMCF’s first […]

A Pillar of Society One of seven children, Ernest Samuel Wall was born on July 27, 1879 to Samuel Wall and Elizabeth Ann Briggs. The Wall family had resided in Woodend for many years when Ernest purchased the Trentham Newsagency in Market Street in 1907. The Woodend Star newspaper, dated August 17, 1907 reported: “PURCHASE […]

Evolve Windows supply and install uPVC, aluminium and timber windows and doors – a one-stop shop for whatever windows clients need – for renovations and commercial projects across Woodend, the Macedon Ranges, Daylesford, Castlemaine, metro Melbourne and regional Victoria. Based at the Old Black Forest Sawmill in Woodend, the team offers straightforward advice, professional installation […]

There are people who can fall down a shithole and come up with a gold brick, folks who can never get out of the shit and some of the community who simply drift along through life not giving a shit. Things seem to happen to certain people, whether it is good luck or bad luck […]

A circle, complete A man – Like all men – Of clay; and his world The slow, slow kiln From which Now He has emerged, complete, His perfected, shining, final face The one true ideogram, The whole story Of a life Lived now, now, in this great Only-ever We all share, with all its freightage […]

Hello, I am Dash, a fun-loving puppy with a playful spirit and a heart full of love. I am full of energy, love games and adventures, and making everyone laugh with my goofy antics. And when playtime is over, I am more than happy to curl up for a cuddle. I am looking for an […]

I was going to write about Hepburn Shire Council – but it appears there is not much council to write about just yet. Sure as eggs, something will happen on Monday, just after we go to press. I am guessing an administrator or two but what would I know? Watch this space. In the meantime, […]