Lyster Opera will tour a fully staged production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni to eight venues across Melbourne and regional Victoria this spring. Directed by Jamie Moffat with Pamela Christie as musical director, the production is sung in Italian with English surtitles and runs for approximately two hours and thirty minutes in two acts, with one […]

Spielberg Month gets into top gear the rest of this month, with 11 of his greatest films to be shown at Daylesford’s Phoenix Cinema. Spielberg’s range is shown in Sugarland Express from 1974. Goldie Hawn stars as a former crook who must talk her husband into a prison break to help pluck their two-year-old son […]

Where have all the tree hollows gone? One of the problems faced by our native birds at this time of year is the lack of good, safe nesting sites. We may look at our forests and think that there are a lot of trees growing, but they are mostly relatively young trees that have not […]

Journalist: Kevin Childs Words in Winter founder A certain neatness may be seen with the annual Words in Winter festival almost coinciding with its co-founder publishing a book. David Hall’s Eastward is a work frozen in time. With two friends he travelled from London across Europe, Asia and the Pacific by car, train and boat. […]

There are some dishes thatseem to have been designedspecifically for the tail end ofwinter, when the days are getting longer but the evenings still callfor something warm, generousand deeply comforting.This one takes its cue fromthe French bistro classic Steak au Poivre – that gloriouscombination of cracked blackpepper, beautifully brownedmeat and a rich cream saucewhich gives […]

Kevin Childs and Maia Irell have been added to the Words in Winter Roll of Honour for their work from 2016-2022. Kevin Childs said he was “honoured and grateful” to join the Roll of Honour. “Briefly, I fell into Words in Winter through being interested in helping out with publicity, since one of my earlier […]

The Local’s journalist Kate Foulds tells the tale of a familiar kookaburra insignia and how a simple story passed down by her family unlocked a “momentous” event in Daylesford’s history. A beautiful bronze kookaburra was a familiar fixture above the kitchen stove in our family home. I can’t remember the first time I asked Dad […]

Castlemaine Art Museum is hosting an exhibition honouring the Guildford Biyal (Red gum) and works created from its timber. Known locally as the Guildford Big Tree and recognised as the National Trust’s 2023 Victorian Tree of the Year, the Biyal is deeply significant to Dja Dja Wurrung People. It predates colonisation, and its grafted branch […]

Hepburn Shire Council will be hosting a variety of local events during the Victorian Seniors Festival, which runs from October 1-31 every year. The 2026 theme is ‘Connect, Create, Celebrate’. Mayor, Cr Tony Clark, is encouraging residents to come along to these free opportunities, which include cinema and music. “I strongly encourage our over-55s to […]

Victorians can prepare for next winter by collecting free firewood for personal use from state forest collection areas until November 30. Forest and Fire Management Victoria Deputy Chief Fire Officer Michael Condon said there were 21 designated firewood collection areas in state forests in the Grampians region. “Firewood for domestic use from state forests comes […]

The great political guard dog – DEECA. I have just read your “Just Sayin’…” edition 365 re – Pick me, pick me!. I’m surprised — though perhaps I shouldn’t be, given the mention of the word government — that the letter from Pet Exchange Register didn’t include a simple thank you for your efforts in […]

The Trentham Lions will host “RU OK Trentham? Finding your way through…” on Thursday, September 10 from 6.30pm – 8.30pm at the Trentham Mechanics Hall. This is a community event to promote mental health awareness in Trentham. Speakers are Tim Peck and Caroline Worth. Have a chat on ways to get through the difficult times. […]