June 2018 newsletter – Localising Leanganook

At a point seemingly of collapse, not only of the systems that dominate how we cooperate but also of our response, I wanted to show that the personal is the political, and that infectious change can start by adopting sustainable practices as members of collective households and genuine communities in heartfelt neighbourhoods. What the world needs now is a spectacular reawakening of human creativity, collectivity, solidarity and localism in practice.

(Anitra Nelson from Small is Necessary)

Welcome to our June newsletter. This newsletter includes information about:

our next community conversation with Anitra Nelson– eco-collaborative housing and degrowth;
Village Winter Festival in Newstead;
Hepburn Shire’s Zero-net emissions project – a base line survey for residents;
Central Vic Climate Action– Stop Adani blockade and a win for democracy;
Repair Cafe’s 1st birthday in Castlemaine & plans for a Daylesford cafe;
Castlemaine Jazz festival;
Daylesford Culture Club – sour dough & honey ferments;
Women’s storytelling, ceremony and healing– a NAIDOC week event;
Regional Centre for Culture – Letters from the Inside
Hepburn Community Recycling;
Castlemaine documentary film festival;
Food for Thought

Next community conversation- Anitra Nelson on de-growth and eco-collaborative housing

When: 5.00pm, Sunday June 17th, 2018

Where: Ray Bradfield room, Castlemaine, b/w Victory park and IGA car park

Are housing for ‘degrowth’ and ‘eco-collaborative’ housing ways of the future? With reference to her recently published book Small is Necessary: Shared Living on a Shared Planet and the soon to be published book she co-edited, Housing for Degrowth: Principles, Models, Challenges and Opportunities, Anitra will discuss various aspects of degrowth, housing for degrowth and eco-collaborative housing as ways of achieving more affordable, sustainable and community-based living.

Anitra Nelson lived in eco-collaborative communities for a decade and researches affordable and sustainable housing part-time at the Centre for Urban Research at RMIT University in Melbourne. She is the author of many publications and lives in Castlemaine.

Village Winter Festival

When: Saturday 23 June, 2018, 2pm – midnight

Where: Newstead Racecourse

What’s On? Fire, Acts, Art, Music

Light your creative fire at the fifth Village Winter Festival as the community of the Central Goldfields gathers to celebrate the Winter solstice in spectacular style.

Tickets are $15 adults, $10 concession, $5 youth (13-17)
FREE: Kids (up to 12)
FREE: Early-birds: if you are struggling financially, you can come to the festival for no charge if you book on-line in advance and arrive at the festival before 3pm. Why? Inclusion is one of The Village’s core values, and we don’t want money to be a barrier.

For more info: Facebook Event for the latest updates or

http://www.thevillagefestival.com.au/winterfestival/

Zero-net emissions for Hepburn

Solar & Z-NET Open House

The Hepburn Z-NET project is up and running with Solar Bulk-Buy and Z-NET Open House events during June. This is your opportunity to review our carbon emissions profile and put forward any project ideas. There will be presentations from the Hepburn Solar Bulk-Buy and a range of stallholders discussing solar finance, energy audits and much more!

Facebook event link here https://www.facebook.com/events/2020929034894639/

The Z-NET Survey

500 Z-NET Household Energy and Emissions Surveys have been submitted from Hepburn Shire. This is a great starting point but we need to reach at least 800 responses to have a valuable and representative sample of our community. That’s why we are encouraging you to share the Z-NET survey with your friends and family. You can find the survey here and share it on social media here.

Central Vic Climate Action (CVCA)

Sharing stories of the Stop Adani blockade with Daylesford people, and

A Win for Democracy

“We should never lose sight of the fact that we have the right to protest” – Bendigo magistrate.

On May 25th CVCA adults and children, recently returned from Queensland’s Stop Adani blockade, shared stories and soup with concerned residents of Daylesford and surrounds. An event organised and supported by CVCA, Sustainable Hepburn Association (SHARE), Hepburn Wind, Hepburn Relocalisation Network and Localising Leanganook, responses included: “It’s so important to get information from a reliable source” and “I feel inspired to go to the blockade”.

Generous donations of soup making vegetables from Mt Franklin Organics and bread from Two Fold Bakehouse (soon to become a community supported bakery), coupled with home-made soup, contributed towards $375 being raised via donations at the door – much needed funds to support the campaign.

Central Victoria Climate Action is raising funds for court costs. A Bendigo magistrate has ordered that charges be withdrawn for two dads charged with trespassing in the office of Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie. The group was staging a mass occupation of her office in May 2017. They were drawing attention to the Coalition government’s intention to loan $1 Billion of taxpayers’ money for the Adani mega coal mine.

Local solicitor Bill O’Donnell declared the case “a win for the democratic right of citizens to approach politicians for legitimate reasons”. Because this important democratic principle was at stake, Mr O’Donnell who has worked pro bono for the group, advised they employ a barrister. Confident that our supporters would back us, we went ahead – but now have a legal bill that we need your help with!

We’re confident that if lots of us put in a little bit, this fundraiser will once again prove to the pollies that they need to stand with our environment, our kids and their future – rather than a corrupt industrialist & yesterday’s dirty fossil fuels.

Please throw in a little bit if you can and we’ll share the story with Ms McKenzie and local federal MP Lisa Chesters who is yet to take a stand against Adani.

CVCA recently fundraised and sent a delegation to participate in the blockade to interrupt Adani’s construction of a rail line which will open the door for the development of a massive complex of new coal mines.

The group also calls on local MP Lisa Chesters to “come clean and not cook our kids safe climate future” and decide whether she stands with the discredited industrialist or the future of the kids of Bendigo. One of the Dads charged, Damien Cook, a wetlands ecologist, said “CSIRO research findings project that Bendigo will become a semi-arid salt bush plain by the turn of the century under a fossil fuel burning, business as usual scenario”.

You can like and follow us on fb at centralvicclimateaction or email us at centralvicclimateaction@gmail.com.

View the action on vimeo here https://vimeo.com/217624870

Repair Cafe’s 1st birthday

In the first year of Castlemaine Repair Cafe’s life 549.220 kilos of material has been repaired instead of going into landfill!

Next cafe is Sunday June 24th, 10.00am to 1.00pm in Ray Bradfield Room Castlemaine. Zip repairs are likely be a focus as well as the usual electrical, sewing and other repairs.

Coordinator, Chris, has agreed to share experience and learnings with people from Daylesford interested in starting up a repair cafe.

Castlemaine Jazz Festival

When: June 8th to 11th- Queen’s birthday long weekend

Where: assorted venues in Castlemaine

The 2018 annual Castlemaine Jazz Festival will take place right in the heart of Castlemaine at a number of separate (historic) venues, each within walking distance and all especially selected to create the ideal environment to enjoy the weekend of jazz.

For more info and tickets https://www.castlemainejazzfestival.com.au/

Daylesford Culture Club- sour dough bread & honey ferments

Culture Club’s June Sourdough workshop was a great success, organised by Meg Ulman and with thank you’s to presenters Alison + Katy from Two fold Bakehouse, soon to become a community supported bakery, and also to Chris + Loïque, as well as those who brought in loaves and toppings to share.

The talented illustrator Brenna Quinlan took these notes.

The theme for July’s Culture Club is Honey Ferments. 9.30am -12.30pm, Saturday July 7th at Daylesford Senior Citizen’s Hall. A free event.

Women’s storytelling, ceremony & healing – a NAIDOC week event

What: Our Connection with Mother Earth: Stories and Workshop – Because of Her we can

When: Thursday July 12; 10am to 3.30pm 

Where: Story House and Garden: Daylesford

To celebrate the theme of NAIDOC week Anne E Stewart will host a story telling event led by Aunty Marilyne Nicholls, multi-clan indigenous elder and Laurel Freeland, social ecologist who will share stories of women’s connection with Mother Earth. Weaving together Aunty Marilyne’s aboriginal women’s story with a contemporary social ecological perspective, the day will be a celebration of Mother Earth and the women who have carried stories and traditional practices to keep culture and connection to land alive.

The interactive day will include:

• Welcome to Dja Dja Wurrung and smoking ceremony
• Traditional aboriginal and contemporary women’s stories
• Earth healing practices
• Ritual and ceremony
• Working with the elements

Cost: $50 Includes light lunch and tea and coffee

Regional Centre for Culture

What: Letters from the Inside

Lettersfrom the Inside at Old Castlemaine Gaol on July 6 and on July 7 at Railway Cafe & Tracks Bar Gallery, Maryborough. Hear the stories of inmates in local prisons through their letters, curated and presented by Lisa D’Onofrio. https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-to-do/letters-from-the-inside

Hepburn Community Recycling

Around 50 locals attended a community recycling forum in Daylesford on June 3rd. Initiatives emerging include a repair cafe; a glass sorting project; education around recycling; lobbying in relation to plastics; glass bottle deposit schemes; and neighbourhood mulching.

For more information, contact Hepburn Shire Councillor Kate Redwood.