No Mining Yandoit Region and Yandoit Cultural are screening MINE-FIELD- a film about the mining invasion of Victoria’s rural towns and communities,  especially relevant to much of central Victoria.

15. Exhibitions at Maldon’s Edge Gallery

16. Meet the Mayor- Hepburn Shire

The upcoming Meet the Mayor session is on Wednesday 26 October (bookings essential). Locations will be confirmed for each session and available at Participate Hepburn and on Council’s Facebook page.

Hepburn Shire Council invites community members to Meet the Mayor and Listening Post sessions, which will provide an opportunity for residents to speak with Councillors and staff about local projects, highlight ideas or raise concerns.

Listening Posts sessions will be open to everyone to drop-in, without the need to register or book a time. For the Meet the Mayor sessions, community members are able to book a 30-minute private meeting either online or in person.  The Mayor also attends the Listening Post sessions and you can attend any of these, not just the ones in your area.

17. National Bird Week- Aussie Bird Count

The 2022 Aussie Bird Count is happening during National Bird Week, 17-23 October.

Make a difference for bird conservation by giving a moment of your time to count the birds that are counting on you. Participate in the Aussie Bird Count during Bird Week in October and use your observation skills for a 20-minute period to make a simple but important contribution to Birdlife Australia’s conservation initiatives.

Download the Aussie Bird Count app and get involved or learn more at aussiebirdcount.org.au.  Join the flock for Australia’s largest citizen science project.

Photo: Geoff Park- Natural Newstead Blog

18. Sustainable Hepburn Expo Day

When: Saturday, 29 October 2022, 10 am – 3pm
Where: Trentham Railway Station

Hepburn Shire’s Sustainability and Storm Recovery teams are partnering with community to deliver the inaugural Sustainable Hepburn Expo Day on 29 October. To celebrate the launch of Council’s new environmental sustainability strategy Sustainable Hepburn 2022-26, the progressive work underway across our community, and to learn and share skills and knowledge together, we invite local businesses and community groups invested in sustainable products and services to partner in this event by holding a stall, running workshops and showcasing your wares.

If you would like to be involved, complete the expression of interest form by the 30 September.  Click here book a stall. *Council will be subsidising all costs for stallholders.

For more information: Maree Grenfell, Sustainability Officer, Mobile: 0419731941 • Phone: 0353216495 • Email: mgrenfell@hepburn.vic.gov.au

19. Castlemaine Free University

What : Mount Alexander: Connecting Country, Friends of the Box–Ironbark Forests and Landcare

When: Monday 7 November 2022, 7 – 9pm

Where: Northern Arts Hotel, 359 Barker Street, Castlemaine, 3450

Friends of the Box–Ironbark Forests (Mt Alexander Region) is a community organisation advocating sound ecological and Indigenous management practices to conserve vegetation and associated wildlife on private and public land. See their prolific publications — www.fobif.org.au/ Likewise Connecting Country is a community organisation educating, monitoring and actively restoring landscapes and habitat for local plants and animals across Mt Alexander, including through Landcare. Over 200 landholders and community groups have been restoring more than 10,000 hectares in the past 15 years — www.connectingcountry.org.au/

Who

Newstead resident and ecologist Asha Bannon is a FoBIF committee member, was a Landcare Facilitator and is a volunteer with Connecting Country. She is particularly interested in wildlife conservation and community engagement.

Guildford resident Hadley Cole recently joined Connecting Country as Landcare Facilitator for the Mt Alexander region having worked in various environmental management and conservation roles with government and non-government organisations. Inaugural member of Golden Point Landcare, Marie Jones has spent years on the Natural Resource Management Committee of the North Central Catchment Management Authority, and on both Connecting Country’s Management Committee and the FoBIF Committee since their inception.

FREE with drinks at bar and publications for purchase.

For details and subscribing to our e-list — https://anitranelson.info/cfu

20. Seed Library

What: Working Bee -Castlemaine Seed library.

When and Where : October 6th,  11am in the library.

Come and join us packing seeds. Our group is very friendly and everyone is welcome. We will put the beans out next, these are best directly sewn in the garden, but are not frost hardy, so wait til November to plant, or keep an eye on the weather reports through October and cover any emerging seedlings on frosty nights. Beans are easy to grow and easy to save, (they don’t cross-pollinate), so make sure you leave some pods on the vine to go brown, and return some beans to the seed library.

The seed board has been recently filled.   You will find coriander, lettuce (mixture), basil, carrot, light green chard, celery, dill, Parris Island lettuce, flat leaf parsley, Serrano chilli, mixed cherry tomatoes, Tommy toe tomatoes, Spacemaster cucumber, Lebanese zucchini, fennel, mustard, top-setting onions, Royal Oakleaf lettuce, and mixed coloured Hollyhocks for bees/pollinators and sheer loveliness. It’s beautiful out in the garden right now, so get to it, growers!

21. VNI-West Transmission Line- Community Q and A sessions 

When: Wednesday October 12th,- 2 sessions -4pm or 6pm

Where: Yandoit Hall, High St,  Yandoit

The Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) project is a proposed new high capacity 500 kV double-circuit overhead transmission line between Victoria and New South Wales.  It would connect the Western Renewables Link with the NSW EnergyConnect Project via a proposed terminal station at Mount Prospect in Hepburn Shire.

While Hepburn Shire Council is highly supportive of renewable energy, it strongly opposes above-ground transmission lines and the Mount Prospect terminal station.  Overhead transmission lines and the proposed terminal station will have a detrimental impact on our valuable agricultural land, significant landscapes and the health and wellbeing of local people.

Council will provide a community information session about the VNI West project for residents of the Yandoit, Franklinford & Clydesdale districts.  Two one-hour information sessions have been scheduled for Wednesday 12 October, 4pm and 6pm, at Yandoit Mechanics Institute & Public Hall, High Street, Yandoit. If needed, additional information sessions will be provided on other suitable future dates.

Council officers and community representatives will be available to provide information about VNI West, learnings from the Western Renewables Link project and the Environmental Effects Statement process, and respond to questions from the community.Council acknowledges that the Australian Energy Market Operator has engaged early with Council about its planning for VNI West. Council has advised AEMO it expects the community to be fully consulted about the project. Council will continue to seek detail about the project including the proposed alignment of the transmission line, the nature of the infrastructure and the environmental features and communities that will be impacted.

22. Looking for Landholders: Bursaria for Butterflies

The Castlemaine area is home to the largest remaining populations of the Eltham Copper Butterfly. Historically, survey efforts and management actions have focused on public land, yet we know there is potential butterfly habitat on adjoining private land. This habitat is under threat, particularly from urbanisation, weeds, changed fire regimes and grazing.

Connecting Country’s Bursaria for Butterflies project aims to protect and enhance priority habitat for the threatened Eltham Copper Butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida) around Castlemaine VIC. We’ll achieve this through practical on-ground actions to reduce threats and improve the quality, quantity and connectivity of available butterfly habitat. We will work with key landholders to protect and restore priority butterfly habitat on their land. We’re supporting local landholders to control threats (including weeds and rabbits) and revegetate their land, focusing on the butterfly’s host plant, Sweet Bursaria (Bursaria spinosa).

Sweet Bursaria is a small prickly shrub that produces abundant small white flowers through summer. It’s a great habitat plant for wildlife and essential for Eltham Copper Butterflies. On warm spring nights their caterpillars climb Sweet Bursaria plants to feed, accompanied by their special attendant ants.

We are looking for interested landholders with properties (of at least 1 acre) adjacent to the known local populations of the Eltham Copper Butterfly. If your property is suitable for the project, we will:

• Visit your property to identify remnant vegetation and assess its potential as butterfly habitat.
• Discuss management actions and provide you with advice on how to protect, connect and enhance butterfly habitat on your property.
• Provide suitable indigenous understory plants and plant guards for revegetation, with a focus on Sweet Bursaria.

For five key landholders with larger properties, we will also:

• Develop a written property management plan setting our on-ground actions to protect and improve butterfly habitat.
• Supply contractor support for weed and rabbit control, and revegetation planting.
• Provide ongoing advice on how to manage your property as butterfly habitat.

Not every property will be suitable as Eltham Copper Butterfly habitat and we will prioritise properties that are closer to known butterfly sightings. We’re looking for properties  with minimum of 0.4 hectares (1 acre) land size with space for revegetation planting; Proximity (within 1 km) to Kalimna Park, Castlemaine Botanical Gardens northern section, Chewton Bushlands (Dingo Park Rd region), Walmer Forest Reserve (near southern end of Woodbrook Rd) and Campbells Creek (near Broad Rd); Suitable conditions for the target plant species to facilitate healthy growth; No domestic stock grazing.

If you meet the criteria and are keen protect and restore butterfly habitat on your land, please complete our expression of interest form – click here Email expression of interest forms to Connecting Country via email (info@connectingcountry.org.au) by  17 October 2022.

Posted on 27 September, 2022 by Connecting Country: https://connectingcountry.org.au/

23. Circular Economy Project

Hepburn Shire Council is partnering with Good Human and Hepburn Energy to deliver this new Hepburn Z-NET project called ‘Connecting Hepburn Shires Circular Economy’. Integrating waste and resource management, the Circular Economy goes beyond recycling to rethink how we make and shape our world.

You are invited to get involved with this project by: filling in the Circular Economy survey by Monday 10 October; and attending a business workshop

Find links and more information on this project on Participate Hepburn

24. Climate Smart Farming Scholarships

Farmers for Climate Action is offering Climate-smart Farming Scholarships to 20 leading farmers across Australia. The scholarships will provide an opportunity to learn from internationally-recognised climate experts, including Nobel Prize winners, who will equip recipients  with the tools needed to deal with a changing climate, to become a climate leader, and be able to discuss impacts, adaptation and mitigation.Whilst the agricultural sector is particularly vulnerable to climate change, there are a wide range of adaptation strategies and the sector can also provide solutions to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of the scholarship, between November and March recipients will undertake:

• A world class on-farm carbon accounting course run by the University of Melbourne;
• A climate-smart agriculture course with the Australian National University, hearing from world leading professors and Nobel Prize winners
• An Accounting for Nature workshop;
• Media and advocacy training;
• Regular virtual catch-ups with fellow scholars to talk about farming and leadership opportunities.

The scholarship will run over five months from 28 November 2022 to 31 March 2023. It will involve approximately 10 hours of commitment each month online to meet the requirements of each course, with most of the work self-paced. It will culminate in three days together in Canberra in the last two weeks of March 2023 and exact dates will be finalised in November (pending 2023 parliamentary calendar release).

The Climate-smart Farming Scholarship is tailor-made for farmers and pastoralists from all agricultural sectors. No tertiary education is required, just a passion for the future of the Australian agricultural industry.  Apply now – applications closing 24 October

For more information email info@farmersforclimateaction.org.au or visit https://farmersforclimateaction.org.au/portfolio/csa-scholarship-2022/

25. Northern Arts Hotel- Music, Films and Talks

FILM
Secret Matinee Film | Sun 9 October at 2.30pm
John Flaus Documentary Fundraising Campaign
MUSIC
Open Mic Livestream at the Coolroom | Wed 5 Oct
Northern Music Session | Thurs 6 October
Burning Bridges | Fri 7 October
Maggie Jackson NY Jazz Quartet | Sat 8 October
A Celebration of Country Music from Fri 9 Sept- Fri 25 Nov
Celebrating the Blues Season 2 | Sept – Nov
Castlemaine Celtic Singing Circle | Sat 15 October
De-Lovely: A musical tribute to Cole Porter | Sat 15 October
Almost So Much Soul | Fri 21 October
Djangology | Sat 29 October
Zoe Single Launch ‘Fire’ | Fri 4 November
Blue Tango Fundraiser | Sat 5 November
Sammy Owens and Burning B3 | Fri 18 November
Kavisha Mazzella Trio | Sat 19 November
Ernest Aines & Jack Skillen | Fri 25 November
The Pardoners | Sat 26 November
SPOKEN WORD | TALKS
Book Launch | Alyce Elmore | Sat  8 October
Northern Arts Book Club
PROJECTIONS
Another Roadside Attraction Live Nightly in Wimble St

The Government has committed to the Uluru Statement from the Heart recommendations, and intends to hold a referendum on this matter. At the Garma Festival this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described a draft proposal of three sentences that could be added to the Constitution: -There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. -The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.- The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

During a Q&A with an all-Indigenous panel, members expressed several different viewpoints about a Voice, bringing up important issues about bureaucracies, power dynamics, clarity, and the consequences that an enshrined Voice will inevitably have on First Nations peoples. Other forms of self-determination between government and Indigenous people are certainly possible. Many policies and programs are already in place, such as justice reinvestment (improving the criminal system), Indigenous rangers, respecting homelands and National Partnership agreements. There are now eleven Indigenous MPs in Parliament.

The Victorian government is open to negotiating with the First Peoples’ Assembly to develop a treaty, one option being: reserved seats in State Parliament to give Indigenous people a say in the cabinet process where ministers decide on policy. If Victoria establishes a permanent Indigenous voice, it will be the first Australian jurisdiction to do so. Already in Victoria, an independent formal ‘truth-telling’ process the Yoorook Justice Commission, has been established, in response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which called for Voice. Treaty. Truth.

In politics, new governments don’t necessarily continue with procedures set up previously. Some do not engage in genuine consultation with First Nations, as the tragedies of the Stolen Generations and the destruction of the Juukan Caves attest. Fulfilment of promises, commitments and initiatives are delayed, as with the recommendations of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody and the Bringing Them Home Report. Few of the goals of Closing the Gap are on target. Without an Indigenous representative body, first Nations people are in the same position they were in the 1960s, unable to have their voices heard and interests considered in the processes of government. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says, a Voice to Parliament will make our nation whole, because it speaks to the values that we all share and honour – fairness, respect, decency.

The Commonwealth of Australia was founded on the Australian Constitution, which set out the powers between the states (previously colonies) and the new Federal government. The Constitution was silent about the First Nations and the dispossession of their lands. In the highest Yes vote ever recorded in a federal referendum, 90% of voters were in favour of the 1967 ‘Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals)’ on including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the census and making the Federal Government responsible for policies specific to First Nations.

In the coming referendum the question may be “Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?” Voters are being asked to approve the body’s basic purpose and function. Other details can be filled in later by parliament. In order to achieve a Yes vote, the referendum will need a double majority of both the national vote and at least four states in favour. There will be debate for and against. It would be wise to do one’s own research, learning from genuine sources, not social media posts. Two important questions will help clarify the principles: What are the motives behind the opinions being expressed? What value do they bring to the people who express them?

Nalderun Education Aboriginal Corporation is a service that supports the Aboriginal Community, led by Aboriginal people. Many people and organisations in the Mount Alexander Shire contribute to Nalderun; the name is a Dja Dja Wurrung word meaning “all together”. 

More information can be found at https://nalderun.net.au

31. Sizematters – Residents take new supermarket in Castlemaine concerns to VCAT 

The final day of hearings at VCAT for the proposed supermarket on Duke St/Forest St was on Friday, 26^th August. The presiding Tribunal members will now take the time to make a determination about the application. A decision to either grant the application or refuse it will be made sometime in the next six to 12 weeks.This brings to an end a very drawn-out and complex matter that has involved 16 sitting days at VCAT and over 4,000 pages of submissions and expert evidence into everything from urban planning, traffic management to soil contamination, to storm water management and landscaping for the proposal, should it proceed.

The last part of Friday’s hearing was very much focused on conditions that would be imposed on the development should a permit issue (which is not to say a permit will issue but rather what the Mount Alexander Shire Council would require if one does issue). The detail of any of these conditions will be part of what the VCAT members determine in their decision-making.

In an unusual step, we, as resident objectors, were also invited by the Tribunal to submit our response to the MASC draft conditions, and have every confidence that we have applied the best interests of the community in our recommendations, should a permit issue. We have also made representation to the Tribunal that their determination is not an all or nothing decision, given that the applicant already has a permit (issued in April 2018) to build a smaller supermarket.

So, what happens next? We wait! If the permit for the larger supermarket is refused, we will have to wait and see if the developer takes up the option to build the smaller supermarket. If the permit is granted, the likely timeline for the development is to commence in the next two to three years and be finished in four to five years.

For more information email: sizematters3450@gmail.com

32. Growing our Agriculture Program

Mt Alexander Sustainability Group (MASG) has been able to get two important significant grants over recent months; they complement each other and help continue providing on-going support for sustainable and regenerative agriculture across our region. This links well with the leadership role that Mt Alexander is playing in strengthening our agriculture sector and complements the recognition by UNESCO of the region being a centre for gastronomy. The two grants are:

Healthy Soils.

The Soil Health, Nutrition and Carbon management project is being funded by the Commonwealth of Australia through the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, under the Smart Farms, Small Farms grant program. MASG has been awarded $197,300 under this program.

The project will work with existing and new grower networks and communities of interest in Central Victoria to assist farmers to develop Soil Health, Nutrition and Carbon Management Plans. It will provide and promote tools for farmers to cost-effectively gauge the health of their soils on a day-to-day basis. The 2-year project will work with a core of at least 20 farmers to develop documented management plans, as well as developing factsheets and planning tools. It will establish and report on case study demonstration sites and conducting field days. The work will promote practices such as reduced tillage, stubble retention, cover crops, green manures, plant species diversity, sensitive and more precise use of chemicals, and composting and compost use.

The project aims to work with mainstream as well as biological and organic farmers to first identify their soil constraints through on-site and soil testing, and then develop management plans to build, maintain and monitor soil health, with an emphasis on field observations throughout the year and nutrient budgeting as well as periodic soil testing. The project officer will assist in the running of field days, editing and production of information and promotional resources including print and on-line materials, and potentially some field site data collection.

The Mt Alexander Regenerative Agriculture Group (MARAG) program was established by MASG in 2019 and funded by the National Landcare Program 2 through the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA). DON has now made a donation of $100k to MASG (as required by a court ruling) to enable MASG to continue delivering this on-going curriculum based learning program, comprising over 70 landholder members from the region. Member farmers are keen to see the program continue indefinitely, such is the benefit they gain.

The objectives of this continuation are

• the facilitation of up to 8 training and educational sessions, drawing on a range of industry leading guest speakers;
• comprehensive soil carbon and nutrient baseline testing; implementation of appropriate land management practices (holistic grazing, multispecies winter and summer cover crops, pasture cropping and revegetation programs) to build soil health; compliance with the Federal Government Carbon Farming Initiative methodology; and the opportunity to generate carbon credits; and
• purchasing equipment for biochar manufacture, compost bioreactors, foliar sprays,and support for sowing of multi-species cover crops.

The exact specifics of each of these objectives will be determined together with the landholders by agreement and guidance from the program facilitator, to ensure maximum regenerative agricultural benefit is achieved.

Note also that our MARAG program still has three events before the ‘third’ year (2021-22) is complete:

• Bioreactor Compost construction at Harcourt Organics Co-operative;
• Farm Visit to Jonai Farm – to understand Tammi and Stuart’s farm philosophy that drives their (food sovereignty) enterprise; and
• Complementary Biodynamic Agriculture Workshop on Sept 29 and 30 see below for more details

If you are interested in these events,  contact Deane at deanebelfield@eco2sys.com

33. Wild at Art Threatened Species Art Competition for kids

Wild At Art threatened species art competition for kids opens for submissions – supported  by the Australian Conservation Foundation

Online submissions are open to children living in Australia aged 5-12 from today until Monday 31 October. In their submissions, artists should include a short written component on their chosen threatened species and their motivations for the artwork. Take a look at the entry criteria and terms and conditions for more information.

Last year, kids around the country expressed their deep love and concern for Australia’s unique and wonderful plants and animals through Wild At Art. And this year, the competition is back to support them to speak up for wildlife through colour and creativity.Wild At Art is an amazing opportunity for kids to raise awareness about the extinction crisis amongst both their peers and adults, and highlight the urgent action we need to take. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn and share, and empowers our kids to take action now and into the future.

MAKE A SUBMISSION

34. Macroinvertebrate Monitoring

They say there is no such thing as a free lunch. They were wrong. North Central CMA are inviting community members to join the team undertake waterbug monitoring across our priority projects this spring – and we’ll shout you lunch.

Castlemaine Urban Waterways 4 Oct
A Healthy Coliban Catchment 13 Oct
Reimaging Bendigo Creek 27 Oct
Tullaroop Catchment Restoration Project 17 Nov
RiverScan (Native Fish Recovery Plan) 23-25 Nov

Each session can allow for a few extra helpers. Contact Britt if you would like to join in: britt.gregory@nccma.vic.gov.au
Ph 5440 1843 | M 0401 213 992

For more info on NCCMA activities: https://www.nccma.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/north_central_chat-_october_2022.pdf

35. Parenting in the Modern World: Managing Teenage Emotions