Hi there. I’m Blackie and as you can see from my mug shot, I’m a big, dark handsome dude.

I’m young too – just one of my multiple cat years down.
I’m partial to a pat and a good chin scratch, but I can be a bit bashful around people I don’t know well yet.
Here at the Mount Alexander Animal Welfare (MAAW) shelter in Castlemaine, where I’m currently lodging, they say I deserve a home with someone of quality who will give me some good care and conversation,and allow me a little time to settle in.
If you would like to meet me then please contact the Mount Alexander Animal Welfare shelter in Castlemaine to make a time on 5472

Words: Donna Kelly

PEOPLE driving past Hepburn House over the past months have watched as a large building has taken shape next door.
The finish date is still a while off, August next year, but manager Dianne Jones was happy to chat last week with The Local’s Donna Kelly about “a very exciting project”.
When finished, the two-storey building will boast a magnificent upstairs 31-bed ‘LGBTI and friends’ wing while downstairs there will be a 15-bed purpose-built memory support unit for those living with dementia.
“Before I arrived here, it had been identified that there was a need for a property to cater for people living with dementia. It is sometimes hard to manage a facility catering for people living with dementia and those who are not. So that was the big driver for this new building,” Dianne said.
“And then when I moved into the town, I realised there was a huge LGBTI community that needed to be catered for as well. So I went and did some research and talked to the elders of the LGBTI community and discovered a lot of the elders were petrified about coming into aged care because of the discrimination they had received most of their lives. You have to remember the laws only changed in Victoria in 1980.
“So, we started out getting the Rainbow Tick which is something that is involved in all of our processes and policies to ensure they are LGBTI inclusive. The last thing we want is for anyone to feel they are not safe coming here, that they are going to be discriminated against.
“And there was a lot of discussion about this LGBTI wing. Is it a form of segregation? But our intention is to never segregate, just ensure that everybody in that wing, whether they are LGBTI or friends, are accepting of people’s choices.”
Dianne said the memory support unit was already “looking amazing”, centred around a huge courtyard with a big open lightwell along with views out the back to the rolling countryside and open areas to ensure clients “felt free” but supported. There’s also a nostalgia kitchen where residents can cook their own meals.
Also in the downstairs area will be Hepburn House’s new gym, theatre and a massive multi-purpose room.
“We really want to engage the community as well, like we have done with the Ageing DisGracefully group. We don’t want people to come into aged care and feel isolated from their community. We want it to be a welcoming space for everyone.”
Back upstairs, the 31-bed LGBTI wing also has those amazing views accompanied by big, private balconies and big communal areas. There’s even a private dining room to dine with friends or family.
The current footprint of Hepburn House and the new building will be connected by a very extended walkway – which includes a staff room on one side and a staff amenities area on the other. So more a building than just a path.
Dianne said all of the rooms in the new building were bigger than the current building, going up from 17 square metres to a roomy 23. And she is just now starting to think about furnishings and décor.
“It is going to look beautiful but I am keeping to a country theme – we are in the country after all. And that is something else people love about Hepburn House – it’s like their country home.”

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS8Rxg12j/

THE property market has finally normalised after a roller coaster ride with not only Covid but also unpredicted interest rate hikes, Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Andrew Meehan, pictured, says.
Mr Meehan said there were areas which were still rising and others which were falling but that was considered “a normal market”.
“I think a few people got used to the fact that prices will always continue to rise so when they started to fall people thought that was unusual but where we are at the moment is a normal market – which is great. It offers opportunities for the buyers and opportunities for the sellers and that is the way the market should operate.”
Mr Meehan said there had been a bit of a knee jerk reaction with people during Covid quitting their city lives and heading to the country.
“In my agency on the Mornington Peninsula we experienced exactly the same, because although we are deemed to be metropolitan, we operate as more of a regional market, and people were moving down for the lifestyle choices. I think those people who bought regionally and who can still work from home, perhaps just travelling in to work one day or two, then they will stay there. Others who are forced back to work full time from the office will potentially be affected by those moves to the regions.
“I think Covid made everyone reassess what they valued in life and if you can live on a lifestyle property and are not required to go back to work every day and you don’t have to commute then I think people are still going to value those lifestyle properties and continue to live in them.”
Mr Meehan said he was elected as president in October, as the interest rates started to rise, but said it had been a good couple of months. He also said buyers were now factoring in those rate rises – a surprise after the Reserve Bank had pretty much promised no rises until 2024.
He is also keen to get into the regions to meet REIV members. “I enjoy talking to members and the plan in the new year is to get out to Ballarat and hold a few ‘get to know you’ events, something very casual but talk to our membership and see what we can do better for the benefit of our members.”

Words and Images: Eve Lamb

IF YOU’VE ever encountered the term wabi-sabi while exploring Japanese spiritual or aesthetic philosophy you will have a bit of an insight into the style of Clunes ceramicist Chandra Paul.
Originally a city girl, Chandra escaped the clutches of the state’s main metropolis six years ago to set up a home and ceramics studio in Clunes – complete with kiln.
She has not looked back since.
“I do hand building. My work is slab and coil built,” Chandra says.
Her own website describes her work as: “Hand built, small batch stoneware pottery. Minimal, rustic, contemporary, earthy and tactile”.
“Hand building is slow and laborious so in effect each piece you make is a one-off piece. I like to see the maker’s marks embedded in the clay,” she says.
Chandra’s focus is on creating original functional pieces with a beautiful earthy aesthetic to sell at artists’ markets as well as online.
Exquisite little tableware pieces, unique display vases and indoor plant display pots are all part of what she does. Very recently she has also made a suite of bespoke pieces for higher end local restaurateurs looking for something very special to set off
attractions on their menu.
“I want to work closely with other small businesses and their vision and help make it come alive through my craft. The design process is where a lot of the work is.”
Wabi-sabi is all about the beauty inherent in the perfectly imperfect, and the pieces Chandra creates beautifully showcase the raw aesthetic of the materials from which they are made.
To hold one of these organic little creations in the palm of your hand is to instantly conjure something precious and essential, a homage to the landscapes from which they’re derived.
But before making her move to Clunes, Chandra had never enjoyed the creative convenience of possessing her own kiln.
“This kiln and I are friends,” she says of the kiln that she ordered from Germany and waited for six months for it to arrive. “This is a good kiln.”
“I built here in Clunes in 2016. When I was in Melbourne I was a tenant and couldn’t have my own studio. I chose Clunes partly for financial reasons. It was affordable.
“But I was also thinking that 10 years down the track Clunes is going to be a bit like Daylesford and Hepburn were in the day. I thought this might be a bit of a hub for creative people.
“I grew up in inner Melbourne and before I moved here I was living in Seaford and not feeling particularly safe. Every time I came up here I felt I could breathe again. I like space.
“I had been renting some space in a ceramics co-op out in the suburbs and someone teaching art in the adjoining room had a holiday house here in Clunes and told me about it. It just sparked my interest.”
Right now Chandra has various artists’ markets lined up to attend in the metro area as she loves being present to chat to those who are drawn to her work.
“It’s a niche, ceramics, but the people who love it come back because they have a yen for the things of the earth,” she says.
“The idea at the moment is online shopping with activations – that is going out into the world and engaging with people whether it’s at markets or exhibitions, or pop-up shops,” she says.
“I have also recently started a blog – I’ve never done one before – for anyone who wants to hear about some pottery minutia.
“It’s about my journey and processes with pottery.”

Words: Eve Lamb | Image: James Penlidis

IT’S not your average job description but being Australia’s “leading female magician and mentalist” is a profession Daylesford’s Cath Jamison simply loves.
“When I was a kid, five years old, I got a magic kit and I loved it,” the award- winning entertainer says.
“I was a quirky kid and I’m a quirky person.”
Today, Cath’s mind-blowing and frequently uproarious shows have earned her a reputation as a leader in her field and she’s known as one of Australia’s most unusual women entertainers wielding her trademark sass, style, and mind illusion to captivate audiences.
She’s been described in high profile places as ‘Ellen DeGeneres meets Derren Brown’, and this wickedly hilarious entertainer has won more awards and done more big gigs than you can wave a wand at. Think Melbourne International Comedy
Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide FEAST and Midsumma Festival.
Her inexplicable shows have held even seasoned entertainers, like Tim Burton, Dawn French and Melissa Etheridge, spellbound.
Cath and her partner Nicole Peters moved from Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula to Daylesford in March last year, as Cath says the town and wider locality ticked all their boxes.
“We’ve always wanted to live and buy in Daylesford. We absolutely love it here,” says Cath who didn’t gain the title of ‘Australia’s leading female magician and mentalist’ overnight.
As a youngster doing magic tricks was “a hobby” and Cath trained and became a professional gardener and horticulturist working at the Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens and Royal Exhibition Building gardens to make a living.
But the love of entertaining, magic and mystery, and of working a crowd was always there.
“I went to magic school in Brunswick Street and I went ‘Oh my God, that’s what I want to do’,” Cath says.
Busking and playing bagpipes in a pipe band, and even dispensing one particularly crowd-enthralling act that involved juggling rubber chickens, all fed into her development as an entertainer. But it was her passion for acute observation of the
human psyche that led to her evolution as a mentalist as well.
Fascinated by the psychology of human behaviour, Cath began to observe the body language and behaviours of those around her and embarked on studies in mentalism and the esoteric fields of telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, pre-cognition and mind control.
Together with her onstage collaborator, Daylesford’s Aurora Kurth, Cath became part of the immensely popular Sass & Secrets show, a cabaret-style magic and mayhem act that blends comedy, music, mentalism and mirth.
It proved a sellout at Daylesford’s last ChillOut Festival when they performed it at Peppers Mineral Springs where they so impressed that they’re already booked in to bring it back for next year’s ChillOut.
Cath says Sass & Secrets has also just been accepted by Regional Arts Victoria to participate in the state’s Connecting Places program which enables regional venues across Victoria to host shows that might otherwise be out of reach. Maldon’s new
Festival of Dark Ideas 2023 will be just one of their many dates.
But besides Sass & Secrets, Cath is also busy doing her own magician and mentalist gigs and teaching others the craft of magic.
These days she’s able to make a living from her unique talents fulltime as a magician and mentalist for hire for private gigs, from large corporate functions to intimate cocktail party affairs.
“I’m up to Cairns in a couple of weeks to do a big corporate women in business gig,” she says.
“I also have the Australian School of Magic running since 2006,” she says. Through the magic school Cath is able to share her love of magic and teach youngsters, aged from five to teens, some of the tricks of the trade.
“A lot of magicians are getting work now because people are hanging to be connected,” she says.
“There is more to this world than can be explained and when you talk about magic, there’s a collective consciousness and it’s all about everyone connecting and being happy.
“Magic for me is really about entertaining and transporting people back to their childhood, taking them on a roller coaster of emotions.”

IT HAS been three years since the amalgamation of Hepburn Health Service and Kyneton District Health to become Central Highlands Rural Health.
After almost nine years of service Central Highlands Rural Board chair Phillip Thomson says he is most proud of his role in positioning the organisation to better serve the communities of the Hepburn and Macedon Ranges shires.
“This is something of which I am incredibly proud,” he said, of the
amalgamation on November 30, 2019.
He is also full of admiration and praise for the quality, breadth and depth of services delivered across CHRH’s five
campuses of Clunes, Creswick, Daylesford, Kyneton and Trentham, and the capacity and capability of staff to keep patients,
residents and clients safe, especially over the past almost three years.
“I know at times the staff have been incredibly tired, but they have shown great resilience and commitment to the health and well-being of their community,” he said.
“And I hope the staff are as proud of themselves as the board is of them.”
At the time of the amalgamation, Phillip was the chair of Hepburn Health Service, having served on its board for six years.
“The growing burden of compliance and the desire to deliver better services to meet the future healthcare needs of our rural growing townships was the impetus for our decision to amalgamate with Kyneton District Health,” he said.
Phillip also acknowledged the commitment, contribution, and service of Peter Matthews, the former Kyneton District Health Board chair at the time of the amalgamation and the immediate past chair of CHRH.

Words and Image: Eve Lamb

CLUNES has achieved a state first, getting public signposts installed to highlight the location of every public defibrillator in the town.
The woman behind the heart-warming, and potentially
life-saving, achievement is Deb Bright, coordinator of the
town’s neighbourhood house and also a GoodSAM.
Ambulance Victoria’s GoodSAM (Smartphone Activated
Medic) program connects local volunteer responders to
patients in the first critical minutes of cardiac arrest while
paramedics are on the way.
Deb says GoodSAM is a free global smartphone app that
alerts several volunteer GoodSAM responders to someone
nearby in cardiac arrest.
It can – and in Clunes it has already – make the critical
difference as it’s known that for every minute a patient
doesn’t get CPR/defibrillation, their chances of survival fall
by 10 per cent.
Deb is one of several GoodSAMs in Clunes and after
recently learning of a South Australian initiative where
physical signposts have been installed to point out AED
locations, she approached Hepburn Shire Council to see if
something similar could be done in her own town.
To her delight, the shire came through, and as a result in
recent weeks multiple signposts have been installed helpfully
pointing the way to each of the town’s five public AEDs
(Automated External Defibrillators).
“We’re lucky in Clunes that we have five AEDs that are
available for members of the public to access 24/7,” Deb says.
“They are at the town’s supermarket, here at the
neighbourhood house, at the bowling club, the golf club and the medical centre.
“The signs have now gone in outside all of the locations of the publicly available AEDs and they point in the direction of the nearest defibrillator. They just went in in recent weeks and I can tell you that they’re already being noticed.”
Deb said the town would love to have some more GoodSAMs.
“The only thing you need to become a GoodSAM is a willingness to respond when you are alerted to a cardiac incident, and knowledge of basic CPR.”
Deb says there had been multiple cardiac arrest incidents in Clunes over the past few years, some of which she has personally attended in her capacity as a GoodSAM.
“Statistically we know that use of a defibrillator in those first critical moments can increase your chance of surviving by 72 percent,” she says.
Deb says seeing the new signposts go in has been very rewarding and she is now keen to see them extended to other towns throughout the shire – and beyond.
“I’d really like to see the program extended and I’ll be contacting Hepburn Shire to suggest that it is extended throughout the shire,” she says.
Local residents who think they may be able to help out and become a GoodSAM responder are encouraged to check out Ambulance Victoria’s GoodSAM website, with some local training in defibrillator use also coming up fairly soon.
“I run regular defibrillator training sessions here at the Neighbourhood House and we advertise them on our socials,” Deb says.
“We will probably start running them again in January.”

Words: Eve Lamb; Image: Kyle Barnes

DOG owners and their woofers out Trentham way are on the front paw for the new year ahead, releasing a doggedly handsome 2023 calendar in pursuit of a pooch-pleasing project.
The Dogs of Trentham are a group of local dog owners who want to see a council- endorsed public space provided in which to safely exercise dogs – off leash – in their patch.
Towards realising their goal they’ve just produced the Dogs of Trentham 2023 calendar featuring 12 local pooches posing in front of the town’s landmarks.
“The Dogs of Trentham is a small committee that we set up about this time last year,” says local dog owner and Dogs of Trentham president, psychologist Dr Kerry Proctor.
She says that in particular they hope to progress a vision, with Hepburn Shire Council’s support, to trial a block of land in Trentham’s Victoria Street for use as a safe and fenced off-leash dog park.
In the meantime, an agreement has been reached to trial two small temporary spaces at the Market Street Reserve after the group met with Mayor Cr Brian Hood and Infrastructure director Bruce Lucas last Friday.
Dr Proctor, said while it was not ideal “but a step in the right direction while a decision being made on a permanent site in the 2023-2024 Master Plan”.
She says that having somewhere off leash for local dogs to exercise safely is not just essential for the dogs’ health but also for their owners’ health and social
connectivity as well.
Over previous months, a large number of dog owners had been using the Market Street Reserve to exercise their dogs off-lead with many friendships formed in the process.
But the little central reserve also accommodates public toilets, tennis courts and a children’s playground as well, and its ongoing use as an off-lead dog exercise space has become vexed, with some conflict arising between its multiple public uses.
“The council received a complaint from a member of the public, and last December put up a sign saying ‘No Dogs Off Leash’ at the Market Street Reserve,” Dr Proctor says.
“In April the council unanimously voted in recognition of the need for an off-leash dog park and it’s now in their strategic master plan.”
The Dogs of Trentham group then identified the Victoria Street land as an ideal site to trial as an off-lead park – big enough to accommodate dogs of all sizes.
“The block of land at 14 Victoria Street has been bequeathed to the council for community use. It’s a perfect size. It just needs to be fenced,” Dr Proctor says.
“We want to get formal approval from the council to initially trial it as a temporary park. We’ve costed it and we believe it can be fenced for under $20,000.
We’ve got a lot of support for it. We ran a petition and we got 450 signatures in two weeks.”
Negotiations between the council and the group have been taking place, and the Community Bank Trentham & Districts has provided $3500 to print the calendar that’s now being sold to raise dollars which dog owners hope can eventually go towards fencing the Victoria Street site.
Trentham photographer, and dog owner, James Walshe donated his time and considerable expertise to take the shots which feature in the calendar – all of them local dogs including Dr Proctor’s boxer dog, Crumpet (aka Miss March), and James’ border collie Paddy (aka Mr May).
“It was a bit of fun,” said James whose professional background as a photographer includes photographing animals for Guide Dogs Victoria and for the RSPCA as well.
“The cover shot has four dogs in one shot and I thought it might prove a bit difficult to get them all looking in the right direction at once. But they behaved beautifully,” James said.

Admittedly some tasty payola helped James out while on location, and now the $20 calendars are being rapidly snapped up.
“We had 450 calendars printed and I think about 250 of them have already sold within a week,” Dr Proctor says.
Copies of the calendar are available at the Trentham Post Office, the Community Bank Trentham & Districts and via the Dogs of Trentham Facebook page. They’ll also be for sale at the town’s December 17 market – “and also some street stalls that we’ll also be having between now and the market,” Dr Proctor says.

Words: Donna Kelly

A GROUP, Don’t Undermine Daylesford, or DUD, has formed to try to stop Red Rock Australasia from mining for gold under the town.
The British-owned mining company was granted an exploratory
licence for gold mining in May this year and has identified the Daylesford region as “highly prospective but well underexplored in terms of the modern exploration environment”.
The mine being looked at is the old Ajax line, under the name Blue Angel, in the western area of the town near the waste recovery centre. Areas in Yandoit and Glenlyon are also named in various reports.
DUD spokespeople Gary Lawrence and Lisa Brophy said while Red Rock may have a licence to look for gold they did not have a social licence with the community.
Ms Brophy said there were many concerns about the possibility of gold mining under the town including potential contamination of its iconic mineral water.
“If you Google Daylesford the first pages that come up are all about our mineral water and wellness. What happens if the water becomes contaminated?
“We don’t want our community tourism and destination appeal put at risk, or our economic activity from tourist businesses impacted.
“There are so many things wrong here and one of the most important stories around this is that these people are allowed to come into our environment and cause
all this angst – and for what – for whose benefit? Theirs, not ours.”
Mr Lawrence said some of his concerns included the possibility of heavy metals
being released from the bedrock and leaching out into the environment.
“We also don’t want to contemplate the impact of removing tonnes of rock to a
treatment plant somewhere. Where is that going to be?”
Mr Lawrence said the equipment needed for the exploratory drilling alone would
cause vibrations throughout the area – and would be ongoing for three to four
months. “Then we have the old DD06 issues, the worries about methane gas at the
former capped tip.”
The group met with Hepburn Shire Council last week with Ms Brophy saying
they were confident their concerns were acknowledged and that there was a better
understanding of the issues the community is facing.
Attempt to stop gold mining in Daylesford“Our meeting with council was positive. We are also more aware of the legislative
restrictions placed on councils in relation to what they can and can’t control or
influence in relation to mining licences,” Ms Brophy said.
Red Rock Australasia Community and Environmental Liaison spokesperson Kiara
Reddingius said the company held an exploration licence, not a mining licence. “We
have done no physical work so far in the area outside literature study and research.”
Asked about some of the group’s concerns including what benefit mining would
bring to the community Ms Reddingius said it was outside the scope of their licence
to educate the benefits of mineral resources to the Victorian community. However,
she added aside from both direct and indirect spending into the local and state
economy, during 2020/21, minerals sector companies directly contributed over $2.8
million to 63 separate community groups across Victoria in a wide range of areas
including health, education, environment and the arts.
Ms Reddinguis also said groundwater was protected under legislation and any risk to its health would need to be addressed in an application of a mining licence.
“Over the term of the exploration licence, comprehensive and detailed water studies will be conducted to understand the interface of the ground water and the geology.”
Ms Reddinguis said effective noise control measures significantly reduced sound levels of an operating rig, and it was a condition of their licence to ensure that noise generated by exploration activities did not exceed limits set by the Environment Protection Authority and the state of Victoria.
The company had tried since July to install a small environmental weather, noise and vibrational collection station in the area to collect baseline data but neither the surrounding community or Hepburn Shire Council “have been cooperative in this proactive environmental monitoring”.
Ms Reddinguis said an exploration licence was held for a five-year term, with an option to apply to extend a further five years.
“At this stage, two to four months of low impact drilling is planned to understand the nature and extent of mineralisation below the already existing Ajax workings which extend past 200m.”

If you’ve ever wanted to give belly dancing a try – now’s your chance.

The Kyneton Library – part of the Goldfields Library Corporation – is tomorrow evening hosting a free belly dancing session.

Organisers say it’s a chance to “come on a Middle Eastern journey and lose yourself in the music while learning some Egyptian-style Raqs Sharqi”.

“Bellydance brings the joy of dance to everyone – all ages, cultures, shapes and sizes – while building your fitness in a fun and easy way,” a library spokeswoman said.

“Bring a friend or come alone. Everyone is welcome to join this fun, inclusive session.”

Bookings are needed, though, with more information through the library website.

Nigel Wearne is bringing his ‘To The Edge Tour to Creswick’s Odessa at Leavers Hotel this Saturday, December 10.

Nigel is a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with diverse influence from Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Gillian Welch.

Nigel has toured Australia, New Zealand and Canada and he’s performed at a long list of music festivals, including the Port Fairy Folk Festival, Adelaide Guitar Festival and Queenscliff Music Festival. His sophomore album, ‘Black Crow’ garnered wide critical acclaim including a 4-STAR review in Rolling Stone, a nomination for Best Country Album at the Music Victoria Awards and debuted at #1 on the AMRAP Charts.

His latest single ‘To The Edge’ is a duet featuring award-winning UK songstress, Lauren Housley. Ominous, poignant and mysterious; it’s a potent lament of fate gone wrong. Morricone-esque horns tug at the heartstrings; a soulful, minor-key slow-burn that skirts the fringes of jazz and 60s rock ‘n’ roll.

The State Highway patrol have been assigned to patrol for speeding, fatigue, and alcohol-affected motorists for December in the Clunes, Creswick and Daylesford areas.

“So, plan ahead for the upcoming festive season in relation to having a designated driver,” said Clunes Police Station’s leading Senior Constable Simon Barker, giving a recent public report on policing in the locality.

“Just recently, wood was stolen from two semi-rural properties and witnesses observed
a White Mitsubishi dual-cab displaying false registration plates,” he said.

“Just a reminder to report suspicious activity or vehicles via 000 or for
non-urgent crime reporting, 13 14 44. Or call the Clunes police station on 5345 3211.

“Before my (recent) leave, a male was charged and bailed for an assault at a local establishment,
and a local was detected for drink driving.

“In the meantime, stay safe and look after one another.”

Interest in ballroom has grown so much that new classes have been added to the
usual Tuesdays at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre (CNC), organisers say.

“Membership is through Creswick U3A or the CNC,” Elizabeth Howard says.
“We teach Modern and New Vogue dances, a fair amount of Latin, Rock/Jive and some line dancing. “Levels are Beginner, Transition, Improver and Advanced.
“For class times (which will be the same in 2023), check out the CNC Term IV brochure: Come along and keep fit and young in mind, body and heart.

“Singing along is allowed as well. Visitors are always welcome to watch
and enjoy the music,” Elizabeth says.

Summer is here and the Macedon Ranges Council has announced the reopening of the two outdoor pools in Woodend and Lancefield from Saturday December 3.

The outdoor pools will open following Council’s temperature-based guidelines, which include:

December, school holidays and weekends

• 26 degrees and above: 12 noon – 6 pm (possible extension of hours past 6 pm dependent upon patronage and weather conditions)
• 25 degrees and under: closed

Monday–Friday (during school term 1, 2023)

• 26 degrees and above: 3.30 pm – 6 pm (possible extension of hours past 6 pm dependent upon patronage and weather conditions)
• 25 degrees and under: closed

Opening hours are determined according to Bureau of Meteorology temperature forecasts for Kyneton, at 4.30 pm the day prior and published on Council’s website.

Council’s outdoor pools and aquatic centres will be closed on Christmas Day, 25 December.

Outdoor pools are open and free of charge on 26 January 2023 (Australia Day), provided the minimum opening temperatures are forecast.

Energy Safe Victoria is launching its 2022 Know the Drill Before You Grill campaign, reminding Victorians, including those in Hepburn Shire and surrounds, of a simple safety tip to protect from barbecue-related LPG cylinder fires and explosions.

Every summer, firefighters are called to LPG cylinder-related incidents with severe cases resulting in people being rushed to hospital trauma centres.

To combat this, ESV has led the introduction of new Australian Standards over the past 18 months, resulting in new barbecue connections and cylinder valves that when imperfectly connected will not leak gas, even if the cylinder has been turned on.

If the hose connection has been disconnected or the cylinder valve has been left open, gas will not flow, reducing the risk of an explosion or fire.