Mayor's Message – 2 December 2025
Published on 02 December 2025
Hello everyone, it has been a huge fortnight for me as your new Mayor.
But first, how about this weather! All of these lovely spring rains are, of course, promoting rapid growth of grasses and other vegetation. We must note the warnings of a potentially-dangerous fire season ahead as this new growth will inevitably dry off with a few days’ hot weather, providing more fuel in the event of fire.
Note too that there are increasing numbers of people attending our beautiful Expedition Pass Reservoir, with all the parking and traffic management issues on that blind bend of Golden Point Road, please observe the 40 km/h speed limit and as you approach the Res, do so with great caution – expect there will be turning vehicles and potentially kids on the road. To the families and groups of friends going to the Res to swim and hang out, please, please be careful on the road, especially when arriving and leaving.
As I said, it has been a huge couple of weeks since I was elected Mayor, and I have been so happy to receive the many kind messages of support (and important suggestions) from members of the public throughout the shire, and beyond. I’ve had the pleasure of joining many meetings both within and outside of Council. I am indebted to the excellent work of Council officers who have ably helped steer me through these first weeks. I am also grateful to former Mayor, Cr Rosie Annear for her advice and suggestions as I find my way in this role.
I was thrilled to get to introduce the Mount Alexander Business Awards on 19 November at Boomtown at the Mill. So many wonderful local enterprises were represented there, and of course we congratulate the finalists and winners of the various categories, but I want to also shout out the broader business communities of our shire: you are the makers, the employers, the visionaries who encourage the meeting of creativity with business acumen – perhaps best exemplified by the Business of the Year winner, Like Butter. One of the most extraordinary ways that this shire has changed over the last generation has been with the arrival of so many creative and focussed start-ups, retail and hospitality businesses and primary producers. Congratulations all for making our shire a richer and more diverse place.
On Friday 21 November, several of us Councillors and Council staff got to visit Cleanaway MURF (Materials Recovery Facility) at Laverton in western Melbourne. To see the size of this facility alone was extraordinary, but inside the massive sheds, I think it fair to say that we were all blown away by the amount of work (involving lots of people as well as cutting-edge technology) that goes into separating out what we put in our co-mingled recycling bins each fortnight. Wow! This is especially salient for us here in Mount Alexander Shire as we move inexorably towards reforming the way we manage our waste with the introduction of food and other organic waste recovery in 2027.
Upon returning to Castlemaine (and noting the drama of that first day of the Perth test), I was fortunate to get to see the MaCapella choir’s ten-year anniversary at the Phee Broadway Theatre. This was another beautiful event celebrating one of the many incredible performing arts groups for which our shire is renowned. Congratulations to all the women of MaCapella, but especially to founder and director, Tara Flynn – thank you for bringing so much creativity and joy to Central Victoria these past ten years!
I was invited on to MainFM on Wednesday night, on the Ramble On show, with Marty Sharples and Bryn Davies. The company of these two legends was great, but in addition I got to share the airwaves with the one and only Tex Perkins, who was promoting his gig in Castlemaine this summer. If you missed it, I will be a regular guest on Ramble On, as Rosie was before me – talking about Council matters. This is a really lovely space to expand on some of the more philosophical and theoretical issues around local government and local democracy. On Wednesday we discussed local politics, the cooperative nature of this Council, how people can get involved via Shape Mount Alexander to influence our decisions and priorities, the Res and our budget process for 2026-2027, to name a few.
I encourage you to listen in to Ramble On, 7.00pm to 8.00pm on MainFM, 94.9 on the FM band and streaming at mainfm.net. My appearance there, however, meant that I missed the COscars at Theatre Royal – thank you Cr Annear for representing Council and handing out awards to that emerging generation of young filmmakers and performers.
On Thursday 27 November I conducted listening posts at Woolworths and IGA Maxi – thanks to all the people who came and spoke with me about the issues that matter to you. These events are so important to us as Councillors but also to Council officers. As an organisation, we work very hard to engage with residents through community consultations on specific projects – through Shape Mount Alexander but also through regular listening posts. These are promoted and advertised so please consider coming along to speak to me or another Councillor about what matters to you. You may just come across us one day, as several did last Thursday – it means so much to us if you can spare a few minutes to give us your thoughts.
On Friday 28 November, I was at a compulsory training event in Melbourne, with Deputy Mayor Driscoll, which meant that we both missed the Rotary Truck Show Dinner. Big thanks to Cr Maltby for attending and speaking in our absence. Congratulations to Castlemaine Rotary for organising another outstanding event at the Campbells Creek Recreation Reserve – you are a credit to us all and your energy and community spirit is exemplary. I was, however, able to attend (albeit late) Ken McKimmie’s excellent presentation of historical images of nineteenth-century Castlemaine and Chewton at the Northern Arts Hotel later that evening (although I must add that, as my teacher and Vice Principal at Castlemaine High School, he will always be Mr McKimmie to me). This was a repeat of a presentation he gave at the Alchemy of Gold conference earlier this year (which I missed as I was too busy nerding out with David Bannear on the cartography of Fryers Forest). What struck me from this lecture was how, even now in 2025, we are still uncovering images of gold-rush era Castlemaine that are not found in the many and varied publications on this important history. As a former practising historian, I too can attest to this fact, that there remain in public archives, local history collections and in sundry attics, cellars and wardrobes all over the world, old and largely-unseen images and documents so important to better understanding the past. Congratulations Ken on all this work, so impressive! Ken McKimmie is a regular contributor to the page two historical images that feature regularly in the Castlemaine Mail.
I was lucky enough to get to the Rotary Truck Show on Saturday, where I got to see the incredible rigs – the amount of work that goes into this show and shine is remarkable in itself. I also saw some lovely performances by some amazing musicians; it was a particular thrill to see Greg Champion lampoon Collingwood (and Hawthorn, Melbourne and Carlton) footy fans as only he can! ‘It’s a grand old flag that looks good on the Jag…’ etc… Another point of great interest for me was seeing the Volvo fully electric prime mover! The future of trucking, no doubt.
Now, sitting in my office on Lyttleton Street, watching the rain fall and then the sun shine, I am struck too by the diversity of people, community groups and businesses that surround us, and the manifold ways that we find meaning and contribute to this beautiful place. The human spirit of generosity and collaboration is an inspiration to me. Thank you for all that you do, create, tend to and care for, people of Mount Alexander Shire! Please get in touch with what’s on your mind, I’d love to hear from you. Upon my election, I said that it is such a great honour to be elected Mayor of the towns and countryside I love so much. I really mean this, and I am working hard to live up to your expectations and to do my duty.
Mayor Toby Heydon
Mount Alexander Shire