Castlemaine State Emergency Services has received a $20,000 NAB Foundation Community grant to rebuild the unit’s sandbagging facility.
Located behind the SES headquarters in Castlemaine, the facility provides a place for the volunteers and members of the general public to fill sandbags in preparation for flood events.
The current facility is ageing and does not protect the sand from wet weather. The bags are manually filled, and wet sand is much heavier to carry. The funds obtained through the foundation will assist in removing the current facility and installing a new base and wet weather protection.
“We are very grateful to receive the funds and thrilled to be able to get this work happening,” SES volunteer Kristina Forbes said.
“Having dry sand is much more efficient.”
NAB representative Jane Lincoln visited the site on Wednesday to formally acknowledge the unit’s successful grant through the NAB Foundation Community Grants Program.
“The Castlemaine SES plays a vital role in supporting the local community. Whether responding to floods, storms, road rescue incidents, or helping people during times of crisis, the volunteers consistently put the needs of others ahead of their own,” she said.
“Their dedication, professionalism, and willingness to help make a real difference to the safety and resilience of our region.”
She thanked the Castlemaine SES for their service, commitment, and countless hours they dedicate to helping others.
“Your efforts do not go unnoticed, and our community is safer and stronger because of what you do,” she said.
“On behalf of NAB and the NAB Foundation, we are proud to support the Castlemaine Unit through this grant.
“We hope these funds assist the unit in continuing its important work and enhancing its ability to respond when the community needs it most.”
Steel City Sue and her trio are coming to The Coolroom this Sunday. This concert is part of an East Coast tour for the Hunter Valley-based band, it also launches their new album The Red Zone.
Sue Morley is an award-winning composer best known for her hit song Boom Town plus a pile of fetching anti-coal songs from the belly of the Hunter Valley beast, served up with humour and regret. Flirting, bad driving, and climate catastrophes also get a run in her driven-yet-touching repertoire.
The Steel City Sue trio features the fearsome playing of Naomi Jones (Midnight Chicken) and Tim Merrikin (Coomba All Stars) – all swapping out twin fiddles, old-time banjo, Cajun accordion, double bass and guitar with loads of harmonies.
The new Steel City Sue album ‘The Red Zone’ was recorded in Wales with Mike & Katie West of Truckstop Honeymoon fame.
Genre-bending slide guitarist Dan Musil rounds out the afternoon’s bill. Dan was last seen at The Coolroom playing with Van Walker. It’s fair to say Dan plays like no one else, weaving otherworldly musical journeys with incisive songwriting. Melding masterful lap steel guitar and dobro, his Irish tunes emerge from stomping blues.
This Sunday, July 19, The Coolroom, Northern Arts Hotel. Bookings through Humanitix.
Name and Address supplied, Castlemaine
Last week after two weeks of consistent and heavy rains impacting on my house, a timely phone call from a reassuring Bob of Castlemaine SES immediately changed an awful situation.
Bob’s kind, calm, human response quickly allayed my overwhelming feelings of panic, isolation and helplessness.
His team of professional men and women (volunteers) quietly arrived, assessed and remediated the situation over a couple of hours: all with absolute cooperation and competence.
Yes, volunteers they were!
I have since contributed to Castlemaine SES, Give Now at www.givenow.com.au/castlemaineses
And at the monthly Farmers Market last weekend I remembered to drop in a donation to the SES at the entry. I admit my donations on such occasions had been dropping off recently; they are now back on track.
This is such a worthy organisation and deserves our continued support.
Suzanne Donisthorpe, Castlemaine
Picture this. Adjacent to the brand new revitalised city centre up Frederick Street and Mechanics Lane, opposite the Town Hall and around the corner from the Library and the Phee Theatre sits a beautifully restored and treasured heritage building, housing the People’s Pool and Wellness Centre.
The beautiful old drill hall has been properly resurrected and the weatherboards have been repaired and painted in soft greys and greens – reflecting the colours of the bush. The south facing windows have been cleaned and repaired and the clearstory windows on the eastern side are a pale gold so the morning light fills the space with golden light and on the western wall, the windows have been tinted pink so that the setting sun sends a rosy glow into the interior. There are folding glass doors along the back northern wall- facing straight out to the newly created town hub facing the library where there is a pop up coffee and juice bar which can be opened up on sunny days to bring the warmth and fresh air inside.
Inside, a false ceiling over the pool has been installed, and the walls have been lined and insulated creating a far more practical space to heat. The interior is freshly painted a soft white, and it is filled with air filtering pot plants with simple wooden benches around the edges. Solar panels, a battery and a heat pump have been installed, thus substantially cutting the costs of heating the pool and it is cleaned with magnesium salt which is environmentally far better and is more like a mineral spring bath than a traditional chlorine pool.
Imagine how beautiful a magnesium pool would be for hydrotherapy sessions, for the babies and small children’s swimming lessons, for the elderly and disabled, for water aerobics and yoga classes. Plus there’s already a spa and sauna and a small pool which could be a cold water plunge pool. There is also a gym which I personally would move as there’s a number of gyms already and that space could be used for other things- but this is just my dream plan.
In this town of inspired art events – what about after hours sound healing sessions- whereby people float with the aid of pool noodles while a mesmeric light show plays on the ceiling and the pool is filled with beautiful music. There could also be special nights for all nude swimming, women only swim sessions, men’s only swim sessions, children’s parties and synchronized swimming performances. The list is endless.
Additionally the spaces around the pool could be rented out to physios, yoga teachers, massage therapists, acupuncturists- all sorts of allied health professionals.
OK its a dream- but I think it’s possible.
Here’s my draft plan
Buying it
It is about to be sold by the mortgagee who will just want their money back so it could be as little as $1 million. It’s a heritage building so it can’t be torn down, but really who else would want it apart from us? So we are in a good place to bargain. As it’s a heritage building – the National Trust and other heritage organisations could be approached for money for the repairs. If it is used as a community resource- the chances of heritage funding is much higher. If we don’t buy it – it will become a sad decrepit eyesore in the middle of our town that no one wants.
The renovation
Yes, it would cost more money to bring it up to scratch – say $4 million more – I’m guessing but given it’s a wooden building that already has a pool, plus a sauna, spa and gym that was functioning less than 12 months ago – it can’t be that much. So far less than any other alternative for a 365 day a year heated indoor pool which could cost up to $40 million.
So how do we do it?
We start a GoFundMe campaign along the lines of the Hub buy back – and raise as much as possible – thus demonstrating to governments – local, state and federal, the community interest is there, and they should really pitch in. We would target the health department, the NDIS scheme, the Swim Australia mob, and the various philanthropy organisations that offer funding for community benefits- something we can easily demonstrate.
Who runs it?
We lease it out to a manager to administer answerable to a board of management. We offer a range of prices – special prices for locals and more for visitors – like the MONA model. The various businesses help offset the costs of the upkeep and we also get some government funding- as most community pools already do. We would need a proper business plan – but that is not really my forte – but given there are 900 people who signed a petition, and at least 30 or more very capable people involved in SWIMMA – I think it’s doable.
As the building could be up for sale at any moment – I feel the need to act promptly is crucial.
Luke Brown, Former Castlemaine resident
The joyous occasion that was the MAIN Game 2026 was the first game of footy I’d played on the Camp Reserve since 1994.
I was staggered to find the facilities almost completely unchanged. I say ‘almost’ only because the facilities have of course degraded over those 32 years.
The facilities of a major town’s main sports ground should not mirror the condition of an old footballer’s knees. Why shouldn’t Castlemaine’s community sport participants have the modern facilities that exist in most other major towns and suburbs?
I’ve played on or watched junior and community sport on something like 100 main sports grounds in Australia and other countries. In terms of facilities, the Camp ranks near the bottom.
My old home town has had a very appealing array of cultural strands. Even if it’s not your thing, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand that community sport is a central plank of any vibrant Australian community. Castlemaine’s golden heritage and wealth gave the town the magnificent public buildings and streetscapes that are central to its appeal. It is perverse that this heritage is being leveraged to keep Castlemaine’s main community sports ground in a substandard condition.
From the teams at CaSS and MASARG
Castlemaine Safe Space (CaSS) and Mount Alexander Shire Accommodation and Respite Group (MASARG) would like to express our immense gratitude to everyone who supported our joint fundraising event ‘Rock for a Reason’ on July 4 in Castlemaine.
Special thanks go to Chris Jameson our super MC, and the marvellous bands Jet Set and Bob Wills Poor Relations. We are very grateful to Stoneman’s Bookroom, MAXI IGA, McKenzie Amcal Pharmacy, Mount Alexander Timber and Hardware Store at Campbells Creek, Undercuts Hair Salon, and Skin ‘n Tonik for their kind raffle prize donations.
More thanks to Jacqueline and Doug and all the staff at The Taproom – Shedshaker Brewing
And last but not least – all our wonderful volunteers who worked hard behind the scenes and everyone who cam along on the night. What a pleasure to work together in partnership, proving once again our community rocks!
Landscape Architect Michael Wright, Glenluce
As debate continues about the siting and design of new facilities for the football and netball club, it is timely to recall that this is public land, crown land, and it belongs to all the community.
The design prepared by consultants for the shire should be inspiring, ambitious, and it should invoke the history of the town and its surrounds. Instead, the proposal is awkward, lack lustre, perhaps even inept and poorly conceived. The proposal has not explored many key issues, such as including a full-sized AFL oval, the side-by-side location of football and netball, nor equal access. The proposal is also largely a monoculture, because uses other than sport can barely occur on the site. Other uses are an afterthought. These issues might make it challenging to satisfy the funding criteria of Sport and Recreation Victoria, but as yet no-one really knows.
The alternative design prepared by our office shows what can be done if a full-size AFL oval was included on the site. This necessitates placing the pavilion either to the south end, or the north end, because there is insufficient space on the east and the west. Both locations flood, so the building must be raised, which is common and feasible.
In both schemes, though, active sport dominates, and this is not just the playing surfaces, but includes the fencing, parking, light poles, roads and other items that come with high-level competition sport. There is almost no site left when a compliant design is drawn.
Issues about ‘what is left over’ seem to the key to the current debate, because the ‘needs’ of a couple of user-groups occupy nearly all of the public land, and only for specific sporting uses. It is the case that these uses could be placed elsewhere, co-located with other AFL grounds, on dry sites, with ample parking, and no floods. It is not yet known if that is possible, but it may be desirable.
It may be desirable because it is probably cheaper, faster and better for the sporting clubs, and it might be a way to get A-grade facilities much sooner than, say 2030. But such a question could only be answered with objective evidence that the funding bodies may need to see, such as a recreation & active sport demand study. Such a study would enable the council and all community groups to understand underlying demand for AFL facilities, and whether other sites could adopt a shared-use arrangement. These questions might also need to be answered in any future funding application. The key question is: “Are these facilities needed here or are there better sites for the facilities to go?”
No one can deny the need for new facilities for the clubs, but it appears the need to permanently alter the public land at Camp Reserve has not been objectively demonstrated. In some ways, this issue has a much higher level of public interest than the arrival of McDonalds, with its presumably compliant use on a commercial site.
The Camp is actually the missing civic heart of Castlemaine. It used to be the place to go for everybody, on a promenade from the civic centre, across the rail and the creek. But now, for much of the community it is fenced off, barren, a place to avoid because there is nothing to do. That won’t change until sport uses move elsewhere or are designed to be properly multi-use. That is not easy, because the site is too small. The clubs have outgrown the fair use of this public land.
It is time to restore Camp Reserve by moving unsympathetic uses elsewhere and build a central city park for the future and for all Castlemainians.
