Mayor's Message - 12 May 2026

Published on 12 May 2026

T-shirts and sandals in May!  Who’d-a-thought it? 

We all know that winter is coming but every day of this clement and kind weather feels like a gift. Saturday afternoon at the Camp watching the Magpies’ thrilling game against Gisborne in the sunshine was a treasure indeed. 

Saturday mornings in Maldon – no matter the weather – is another treasure found. Time to wander up and down those picturesque streets, nested in bucolic hills. There is so much unique about Maldon: the ironstone gutters, the footpath petrol bowser, the hitching rings and old red telephone box, I wonder if they ever had cricket matches going on while the court was in session? 

Thinking about juxtaposition and contrast, there is something very Australian and quintessentially Maldon about the easy pleasantness of a casual chat on the footpath or a cup of coffee beneath such imposing and serious nineteenth-century facades. Those buildings along Main Street and High Street – graceful but authoritative, watching over this Tarrangower vale – bear a stoic resolve of an 1850s constable or matron. But moreover, these streets and buildings are beautiful, especially in the morning sun, and the fundamental or visceral attraction of this heritage seems to be the reflection of grace, style and beauty. I feel so lucky to live my life in such beautiful places.

Sixty years is a long time in heritage thinking and practice. What was once concerned with preventing the demolition of important and often grand buildings now extends to appreciate much smaller and more intimate objects like a hitching ring or remnant flagstone. However, Maldon’s celebration of its heritage has always been about more than buildings and physical fabric alone. When I was a kid they printed the Times from a shopfront. The paper was typeset on the big old printing blocks right inside the window where children and Melburnians alike would stop and watch, agog.  It’s funny the things one remembers, but that image made me want to be a journalist. I wonder how many other kids were inspired to a career in writing by that image of the block printing of the Times.

There were carpenters making chunky furniture from local yellow box and always guitars and music. In the ‘70s, that was very Maldon. One weekend my sister and I rode horses from Chewton to Maldon along the train line; so thrilling to ride over the old trestle bridges. Within a few years the steam train was running between Muckleford and Maldon and no matter the challenges we all knew that train would eventually find its way home to platform three at Castlemaine.

Such is the power of landscapes (and streetscapes) in shaping our memories. Reflecting on my Maldon over the years, I realise how important has been the work of local businesses, community organisations, volunteers, civil society and the countless helpers from near and far who have all made and remade Maldon.

Sixty years since Maldon was granted Notable Town status, the first of its kind in Australia, it keeps growing and changing. There is so much life around the station now. More and more people walking out from town to enjoy the bushlands and historic landscapes. But for me, walking and re-walking Maldon, some things never change: burrs in your socks, red-backs under the dunny lid, maybe a snake out the back, Robur or Bushells...

Happy 60 notable years, Maldon!