If you have ever wandered around Daylesford in November, you have probably seen Robbie Holbery signwriting the windows of Daylesford Meat Co in Vincent Street, and Albert Street Butchers, just around the corner.

Nothing remarkable so far, but Robbie’s calligraphy is a little different from most you will see. It’s handwritten copperplate – perfected over 60 years in the game. And there’s much more to his life than just writing.

Robbie, now 81, actually started his working life as an apprentice butcher in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn. His boss used to ask him to write the specials on the shop window and in 1961, with the Hawks up for the VFL grand final, he went one step further.

Hawthorn
“My boss, who was an apprentice ruck coach and runner at Hawthorn, said ‘gee, Rob, you are pretty good’, went and bought me some gold paint and said ‘see what you can do with that’.

“I did a hawk with its wings outspread and wrote ‘premium quality, go hard, 1961 VFL Champions’. The boss thought it was amazing and all the tradies used to come down Glenferrie Road and put their thumbs up. That went in The Age and the Hawthorn Football Club asked me to recreate it for their museum out at Waverley. They wanted to pay me but I said I was just happy to do it. Oh, they won that year.”

When Robbie finished his apprenticeship, he took his boss’s advice and swapped to signwriting. He was mentored by another signwriter, returned to school and practised every chance he could.

Daylesford
He started doing all of the markets, Victoria, Prahran, Moonee Ponds, along with plenty of shops, and then 31 years ago he was in Daylesford and popped into what is now Daylesford Meat Co and had a chat with owner Ronnie Layfield.

“Ronnie said I could have a go and a few years later I started with Danny in Albert Street. They are both lovely people and I have been coming to Daylesford for 31 years now. And even though it’s only a short time each year I feel like I am part of the town.

“People stop me and ask how I can do such beautiful work. It sounds like I am skiting, but I really love what I do and getting compliments is just wonderful. And today it is mostly done with stencils, and everyone is so rushed. I am just an old bloke standing on the footpath with paints and brushes everywhere. I think people feel they can come up to me. The window is my canvas.”

As if on cue, while we talk on the phone and Robbie is working on the corner of Nicholson and Pigdon streets, Fitzroy North, he stops for a moment to pass on his phone number to an interested shopkeeper.

Covid
During Covid, Robbie, who also paints old farmhouses as a hobby, kept busy with his calligraphy, but not with shops.

“I got the old (phone) directories out and picked names at random and wrote messages of hope in copperplate and then posted them all out. I live at Plenty, and the Diamond Creek Post Office ladies all knew me there.

“I just wrote things like ‘look after your family’ and ‘be safe with Covid’ and sent them out. Feelgood letters. Some people might have opened them and wondered ‘what nut did this?’ but for others it might have been a wonderful thing to receive.”

I ask if Robbie received any feedback. “I never put my address. They were just feelgood letters. Letters of hope.

I say I wish he had found my address, I could have done with a letter of hope. I think one might arrive soon…

Daylesford again
Back to Daylesford. This year, “with a few medical things” he was joined by his wife Eileen and youngest daughter Kate, but mostly he has come alone which led to him staying with the late Don Wreford, a glassblower of fame.

“Don used to admire my work and I got to know him well and he said to come and stay at his place, so I did for a while. One year I came up and called out in thefront of his house but his son-in-law came out and said he had passed away. That was quite a shock.

“He said no-one writes like that anymore. He even gave me some of his work. And I stayed with his daughter, Jessie, a few times after that. Wonderful people.”

Football again
And finally, back to football. Now while Robbie did the big gold hawk back in 1961, he was always a Carlton supporter. While writing on Anne Jesaulenko’s dress shop in Heidelberg in 1979, he met Carlton captain and coach Alex Jesaulenko who said he had heard Robbie used to do a bit of running.

“I competed in the Stawell Gift, that sort of thing, and Alex said ‘how would you like to come down to Carlton and show the boys how to move along?’.

“So, I did that and met people like Peter Jones, Geoff Southby, Bruce Doull… they all accepted me. And they won that year too.” Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes

Nine-year-old Willow has taken home the 2023 Daylesford & District Agricultural Show Best Exhibit by a Junior Contributor, sponsored by Robert Nathan.

The Daylesford Primary School student entered a chocolate sponge with vanilla butter cream in the decorated cake section. She also entered a painting of a tree, which took second prize.

Willow, who also won the Florence Liversidge Encouragement Award in Junior Cooking, said she had been very excited to win, after leaving it a little too late to enter last year.

The year 4 student, who loves cooking cakes and cookies, said she would definitely encourage others to enter next year’s 150th show. “It’s really good fun.”

Show president Don Harvey said up to 2500 people headed to Victoria Park for the show with 551 dogs shown on the day.

“We had about 1400 prepaid tickets and then another 1000 or so people through the gates, so we were pretty happy with the attendance.”

Don said the weather had also been kind, with “abysmal weather” on the Friday night clearing for the Saturday show, with just a bit of rain starting before it ended at 3pm.

Don thanked his “hard-working committee” who had put in many hours, especially in the lead up to the show, and said with their experience it was now possible for the show to take a new direction in coming years.

“We also had more than 60 volunteers on our list, which was fantastic. I think it was the best show we have had in 20 years.

“So it’s really a big thanks to everyone who came along and to the hard-working committee and all the volunteers. I feel sure there are several in the committee who will be able to take over the president’s role in the future.” Words: Donna Kelly | Image: Kyle Barnes

Kinder educator Verna Baker celebrated 50 years of teaching at the Daylesford Preschool with a large
gathering of parents, children and friends and family recently.

Verna was presented with a garden seat made by Marty Hull, which has been placed under a tree at preschool.

It is inscribed with the words: “Verna’s garden seat, 50 years educating children in early childcare in the Hepburn Shire.”

Over her long career, Verna has helped more than 4000 children with their first early years in education.
Verna, who began working at Daylesford Preschool as an assistant when she was 18, said every child was special to her.

“It was always my dream to work with preschool aged children. I have so many lovely stories to tell over my time working at Daylesford Preschool, Hepburn, Trentham and experiencing relief work with the mobile kinder, which operated at Glenlyon, Franklinford and Mount Prospect, Creswick and Clunes in the Hepburn Shire.

“Working with children brings a lot of happiness and rewards to me, especially when I bring my baby
farm animals from my farm at Basalt for the children to understand how to care for them and to learn about their surrounding environment.”

And while many people would see the 50-year mark as time to retire, Verna has no plans to leave her workplace. She continues to enjoy her work at Daylesford Preschool and was “very proud” to reach her goal of 50 years as a educator.

Tackling a course of study at tertiary level is generally challenging enough, and difficulty with
finances, travel and other costs is the last thing anyone needs as they go about it.
That’s where The Daylesford Foundation just quietly and efficiently is making a massive difference in
the lives of many young locals.

The Foundation is able to help out by providing unique scholarships especially tailored to meet the
needs of young individuals who are serious about reaching out to achieve further study goals.

The Daylesford Foundation’s Jo Van Son says that it may be help with materials like laptops or
assistance with finding somewhere to live near to uni, or help with meeting the cost of transport,
that can make all the difference.

The Foundation has been able to assist many young locals including former Daylesford Secondary
College students like Alexie Philippou and Hayley Smith to take on new studies, potentially changing
their entire life direction and employment prospects in very positive ways.

For Hayley, 20, the Foundation’s carefully tailored assistance to help cover ancillary study costs like
equipment, has enabled her to successfully complete the two-year diploma in nursing course – which
she has just finished.

Now the Foundation has been able to come to the party yet again to provide additional support to
help Hayley go on further next year and tackle a nursing degree at Federation University.

“The Foundation has been very supportive,” says Hayley whose personal experiences of time spent in
hospital as a child contending with a serious hip condition helped inspire her interest in becoming a
nurse.

“I would love to work in orthopaedics. I’ve always wanted to help people,” Hayley says.

For Alexei, 19, the Foundation has this year been able to assist with travel expenses enabling him to
get to Federation University in Ballarat and complete a bridging course so that he can now go on to
begin a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in sociology, next year.

Specifically, the Foundation’s unique scholarship support has now provided Alexei with the top-up
funding needed to enable him to purchase a reliable car to get to and from uni as needed.

“It’s a massive help,” says Alexei. “And Jo was very open about what I could use the money on.”
Alexei says he was able to make the all important purchase by pooling the Foundation’s financial
contribution together with the government’s Unsafe to Safe vehicle upgrade grant, and with his own
carefully accumulated savings to purchase the car.

In the lives of young locals like Alexei and Hayley, the scholarship assistance provided by The
Daylesford Foundation has made a lynchpin difference between making a dream to study and pursue
a career in a particular area come true.

Jo says now is the time for any young people who think they may similarly benefit from some well
placed financial help and support to apply for a scholarship.

She says the Foundation takes the time to personally meet with applicants and find out exactly what
their circumstances and study goals are, and what type of assistance may help make all the difference
toward achieving them.

Providing support is sometimes not just about granting strategically useful financial assistance,
although this is often a key.

“Often the people we help may be the first person in their family to study at tertiary level,” says Jo.
In such situations the background support of The Foundation is also about simply having someone to
talk to, someone who can provide useful insights and guidance as to what to expect at uni and how to
contend with challenges that may arise.

Those who think a Daylesford Foundation scholarship may just make all the difference for them, or
for someone special that they know, to pursue a study dream need to get cracking now, though.
“As soon as possible because we’re looking at the applications constantly and the next round officially
closes on January 5,” Jo says.

Words Eve Lamb. Image: Supplied.

Yesterday marked one month since the fatal tragedy that occured in Daylesford and impacted many in the local community and far beyond.

Marking the occasion, Hepburn Shire Mayor, Cr Brian Hood sent condolences and love to the victims’ families and acknowledged that many people are still feeling the impact following the tragic accident.

“The cmmunity has gathered around one another and shown incredible support over the last month,” said Cr Hood.

“I again thank the community for their outpouring of love and support of one another during this very difficult time.”

He said it was important to recognise that recovery will take time.

“This is not the type of thing that people recover from quickly – it is vital to give yourself space and time to heal. Free counselling continues to be available for those who could benefit from talking to a skilled professional. I strongly urge anyone who may be struggling to make use of this service,” said Cr Hood.

Central Highlands Rural Health is continuing to offer free counselling, which is available by calling (03) 5321 6551.

Shane Richardson, Operations Manager – Community Health and Wellbeing at Central Highlands Rural Health reiterated the ongoing support for the community.

“Support will be provided until it is no longer needed. If there are people in the community that feel like they need to talk with someone, please get in touch with us,” said Mr Richardson.

“We’re here to ensure impacted people have access to vital mental health and wellbeing services when they need it,” he said.

Council has carefully collected the tributes left at the accident site in line with the families’ wishes.

“We are carefully considering a number of options for a more permanent way to pay tribute to the victims and those who so bravely provided assistance. We know there have been many suggestions from the community and this is something we are continuing to work on,” said Cr Hood.

“It is important that any memorial or lasting tribute is respectful and culturally appropriate, and we will work to get it right,” he said.

The council issued a public statement advising that it “will be guided by the various investigations that are underway and a report will be prepared for consideration by Council on options to further improve safety near the intersection”.

Outdoor dining remains in place across the Hepburn shire, including at The Royal Daylesford Hotel where tables have been relocated closer to the building. 

Doggerel is performing at the Daylesford Hotel the Friday evening, December 8.

Doggerel burst from the kennel and onto the stage to flog their special brand of bung blues, roughhouse rock, and sundry sad tunes about drinking, dishonour, and death.

Based around the steel guitar and drums of founding members Kier Stevens and John Kostaras, Doggerel always keep a tight focus on looseness, ratbaggery, and having a rollicking good time.

Throw in some bass, saxophone, and a shot or two, and things are really starting to look up for you.

Every Doggerel show is a cheerfully irreverent affront to blues tradition that will leave your ears in even better condition.

Nature in the City is a folk-rock band based around the voice, guitar and songwriting of Robin Sellin born in Germany, now living in Naarm/Melbourne.

What started out one year ago as a duo soon turned into a full band infused with some serious Melbourne vibes with violin, drums, and bass.

Nature in the City invites the listener on a sonic journey rife with improvisation and with no two sets ever the same.

In the last year, Nature in the City has played at local venues and festivals alongside artists such as the Pierce Brothers, Gretta Ray and Pete Murray… and even at the German Parliament!

Back from their annual European tour, the band and its shifting constellation of musicians emanate a refined yet grounded stage presence, reminiscent of Jack Johnson and Simon and Garfunkel.

They’re booked to play the Daylesford Hotel on Saturday evening, December 23.

Macedon’s tourism industry has recieved a tidy boost with a $50,000 grant from the Victorian
government to Daylesford Macedon Tourism, and a further $625,000 grant to Goldfield Gateways.

Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas in recent days announced the Daylesford Macedon Tourism grant under Stream A and the Goldfields Gateway grant under Stream B of the $3 million Visitor Servicing Fund.

The $50,000 grant will enable Daylesford Macedon Tourism to deliver the DMT Regional Visitor
Servicing Strategy working with both Hepburn Shire Council and Macedon Ranges Shire Council.

In a media statement Ms Thomas announced that the project will include:

• New visitor and community research, industry workshops and interviews.
• Clarity on what visitor services should be delivering.
• How the region can better work together in delivering visitor service solutions.
• Delivery of a visitor servicing strategy for the region with recommendations on a range of
  potential investments with returns to the visitor economy.
  

The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra will visit Daylesford in 2024, with an exciting line-up of
creative experiences for all ages.

Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas, in recent days said the latest round of the state
government’s Touring Victoria program was “a win for local audiences”.

The program supports leading creative organisations across Victoria to take their works on
the road and connect world-class art with more communities and local venues – boosting
accessibility and opportunity for Victorians.

It enables Victorian arts companies to hit the road, reach new audiences and connect with
local creative workers and communities.

The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra will present a program of orchestral and chamber music,
including performances, student masterclasses, talks and more.

Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas: “The Touring Victoria program gives Macedon audiences of all ages the chance to experience incredible creative performances, events and professional development activities that may otherwise be a city trip away.”

Melbourne based singer-songwriter and composer Nir Tsfaty performs at The Daylesford Hotel tomorrow evening, Saturday December 2.

With his bands, Noria and Bell Always, he has released three studio albums and toured across Israel, having played twice at InDNegev festival.

Nir now plays solo shows regularly, composes for screen and produces for local artists in his studio.

In 2021 Nir presented his work About Whales in collaboration with Invictus Quartet. Together they have played two headline shows – at the Wesley Anne and Melbourne Recital Centre – both sold out.

Nir’s solo sets are often minimalist and atmospheric, influenced mainly by British and French alternative rock pop. His Daylesford Hotel gig gets started from about 6pm tomorrow.

The trouble with getting to the upper end of middle-age is tolerance and the words “that’d be right” seem to come out with every other sentence.

I also feel a little battle-weary and hardened in terms of emotion. I don’t intend to labour on the point of the accident outside the Royal Hotel the other week, as every man, woman and their dogs wandering around with a microphone and a TV camera have all had their say about that.

My small experience with one of the news crews was early on the Monday morning when we went to pay our respects and a small-statured young woman fast approached us.

I knew she wasn’t local because it was a quasi-public holiday and most locals can be seen in the usual spring attire that looks a bit like the winter get-up with less layers. A sort of a tracky dak onesie slip-on arrangement that gets slipped off at night onto the floor-drobe and returns as a cover-all in the morning.

But she wasn’t sporting that look. This young thing was clipping down the road in our direction, fully made-up in a hot-pink suit. I must say I didn’t mind the sight, except for me it was a little inappropriate for the tone of the day, and she quickly moved on after discovering we were journalists and the news well was dry.

But back to my lack of tolerance. The last time I used a public phone was when I was in my late teens and we used to do a thing called tapping the phone to get free calls. For instance, if the number was 534, and in our little Northland, New Zealand district, we only had three numbers, you would tap the numbers 576 (take the initial number from 10) onto the phone hook and that would inevitably get you through.

I do remember the phones smelling like urine, smokes and beer though – and these days I am not sure if anyone would use a public phone or if they would be vandalised to the point of not functioning.
And to put on my snob’s hat, you would have to be desperate or down on your luck to go to one of these things and announce your business into the street. Because they don’t even have a booth arrangement, they are by and large open-air with a hood over the top. I imagine Superman trying to go about his business in one of these.

But our good friends at Telstra are so cheap they have decided to send all the kids off to one of these streetside hangouts, to line up with God only knows who, to make a quick call to Santa on #46 46 46.
They will then be discussing out loud on the street subjects including what they want for Christmas and what their addresses are so as the bloke can drop the pressies down the chimney.

Can anyone else see the irony in this, or is it just me? What was going on in the boardroom of Telstra when the geniuses dreamt up this idea?

Probably a long, red wine-fuelled lunch, which conjured up the idea to march our young ones out to the payphones, the very places that creeps, muggers, punks, swindlers and heisters hang out. That’d be right, rant over…

By Donna Kelly

The past couple of weeks have been horrendous for many people. First and foremost for the friends and family of those people who died in the Daylesford accident.

But also for the many first responders – which includes members of the public who just happened to be there and those working at the two hotels, The Royal and The Daylesford.

Like many we had been out, for lunch on a lovely spring day, and been home a few hours when the phone started to share texts. The TV went on and we watched in horror and disbelief as the events unfolded. We listened as the Glenlyon CFA headed into town.

The next morning, early, we went to the site. I don’t really know why. I guess we are media, so that is our role, but I think we were just operating on auto-pilot.

We didn’t stay long, talking briefly to a Melbourne journalist who was in a lovely pink suit, obviously not well thought out, but how do you prepare for something like this, and also to a shopkeeper who didn’t know whether to open or not. I think they did in the end just so people could have somewhere to go and talk.

Someone else asked how we were coping and said they wished Daylesford could just go back to being a sleepy rural town where nothing happened. Another person added “how much more can we take?”

Then the flowers and teddy bears started to be placed at the statue and counsellors could be seen at the site and up and down the street all day, mixed with metro journalists and camera operators. Everyone I know had texts and calls asking if they were OK.

And I guess that was one of the hardest things to comprehend, that it could have been anyone, just sitting there, in the sun, on a long weekend, taking in the scenery and just relaxing in a quiet country town.

And as the news continued in its 24/7 cycle we just kept out of it. Perhaps that seems strange. I know a lot of people were looking at our website to find information, and maybe it was the wrong call, but I made the decision to wait.

We can’t compete with that sort of timing and we don’t want to. It’s too close and too raw. As you would have read on page 3 one of our journalists Narelle was there at the Daylesford Hotel, just enjoying a drink with friends. Too close.

Narelle helped at the scene in a major way, as she would. She went straight to comfort a young child, as she would. I have always thought of her as the kindest person I have ever met.

Anyway, this week I decided we would have to run something, but how do you make something positive, which is mostly our way, out of something so awful? I followed Narelle’s lead, who has written about connections and love.

And the four people I spoke with, all still clearly emotional, have pretty much done the same in their own ways. Love for their community, their teams, their people, their emergency responders. It was a hard week but I hope people realise we have reported with compassion and care.

And if you do need help, please reach out. I know from experience that counselling does work and keeping it all bottled in, doesn’t. Well, it has worked for me in the past. And there is no timeline. Just sayin’…

Vanessa I. R. Craven is a poet, author, artist and singer-songwriter who lives in Daylesford having made a treechange from Melbourne where she worked as a health sciences librarian. She has built an eco-friendly house and enjoys living in this beautiful area.

Vanessa hales from Mussoorie, a hill-station in Northern India in the Himalaya Mountains, where she was born and lived for 25 years.

Music, art/painting, photography and writing are her loves. Her father was Welsh and her mother North Indian, and both were teachers. She owes much to them for fostering a love of literature, art, music, photography and writing.

As a writer a recent highlight is her first self-published book, Birds in My Tree: The Magic of Birds and the Joy of Singing. As a poet, Under the Mop Top Tree is her second self-published book. Some of the poetry has been turned into songs and some remain as poems.

The title of this book comes from the Mop Top Tree in the front garden. Its shady boughs in summer and the bare branches in winter provide ideal conditions for the inspiration of poetry and song-writing.
The poems in this book are divided into the sections of facts, fantasy and foibles.

Poet Ross Gillett says in his foreword: “There is a whole life being lived in the pages of this book. Relationships – between family member and friends, and between lovers – are at its core, as too is the natural world of sky and trees and birds and the realms of experience which memory and loss open up for all of us.

“Grief at the passing of parents, as well as profound attachment to a loved pet, are registered alongside a joyous and often humorous sense of day-to-day living.

“A deeply felt concern for the victims of war and injustice is another thread woven through the poetry in Under the Mop Top Tree, the entirety of which is characterised by an open-hearted embrace of what it means to be alive in this complex and multi-horizoned age. Vanessa Craven has produced a collection of poems that will relate to the lives of a wide range of readers.”

Under the Mop Top Tree is available from Paradise Books and the Daylesford Trading Co in Daylesford or from Vanessa at www.acousticsessions.com.au/book-shop/

By Journalist Kevin Childs: Image: Kyle Barnes

If Tony Kelly didn’t exist, someone possibly would invent him.

From being a park ranger in the Northern Territory, he has worked with young people at risk (including at the notorious Malmsbury centre), retrained as a lawyer, and is a CEO, writer and author.

All this sounds remarkable, but considering his background it may have been almost expected. He is the grandson of opera singer Count Ercole Tonti Filippini. Born in Argentina in 1885 to Italian parents, Filippini was signed to the renowned La Scala opera house in Milan but when theatres shut in Europe during WWI he joined an opera company to tour India, China and the Philippines, and then for 14 months in Australia and New Zealand.

Filippini stayed in Australia, opening a school of opera in Sydney in 1918. One of his students was a young music graduate, Anne McParland (later known as Nancy). They married. He performed on stage while she produced and directed, becoming Australia’s first female conductor of symphony orchestras. Ercole Filippini died at the age of 48 in 1934, while Nancy went on singing, broadcasting, and leading choirs and orchestras, until her death in 1987 at 91.

Little wonder, then, as Tony says, there has been a lot of talk regarding a film about his grandparents. The musical tradition is being carried on by his brother, Australian rock singer/songwriter and guitarist Paul Kelly.

Tony was in his mid-40s when he decided to study law. His father, who died when Tony was young, was a lawyer, so when Tony saw that he could do a two-year degree at Melbourne University he and his wife Rebecca Lister moved to the city with their two daughters.

“I had been involved with the Greens and came to realise the importance of law in all aspects of society and how change can be effected through law.” Once in Melbourne they stayed for 15 years, returning to Daylesford when Covid hit.

Now his focus is on native title as head of the First Nations Legal and Research Services. To an outsider, native title seems complex, and Tony does say that identifying the right people for country is difficult, but once that has been established, it is easy to bring on a claim.

Lawyers methodically work through the claims. “The preference is to do it all by mediation, leading to a good result, eliminating conflicts and building strength,” he says. Some matters, however, can be drawn out. The claim by the Eastern Maar people of Warrnambool, for instance, took 10 years to settle and includes the coastline of the Great Ocean Road up to Ararat.

Sometimes many groups are involved in arguments over boundaries. In the Eastern Maar case most were resolved by agreement, with only one going to trial, with a judge to make a call next year.

Out all of this, millions of dollars flow to the successful claimants to set up a corporation. For example, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation employs 200 people and, Tony says, is one of the biggest forces in the Bendigo economy. The money received is mainly spent on land management, economic development and language and cultural recovery.

After 13 years involved in native title work, he has just signed on for another three years. Curiously enough, it was swimming that brought him to writing. He began with articles on swimming for The Big Issue magazine, focusing on how it keeps you healthy.

His writing took on another focus when he and Rebecca moved to Mt Isa for two years to care for Rebecca’s witty, crossword-loving 92-year-old mother. Out of this came Growing Pineapples in the Outback, Tony and Rebecca’s book reflecting, from two perspectives, on the town’s isolation and heat, and the richness of caring for someone at life’s end.

Next he (perhaps again with Rebecca) plans to write an anthology on swimming, researching it by plunging in at different places across the country and chatting to locals about why they swim. One chapter will be on the “ice mile”, which international rules say must be done in 5 degrees Celsius or less, wearing a standard costume, googles and one cap (“You have to be alive half an hour later to qualify,” quips 62-year-old Tony).

Daylesford and Hepburn Shire are definitely open for business and open for visitors, Hepburn Shire Mayor Cr Brian Hood says. Cr Hood said in the aftermath of the (November 5, Daylesford) accident many traders were left wondering if they should close, remain closed or be open for visitors and the vital tourism trade.

“They were looking for guidance, because they didn’t want to be disrespectful, but straight away senior police and other experts said ‘no, you plough on and start to build a sense of normality’ and that gave traders the peace of mind to do that. We are hardly ever confronted with anything like this and there is no script to follow. But the message is we are open.” Cr Hood said the community was moving on but “slowly as you would expect”.

“The council’s primary concern at the time of the incident, and given our role, was one of the welfare of the community, our staff, volunteers and other organisations. Along with Central Highlands Rural Health we got counselling in place very quickly and the take-up rate was very strong.

“We are now continuing with the counselling but also doing operational things in the background and being very mindful of moving at the right sort of pace and taking on board the right sort of advice. We want to avoid any immediate kneejerk reactions.”

Cr Hood said with the reopening of the Royal Hotel, the outdoor tables had been moved slightly, and council was now looking at other outdoor dining areas across the shire. “We are breaking it down into immediate actions we can and should take, and what the longer-term actions are. So, we are not only looking at this particular site, but we are taking into account outdoor dining areas across the shire.

“No-one would have expected this sort of thing to happen at this site and outdoor dining is very popular throughout the shire,” Cr Hood said. “We, like many councils, and in line with state government guidelines, encouraged outdoor dining during and after Covid as part of economic recovery and also to give people some normality.

“Yes, it is council-owned land, but a valid permit was in place, and those tables had been there long before Covid and they stayed during and after Covid. They are the facts.” Cr Hood said while the police and Coroner’s Office investigations would take some time, the council would not wait to take any actions it believed were needed to improve safety throughout the shire.

“Obviously we will very much take on board whatever comes out of those two investigations, but in the meantime, we are talking about what we can do now.” Cr Hood said while some media reports had said locals had long been calling for safety improvements on Albert Street, calling it a “dangerous stretch of road”, in his three years with council he had never been made aware of any issues.

“You wouldn’t consider Albert Street a dangerous street. Unless they are mixing it up with Howe Street? But sometimes freak accidents do happen.” Cr Hood said the idea of a memorial for the site had been raised but would need careful consultation with the community. Cultural issues also had to be taken into account.

“The last thing we want to do is something wrong or inappropriate or that annoys a section of the community. The Dja Dja Wurrung have also said they could hold a smoking/cleansing ceremony but we haven’t made any decisions yet. We just need to move at a careful pace.”

Cr Hood also praised the first responders including Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, the CFA and the SES, along with community members who “sprang into action”.

“To have four helicopters taking people to Melbourne and others on the road to Ballarat in 45 minutes, that was just brilliant. And we are mindful that the CFA and SES are staffed by locals and volunteers, and with the members of the community, they just all did as much as they possibly could with no hesitation. “Fortunately, we are a tight-knit, small community and when something like this happens, people get strength from each other.”

Words: Donna Kelly