Mayor's Message – 1 April 2026
Published on 01 April 2026
Autumn is well under way now, several of us turned the heating on last week, so we know it’s autumn. This cool weather that swept through around midday last Thursday is the surest change in the season, however, the closing weekend of the Castlemaine State Festival, and particularly the garden party on Sunday, for me, marked the end of our summer, our Indian summer!
This year’s CSF has been a huge event for Castlemaine and the shire. We have had many sold-out gigs and enormous interest in our towns, venues and resident artists. Congratulations to Martin, Linda and staff, as well as all the hundreds of volunteers who have worked hard and cheerily to make this festival such a success. Once again, we could not have pulled this extraordinary event off without that dedicated pool of volunteers. Working out of the Market Building during festival week, I got to meet many volunteers and also many visitors to the shire. I am struck by how many first-time volunteers have been attracted to work with CSF – I trust you found the experience worthwhile and that it girds you to offer your time again.
This year’s festival was successful in various ways, and one that I want to draw attention to here is the way that so many local creatives have found expression in this year’s event. Without the fringe running concurrently, CSF has been able to welcome many local acts and artists (some of whom came directly from the fringe program) to ensure that the state festival has plenty of home-grown talent to complement the array of performers from Melbourne and beyond. This year’s festival achieved this seamlessly.
If you get a chance, check out All at Once, an installation at the Goods Shed on Kennedy Street. I was lucky enough to get to experience it last week – a real highlight. Note too that some of our local venues continue to provide an inspiring lineup of great performers in the coming weeks – some who had festival shows and some newer faces. Autumn is a lovely time in our shire to get out and about, just remember your scarf and beanie!
In terms of our response to the fires in January, we are now at the point where many of the impact assessments are complete, and we now have a better idea of the scale of damage and the number of houses that will need to be rebuilt or significantly worked on. Many challenges await us as a community as we focus on rebuilding, both in terms of the work here at Council with planning and organisation, but also more broadly in attracting enough builders and associated trades to get on with rebuilding. Our website remains a key place to get information on services available and updates,
On Tuesday 31 March, from 3.00pm to 6.00pm, we’re hosting the first of our community forums. This is where Councillors visit one of the townships outside Castlemaine for community engagement. We discussed the idea of having formal Council meetings in the old shire offices of Newstead, Metcalfe and Maldon. However, given the rather dry nature of Council meetings, and the limited time they afford for community involvement, we have instead opted to host engagement sessions where all Councillors are available to meet and discuss local government issues with members of the public. This week, we hosted a barbeque in Harcourt and later this year we will decamp to Maldon. We look forward to visiting Newstead and other towns in the future.
With the clocks going back this week, more of us will be driving at dawn and dusk. Please be careful around wildlife on our roads. We are still seeing an increased number of kangaroos on our roadsides, some of which continue to frequent our towns, especially at night.
On waste collection, please note that we are moving towards a revamped waste collection service from July 2027. This is part of a state-wide response to Victorian Government requirements that mean all municipalities need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from landfill sites. One of the best ways to do this is by removing kitchen and other organics from our general waste (landfill) bins. Now, many people in the shire are already composting their kitchen scraps and garden clippings at home. Some are members of a community composting program such as YIMBY. Others are collecting their scraps and giving them to friends and neighbours with chooks or pigs. These solutions are working, keeping food and food scraps out of landfill. Perhaps you are interested in becoming a composter? There is a range of composting and worm-farming tips and ideas on our website. So, my message to you: let’s get ahead of the new rules and start reducing the amount of food and garden organics going into landfill now. You can start by making a compost heap or by getting in touch with neighbours and finding out what they are doing.
With Easter approaching and the start of the school holidays, please drive carefully as you cruise out to Maldon to visit the magnificent Easter events there, or if you are planning a longer drive – make sure you come home safely. Plan ahead, take breaks, enjoy your holiday.
Cr Toby Heydon
Mayor of Mount Alexander Shire