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Tell council what you need, this weekend

Welcome to The Nugget, a 24k gold newsletter about Castlemaine's people and events

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The Nugget
April 18, 2025

★ Tell council what you need, this weekend ★

If you want to influence the work of council, the time is now. Literally, this weekend.

Mount Alexander Shire Councilors are writing their four-year plan. What goes in that plan will get done.

There are two easy ways to tell councillors what you want them to work on:

The process closes on Tuesday, 22 Apr.

Why bother? Ed Butler who is the Communications and Engagement manager at council is annoyingly right when he says "you get out what you put in."

I eat cynicism on my toast for breakfast. But I still think it’s worth doing engaging with council and taking part in exercises like this.

In the last community survey, one concern came through at high volume: Housing.

We are experiencing a housing crisis in the shire and housing is a largely a state government responsibility.

But the problem is urgent and massive, so council decided to invest in hiring a housing solutions broker. Her job is to scope the options, connect council with people who have land, organizations that provide housing and people who need housing.

A plan is now being developed to turn the old TAFE on Templeton St. into 22 affordable apartments in central Castlemaine.

We need heaps more, but it's a start and a simple survey helped get us there.

Maybe your top concern is not housing, but something else.

I shared with Ed that the last council survey I completed was on how to support "middle years" kids, aged 8-12 years. Apparently I'm a unicorn because parents, aged 25-45, are a group council does not hear much from.

My top concern was reflected in council’s Middle Years Plan: Access to local services is challenging.

Heck, yes, it is. I have a kid with dyslexia. We need specialist support that is only available in Bendigo. I go into my kid's school one morning a week to facilitate a Zoom lesson. It's expensive, time consuming and far from ideal. Our pediatrician is in Eltham because I couldn't find a closer option. And, like many people in town, my family doesn't have a local GP.

The Middle Years Plan states that council will “continue to advocate for more health and wellbeing services.”

Instead of complaining about how underwhelming that sounds, I plan to take Ed up on his suggestion.

I will call the customer service team, request more information, ask to be updated on progress and ask if there is any advocacy I can do to support the cause.

I believe council is on our side - we are one team.

Respectfully let them know what your top concerns are. When there is critical mass, we can do cool things for our community, like build some affordable housing.

And maybe we’ll get more health services, too.

❀ Castlemaine Koalas ❀

Castlemaine Koalas limited edition print, by Sir Leslie Thornton, $155

Have you been to see Castlemaine’s first blockbuster yet? The retrospective of Sir Leslie Thornton’s work is on now at the Castlemaine Art Museum.

A top feature of the exhibition is a dense wall of images of Castlemaine and surrounds painted over the decades since he arrived in 1972.

Sir Les has a distinctive style of painting capturing contemporary life in central Victoria in all its uncanny strangeness and we love him for it.

CAM has procuded two limited edition prints from Sir Les’ exhibition. My fave is Castlemaine Koalas — a well known site at the edge of Victory Park.

Art purchases raise critical funds to support CAM’s operations, including exhibitions, artist commissions and accessible programs.

The gallery is open Saturday and Sunday over the Easter weekend and it’s free to enter.

Sir Les will be at CAM on Saturday for a Show and Tell event with his friend David Murray-Smith.

You can also join him for personal tours on the exhibition in May and June, when he is sure to share stories and insights about his work.

♡˖ EVENTS ˖♡

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