Creswick Fire Brigade’s senior running team may lack in numbers, but their dedication and positivity in the lead-up to the State Firefighter Championships certainly makes up for it.

Heading to Mooroopna to participate in the Urban Senior Firefighting Championships on Saturday 23 March, two-time participant Logan Hand will be lending a helping hand to the brigade’s newest recruit Charles Huang who will participate for the first time.

At just 18 years old, Logan has been an active member of the brigade for two years, following in the footsteps of his three family members who volunteer with Creswick, one being the Captain.

“I’ve been around the brigade my whole life and I’ve been marching with them for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to get involved as soon as I could,” Logan said.

“The Championships are a great opportunity to mix with different brigades. I really enjoy the camaraderie and the friends that you get to make, both in your own team and in others.

“I’m most looking forward to the ladder and cart events as they are a bit more interactive and challenging for me.”

The team hit the ground running early in the season, having started training twice a week from October with hopes to overcome their biggest challengers Osborne Park and Melton.

“We figured because we’re a new team, we should get in some good practice,” Logan said.

“While competitive, we’re all friends and it’s good fun. I’d really encourage people to give it a go. Everyone is supportive and it provides such great training with great people.”

Charles Huang , a 22-year-old medical student, has been a brigade member for only just over a year, but is already putting his best foot forward on the track.

“I always go into training with the mindset of wanting to better myself and to find ways to improve my technique. I really want to get stronger and faster,” Charles said.

“I wasn’t very good at the ladder run initially. So, in the past few weeks, I’ve become really motivated to get better at doing it.

“I’m most looking forward to the cart events because it is such a team effort, and everyone has a role to play. It’s also really exhilarating to push a decently heavy cart down the track.”

As a small team of five, Charles said although they don’t have specialties like other teams, they have identified what they most need to work on and have been drilling that in at training.

“A few of us weren’t powerful enough yet for the cart event, so we practised that initial segment over and over again,” Charles said.

“What we found was with each iteration we could really refine our technique. For me, I needed to work on my hand grip on the handle and make that a smoother transition. But after several run-throughs, I was able to actually do what we wanted.”

“Instead of running out the entire cart and having to roll up the hoses again, we just focused on the areas that needed improvement and we’re really seeing results.”

Creswick’s Robert (Bob) Orr is one of the finalists in the Fundraising Institute Australia’s Fundraising Champion of the Year.

The awards were presented in Brisbane late last month. Bob and his wife Margaret along with Central Highlands Rural Health’s fundraising chair Kate Redwood and fundraising manager Kathryn Kosloff, attended the dinner.

Bob’s passion and commitment to rural health care in Creswick was recognised by experts in the fundraising sector from across the country. The Fundraising Champion of the Year category was established in 2021 to acknowledge “the importance and highly valued contribution of ‘non traditional’ fundraising advocates and supporters” and is “designed to recognise that effective fundraising doesn’t happen in isolation”.

Ms Redwood congratulated Bob on his nomination.

“Bob has accepted the challenge to fundraise for the Creswick hospital on more than one occasion and is always willing and able to rise to the occasion. It is wonderful that he was recognised by Fundraising Institute Australia as a finalist.

“We are thrilled that Bob has been acknowledged for his incredible contribution to rural
health care.”

A former Creswick & District Hospital president, Bob continues to be an incredible leader within the Creswick community. In 2023, he accepted the challenge of raising $150,000 for his local health service which he achieved with the assistance of the Creswick Health Upgrade Appeal Committee.

In the 1990s, Bob successfully campaigned to raise $1 million to save the Creswick Hospital and has continued to guide and support the future of health care for the town.

Bob has created an incredible legacy, along with his wife Margaret who has been a member of the Creswick & District Hospital Auxiliary for 50 years.

“We want the township of Creswick to continue to thrive into the future,” Bob said.

“Rural health care continues to need community support and we do what we can to contribute.”

CresFest 2024 will be the third time around for the small Goldfields community of Creswick.

This folk and roots music festival is earning a reputation for punching above its weight, with imaginative programming and a can-do attitude.

In 2024, the bar will be raised even higher with the inclusion of an original opera written by staff and students of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Opera program, plus a performance by a string orchestra backing well-known local crooner Archer Shepherd, in arrangements by Finnish-Australian composer Erkki Veltheim.

“It really comes back to community,” said director and founder Judy Turner, “with the opera and the chamber players – it’s all about bringing local issues and local people to the fore. And getting together with like-minded people, wherever they are from, whatever their musical background, is what makes the magic happen. ”

Creswick Flood Opera

In August 2023, Professor Jane Davidson, Head of Opera at the Conservatorium, University of Melbourne, brought a group of students to meet locals at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre. Interviewed in her Southbank office, Professor Davidson was full of enthusiasm for the Flood Opera project, and how it has opened opportunities for her young students.

“We came to CresFest 2023,” Professor Davidson said, “just for the experience of playing out of town, and we were blown away by the vibrancy of the local music scene. We got talking about the devastating floods of the year before, and the idea grew that we, as musicians, could do something to shine a light on the impact of such climate events on a small community: we could make it personal, bring out the emotion through our music.”

Enter Pat Tacey (Hepburn Shire Citizen of the Year 2023) and the Creswick Lions, and the community was involved. After a day spent interviewing local residents whose lives were flood impacted, the group went back to Melbourne to create their work.

Presenting it in ‘draft’ form at the Clunes Town Hall for a Seniors Festival audience in October 2023 was so impactful that the team decided to bring the full opera back to CresFest 2024.

“This will be the first time people can hear our opera in Creswick, and we are really thrilled to be able to present it free for the community, thanks to Creswick Woollen Mills,” said Professor Davidson.

In addition to the Flood Opera, CresFest recognises the anguish of community members affected by the floods of 2022 in a podcast series This CresFest World. Listeners can find three episodes on the floods and listen to excerpts of the opera here.

CresFest invites all locals to attend the free performance on Saturday, April 6 at 2.30pm at the Creswick Woollen Mills, Railway Parade, Creswick. Special thanks go to the residents who shared their stories for this project: Adriana (Teeny) Cunnington, Terry Cunnington, Mark Shalless, Pauline Stapleton, Bernie Tacey (Flynn), Pat Tacey and Ellie van Oirschot.

Archer and the Hepburn Players

Collaborations between popular artists and classical players are well established, almost the norm these days, and after a successful partnering with Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal at CresFest 2023, the Hepburn Players (pictured below and led by Daylesford harpsichordist Andrew Welsh) are thrilled to be back on stage, this time supporting Archer.

“Archer’s music is timeless,” says Ms Turner, also a viola player with the group, “and these string arrangements by the wonderful Erkki Veltheim will give his lyrics a chance to really shine. As community players we jump at the chance to play such sophisticated parts, supporting a truly international singer from our own region.”

The group was formed by Andrew Welsh and Judy Turner before the pandemic, with many lost opportunities over the lockdown years. Since the re-opening, they have steamed ahead, performing at community events at Daylesford Anglican Church, Creswick Art Shows, Newlyn Mechanics Institute, Daylesford Town Hall, Creswick Woollen Mills, and at CresFest 2023.

To see the Hepburn Players with Archer at Creswick Town Hall on Saturday, April 6 you need to have a festival pass. Tickets and the full program are available now at https://cresfest.com.au/

More on the festival

Now in its third iteration, CresFest has appointed Ballarat superstar Stella Savy as Associate Artistic Director.

“Stella brings a wealth of knowledge of the music industry and networks across a broad range of genres, especially deep roots in African and other world musics,” says Judy. “This year there will be dancing in the streets when Sydney band Chutney brings its exciting brand of klezmer music to Creswick.”

Stella said the festival was bringing artists from Canada, New Zealand, Argentina and the UK – the strongest international contingent yet presented.

“And along with that we have a truly national showcase of the best acoustic acts in our folk and roots genre – there’s Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse from WA, Gosti from QLD, The Cherry Pickers from SA, Spooky Men’s Chorale and Chutney from NSW and Super Rats from the ACT.”

In addition to four concert stages running from Friday night April 5 to Sunday evening April 7, CresFest will present three new ‘zones’ in 2024. KidsOwn KidZone is where puppet shows and plays meet circus skills and marimbas. Street Zone has acts coming from across Victoria to create fun in the streets.

There’s a magician – Cath Jamison – from Hepburn Springs, a kids circus expert – Luth Wolff – from Melbourne, and an acrobat – Malachi Frost – from SA, bringing high-speed juggling a 10-foot pole and a giant flyswatter, and finally Doc Andrew, all the way from Dallas, Texas, will bring his sleight-of hand and trickery.

With the ChoirZone, across the whole of Saturday community choirs will sing their hearts out on the steps of Creswick’s charming old post office. So, as well as the established choirs, you can come along with your festival ticket and join the pop-up Festival Choir.

The former Creswick Courthouse will once again host a series of fascinating conversations presented by First Nations artists Gina Williams (WA) and Trudy Fatnowna Edgeley (Ballarat) to discussion of pre colonial land management practices with famed historians Professor Bill Gammage and Professor Barry Golding.

Hosts Cate Kennedy and James Fremantle will talk with visiting artists about food, fishing, family, fame and much more.

CresFest 2024 is once again partnering with a range of visual artists to ensure there’s a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. And then, of course, at the heart of it all is community, with six Creswick groups taking part on stage, in collaborations and mashups across the weekend.

“The point of all this,” says Stella, “is to create a musical legacy for the community, where people get a chance to not only see and hear great visiting acts but also to learn from and play alongside them.”

Links: www.cresfest.com.au/program | www.cresfest.com.au/tickets/

The Spooky Men’s Chorale has been described as ‘a vast, rumbling, steam-powered and black-clad behemoth of mansound‘ and it’s headed to Creswick to perform as part of next month’s CresFest.

In their performances of (literally) breath-taking harmony singing and comedy, the Spooky Men draw on a combination of musical and theatrical values including Georgian male polyphony, a running joke on man as a vast, oblivious useless object, whispers of clown, bouffon and Monty Python, and forays into massively pleasurable grunting tribalism.

Their 800+ crowd-pleasing gigs have included WOMAD, The Great Escape Festival, the Woodford, Cobargo, Port Fairy, Blue Mountains and Bellingen festivals.

They’ve appeared on Spicks and Specks, The Mix and The New Inventors, performed live on ABC radio many times and have earned great international acclaim including WOMAD New Zealand and more than nine UK tours.

These spooky blokes hail from NSW and are among the headline acts that will be performing at this year’s CresFest that’s set to transform the little township of Creswick with a feast of live acts and participatory fun held over three days April 5-7.

Acts on the program include Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse (WA), The Cherry Pickers (SA), T-Bone (New Zealand), Melisande (Canada), Guanaco Trio (Argentina), Linn Phipps (UK), Chutney (NSW) Michael Waugh, and Jen Hawley’s Gypsy Jazz Jam.

The diverse line-up of artists performing as part of the program complements a wide array of participatory workshops with a focus firmly on the community not only watching, but also being part of the fun.

The event’s big emphasis on community involvement is a main reason why the annual festival took out the Best Community Project gong at last year’s Australian Folk Music Awards.

Local community groups who will be particpating, and inviting festival goers to join in as well, include Creswick Ukestra, Creswick Kids Choir, Creswick Chorus, Creswick Drum Circle ,Creswick ‘Street’ band, Creswick’s Friday night ‘jammers’.

Tickets to the award-winning festival are currently available via the festival’s dedicated website.

Hailing from Argentina, Guanaco Trio is headed to CresFest.

The trio is made up of Laura Urteaga (Argentina/Spain) on violin, Owen Salomé (Australia) on bandoneón, and Benjamín Aedo (Chile) on guitar.

They perform a compelling repertoire of original compositions and interpretations of traditional and contemporary Argentine folkloric music.

The players share a deep love and respect for the tradition of Argentine folk music and have all undertaken formal classical music training.

The Guanaco Trio creates new music that is both innovative and respectful of the tradition they are a part of and their music will be presented in concerts and workshops across the festival that takes place over April 5-7.

Acts include Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse (WA), The Cherry Pickers (SA), T-Bone (New Zealand), Melisande (Canada), Spooky Men’s Chorale (NSW), Linn Phipps (UK), Chutney (NSW) Michael Waugh, and Jen Hawley’s Gypsy Jazz Jam with tickets on sale online.

The diverse line-up of artists set to perform as part of the festival program complement a wide array of participatory workshops with a focus on the community not only watching, but also being part of the fun.

The event’s big emphasis on community involvement is a main reason why the annual festival took out the Best Community Project gong at last year’s Australian Folk Music Awards.

Local community groups who will be particpating, and inviting festival goers to join in as well, include Creswick Ukestra, Creswick Kids Choir, Creswick Chorus, Creswick Drum Circle ,Creswick ‘Street’ band, Creswick’s Friday night ‘jammers’.

The VOGA Cycle Club is hosting a special social ride for women at Creswick next month with beginners welcome.

Club members say all women, girls, females and non-indentifying persons are welcome to take part
in the Sunday social ride that happens March 3 and aims to introduce women and girls to the fun and benefits of off road cycling.

Lead by female Voga members, the upcoming ride is also aimed at introducing locals to the club and to some local trails and gravel.

Club members say it will be a sociable ride conducted at a relaxed pace over 90 minutes or so and will be suitable for any off road bicycle – think chunky tires and decent brakes.

They also say that helmets will be mandatory and participants need to make sure their bike is in good working order.

Participants will meet at Creswick’s Hammon Park in the car park near the toilets at 9.30am on Sunday March 3.

All levels of fitness and ability will be welcome and organisers hint that there will be some well deserved snacks on return.

They’re also hoping to make it a regular activity happening every three to four weeks. More information is available by contacting the Voga Cycle Club.

Construction of the Creswick (mountain biking) Trails continues to progress toward an anticipated opening in December.

Meantime, there’s an opportunity to get involved by helping to name sections of the trail, the Hepburn Shire Council says.

Hepburn Shire Mayor, Cr Brian Hood, said that with the goal of a December completion in sight, an important consideration is naming the trail segments.   

“The Creswick Trails will be a massive drawcard for our Shire, bringing thousands of riders and their families and friends to our wonderful region. We need to name the trail segments and are keen to have input from our community and mountain bike riders,” said Cr Hood. 

“We will be seeking names for 35 segments of the trails from our community. The remaining 35 segments will carry names in Dja Dja Wurrung language,” said Cr Hood. 

“Creating a series of trail names that combine Dja Dja Wurrung language along with input from the local community and user groups is a great way to combine the layers of country we want to showcase. 

“The Creswick Trails will be a world class network with 60 kilometres of trails through the countryside around Creswick. We are extremely proud of how it is coming to life and the enthusiasm within the community,” he said.   

Naming submissions must be lodged by the closing date of 5pm on Wednesday 20 March 2024 with more information available from the council.  

Individual trail segments and areas within the network need names, including where several trails come together.  

“Names are more than just a way to navigate the area, they help us to build a set of values creating a connection to country and place, celebrate the amazing heritage landscapes in which the trails are set, and to help promote the many exciting tourism opportunities,” said Cr Hood.   

All names must be compliant with State Government naming principles. These principles include guidance on how to create names that are equitable, have broad appeal and help to connect the names to the place.   

A list of proposed names will be released in April 2024, and following presentation at a Council meeting, will be presented for final approval by the State Government’s Geographic Names Victoria who are the final approval authority.

With Eve Lamb

Creswick Heritage Walk

If there’s just one walk to take visitors on while in the Creswick area, this would have to be it.

The Creswick Heritage Walk is a little beauty, chock full with points of interest and diversity despite its comparative brevity at just 8.5ks. It’s supposed to take three hours to complete but, lingering indulgently along the way, it took us about five.

It takes in the University of Melbourne’s historic Creswick Campus grounds, and the rich history of pioneering forester, arbourist and conservationist John La Gerche, incorporating the leafy La Gerche Trail with its established trees, including oaks and conifers, that were among the many species La Gerche trialled here in the late 1800s.

We set off one fine Saturday, late summer. A cracker of a day to hit the trail, equipped with the Creswick Heritage Walk map (easily obtained online courtesy of the Great Dividing Trail Network) a picnic lunch, and a sense of adventure.

The walk sets off from the town’s central Visitor Information Centre, crosses the main drag, Albert Street, and follows Victoria Street past the Creswick Water Splash Park on your left and the IGA supermarket on your right, across the Creswick Creek footbridge.

Then there’s a short stroll, to the right along Moore Street, to reach the starting point – the wrought iron gates of the University of Melbourne’s Creswick campus, formerly the School of Forestry, established 1910.

We enter the gates, admiring the park-like setting, and follow yellow-topped Goldfields Track posts heading diagonally through the campus, past the heritage- listed Victorian splendour of Tremearne House near the entrance, and past the imposing white historic façade of the former Creswick hospital, a fetching habitat for ghosts. If they existed.

The campus grounds here host some splendid old significant trees, established as part of an arboretum (grab a pamphlet from the Visitor Centre). Following the markers, we reach a sealed roadway and turn to the left to pick up the trail markers on the opposite side of the road and link with the Landcare trail, now on Parks Victoria land.

For a short stint now the trail features colourful tiles with environmental messages made by school students, and takes us to the start of the 2km long La Gerche trail winding through a diversity of conifers and the extensive Oak Gully, established more than 135yrs ago as a state nursery for rehabilitating the mined moonscape of the era.

This is a superb slice of arboreal heritage, and the great significance of La Gerche and Creswick’s role in the state’s forestry and conservation heritage is detailed on plaques, markers and monuments along the way.

As it’s getting on lunch time we take a good moment here to soak in the cool ambience and appreciate this special place, its history and its living presence.

The sandwiches and home-baked black forest cake that Paddy H thoughtfully packed go down a treat in the depths of the Oak Gully, but eventually it’s time to move on as we’ve got a walk to finish.

It’s easy to find the right place to turn off and leave the forested La Gerche trail, as the correct point to do so is well marked with signage boards. Look out for them in the Oak Gully and you can’t miss ‘em.

Leaving the leafy La Gerche legacy, we diverge from the Oak Gully (point 5 on the map) forging due south uphill through a re-establishing young radiata pine plantation to the lookout on Brackenbury Hill.

Appreciating the sense of isolation here, we gain elevation following the sandy track uphill, brushing through tall native grasses. Views behind us open up to Spring Hill a few kilometres to the north, north east. Dramatic against the season’s blue sky.

Gaining elevation further, we reach the lookout point (1757 foot) where a stone cairn marker, a historic gift from the yesteryear Creswick Old Boys, helpfully provides a 360 degree pointer to various landmarks unfolded before us in a sun splashed geographic pastiche.

After pausing to admire it all, we wend our way downhill and onwards toward St Georges Lake. I’m fairly glad, around about here, that my ever-watchful walking accomplice is tuned in so we don’t actually miss the (unobtrusively marked) right hand veer that comes up quicker than expected, as you begin descending, diverting you quite abruptly to St Georges Lake. Its watery expanse makes for a lush reward on a hot day. Note to self: Pack swimmers for next time!

Arriving at its glistening edge, we first take a quick little turn to the left simply to join the lakeside track that then leads Creswick Heritage Walkers to the right, hugging the pine-fringed northern shoreline.

We follow the green Parks Victoria posts leading to the concrete spillway and then to the inviting lawned bbq area that’s alluringly visible across the water towards the south side of the lake.

Today, there are plenty of kayaks, picnickers and swimmers and it’s all pretty scenic. So we opt for a lakeside chocolate and coffee reviver with a good view to the spillway just beyond the craggy remains of a disused jetty where kayakers now frolic.

Moving on, we next traverse the spillway, reaching that lawned picnic area which today is offering a concise demonstration in what fruit salad days are made of.

We’re now back in civilisation and at the car park’s west end, locate a yellow- topped marker and from here follow the Goldfields Track posts of the Eureka Track back into town with Creswick Creek a stealthy companion on our right.

We finish this fairly excellent day with a brew at one of the town’s two pubs and a sense of satisfaction at having completed this top little hike. It delivers an insight- rich crash course on the area’s unique historic significance, with captivating features around pretty much every turn.

EV drivers have been delighted to see Creswick’s 50kW fast charge station is finally back online.

CCTV surveillance equipment to protect the public Chargefox charge station was installed last month after the new and much anticipated charge point was taken offline after it was vandalised last August.

In recent days the station was reactivated and was quickly pressed into use by EV drivers keen to get a top-up charge. Its repair and re-activation was swiftly publicised on the online PlugShare platform from January 17.

With an ever-increasing number of motorists planning to make their next vehicle purchase an EV, first-hand experience of owning and using an electric vehicle is now set to be the focus of discussion by a knowledgeable panel of speakers at the free community ‘Green Drinks’ event happening Thursday, February 15 at Ballarat’s Bunch of Grapes Hotel.

Set to start from 6.30pm and the first talk for Green Drinks in 2024, the panel discussion will be led by BREAZE (Ballarat Renewable Energy and Zero Emissions) president Campbell Mercer with four local EV owners sharing their experiences.

The panel will include: Gavin Cerini – BYD Atto 3; Paul Duggan -Tesla 3; Merle Hathaway – Mini EV; and Pat Hockey – Nissan Leaf.

The free community discussion is timed to lead into Buninyong’s Smart Living Expo on Sunday, February 25 from 10am to 3.30pm at Royal Park, Buninyong.

In 2023 Campbell Mercer coordinated the Good Car Company’s Show & Shine event in Ballarat, offering locals a chance to check out and test drive a range of second-hand EVs.

The number of new EV sales doubled in Australia over the past year, which means there will be more second-hand EVs coming on-stream, making the transition more affordable, organisers of the upcoming Green Drinks event say.

They say those who are keen to learn more about EVs are welcome to attend with questions ready to put to the panel on Thursday, February 15. Tickets: TryBooking

Words & Image: Eve Lamb

Creswick’s Neville Cartledge OAM and Pat Tacey have shared the top honour and jointly been named Hepburn Shire Citizen of the Year.

Alice Newitt was named Young Person of the Year, with a special commendation to the youth band, Elysium, while ChillOut Festival took out Event of the Year.

Mr Cartledge has long been a contributor to the Creswick community. He began raising funds for the Creswick Hospital in 1953, and joined the Creswick Hospital Board in 1970. In 1983 he became a foundation board member of the John Curtin Memorial Hostel Committee.

He has made an enormous contribution to scouting in the district over his 70 years of service, during which time he trained 33 Queen Scouts, an extraordinary number from one scout group, and is also a Scout Life Member for Victoria.

He has also been a member of the CFA since he was 17, last year marking 68 years of service.

Mr Tacey has also made an incredible contribution to the Creswick community. His experience as an educator and leader has come to the fore in his work leading community resilience and disaster recovery efforts in Creswick, as well as fundraising for Creswick residents in need, distributing essential resources and supporting mental health programs in Hepburn Shire.

Mr Tacey works collaboratively with groups and organisations and is described as always having the community at heart.

Ms Newitt is an active volunteer with the Clunes Football Netball Club, Clunes Booktown Festival, Hepburn Shire Youth Forum and as a dance leader for young people through Clunes Neighbourhood House.

ChillOut Festival took out the Event of the Year award, an event that brought more than 30,000 people to the shire last year. ChillOut is an incredibly successful, fun and colourful event which has grown to become Australia’s largest queer country pride festival since its inception in 1997.

Others nominated for Citizen of the Year were Michelle Clifford, Wendy McKillop, Trish McMahon, Jenni Sewell and Margaret Orr.

Other Event of the Year nominees were Calembeen Parkrun Launch, CresFest 2023, Spud Hut Tours during Spudfest and Creswick NAIDOC Week Celebrations.

The council will create a new category for the 2025 awards. This will be the Hepburn Together Award, which will recognise and celebrate the contribution of community groups and organisations. Nominations for the 2025 Community Awards will open later this year.

Words & image: Contributed

Wildlife shelter concerns

I read with interest your article, and comments, re the impending ‘delicensing’ of the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter. (The Local, January 1, 2024).

The change of acronym struck me as particularly noteworthy under the circumstances. It’s virtually an unwritten law that whenever a new CEO is appointed or restructured into these semi-government bodies, a first move is to change the name so that the new structure can effectively distance itself from the assumed incompetence and poor judgment imposed by the previous management.

A long time ago I retired after some three decades in a position in tertiary education which required a talent for hands-on technical and personnel management. From this viewpoint I was able to see the destruction and chaos created by ruthless corporatisation of higher education.

The fallout is very apparent today in the lack of trades skills and scientific research that is modern Australia. Upper level academics started to take early retirement, or moved to other disciplines fairly early in the piece when top level decision-making positions were handed willy-nilly to inexperienced MBA graduates and the like.

Fee-paying overseas and remote learning students were expected to create massive profits, while the education standard plummeted – you were not allowed to fail a fee- paying student.

We all saw how well that worked out during the pandemic. Many of the lost tenured positions, and innumerable casual and sessional staff, who were made redundant have moved interstate or elsewhere and will probably never return to education. “The Education State” imprinted on your Victorian car number plate now looks like a sad joke.

Anyway, back to DELWP/DEECA. Look familiar? Which brings us back to the matter of volunteering. I can’t imagine what goes on in the heads of these pseudo government authorities that gives them the idea that volunteers are merely out-of- work dilettantes who are there for the presumed prestige, and to help to fill in their spare time.

The fact that most volunteers are, and have been, experts in their fields and are now earnestly taking up positions from which they can contribute to society. They do not need to be bullied by some johnny-come-lately puffed up latter day executive.

Unless governments value the contribution of these thousands of unpaid workers, and start treating them with the respect they deserve the nation will lose a highly valuable sector and workforce.

My wife, who prior to retirement held high-level managerial positions in the public health and education sectors, now volunteers in the local/regional health and aged care field.

With the most recent government ‘shake-up’ which has produced masses of new and revised legislation purporting to ‘regulate’ the sector, she and other volunteers are expected to understand and oversee the implementation of new (and frequently ambiguous) regulations that even paid and experienced CEOs have difficulty interpreting.

Your (quoted) use of the words “unrealistic, unreasonable and absurd” barely scratches the surface when it comes to the tangled and bully-ridden mess of authorities claiming to be responsible for regional services.

Unless and until more helpful and supportive oversight is forthcoming, together with adequate funding for implementation, the State will continue to alienate and lose the goodwill and services of this army of very competent and willing volunteer workers.

From (Mr) Kerry Williams, Creswick

The recently installed reverse vending machine in Creswick received a record 9500-plus containers in just one-week courtesy of 112 customers, the Hepburn Shire Council has reported.

It’s further indication of the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) success in reducing litter and supporting community fundraising, the council says.

CDS is a Victorian government initiative that provides 10-cent refund for every eligible drink container returned. Many sites are now open to accept containers and locations in the Hepburn Shire are:

• Creswick Hub, 68 Albert Street, Creswick
• Daylesford Industrial Estate, 37-39 East Street, Daylesford
• Pig and Whistle Hotel, 705 James Lane, Trentham East.

And a site for a machine in Clunes is being investigated, the council has recently reported.

The machines are operated by TOMRA Cleanaway with those intending to make a deposit also able to download the CDS Vic West app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Hepburn shire residents can can now purchase low-cost e-“waste” items at Creswick and Trentham Transfer Stations.

This follows the success of the e-waste recovery pilot at Daylesford Transfer Station, the Hepburn Shire Council has reported in the final edition of its Sustainable Hepburn newsletter for 2023.
   
Electronic items that pass safety inspections are now available through the shire’s resource recovery Shops (aka tip shops). The function of second-hand items cannot be guaranteed, and they are sold as-is. 

The council, in its newsletter, says “it’s all part of unlocking circular economy opportunities and increasing resource recovery locally in our shire”.

Since commencing the pilot in February last year, more than 550 electronic items have been recovered and made available for purchase and a new lease on life. 

Encouraged by the success of its first ever circular economy breakfast, the Hepburn Shire Council is now inviting more locals to make sure they’re part of the next.

In its last sustainable Hepburn newsletter for 2023, the council reported that it had been “thrilled to see a great turnout in Creswick for the Circular Economy Business Breakfast in November”.

Businesses across construction, fashion, design, education, and engineering heard from the council’s Circular Economy Officer, Jodi Newcombe, on the soon-to-be-released Circular Hepburn Toolkit for Businesses.

Attendees also participated in a mini workshop with the circularity deck and saw a demonstration of Taylor Hay’s plastic injection moulding machine.   

Councillor Don Henderson and Tim Drylie opened and closed the event, which was the first in the series fostering a local circular economy community of practice.

Business and Tourism Creswick and the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre partnered with the council in hosting the inaugural event.    

The council is now inviting residents to sign up for its circular economy newsletter to make sure they’re notified of the next such event. 

It was a happy occasion in Creswick.

Dean Recreation Reserve president Brian Maher and treasure Rob Turley both rolled up at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre a bit over a week ago, especially to do one of their favourite things – present a cheque.

This time it was to Anglicare Victoria’s food relief program that runs out of the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre.

The cheque was for a handy $1500 and was the proceeds of money raised through raffles run at this year’s Dean Kite Festival in September, and the Dean and District Sheepdog Trials in October.

The Dean Recreation Reserve committee run both popular events on their attractive little rec reserve and each year donates the proceeds raised to good local causes.

“We like to see the money we make go to the local community and we’d especially like to thank all our supporters who donated items for the raffles,” said Dean Recreation Reserve treasurer Rob Turley.

On the receiving end of the cheque this time round, Anglicare Victoria’s Ballarat-based community development manager, Kim Boyd said demand for the emergency relief program is increasing.

“We’re certainly seeing an increase this year in the demand for food support and extra support around Christmas,” Kim said.

“The demand on us is steadily increasing.”

The swiftly accepted $1500 cheque will be used to purchase food items which will now be distributed to those in need in the local area.

“This is an outreach centre and we work in partnership with the Creswick Neighbourhood House and the local parish and other community groups,” Kim said.

Creswick Neighbourhood Centre manger Chrissy Austin said they’ve also noticed the increased demand from people seeking help through the emergency food relief program.

“We see people in need daily here. We’re so grateful to Anglicare,” she said.

“This is a very important program to us. We have a steady stream of people. There’s just so much need in the community.”

Words and Image: Eve Lamb