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 regional Victorian event.
The festival will transform the heart of Bendigo into a vibrant celebration of African food, music, dance, storytelling, fashion and community connection, while helping activate the city centre.
A key local addition to the program is Ras Ato, a Ghanaian-born chef, author, reggae musician and cultural figure based in Bendigo.
Known across the region for promoting West African cuisine, storytelling, music and community connection, Ras Ato has worked closely with local libraries, foodshare programs and community organisations. At BAF he will curate the African Story Village, deliver an African food demonstration and present a traditional African fashion parade involving Bendigo African communities.
His involvement gives the festival a strong local foundation and reflects BAF’s focus on belonging, heritage and wellbeing.
Visitors will be able to experience food traditions from many African countries in one place, with stalls including Tastes of Senegal, AMA’s Delight, Zuya African BBQ, Shisanyama South African Cuisine, Malewa City Bar & Food and more.

Program highlights
The free, family-friendly 10-hour program will feature live African drumming, traditional and contemporary dance, mask dance performances, stilt walkers, acrobatics, juggling, storytelling, fashion showcases, children’s face painting, market stalls and interactive workshops.
A major highlight will be international ensemble Sun of Africa, presenting high-energy African drumming, mask dance, acrobatics and interactive cultural performance.
Audiences can also experience Foday & The Culture Keepers, a traditional West African cultural ensemble led by master griot musician and choreographer Foday Camara.

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 spinning wheel begins to turn; knitting needles serving as an accompaniment.
I enjoy the warmth, watching wool shorn from the family’s flock of 90 or so sheep slowly but surely take shape.
Sandra tells me she has been hand spinning wool grown on the family farm, to knit and sell garments, for about 20 years.
With her daughter Sue now onboard, Sandra shifted her attention from farmer’s markets to showcasing bespoke knitwear at the Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre and through their Cranneys Lane Corriedale Esty store.
“We stick to little things like hats, neck warmers, fingerless gloves and baby booties, we like accessories.
“Up on our Etsy site I have pictures of the garments and the sheep the wool came from and most of them have names, so people see the particular sheep that the wool for their garment was stitched from which makes it really personal – they love it.”
Sandra said her mother taught her to knit many years ago but enrolling in spinning classes helped develop the handcrafting arm of the family’s farming business.
“We always loved the coloured sheep, but you have to do something with the wool to keep them.
“You couldn’t sell the black wool in the market, they’d give you nothing for it, so we decided we’d value add. And we’ve just sort of gone from there really, it’s an out-of-control hobby.”
But that hobby helps keep Sandra, Sue, and otherwise abandoned sheep, right where they want to be, on the land, in the area Sandra’s maternal family has called home for five generations.
Sandra said they couldn’t do it without her youngest daughter, Emily, and son-in-law, Kyle helping with heavy farm-maintenance work, particularly in the shearing and hay seasons.
“At lambing time, we set the shearing shed up as a maternity ward and they all lamb in there,” Sandra said, with Sue describing wintery conditions on their property where predators like foxes wait in the wings as “hardcore”.
Fortunately, Sandra and Sue love their animals as much as their craft and do their best to raise and name every otherwise abandoned lamb.
“Serious Black was born jet black, lovely shiny wool and we called him Serious Black, but over about three years he slowly lightened and he became seriously grey, so now he’s just called Serious,” Sandra says fondly recalling names.
“Lewis was an orphan, his mother didn’t want him or died or something. Little Bubby would just sit in your hand when she was born because she was premmie.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it.”

Words & image: Kate Foulds

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 OF A BUSINESS. Mr Ernest Wall has purchased a newsagency, fancy goods, and stationery business at Trentham, formerly carried on by Mr W. Smith. Mr Wall’s Woodend acquaintances will wish him every success in his venture.”
On August 28, 1907 at St Mary’s Church in Woodend Ernest married Maud Mary Richardson. As newlyweds they moved into the rear of 20 Market Street, Trentham and operated the newsagency, fancy goods and stationery business in the building at the front.
At the time, newspapers came by train from Melbourne. Ernest Wall’s daughter Mavis recalled Mr Cann from Blackwood would drop off the newspapers to the front door of the shop with his horse and buggy. The newspapers received were the Leader, The Age, The Weekly Times and the Kyneton Guardian.
She also remembers the shop selling books, toys, crockery, stationery including envelopes and pens, tobacco and sweets.
The lollies included snowballs, licorice straps, emu sticks, silver sticks, moonshine puffs and coconut roughs. Mr Cochran was the travelling salesman who came around with his box to show everyone the lollies.
Ernest and Maud had three children – Enid Mary in 1909, Mavis Annie in 1913 and Sydney William in 1917. The children helped in the shop when they were old enough. Mavis remembered delivering the newspapers each morning; the whole town’s newspapers were delivered to the newsagency.
Ernest also had a hire car service in Trentham which he ran from the newsagency. It is possibly the first active hire-car business in Trentham. Mavis recalled that people coming from the train station would see the signage at the newsagency and get the car to take them to Blackwood or elsewhere.
A walk to Blackwood would have been arduous at this time and people had been known to get lost in the bush.
A favourite memory of Mavis’s when she was little and her dad was working away in the shed out the back of the business was that he put a big wooden obstacle across the doorway, which she stayed behind; he was minding her while making his special toys. He made wooden wheelbarrows, push-along toys and hobby horses for children.
Ernest was also actively involved in many community groups in Trentham which included: the Australian Natives Association Trentham – committee and assistant secretary; Trentham Football Club – treasurer; Trentham Mechanics Institute – committee/treasurer; Trentham Progress Association – treasurer; Guardians St Georges Church of England – board member; and St Georges Tennis Club – treasurer.
In 1936, Ernest and Maud Wall sold the newsagency to Misses Annie and Julia Traulsen and left the district shortly thereafter.
He would have been a great loss to the community due to the number of committees he was actively involved with in town. Ernest died on September 3, 1957 in Mooroopna and is buried in the Trentham Cemetery.

Ancestry photo – The Wall family’s Trentham Newsagency in the 1920s with Maud on the footpath and Enid on the horse

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 and genuine support, from initial consultation to after-care.
Focused on Australian-made aluminium windows and doors, Evolve Windows specialises in high-performance, energy-efficient glazing for modern homes, renovations and commercial builds.
Their experience is in specification, supply, and installation, with advice you can actually use, with real experience in regional building requirements, from bushfire ratings and regional allotments to heritage overlays.
Evolve Windows also offers no-pressure, obligation-free advice to help people make informed choices without the sales pitch. If do you choose them, you will work with the same local specialists from the first measure through to installation and after-care guaranteeing continuity of care.
Evolve Windows works with heritage homes, architect-led builds and regional renovations that require detail, craft and longevity. Every timber system is measured, made to order and installed by the local team.
In the latest news, Evolve Windows now supplies and installs products that qualify for the Victorian Energy Upgrades rebate, giving clients a cash rebate on their replacement windows and doors. The rebate process is handled entirely by the team – fuss free.*
Meet the team
Scott, owner and founder, leading the business with a focus on honest advice, transparent sales and long-term customer support; Andy, who provides customer support and operations across all aspects of the business from product selection to installs and after-care; Mark, who is all about project management and client liaison, and well known for his clear communication and practical solutions; and Evan, who is an experienced installer, spearheading Curly and the on-site team. Evan prides himself on his reliability, professionalism and high standards.
Evolve Windows’ award-winning showroom is at 988 Black Forest Drive, Woodend, inside the historic Old Black Forest Sawmill. More than a display room, it’s a working hub shared with the Woodend Men’s Shed, local woodworkers and other specialist trades.
Giving back
Evolve Windows are proud supporters of the Woodend Cricket Club and regularly back community initiatives across the Macedon Ranges.

Links: @evolvewindows | www.evolvewindows.com.au
Contact: info@evolvewindows.com.au | 03 8746 9777
*VEU terms, conditions and eligibility criteria apply. Advertorial

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

Of before and after; that face

A poiema, a thing-made, designed

With faultless patience

By Time itself – to be

Read, witnessed, loved

By those of Time’s children

With eyes to see

A heart to feel

A spirit to comprehend the way
That such a life,

Rounded, rightly formed, ringing

Like the bell

Of endless dawns

Is, in truth,

The bowl

Of endless doing; a circle,

Completed now,

Shaped

By the masterful, knowing, giving cup

Of two aged, ageless

Loving

Hands.

For Petrus.

– Toby Sime

To the extent that he grew up at all, Toby Sime grew up in Daylesford. Neither psychology nor neuroscience can cast any further light on the shocking fact of his existence; and so we must consider it the act of a perverse and wilful God.

Local Lines features poetry by locals about local and any other matters.
Please submit poems to Bill Wootton at cottlesbreedge@gmail.com

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 it just is and my particular schtick is medical emergencies. I am the sort of bloke people seem to have accidents around – I have lost count of all the people I have come across over the years and rendered assistance to.
Since the tender age of 17, I have been attending first aid courses – these are mandatory for any member of a commercial boating crew. I’ve witnessed CPR when it was known as ABC or Airway, Breathing, Compressions. Now it’s CAB and compressions come first. The thinking is simple, get the blood moving before you worry about anything else. And if you’re an untrained bystander, even better news is that hands-only CPR is now actively encouraged, which removes the hesitation most people feel about putting their mouth on a stranger.
Defibrillators have also gone mainstream, popping up in shopping centres, gyms and boat ramps worldwide, with voice prompts that walk anyone through the process. You don’t need to be a paramedic. You just need to act.
Choking has had a rethink too. The old rigid rulebooks have given way to something more practical with five sharp back blows, then five abdominal thrusts, alternating until whatever’s lodged either shifts or the person loses consciousness, at which point you go straight into chest compressions. No more hind lick jokes.
Bleeding management has changed the most. Tourniquets were once treated as a last resort because they would cut off circulation to damaged limbs. That thinking has gone. And dousing wounds in chemicals has stopped with clean running tap water the current recommendation.
My worst patient was a guy who decided to fill up his petrol-powered generator. Normally not a problem, however it was running at the time in a small fume-filled shed on an island. I had to swim out to get a phone signal, and it didn’t look good for him. But we got him onto the police boat and did the best we could. I have helped people with broken ankles (in fact two on Donna), dislocated shoulders, lacerations and concussions.
Now I hate being in the spotlight or the centre of attention, and the most embarrassing time I rendered first aid was at a hotel while checking in. A guy came running over asking for assistance. Apparently an elderly lady had tripped down some stairs, so I followed him into what I thought was a stairwell and burst through a set of double doors onto the stage of a packed auditorium. The guy shouted: “it’s okay, the medico is here”, and I wished the floorboards would open up and swallow me whole. It turns out she had plenty of assistance and didn’t need me. Just Triple 0.
Last week I spotted a guy lying on the ground next to his bike. A few people were with him but I decided to stop anyway. And I am glad I did because no one at the site knew how to help. Donna called the ambulance while I rinsed off the wound, gave him a couple of field dressings and checked for head injuries. He ended up OK.
Now I’m not writing this column to blow my own trumpet. I’m writing it because I reckon everyone should be prepared, full stop. Go buy yourself a small first aid kit. Cheap $20-$50, chuck it in the car and forget about it until the day you need it. Do the proper training if you can. Can’t afford it? Fair enough, YouTube will get you the basics for free, and something is infinitely better than nothing. (No one has been sued for trying to render assistance. Not yet, anyway.)
One day, someone’s going to need help, and you’re going to be the one standing there. Wouldn’t you rather be ready than sorry? First aid rant over…

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 active home that can continue my training and give me love and attention. If you’re searching for a loyal companion to bring joy and laughter into your life, that is me!
Come and meet me at MAAWS.
Microchip No. 956000018864085
Call 5472 5277 | shelter@maaw.org.au

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, a tale that will curl your toes…nah, not really, but it’s a tale of caution, redemption and vitriol. Not in that order. Redemption came last.
So, Kyle ordered me a bottle of perfume for my birthday on May 29. Anyway, the perfume, Samsara, never came. I won’t name the company except to say it is The Perfume Shop, apparently based in Australia. Damn my honesty.
So Kyle wrote back, asking when the perfume would arrive and they wrote back saying the Iran war was an issue and the perfume delivery was stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. Damn that pesky war.
So Kyle waited a bit longer, can’t help a war, and then wrote back asking if the ship had made it through. Yes, they said, but not with Samsara. Another perfume was an option if he would like to make a choice.
Being a good Australian bloke with no idea (formerly NZ) this was difficult – and he was still trying to keep it a secret from me. So he asked if Samsara might eventually make it through. They said “yes” and would give him a 1ml vial of something else as well to make up for it. Now Kyle is nothing if not accommodating and unwilling to make more trouble for anyone. Read his rants. Jokes. So he said “no”, just the Samsara would be fine when it made it through, alongside fuel for the world. Like Industry Super Funds: “We are all in this together.”
And then he waited, and waited, and then he realised the perfume was not coming and that was that. $169 down the drain – and he told me about it and he was sorry. I am not sure if he was sorry because I didn’t get my present or perhaps I really needed that perfume – although I do pride myself on showering most days…
So, as I do, I got a tad annoyed. And asked if I could help. And he said “yes” and unleashed “the pitbull” as he calls me now and again.
Now, I really wish pitbull behaviour was not needed. It is actually my pet peeve that the average person probably does not know how, or cannot, fight for their rights. It should be so easy. Anyway, I thought, let’s play. So this was my first email:
“To Whom It May Concern, My husband ordered me this perfume in April and it has not arrived. He has asked many times for a refund. Despite being an overseas company you cannot contravene the Australian Consumer legislation. I demand that you refund this money immediately or send the order. If you do not, I will use every contact I have in the media industry and social media to close you down – I am now 61 and started in the industry when I was 20. So I have many, many contacts. Your business is disgraceful and I will not stop if you do not either send the perfume or return his money. Do not send any more rubbish about a different order or a discount. The first place I will head is Trust Pilot and then every Google review I can find. I work from home so can spend many hours undoing your business. This is beyond a joke.”
Next email from me: “First bad review is up on Trust Pilot…One star only because I cannot leave less. Better hurry up with the refund.”
And back from the company’s Chief Happiness Officer: “Thanks for your very nice approach to dealing with us. You have already left a bad review, but we have not received the order number or the email address he used, so we cannot check what happened to the order. Starting with providing basic information would be a good way to go while wanting assistance.” (This was rubbish.)
Then from me: “Order no. 207361 Email – kyle@tlnews.com.au Kyle has written about 10 times re this and just keeps getting fobbed off. Refund now thank you. Second bad review goes up this afternoon. Donna Kelly. Unhappiness customer.”
Boom – return from them: “Sure, you can keep writing bad reviews and sitting there in resentment. Or you can just use your energy in a better way. It’s up to you. Life is too precious to hold grudges. The order was now cancelled and refunded. It will take a few working days to reflect. I hope you can now move on.”
Me: “Where is the refund? Stop the rubbish. Next review is on its way.”
And finally from them: “I have clearly mentioned IN MY EMAIL: MAYBE START READING WHAT I AM SAYING: The order was now cancelled and refunded. It will take a few working days to reflect. REFUNDS ARE NOT INSTANT. I AM NOT A MAGICIAN. I CANNOT MAKE IT APPEAR INSTANTLY. BANKS TAKE TIME TO PROCESS. WRITE ALL THE REVIEWS YOU WANT TO. IT’S NOT GONNA CHANGE THAT. I CANNOT CHANGE THAT. NOBODY CAN CHANGE THAT. I DON’T KNOW HOW ELSE TO TELL YOU. A $169.00 AUD refund is pending.”
Refund came through last Friday. Maybe don’t be dicks. Just sayin’…

Minister Vicki Ward and Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece has announced a $1 million Musical Theatre Development Fund to back the musical sector. 

It’s a partnership between the state government and City of Melbourne delivered through the Regent Theatre Trust.

Together they’ll uncover Victoria’s next musical smash hits and support homegrown productions to take to the stage.

The Fund kicks off with a $1 million investment for Victoria’s next big stage hits.

Victoria is Australia’s musical theatre capital with the highest recorded revenue and attendance in the country.

The new Fund will help bring local musical theatre ideas from the page to the stage, using Victorian talent to develop new production.

It will help creative teams develop their projects through masterclasses, workshops and mentorships.

Participants will be able to pitch their ideas to global industry leaders.

Top ranked projects will receive dedicated investment to take their work to the next stage.

The Fund will also support projects heading towards commercial release.

It will back emerging Victorian musical theatre projects right across the City of Melbourne.

This will create a pipeline of new Victorian productions ready to delight and inspire audiences.

Tunnelling is complete on the federal and state governments’ North East Link – a major milestone for Victoria’s biggest road project.

Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Gillian broke through today at Bulleen, completing excavation of the southbound tunnel after the northbound tunnel excavation was finished in May this year.

Set to open to traffic in 2028, the twin 6.5-kilometre tunnels will fix the missing link in Melbourne’s freeway network and are creating more than 12,000 jobs during construction.

Victoria’s largest road tunnel will take up to 15,000 trucks a day off local roads and cut up to 35 minutes off trips between Melbourne’s north and east.

The TBMs removed 2.5 million tonnes of rock and dirt and installed nearly 43,000 pre-cast tunnel segments, on schedule.

Crews now move onto the fit-out phase, installing:

• 700,000 tonnes of road surface
• 3,300 kilometres of cabling for lighting and signage, and
• 51 emergency passages that connect to the twin tunnels.

Works are also progressing on above-ground works, including building tunnel interchange ramps, the motorway control centre and a tree-lined Greensborough Road boulevard.

In addition to the new North East Link tunnels, upgrades to the Eastern Freeway and M80 Ring Road continue to progress.

North East Link is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the Victorian Government.

Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said finishing the dig on Victoria’s biggest road tunnel was a huge achievement.

“The North East Link is nation-building infrastructure that will improve how people get around Melbourne’s northeast.”

Environmental flows into Gunbower Forest over the coming months will finish what Mother Nature has started and help prepare key wetlands for likely dry times ahead.

High river flows pushed water into parts of the internationally-renowned floodplain and its wetlands in July, but more is needed to protect the plants and animals for what may be coming.

“The recent inflows have been a great start in helping protect the floodplain wetlands from a possible El Nino this summer, and we now have an opportunity to make it even better,” North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) Chief Executive Officer Brad Drust said.

“The flows would have been higher and stayed on the floodplain longer without river regulation, so we have the opportunity to help Mother Nature finish what she started and ensure the wetlands get the right amount of water they need, for the duration they need it.

“Managing an efficient environmental flow from now until November allows us to piggy-back on the recent high-river flows and top-up wetlands, helping to prepare them for what could be a dry period ahead.”

Mr Drust said flow will begin in late July or early August and run until November, helping create the conditions wetland plants and animals such as waterbirds, frogs and turtles will need.

“Gunbower Forest is open for business and spring is a great time to see the forest come to life. This wetland flow will make the forest an amazing place to visit in spring and summer,” he said.

“The flow will be delivered to the wetlands via Reedy Lagoon, Barapa Swamp, Little Gunbower, and Yarran Creek regulators, which are in the lower part of Gunbower Forest between Cohuna and Koondrook.

“It will provide much-needed water to more than 10 wetlands including the jewel in the crown, Reedy Lagoon, which had minimal inflows in July.”

As water moves from one wetland to another via natural connecting creeks, small parts of some access tracks may be temporarily closed to protect the tracks and for visitor safety.

The forest’s main tracks such as River Track, Koondrook Track and Nursery Track are not expected to be impacted.

“There will be many areas within the forest, along the Murray River and Gunbower Creek, for visitors to enjoy bush walking, kayaking, fishing, camping or bird watching,” Mr Drust said.

“The flow is not targeting the full environmental watering footprint of the forest, which is about 23 per cent of the overall forest.

“It is simply a top up of wetland areas that, before river regulation, would have received water nine out of every 10 years.”

The flow is authorised by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder in line with its Seasonal Watering Plan 2026-27, which is available for download from www.vewh.vic.gov.au, with regular watering updates posted on the Current Flows section of www.nccma.vic.gov.au

Lifesaving Medical Research In Victoria

Deputy Premier and Minister for Medical Research Ben Carroll has announced $3 million for 14 projects under the Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF).

This supports early-stage research projects across nine institutions, turning breakthrough ideas into real treatments that will save lives.

Among these institutions is Monash University, securing $500,000 to harness the power of AI to detect heart disease in women earlier than ever before.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre will also receive $500,000, pioneering a world-first approach that uses DNA from a patient’s own tumor to personalise chemotherapy treatment.

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research will get a $500,000 boost to lead a trial of a promising new treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia, which affects the blood and bone marrow.

The treatment was developed by Victorian biotechnology company Aculeus Therapeutics.

The full list of funded projects is available at: djsir.vic.gov.au/vmraf

Over 13,000 more Victorian students will get free, hands-on STEM learning.

Member for Dandenong Gabrielle Williams has opened the $14 million Dandenong Tech School at Chisholm Institute’s Dandenong campus.

Secondary students from 23 schools will visit the Tech School to build robots, create virtual reality worlds and crack cyber breaches – all for free, alongside their regular schooling.

Students learn on the same technology used in modern workplaces – robotics, drones and virtual reality.

Every program is hands-on and linked to real careers – from advanced manufacturing to cybersecurity.

Tech Schools are built on TAFE and university campuses, giving students a taste of study and career pathways beyond the school gate.

Independent research has found Tech Schools increase student engagement in STEM and build awareness of in-demand careers.

Dandenong Tech School is the second of six new Tech Schools opening across the state, backed by the Labor Government’s $116 million investment in STEM learning.

The remaining four new Tech Schools – in Brimbank, Hume, Wangaratta and South West Victoria – will open by the end of 2026.

Once all six are open, more than 62,000 students will have free access to hands-on, immersive STEM learning.

For more information, visit vic.gov.au/tech-schools.

330 schools across 344 campuses will share in more than $8 million to clear vegetation around buildings well ahead of the dangerous season.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Ben Carroll has announced the funding will go to schools on the Bushfire at Risk Register – mostly in regional Victoria where families need this protection most.

Regular vegetation works mean safer school communities and buildings in the event of a bushfire.

That’s why schools will also get two visits every 3 years by an accredited Bushfire Planning and Design expert.

Through the School Support Program, the experts will give the schools a unique Vegetation Management Plan.

This means schools are kept safe as conditions and their school communities evolve.

Schools who need extra advice, such as from a specialist Bushfire Attack Level expert, are fully supported to do so.

For a list of schools receiving funding, visit schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/planned-maintenance-program.

Minister for Multicultural and Multifaith Victoria Ingrid Stitt today announced more than 140 recipients of the 2025-26 Chinese Community Hall Hire program.

With venue hire costs rising, the new program will help groups stay connected without added financial pressure.

It means no community group is priced out of a safe, welcoming space to meet, celebrate and connect.

Organisations across 24 council areas will share in grants of up to $40,000 delivering 3,500 community gatherings until early 2027.

Some of the grant recipients who will benefit from venue hire costs include:

• Melton Chinese Friendship Association – supporting weekly dance, singing, cultural sharing and recreational activities
• Xinjiang Chinese Association of Australia – supporting weekly gatherings including exercise, wellbeing, cards, talks, and cultural celebrations
• Australia Canton Multicultural Development Association – running the Melbourne final of the 5th Annual Cantonese Signing Competition.

Victoria is proudly home to almost 430,000 people of Chinese ancestry who have helped to shape our state.

These communities have played a significant role in shaping Victoria’s history, identity, prosperity and cultural success.

More information can be found at vic.gov.au/chinese-community-hall-hire-program.