The exhibition Intersections: Art, Music, Words is currently on display at the Daylesford Regional  Visitor Information Centre from May 8 to June 19.  

Vanessa  Craven (daylesfordARTS), pictured, is an artist with many  strings to her bow.  She paints in acrylic, oils and mixed media, ink and pencil, is a nature  photographer and a talented musician who plays with her bands Lunar Dust and Lake Mist as well as solo.  

Vanessa is also a writer and poet. She won the Bendigo Sustainability Festival ‘Poe-Tree’ award 2025, and has two published books, a children’s book, Birds in my Tree: the Magic of Birds and the Joy of Singing and a poetry book, Under the Mop Top Tree.  

She has also published poems and short stories in five anthologies with the Moorabool Writers Craft including in 2023, Mists of Moorabool.  She has produced and recorded three music CDs Filtered Light, Forbidden  Dance and Homebrew.

Her music has won awards with the Australian Songwriting Association.  

Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre is open daily from 10am to 4pm  at 98 Vincent Street, Daylesford.

Image: Kyle Barnes  

with Eve Lamb

Muckleford Heritage Walk. 10.5km. Muckleford Nature Conservation Reserve.

Today my trusty walk companion, Paddy H, and I are joining the Great Dividing Trail Association walkers to tackle the 10.5km Muckleford Heritage Walk.

Drawn to its handy ongoing program of led walks, I joined the Association last year. Today, GDTA member and experienced bushwalker, John Lewis will be our walk leader. But members with different specialisations and areas of interest lead different walks that are offered on the GDTA regular events program throughout the year.

At 9.30am, a total 24 walkers – most of them GDTA members plus a small handful of non-member guests – rendezvous at the Red, White and Blue mine site in the Muckleford Nature Conservation Reserve.

The historic mine is worth a look. It features an intact poppet head, a mine shaft, machinery site, mullock heap and dams. The poppet head was originally from the Bendigo Deborah United Mine.

After general chitchat, participant tick-off, a brief introductory talk by our walk leader, and lending Paddy H the requisite $10 (guest insurance and registration fee) that he forgot to bring, we shoulder day packs, apply walking poles and set out.

The time is roughly 9.45am, the sky, blue and fair. But the multiple tannin-coloured puddles strewn about the bush track testify to the recent sorely-needed rainfall that has briefly blessed this parched place.

As we start to cover ground the group strings out along Bells Lane Track. Yet with the walk leader up front and two designated “walk whips” leading up the rear and keeping an eye out for any stragglers forced to heed the call of nature, it consistently remains connected, wending like a colourful serpent through the sun-splashed box-ironbark forest.

We stroll along in easy conversation, walking companions and topics of chit-chat changing up along the way.

There are 3.5 hours generously allocated to cover this 10.5 loop that meanders through the forest and takes in three mine sites: the Red, White and Blue Mine, Frenchmans Reef, and Dunns Reef.

The GDTA walk description we’d received via email as part of registering for this ramble informs that:

Muckleford Forest is an ancient landscape occupied, for tens of thousands of years, by the Dja Dja Wurrung. Then Major Mitchell passed through the area in 1836, and pastoralists soon followed, to squat and establish sheep runs on the grasslands.

Following the discovery of gold at the foot of Mt Tarrengower in 1853, miners spread through the region in pursuit of gold, and the scars of early mining are evident throughout the forest.

“It’s called Tough Guys Book Club and there are two overarching rules. Don’t talk about work and don’t be a Dickhead…” I can hear Paddy H, from somewhere along the track, relishing a captive opportunity to recruit new members for his beloved book club.

I find myself chatting away to long-time GDTA members, like president Tim Bach, who tells me about some appealing walks coming up on the agenda ahead, about walk publications the GDTA has produced already, and more that are in the works.

Other members tell me about fav walks they’ve done, the wealth of knowledge held by fellow members whose personal areas of expertise traverse geology, history and ecology.

Others share esoteric walkers know-how, like how much to expect to pay for a pair of quality walking poles, plus pole pitfalls to avoid at the point of purchase.

Much of John’s introductory talk focused on the area’s considerable mining history. We swing right and take a very gentle climb to stop for morning tea atop the quartzy outcrop that is Frenchmans Reef. The conversation again swings round to the shiny yellow stuff as 24 backsides are planted on or against various natural bushland features while thermoses are dug from daypacks.

“Is this lunch or morning tea?” one walker wonders

“Morning tea. Lunch is later,” someone says… And we’re soon moving again, stopping along the way to check out points of interest that include:

• An iron grill-protected mining tunnel through rock in the middle of the bush
• various ferrous pebble deposits where, particularly following rainfall, gold is apparently far more likely to congregate.
• the sweetly dappled day-bed of a wallaby
• A tiny pond full of frisky frogcall.

More than 300 plant and 50 bird species are reported from the Reserve, according to the GDTA walk description for today’s loop that’s rated “easy” as it only involves an overall elevation gain of less than 200m.

And a fair bit of this cameo incline occurs as the group gambols up the gravelly girth of Dunns Reef where we stop for lunch admiring a view across to Maldon and Mount Tarrengower to the north west.

From here we take the Red, White and Blue Track to complete the loop and arrive back at the Red, White, and Blue mine site with GDTA members already looking forward to their next outing planned for May – the 10.5km Coliban Water Channel Walk.

A new early childhood learning Centre for Clunes is among 14 such centres scheduled to open next year with builders now engaged for the construction works.

Victoria’s minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn in recent days visited the future site of another of the 14 Early Learning centres – at Noble Park – to mark the start of construction, and announce that builders have been appointed for all of the new centres.

The centres, known by interim names, are:

• Early Learning Victoria Clunes
• Early Learning Victoria Frankston 
• Early Learning Victoria Hallam 
• Early Learning Victoria Mickleham South 
• Early Learning Victoria Noble Park 
• Early Learning Victoria Numurkah
• Early Learning Victoria Portland South
• Early Learning Victoria Shepparton
• Early Learning Victoria Kings Park 
• Early Learning Victoria Teesdale
• Early Learning Victoria Toolern Waters 
• Early Learning Victoria Wedderburn
• Early Learning Victoria Werribee 
• Early Learning Victoria Wollert 

The centres will charge fees below local market rates, making childcare more affordable for families – on top of savings from the state’s Free Kinder program, which is saving families up to $2,600 a year for three and four-year-old kinder.

Each centre will be located on or near a local school, easing the double drop-off and making the transition from kinder to school simpler for children and families.

With these additions, a total of 18 government-owned and operated Early Learning Victoria centres will be open by 2026 – providing more than 1,800 licensed places for children across the state.

The first four centres are already welcoming local children in Fawkner, Sunshine, Murtoa and Eaglehawk North.

Enrolment for kinder in 2026 is now open. To learn more about Early Learning Victoria and to tour an existing centre, visit earlylearning.vic.gov.au/enrol.

Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn: “Our nation-leading Best Start, Best Life reforms are delivering a better life for our littlest Victorians with new childcare centres close to home offering kinder as well – I encourage parents to enrol their kids for next year now.”

“We heard where Victorians needed childcare the most, and that’s exactly where we’re delivering our 14 newest centres – with market-beating fees on top of up to $2,600 in Free Kinder savings, per year, per child.”

The Maine Piano Guerrillas may have been a hit during the Castlemaine Fringe Festival – but they are not giving up the gig just yet.

The MPG’s project saw 10 pianos placed around the town, meaning there were  plenty of impromptu performances across the four weeks of the festival.  

But despite the festival being over, the pianos aren’t going anywhere. And it all  makes for a great story.

Helen Sandercoe told The Local that it all started seven months ago when three  people were having coffee at the Wesley Hill Market and one said “let’s put pianos  in for the Fringe – and then a couple of weeks later, one suggested to make piano  guerrillas our thing. And we were off.”  

Helen said the real guerrilla act was to put a piano in the underpass of the  railway. At midnight. “And feedback is that it’s changed how people feel about the underpass, they feel safer.”  

The pianos, mostly uprights, were sourced from “people who don’t want to keep  their pianos anymore and people who are moving”.  

“It’s that thing about brown furniture and, you know, no one in the family plays  the piano, so it just sits there. Then you sell the house and you try to leave it behind and the new owner says, no, you have to get rid of it.  “We had that story twice.

“Two of the piano owners had to get rid of them because  they’d not played them. But, of course, that’s a problem for an old piano because if  it’s not regularly tuned, then obviously all sorts of things can happen. And one of  them had rats inside – that was the player piano – but they’re all nice instruments. There’s a charm in them, a real charm.”  

The pianos will now stay where they are – ready to be played at any time. The  thought of vandalism is also there, but so far, so good.

Pop-up piano concerts are  more likely to be on the agenda.  Funding has come from Mt Alexander Shire Council in the form of a $500 grant but any other funding would be gratefully received.  

“We’re always up for more funding. Just to move the piano and tune them is  quite a bit. But we’d love this project to keep going and bring music happiness to this  area.”  

Another guerrilla, Greg Maxwell, said while he and Helen were not musicians,  they would love more to be involved in the future.  

“Lots of musicians don’t want to play in public but it seems to me that that’s exactly what we need. We need these people to come out and just share the piano as a  community instrument.  

“One of our young players, David, talks about it being like being around the  campfire, it changes the mood of people.  

“He says even playing for his family, everybody relaxes, the tone drops. They sit  and listen and enjoy his playing. And I think that’s what we’re trying to rediscover.”  

Helen said the guerrillas were moving from a group from saving pianos to being a  group that uses or activates the pianos by having pop-up concerts around the town.  

“We’ve come up with this idea of milk crate concerts where you bring a milk crate  and cushion, and you just sit there for half an hour and listen. And get to meet the  person next to you.”  

Greg said the stories of the pianos were often touching.  “One of the pianos came from Elphinstone and it’s at the Taproom. The family’s  great-grandmother or grandmother bought it 70 years ago in Bendigo and it’s stayed  in the family all this time.  

“The grandson told us the journey of it and how his father used to play it regularly  and then it got to the stage where they wanted to move it on. But they didn’t until the  Fringe.  

“And Maria, her story’s quite remarkable. She had this piano in Fryerstown that  was in a shed. It’s the one that’s in the underpass because it couldn’t be tuned. She told us this whole story about it, about how it had come with her when she left home and  she’d had it her whole life.  

“She was just so thrilled that we were giving this piano a new life. And if we do  swap it out, it will be the one that will go on the funeral pyre for a midwinter festival.  A final sort of viking funeral.  

“That’s the emotional relationship that people have with pianos. She knew it had  had this wonderful last few weeks of life.”  

Pictured, Maine Piano Guerrillas Helen Sandercoe and Alan Joyce .

Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes  

Little Gallery in Trentham is no stranger to high-profile artists exhibiting, as over the past 14 years the gallery continues to showcase many Central Victorian artists who have achieved greatness in their field.  

One of the founding members of the Little Gallery, Rose Wilson says: “We are truly blessed to be able to represent some of the finest artists that this region has  to offer, not only are these artists known within Australia but are internationally  acclaimed.”  

Over the years, the artist-run space has had a number of high-profile artists as  members of its dynamic team with the most recent addition of sculptors Maria Coyle,  pictured above, and Jimmy Rix, pictured below.

Woodend-based, award-winning ceramicist Maria Coyle has been working as a  professional sculptor for 30 years. Her works are held in many private and corporate collections, and have been acquired nationally, and internationally in New Zealand, Asia, UK, Italy and the Netherlands.  

Sculptor Jimmy Rix, based in Malmsbury is an award-winning artist, who has been commissioned to make large-scale public art in Australia and China and is a regular exhibitor in many outdoor sculpture exhibitions such as Sculpture by the Sea.  

Jimmy’s work is widely collected with such pieces acquired and held by Parliament House. He is also represented in Sydney and Melbourne by Australian  Galleries.  

Jimmy and Maria, along with painters Rose Wilson and Helen Cottle, and ceramicist Kim Haughie, make up the Little Gallery in-house team of resident artists.  

Also on display at the Little Gallery are short-term featured artist Jennifer Barnett  and Kyneton-based wood artist Brian Falkenburg along with the gallery’s stable of commission artists.  

Rose said the gallery’s annual Winter Show fundraising exhibition would open on July 11 with 16 local artists exhibiting to celebrate regional identity through art.  

“Each year we source new, emerging and established local artists to participate  in this exhibition, and they are Dale Cox, Nadia Kliendanze, Julie McKenzie, Mark  Dober, Jill Nobel, Antoinette Braybrook, Neil Matterson, Brian Falkenberg, Rowena Hannan, Diane Thompson, Maxine McKee, Jonathon Lane, Fiona Orr, Jennifer Leggat, Jody Galvin, and Emma McAdam-Marmont in collaboration with Struan Hopwood.”

Little Gallery is open 10am to 4pm, Thursday to Monday and most public holidays to visit, meet the artists and chat about their work.

Contributed

A major refurbishment is about to get underway at Macedon Tea Rooms, transforming it into special dining experience atop a 1000-meter-high mountain. 

The Benito Family Pty Ltd have been awarded the new lease for the famous tearooms. They bring a fresh energy and exciting plans to the local landmark, including an expanded outdoor seating area to take in the scenic views, evening dining, and space for events and functions. 

With a passion for hospitality and the region, the family-owned business has honed their craft in restaurants and hotels across the country and internationally. 

The tearooms opened to customers in 2000, replacing a building destroyed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires.

Works are expected to start in the coming weeks, with the building reopening in late 2025. While renovations are underway, visitors will be able to grab a coffee or bite to eat from a mobile coffee van.

Macedon Regional Park, its iconic Memorial Cross and summit area receives more than 300,000 visitors a year, drawn to the stunning views and range of outdoor activities on offer, including bushwalks, horse-riding and cycling.

The Astate government says it’s also upgrading other iconic sites, with an $810,000 investment to upgrade The Mount Macedon Memorial Cross Reserve. The landmark annually hosts the region’s Anzac Day dawn service and is a popular visitor destination.

Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos: “Everyone who has visited the summit of Mount Macedon knows what a special place it is. This is a beautiful, historic park that offers opportunities for horse riding and hiking, picnicking, cycling, rock climbing and scenic drives.”

“The new tenants have exciting plans to renovate the tearooms and make it an even better experience, bringing the best local produce to the more than 300,000 visitors who come here each year.”

Member for Macedon Mary-Anne Thomas: “The Mount Macedon Tearooms are an incredible economic and tourism asset for this community and the wider region – this will attract even more visitors to our beautiful region.”

Central Highlands Water has issued a serious warning against unauthorised access to its operational sites after several criminal incidents at its facilities.

Thieves have stolen essential electrical cabling and other critical components causing extensive damage to infrastructure, leaving vital facilities inoperable and disrupting key water and wastewater services to customers.

Under the Victorian Water Act 1989, individuals can face fines up to $237,000 and imprisonment.

CHW is urging the public to stay alert and report any suspicious activity near its facilities.

Anyone observing suspicious activity should contact Victoria Police on 131 444, Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or CHW 24/7 Faults & Emergencies on1800 061 514.

As branches and leaves crackle underfoot it is hard to imagine a less likely site for a tussle between bureaucracy and those with a passion for the bush.  

Yet a couple of dozen locals – said to be half of those concerned – turn out on  a recent Sunday to hear defenders of this serene reserve.

The respect and affection  for this oasis rings clearly from speakers with expertise as they acknowledge what is  possible with land that has been burnt.  

Thirty years ago Vern Howell, speaking, cleared blackberries from this land in Eganstown after its perimeter had been bulldozed and blackberries burnt.

Not  only did he work to clear the blackberry curse, but he also planted now maturing  Californian redwood trees whose leaves form a soft carpet, and he put in a waterway.  

Over the three decades this has been a labour of love for 76-year-old Vern, whose  background is in forestry, both working and teaching.  

Imagine, then, his shock when he was told by Parks Victoria and the Department  of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) that, in their words, they  want to “contemporise” the Streamside Reserve and scrap his 29-year-old licence to the land because he is not running stock.

Of course, he never wanted to run stock,  but a grazier’s licence was the only one available.  An $80-a-year grazier’s licence, renewable every five years, is typically issued to  graze cattle on Crown land owned by the State government.  

Vern’s aim is to save the reserve, not graze it, keeping clear patches for kangaroos  and wallabies. Black cockatoos drop by, while shitake mushrooms sprout.

A gigantic  pine tree still carries an ancient cubby. At its foot lies a big, rusting miner’s bucket, while a pile of stones tell of the remnants of the Menadue homestead.  

“It would be a shame,” says Vern with fervour, “to have this turned back into a ‘bushfire farm’. I’d like to see Parks Victoria stop and let a local committee get involved. We want to talk to Parks Victoria about plans for the next 10 to 20 years.”  

His understanding is that Parks Victoria may come through again to burn  blackberries and so destroy the reserve. When asked by The Local about these worries, Parks Victoria says that it is “supporting local and wider community access” to the  reserve, which is up a track off Basalt Road, near the Midland Highway.  

It adds: “We’ve had positive discussions with Eganstown residents about the  future of the reserve, including weed control efforts.  

“If previous licence holders would like to continue their work protecting values in  the reserve, we welcome the opportunity.”  

Yet Vern’s question hangs in the air, just how would this work?  

Words & Image: Kevin Childs

If you’ve ever thought of giving meditation a whirl then an ongoing series of free community classes being offered at Clunes may be worth checking out.

Led by an experienced meditation facilitator, the free hour-long evening meditation classes are being offered through the Clunes Attitude (Ageing Well in Clunes) Club and are aimed at adults of all ages.

Sessions take place from 5 pm to 6 pm every Monday in the facilitator’s home and are resuming from May 19.

Each session includes a self-reflective activity and discussion and finishes with a guided meditation.

More information is available by contacting Sandra on 0438 415 715 or Clunes Neighbourhood House manager Lana De Kort at manager@clunesnh.org.

Dowland Songs of Beauty and Creation will be performed at Daylesford’s Stanbridge Hall on Saturday, May 10 from 2.30pm.  

The concert will feature Rosemary Hodgson, lute, Kate Macfarlane, soprano,  Christopher Roache, alto and tenor, Timothy Reynolds, tenor and Matthew  Champion, bass.  John Dowland is an English Renaissance composer, singer and lutenist.

The  concert will feature a range of voices singing Dowland’s melancholic songs.  

Rosemary Hodgson maintains a vibrant career as Australia’s virtuoso lutenist.  Specialising in the performance of historic guitars and lutes, she regularly engages in major festivals, recordings, and concert series throughout Australia and abroad.  

Soprano Kate Macfarlane has earned a reputation as a dynamic and versatile  singer on both the operatic and concert platforms.

She holds a Masters degree in  Baroque vocal performance from the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany,  where she studied under renowned counter-tenor Kai Wessel.  

Kyneton-based tenor and counter-tenor, Christopher Roache works as a choral  director, classroom music teacher, freelance singer and singing teacher.

Christopher performed as a tenor soloist in the 2022 Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields Festival performance of three of J.S. Bach’s Cantatas and is a member of the eight-part vocal  group, the Melbourne Octet, where he sings both tenor and alto.  

Performed with The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, The Bach Akademie Stuttgart, Timothy Reynolds has worked in Europe and across Australia. Overseas he has  Opera Holland Park, Philharmonischer Chor Esslingen, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and understudied several roles at Oper Stuttgart.  

Matthew Champion has performed widely in Australia and the UK, including  with OzOpera, Chamber Made Opera, Past Echoes, Palestrina Project, Buxtehude Consort, and the Choir of Newman College.

He was the director of the Queen’s  College Choir at the University of Melbourne, and since his return to Australia,  directed the newly formed polyphony ensemble Cantus temporum.  

Link: www.trybooking.com/eventlist/christchurchconcerts    

By Donna Kelly  

Like many people around Australia, I was glued to the television on Saturday  night, watching the election play out.  

It was hard to know which way it was going until a few hours into counting but then the country turned red.  It was an incredible result for the ALP and a pretty sad one for the Liberal Party, with Mr Dutton even losing his own seat of Dickson.  

Personally I think it came down to two things. The first is that the world is pretty topsy-turvy at the moment so people may think it’s better to have stability – and vote for the party already governing.  I also think Mr Dutton headed into strange territory when he thought Australia was ready for a more Trump-style leadership.

Not as crazy as the Trumpets but still, a far bit more right-wing than most of us are comfortable with.

Ballarat MP Catherine King kept her seat again, no surprises there, and posted on Facebook: “Thank you Ballarat! It’s an incredible privilege to be returned as your MP,  and I’m looking forward to serving you in a majority Labor Government!”  

It also means I can finally report on a media release I received in early April. I didn’t run it then because I don’t really think election promises are news.  It said: “Member for Ballarat Catherine King will announce that a re-elected  Albanese Labor Government will provide $1.2 million to Hepburn Shire Council for community soccer upgrades.”  

There were two announcements for this, one at Victoria Park in Daylesford and one at the Doug Lindsay Reserve in Creswick. So that’s some good news for soccer fans – including the Hepburn and Daylesford Soccer Club who we have a story about  in this edition.  

And that’s enough election news for now – it’s Sunday morning and the printer is waiting for this final page to come through.  But I did think I would write something brief in the lead-up to Mother’s Day.

I still feel a strong urge, mostly when something weird and/or wonderful has happened, to pick up the phone and call Mum.  Of course, that wouldn’t work. She’s gone. Five years this month. Unbelievable.  

So no more long calls during chardy hour or making the trek to Frankston to be met at the door with a big smile.  No more chats about who’s doing what in the family, or what the latest recruit to her retirement village is like, or even just the fun of hearing her, as she looks out the  window at some poor soul with a walker, saying “God, they’re old here”.  

With Mother’s Day around the corner it’s hard to avoid the Mother’s Day display stands and the television adverts all telling us to “spoil Mum”.  But if we had our time together again I don’t think I would do much different.  

Maybe I would have avoided the fight with my brother when we were 14 and 12 and we knocked over a card table full of her drying pottery.  

We had a great relationship, a bit rocky when Kyle arrived on the scene, but that all smoothed out down the track. Only took about 10 years.  

When I lived in Japan she kept turning up for long stays and then when I backpacked to London she turned up again – although she did pay for a European  trip so that was OK.  

After Kyle joined Team Kelly we still travelled a lot together and whenever we moved home Mum always turned up for a little holiday – Cairns, Alice Springs, Karratha, Brisbane, Hervey Bay…  

If you still have a mum around give her an extra hug from me or spend a little extra time on the phone this Sunday.  And to all the mums out there, Happy Mother’s Day. We don’t always show it but we love you to the moon and back and appreciate all you have done. Just sayin’…   

The state government is urging renters to know and understand their rights as part of an awareness campaign that went live across Victoria on Friday.

Minister for Consumer Affairs Nick Staikos launched the ‘Know the Funda-rentals’ campaign which highlights the important things Victorians needed to know about renting, and where they could go for advice and support.

The Funda-rentals campaign shares tips on the top issues facing renters, such as getting urgent repairs, properties not meeting minimum standards, rent increases, and renters not being clear on their rights before signing a rental agreement.

Most real estate agents and rental providers want to do the right thing and this campaign is also designed to help them understand and comply with their legal obligations.

Victoria has the strongest rental laws in Australia, with more than 130 rental reforms introduced in 2021, and further reforms coming into effect at the end of this year.

These aim to close loopholes that drive up cost of living for renters and give them more certainty regarding their leases and living standards. 

More people are renting than ever before and in 2024, around two million Victorians were living in a rental property.

A renting taskforce was set up last year to put the spotlight on rental laws and crack down on offences, including rental bidding, false advertising, failing to lodge bonds and renting out properties that do not meet minimum standards. 

The renting taskforce has issued more than 70 infringements worth more than $620,000 in fines since starting its operations last year.

People are encouraged to contact CAV if they have concerns about misleading advertising of a rental property, terminations of rental agreements or notices to vacate.

The campaign has started rolling out across multiple channels, including social media, digital banners and out of home advertisements around Victoria, including billboards and digital displays in universities.

For more information on the campaign visit consumeraffairsvictoria.vic.gov.au/fundarentals.

Minister for Consumer Affairs Nick Staikos: “We know that more Victorians are renting than ever before, which is why it’s important that renters know the Funda-rentals.” 

“Victorians has the strongest rental protections in Australia, and we want to ensure renters know where to turn when they need advice.”

“Everyone deserves the right to feel at home in their rental property, and we are making this possible for all Victorians.”

A new guide book takes people inside the  Victorian National Park that isn’t actually on the  map yet: Great Forest National Park.  

The adventure guidebook has been released to share the destinations, activities, science and history behind  the proposed park in Victoria’s Central Highlands.  

For over a decade, locals and researchers have  mapped out a plan to declare the Great Forest National Park.

They have now produced a Great Forest Park  Guide book to showcase opportunities for engaging with the park area while protecting it into the future.  

It dispels the myth that national parks are locked up and neglected, with pages to inspire walkers, campers,  fishers, cyclists, runners, horseriders and 4-wheel drivers.  

“Making the guide book is a huge step towards engaging Melburnians with the park’s history and all  it has to offer,” says (above pictured) Sarah Rees, project manager of the  GFNP.

“We need our government to step up and declare the National Park so that millions of Victorians can enjoy this natural wonderland and we can begin boosting the local economy, with a projected  $71 million supporting rural towns in surrounding areas each year.”  

The guide book is full of contributions from highly regarded scientists, environmental gurus, experts and  outdoor explorers.  

“The GFNP will provide protection for threatened  species from commercial logging and numerous other  threats,” says Matt Ruchel, executive director of the Victorian National Parks Association.

“Just 90 minutes from Melbourne, it’s a huge opportunity for recreation  for nature-starved urbanites.”  

Link: greatforestnationalpark.com.au  

Image: Liam Neal  

For the first time in 37 years the Daylesford Hepburn United Soccer Club once again has a senior women’s team playing in the Ballarat and District Soccer League … and loving it.

What started a couple of years back with a clinic and a bit of casual fun booting a ball about, has continued to gain momentum such that the club recently started playing home and away fixtures as part of the League every Sunday.

Training is Tuesday evenings and with 23 registered team members and more lining up to join, this local senior women’s team has been booting goals in more ways than one.

Away from the soccer pitch, club secretary, under-16 girls manager, and keen women’s team player Dianne Tran is a solicitor.

She says that after spending plenty of time watching her kids play soccer from the sidelines, she decided it was time to have a piece of the action herself.

“It has been 37 years since we had a women’s team in the League,” Dianne confirms.

 “We weren’t even aware there was a senior women’s soccer team that played 37 years ago. But we were corrected on that.”

Current day club committee member Krystyna (Krys) Szokolai was a member of that original women’s team 37 years ago and she recounted those days.

“That was a long time ago. We only ever played one season.  “But that year kick-started my career (in soccer refereeing),” Krys says.

“Most of us were in year 11 that year. So we played a season and the following year I guess most of the players wanted to focus on HSC, as it was back then, and so we didn’t have enough people to form another team.

“We haven’t had another team until this year which is very exciting.”

While that original women’s team itself was short-lived, Krys went on to become a national and international soccer referee in an impressive career that included refereeing at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

It seems soccer is in her blood. Krystyna’s father, Marton Szokolai, is one of the Daylesford Hepburn United Soccer Club club’s co-founders, a European immigrant who was passionate about seeing the game bring people of all backgrounds and persuasions together.

Krystyna – these days working as a professional veterinarian – recounts how, when that original women’s soccer team ended, she had “still wanted to be part of the game”. So when a regional opportunity to take the refereeing route presented she grabbed it and ran.

“I started off refereeing and the following year I moved to Melbourne and worked my way up through the ranks and started doing national league games,” Krys recounts.

She was then nominated for refereeing duties at international games, serving as an Olympics Games referee at Athens in 2004.

“Then when I hung up the whistle I started working for FIFA as a referee instructor and travelled the world with that, preparing referees for World Cups and tournaments.

“I was out of the country nine months of the year,” she said. “There are things you learn in sport that you learn to use in your everyday life.”

“Dad was always very into his football. We called it football. He grew up in a tiny village in what’s now Serbia. But we’re Hungarian descent. When thinking back to it … he had so much courage to decide to start a club.

“He only ever wanted to bring people together through the sport. Any age, any gender, any ethnicity. Anyone who wanted to play sport was welcome. That was his philosophy. Uniting people was his mantra.”

Dianne Tran says getting a women’s team back and playing competitively in the League today, after a 37-year absence, is hugely significant.

“Since the Women’s World Cup there’s been a renewed interest from women and girls in soccer and we’ve certainly seen that in our club,” she says.

“The senior women’s team was revived a couple of years ago from a clinic. We had a good group of women and we just informally continued training ourselves, just kicking a ball around. No coach at that stage.

“But each week we continued to get consistently about 15 women come and join us and over time more and more people would turn up.

“After being more of a social thing for about a year, the team ended up with not just one, but two coaches.”

Now Di says the team’s members range in age from a 15-year-old to someone in her 60s, and while some players do have soccer backgrounds a lot don’t have any prior soccer experience at all. And that’s fine.

“I really didn’t know anything about soccer,” she says.

“It wasn’t something I’d played at school. I only started getting into it when my kids –  my son and my daughter – started playing competitively, just watching them find something they were passionate about.”

Di’s husband also coaches. In fact he’s one of the two coaches for the women’s team. So the whole family is into soccer.

“It’s like a common language that we all share now,” Di says.

“Playing for me meant that I had another thing in common with my kids that we could communicate about. So we’ll all go to Matildas matches together, watch an A-League match together, talk strategy together.

“My husband is Chilean so it’s in his blood. It’s something that gels the family together.”

Chatting to Di, though, it’s fairly clear that she appreciates her soccer for more reasons than the valuable fact that it’s something the family can enjoy together.

 “There’s a lot of strategy and thinking that goes into the game,” the soccer-loving local solicitor says.

“It blows your mind. It’s all very technical. It’s not just about kicking the ball to the back of the net.

“Our goalkeeper is a myotherapist so she’s making a killing. Being older and playing means we’re a bit more clever about pushing ourselves and about things like stretching and recovery.

“A lot of people have said to us ‘I feel so welcome in the team. It’s not intimidating at all’.

“We’ve played a couple of friendlies and two rounds in the competition season, against Creswick and the Forest Rangers from Wendouree, and we’re getting better each week.

“It’s been bloody tiring and bloody hard work but a lot of fun.”

Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club president Adam Sadler says the club generally has been enjoying “quite a lot of growth” in recent times.

“We are very much a community-based club that is welcoming to anyone who wants to come and play regardless of ability or experience,” Adam says.

“Over the past two years we have managed to grow the club significantly even achieving some national recognition having been listed in the top five soccer clubs of the year by Football Australia.”

The club very recently secured a $4950 state government grant for professional development of its women, girls and gender diverse participation policy.

“That’s gone to subsidising our women’s registration,” Di says. “That’s been fantastic.”

“The committee has worked really hard in encouraging women, girls and gender diverse participation in our club and in soccer.

“We also worked with Football Vic to develop an action plan for women and girls and we’ve kicked off a lot of those goals.

“They’re a great bunch of women. We get along great and have a lot of fun. We’ve got some good energy. It’s about supporting each other and having some fun.”

Krystyna Szokolai reckons her Dad would be pretty happy to see the recent developments at the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club.

“Oh my God it just goes to show how far we’ve come,” she says.

“Maybe we could get another international referee… or a Matildas player…”

Words: Eve Lamb

Rising force in contemporary soul music Oscar LaDell is headed to Bar Bamford, Daylesford Hotel this month for a free evening gig.

With a foundation in blues and a globally influenced perspective, Oscar crafts emotionally rich songs that blend timeless traditions with modern themes.

From heartfelt storytelling to powerful arrangements, Oscar’s music is a testament to his deep connection with the craft, solidifying him as one of today’s most compelling new voices.

He is set to bring his talents to Bar Bamford on Saturday, May 17 from 8.30pm.

Oscar LaDell
Saturday 17 May | 8:30pm – 10:15pm
Bar Bamford – Daylesford Hotel