It is with a heavy heart that Newstead Live organisers announced the cancellation of the 2026 festival earlier this week. Given the forecast of very high temperatures over the entire weekend, the team has decided not to take the risk presented by the heat.
“We want to keep both our festival community and our Newstead community safe, and ensure that we are back in 2027,” a spokesperson said.
NOTE: Ticket holders will receive information via email about refunds, which will be processed in the next day or two
If you’ve been on Facebook recently, you’ve likely come across one of Jodie Parker’s posts. A firefighter with the Taradale Fire Brigade, Jodie started the series of educational videos as a way to update the community on the fires.
Her videos began getting shared across Facebook, and locally she’s become somewhat of a household name, with people referencing her information and getting a mention on MainFM’s Retronauts. Suzanne Donisthorpe gave her a shout out saying she is a great communicator, in a human, kind and considered way and Business Mount Alexander Chair Jacqueline Brodie Hanns said, “Every CFA needs a Jodie”.
Jodie describes her newfound fame as “a bit weird” and said she normally does not like being in front of the camera.
“But I didn’t have time to worry about that on Thursday. Our content is not polished, just filming it on a phone, and that’s what people respond to,” she said.
Jodie said she had not encountered a catastrophic day since moving here.
“As the brigade’s community safety officer I was trying to figure out the best way to prepare the Taradale community, which is closely connected with the Mount Alexander Group.”
Born in Lilydale, Jodie spent her early years on the road with her parents. After travelling around Australia and living in Brisbane for a few years, they moved back to Melbourne.
Jodie went on to study a Bachelor of Arts and International Studies at uni. Unsure of her future path, she moved to Gippsland with her mum and got a job working in retail.
She traveled overseas for a year and spent time working the UK as an au pair on an army base in Thorny Island and helping an older couple on a farm.
“They had six border collies, donkeys, goats, ducks and chickens. They were the kindest, most kind, generous people. I finished my travels and came back to the city.”
Returning to Melbourne, she got a temp job at V/Line. One role led to another and then another until she wound up working as the Customer Operations Training Manager, responsible for training all of the conductors and station staff.
“I ended up being there 12 years!”
In 2022, she took long service leave and used the time to think about her next step.
“I knew it was time for me to go I was fatigued and drained from that job; it was all-consuming,” she said.
With a desire to move back to the country, Jodie moved to Woodend and, after awhile started looking for a place to buy.
“I chatted to a real estate agent, who told me about a property in Taradale. I said, ‘Where’s Taradale?’
“I came to the first open for inspection and I said, ‘This is my home,’ and a week later it was! Luckily, there was a long settlement.”
She now owns and runs Five-Acre Farm selling products from things grown on the farm – jams, herbal teas, syrups, and bath soaps.
Her website gives an insight into life as a single woman running a property.
“I have a focus on biodiversity and sustainability, proving that you don’t need a huge property, showing what you can do, and that you can still have a lot of biodiversity in a small space,” she said.
“A lot of people in this area like to keep things local and keep those food kilometres low, as well as knowing where your food comes from, how it’s grown, and who’s grown it.
“I’ve just expanded my growing area to try and move to the next level of the farm, which is market style garden, maybe supplying a few restaurants and hopefully getting to the point of some subscription produce boxes. And I have plans of running different workshops in the space,” she said.
“The challenge is, it’s just me here, and trying to coordinate casual, part-time employment and my other business, while trying to get stuff done on the farm.”
The second installment of Jodie’s interview will be published in the next edition of the Castlemaine Mail on Friday January 30.
The community-led recovery efforts in Harcourt are a testament to its residents, motivated by the desire to see the thriving community back on its feet.
As such, the Harcourt Leisure Centre was overflowing with people attending Wednesday’s community meeting, where it was announced that the town’s annual Applefest will go ahead in March.
Chair of the Harcourt Progress Association, Remy Snowman, said the festival will be bigger and better than ever.
Remy acknowledged the other Victorian communities affected by fires, especially in the neighbouring towns of Ravenswood, Sutton Grange, North Harcourt and Walmer and thanked the community and volunteers.
“The way you have pulled together and helped each other through so far, it’s inspiring,” he said.
“It’s a privilege to be part of such a great community.”
Harcourt CFA Captain Andrew Wilson, who was the initial incident controller when the fire started on Friday, January 9, said 150 appliances responded to the fire on the first day.
“That is an amazing effort for the machine that the CFA is to get those appliances. But no matter how many appliances we had on the day, I don’t think we would have stopped this fire,” he said.
“As happens, the wind changed. The wind is what bites us, and it bit pretty bloody hard.”
He said by January 16, there were 50 strike teams (a Ute and five tankers) on the ground, with teams coming from far and wide.
“That’s 250 tankers, plus 60 tankers on the day from direct response to the fire,” he said.
The local CFA captain said that whilst the fire (which is now 4,500 hectares) had the smallest footprint of all the big fires on the day, it had the biggest impact in terms of property loss.
“53 houses were lost, with the majority in Harcourt, one in Sutton Grange and two in Walmer. That’s a big hit for the community,” he said.
“The fire is listed as under control at the moment, and until Mother Nature does her thing its going to stay that way – we need some rain across the fire ground.”
He said their biggest issue at the moment is the unburnt pockets of grass within the fire area.
“But the fire is tracked, and we are confident it will remain within the current fire footprint,” he said.
DEECA Forest Fire Management crews also continue to patrol and monitor the fire, and extra crews are on standby this weekend to respond and assist if needed.
The Recovery Centre at the Harcourt Leisure Centre will continue throughout February, but will scale back to operating on Wednesday and Friday only.
The community-led GoFundMe organised by the Harcourt Progress Association has raised over $200,000 to date. The money will go directly to the fire-affected community to help rebuild. If you’re able to donate visit www.gofundme.com/f/harcourt-progress-relief-fund
The Red Box Veterinary and Wildlife Shelter at Elphinstone has been working around the clock to care for injured wildlife impacted by the fire which ravaged the region on January 9.
Red Box shelter operator Nikki Medwell said after the initial fear that the shelter may be impacted by the fire abated they have thrown themselves into response.
“We can see Mount Alexander from our yard, we could see the fire glowing, and I think I can speak for every wildlife carer when I say that you are going to stay on and protect the innocent animals in your care. It was quite a scary night,” Nikki said.
Their incredible team of volunteers has been working tirelessly in aftermath.
“Our team has been working to triage each roo or creature as local wildlife rescuers bring them in to be assessed. From there they are sedated and treated in our vet clinic with ointments to soothe their burns. They are then given 24 hours to convalesce and recover from their ordeal and shock before being transported to fellow shelters across the region and beyond who have made space to house and care for them,” Nikki said.
“After the Black Saturday fires were were well prepared for the next major emergency, and it has been working like a well oiled machine thanks to the support of our dedicated rescuers, small but ever reliable pool of volunteers, the expert advice of our vet Dr Mark Sayer, and extra support from friend and neighbour Sam who literally did the heavy lifting, rescuer Sam Brand from neighbouring Animal Abbey, team members from the Humane World for Animals Australia and Animals Australia,” she said.
Nikki said that the worst patients remain in their care and bandages are removed and replaced every two days to monitor the burns and healing and prevent infection.
“Despite our preparation for such an event we have spent $3900 on additional medicine alone,” Nikki said.
Those who want to assist the local shelter’s work can make a donation to support them via the donation link on their website at www.redboxwildlifeshelter.com.au/sponsorship-programs, create a Pay It Forward direct debit of $2 a week to support their ongoing efforts, or make a donation in person at Petstock Castlemaine towards feed and other essentials.
“We have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support we have already received from the local community. We don’t receive any government funding. We are all volunteers so every dollar donated is crucial and goes directly to caring for the injured animals in our care,” Nikki said.
While the initial rush has slowed animals continue to be rescued and brought in for treatment.
“Many animals go into shock and hiding following such an event and are only starting to emerge. We found one mum with two young male joeys at foot who was sheltering under a bush. The mum and oldest son were quite aggressive protecting the smaller boy, but we soon discovered she also had another pinkie in her pouch that she was protecting. Her milk was drying up due to the shock. But they are now recovering well and hopefully the pinkie will thrive,” Nikki said.
Remember, if you see injured or orphaned wildlife, please phone your local rescuer direct or WRIN for Central Vic: 0419 356 433.
Wildlife carers, rescuers or those traumatised by assisting with the rescue of injured animals are also urged to reach out to WildTalk – 1300 945 382 counselling service for support.
Henry of Harcourt, traditional cider and perry makers, were heavily impacted by the January 9 fire at Harcourt and surrounds.
Co-owner and cider maker Michael Henry said they lost much of their well-established orchard, all of this year’s crop, and his home in the fire.
“Fortunately mum’s home, the original homestead, the cellar door and our stock are okay. But we have also lost a bottling plant which was stored at the Harcourt Cool Store,” he said.
Michael said the first 24 hours, they were shocked and devastated, and, like many, couldn’t see a way forward, with the family legacy created alongside his late father, Drew Henry, seemingly in tatters.
However, with his mum Irene safe and settled, Michael and many others quickly threw their focus and energy into the grassroots community response at the Harcourt Progress Association Fire Relief Centre, which started with a pop-up at the Victorian Miniature Railway and has now been moved to the Harcourt Leisure Centre.
“I’ve been fielding all the phone calls from the outset, dealing with media enquiries, channelling generous offers of help where it is needed. Thanks to the council, we now have a hotline set up (03 5415 3101), and I have been able to take a beat, along with others who have been impacted, and thrown their energy straight into supporting our community, and start thinking about what steps we need to take to move forward.
“A friend set up a GoFundMe page, and Mum and I have been inundated with offers of support including, GPI Resources, which has valuable data and research around the regeneration of apple trees after fire, Agriculture Victoria, who have offered the support of their microbiologists, and Heritage Fruit Growers from which we get our specific heritage tree varieties,” he said.
“Now, like so many other community members, we are no longer seeing ourselves as ‘victims’, we are ‘survivors’ and we can and will rebuild,” he said.
When mum, dad, and I first established the cidery 26 years ago, back in 2000, we planted 43 apple varieties as we didn’t know what varieties would work best in our soil and our climate and create the best ciders and perry. We now have all that valuable knowledge to work with and build on. We will assess what trees can be saved, and we know exactly what trees we need to replant if needed. It will take time, but we can rebuild, and we are committed to continuing to be an important part of the fabric of this incredible community,” he said.
“As far as the community goes, that remains strong. We have lost homes and businesses, but this community is indestructible and remains intact. We can’t be broken, and we will move forward together,” Michael said.
Were you impacted by the fire at Ravenswood, Walmer, Harcourt, Sutton Grange, Faraday and surrounds?
Did you lose important identity documents?
Good news, representatives from the Department of Justice and Community Safety were at the Bushfire Recovery Hub at the Castlemaine Town Hall today, and will be visiting the Harcourt Progress Association Fire Relief Centre at the Harcourt Leisure Centre tomorrow, Friday January 23 between 11am-3pm.
They are offering on the ground support to help step community members through the Birth Certificate re application process.
Pop in and speak to the friendly team from the Department of Justice and Community Safety and let them assist you to take the hard work out of reclaiming your identity and beginning the path to applying for support to move forward. Best of all, these services are being offered free of charge.
The Castlemaine and District Cricket Association (CDCA) Under 15 Boys squad has taken home the trophy for the annual Junior Country Week competition – the J D H McKenzie Cup – for the second year in a row!
Last year, the same Castlemaine team made history for the local association, winning the trophy for the first time since the competition began in 1966.
Conditions were tough this year with temperatures very high across the competition which was scheduled to run from Monday January 5 to Friday January 9.
In fact, it was so hot a game was moved on day two from Wesley Hill to New Gisborne because it was much cooler down south, and Friday’s matches were cancelled due to the catastrophic conditions. But the local side persevered and gave their best despite the scorching weather.
On day one the CDCA hosted Ballarat at Camp Reserve. It was a nail biter of a game, but luckily the boys managed to come out on top Castlemaine DCA 10-132 (Seth Gross 43, Charlie Cordy 39) to Ballarat 10-119 (Noah Maltby 3-19, Blackwood Ulman Jones 2-11).
Day two the top order had a massive collapse against the Grampians with the first seven batters all going out with a total of 28 runs. But then Callum McGee (Muckleford Cricket Club) managed to turn it around and get 40 runs. Blackwood Ulman Jones (Campbells Creek Colts Cricket Club) came in and then Abe Isdale (Muckleford Cricket Club), and together their final wicket partnership made up the 28 runs they needed to tie with Grampians 10-116 apiece before Ulman Jones got out. The pick of the bowlers for Maine were Noah Maltby 3-17 and Abe Isdale 2-7. It was an absolute thrilling game of cricket.
Day three Castlemaine chose to bat first and made a total of 7-171 ( Charlie Cordy 56, Callum McGee 31 not out, Seth Gross 24, Axel Purcell 18) and Gisborne just couldn’t get there, finishing with 10-132 runs (Mitchell Sturgess 3-27, Noah Maltby 2-19) and three overs to go.
Day four the final was cancelled because of the catastrophic weather conditions forecast.
With the highest number of points and finishing atop the ladder Castlemaine took home the trophy.
Although there were some excellent individual performances, ultimately, no one was the absolute star, it really was a fantastic team effort.
Charlie Cordy (Castlemaine United CC) was the second highest run maker in the comp with 99 runs over the tournament, followed by Callum McGee (Muckleford) in 4th place with 75 runs and Seth Gross (Muckleford) in 5th place with 68 runs.
Noah Maltby was the highest wicket taker with 8 wickets, Mitch Sturgess (Campbells Creek CC) took 5 wickets in 7th place and Abe Isdale (Muckleford) in 12th place with 3 wickets.
Captain Jack Archer said he was thrilled with the win.
“I’m rapt to have been part of the sides that have won back-to-back Country Week carnivals. This year being captain was a privilege and to have such a great group of players, coaches and supporters is much appreciated,” Jack said.
Coach Jason Cordy was extremely proud of his players and their efforts in the challenging conditions.
“Whilst there were some excellent individual performances during the week, it was ultimately a great team effort that allowed us to come away with the win,” he said.
“Well done to the boys on their disciplined bowling, valuable batting partnerships when it mattered and strong efforts in the field throughout a very hot week.”
Player Charlie Cordy was delighted to claim another win for CDCA.
“I thought we might struggle against the stronger teams so it was great to beat Gisborne and Ballarat and manage a tie against the Grampians,” he said.
Iconic Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I announced on her Facebook page last week that she would put on a big show on February 20 for the Australian town that made the most noise.
With the tragedy of the recent fires in Harcourt and, well, our community being who they are, people instantly jumped on the bandwagon, starting a social media campaign to get the superstar’s attention.
The ‘Bring Tones and I to Harcourt’ Facebook page was set up and now has 2.3k likes and is being shared across the community.
The Mail contacted the Tones and I management team, who confirmed the legitimacy of the offer.
“As you can understand, we’ve been inundated with emails in response to Tones’ show in Australia,” they wrote.
“We’re reviewing every single one and putting everything into the draw for Tones to decide. There are a lot of genuine and emotional reasons that people are explaining, and we want you to know we are reading them all and are very moved seeing the different reasons and the experiences everyone is going through. We see you!
“Thank you, team Tones x.”
Local publican and artist manager, Jeremy Furze, has been enlisted to help the cause and is in the process of making a video with kids from Harcourt to help draw attention to the campaign.
“People are excited. Tones and I is an incredible artist with one of the top three songs of all time – Dance Monkey is a mega once-in-a-generation hit, and no one has beaten her with streams since it’s come out,” he said.
“Tones has created a beautiful career of hits; her last two albums have been hits, backed up with a lot of great songs, an arena act. It would be a big deal for her to come to Harcourt; an artist like her doesn’t go and play smaller regional theatres, she’s so busy. It would be very special for an act like Tones to come to Harcourt.
“Harcourt has a very organised recovery committee. Only a week on and there’s structure to it, a lot of people fulfilling roles, media, coms, operations, coordinated effort, so it would be a really good show.”
There are only two more days until Tones and I is expected to make her choice, so make sure you jump on the ‘Bring Tones and I to Harcourt’ Facebook page and make some noise!
The Australian Society for Kangaroos is offering to assist Mount Alexander residents with the support and protection of fire-affected wildlife.
The Castlemaine-based organisation will provide supplementary feed for wildlife that are moving onto private properties.
“It is absolutely tragic when our precious wildlife is killed and injured by wildfires, but the ones who miraculously escape are now also at risk of starvation and dehydration as their food and water supply has been destroyed by the fire,” said ASK president Nikki Sutterby.
“If you are seeing displaced wildlife including birds, wallabies and kangaroos moving onto your property in search of food and water, we would love to hear from you so we can supply them with food and support until their habitat regenerates and they can return home”.
“We would also like to ask residents to keep a close eye out for fire-affected wildlife and contact us so they can be assessed and assisted.”
Ms Sutterby said wildlife volunteers couldn’t possibly access all impacted areas so they needed residents’ eyes and ears out there in case these animals needed help”.
“They may be on their own, separated from their mob, moving strangely, looking distressed, or orphaned babies on their own,” she said.
“Don’t approach them or let dogs go near them as this could add to their stress and risk of shock and death. Take photos or a video so they can be assessed by experts and contact us immediately.
“We sincerely thank all the volunteers already out there helping fire-affected wildlife and encourage them also to contact us if they have identified displaced wildlife in need of supplementary food”.
If you would like to be a part of the ASK wildlife support program, or you’re concerned about injured or orphaned wildlife, call 0417 354 408 or email: AustralianSocietyforKangaroos@gmail.com.
