For over five decades, the Maldon Folk Festival has brought music, dancing and plenty of lively conversation to Maldon, becoming part of the fabric of the town.
Kicking off today, October 30, the four-day festival has a jam-packed program of events across different locations in the historic township.
Featuring big names like fourteen-time Australian Blues Award winner Lloyd Spiegel, national treasure Fred Smith, and Nick Charles.
Victorian-based performers include the international sensation Claymore, Maldon favourites Rich Davies and the Low Road and a warm and soulful collaboration from Marcia Howard (Goanna) and Damian Howard (The Ploughboys).
With rich harmonies, poetic songwriting and a deep connection to community, Marcia and Damian create music that feels intimate, generous and unmistakably Australian.
Drawing on decades of shared history, the siblings blend stories of love, loss, hope and healing into a sound that moves effortlessly between folk, country, soul and roots.
As Marcia says, it’s about “sharing stories, celebrating connection, and making music that feels like home.”
Both artists are woven into Maldon’s musical fabric. Marcia has graced the festival’s stages for decades, while Damian’s first-ever festival gig over 30 years ago with The Ploughboys happened in Maldon, sparking years of touring across Australia and the world.
Now, Marcia and Damian return to Maldon, ready to reconnect with the people and places that shaped them.
The 2026 festival will run from October 30 to November 2, offering four days of performances, dancing, workshops and social gatherings, with camping available at the Maldon Football Ground in the centre of town.
Children under 12 are admitted free, while family, youth, day and weekend tickets are available.
All venues are within walking distance of the centre of town and have access for people with a disability.
www.maldonfolkfestival.com
A fast-moving storm cell swept across Mount Alexander Shire on Saturday evening, leaving a trail of fallen trees and keeping Castlemaine SES volunteers on the go right through until Monday morning.
Four crews were deployed across the district, receiving 25 calls for assistance across Guildford, Yapeen, Campbells Creek, McKenzie Hill, Barfold, and Castlemaine.
Pockets of the shire were hit by torrential rain and hail that piled several inches deep, with fierce winds uprooting gums and bringing down branches across roads, driveways, and homes.
Volunteers focused heavily on residential properties, attending eight callouts where trees had crashed onto roofs, garages, and verandas, alongside several leaking ceilings.
During the height of the storm, crews were also dispatched to a car accident at the corner of Barker and Forest Streets in central Castlemaine.
Fortunately, all occupants were able to get out of the vehicles without SES assistance.
Castlemaine SES Section Lead Daniel Bone said the isolated nature of the storm gave residents almost no warning.
“When an event like this hits so quickly, there’s very little anyone can do in the moment,” Mr Bone said.
“We saw trees of all shapes and sizes come down. Some were perfectly healthy and were just overpowered by the gusts, but in other cases, an inspection by an arborist beforehand could have spotted hidden rot or weak limbs and prevented damage to a home. This can be a stormy time of year, and now is a great time to look up and have mature trees near your home assessed.”
Mount Alexander Shire Council road crews worked through the night clearing tree-littered roads, allowing SES volunteers to focus their attention on damaged homes.
For emergency storm assistance, call VICSES on 132 500.
Lisa Dennis
The highly anticipated 18th biennial Castlemaine & District Festival of Gardens kicks off tomorrow, Saturday October 24 and runs through to Tuesday November 3 (Melbourne Cup Day).
A challenging start to the year, with blistering heat, followed by fires, caused several gardeners to withdraw from the festival – unsure of whether they would recover enough to put on a good show.
Organisers are, however, thrilled to showcase six new gardens and 13 old friends that continue to evolve, inspire and delight.
Among the magnificent gardens to feature will be ‘Granite Garden’ which is nestled on the foothills of Mount Alexander and was fortunately unscathed when fire ravaged nearby Harcourt and the Mount.
Owners Mike Elith and Dean Swanson are no strangers to the festival having previously participated at their former property in Fords Road.
The couple have been proud custodians of ‘Granite Garden’ since late 2019 and over the last six years have painstakingly extended the gardens around their home into an expansive oasis.
“The garden has previously featured in the festival but those who have visited before may find it is barely recognisable. We have reworked the design to show greater cohesion where undulating paths unite new and previously established gardens with generous open green spaces,” Mike said.
The garden boasts dramatic granite outcrops and terraced gardens which are host to a ‘riot’ of native and exotic flora.
Informal plantings moderate other hedged elements with an avenue of Silver Birch surrounding the garden’s crowning jewel, a six-hundred-year-old Red Rivergum. Scattered throughout the gardens are also stunning sculptures created by Mandurang artist Andre Sardone.
Behind the home a gorgeous shade arbor provides a space where visitors can enjoy the serene sounds of a waterfall and Dean’s beautiful bonsai collection.
“I’ve had a fascination for bonsai for years and now pass on my knowledge to others keen to explore the traditional Japanese art,” he said.
The property also features a vineyard with the couple producing their own ‘Granite Garden’ cabernet sauvignon with the expert help of the team at Welshmans Reef Winery.
The pair will have plants and bonsai for sale throughout the event so you can take home your favourite plantings for your own garden.
This year there is also a unique opportunity to visit the studios and galleries that this region is famous for as more than 30 artists will open their doors on the weekends. Artists to feature including Harcourt’s own Katherine Seppings and Castlemaine artist Sir Leslie Thornton.
Details are available in the program. Pick up yours at the garden gate or Castlemaine Visitor Centre.
Festival goers are asked to note all gardens will be closed for a refresh on Wednesday October 28.
Entry to each garden is $5 per adult, children free. Payment is by cash, direct to the gardener at the gate.
For more visit www.festivalofgardens.org
Maldon cowboy and champion Aussie bronc rider Bailey O’Dell is set to compete alongside some of best riders from across the globe at the Cinch International Australian Bronc Match at the Warwick Rodeo and Gold Cup Campdraft in Queensland this Saturday October 24.
O’Dell is a rising star in the scene and recently claimed the 2026 Mount Isa Mines Rodeo Open Saddle Bronc buckle.
Australia has assembled one of the strongest saddle bronc fields ever brought together on home soil.
The event brings together four of the top five competitors in the final 2026 Australian Professional Rodeo Association saddle bronc standings, the reigning Australian champion, former national and tour champions, junior world titleholders, leading Australians returning from the United States and three formidable American stars.
They will battle for more than $50,000 in prize money, an $8,000 custom-made Australian fender saddle and the right to claim one of the most prestigious bronc-riding titles contested in Australia, and it will all come down to eight seconds!
Leading the Australian invitees is Maldon’s own O’Dell, who finished the regular season at No. 1 in the APRA saddle bronc standings after becoming the first rider to win consecutive Xtreme Broncs Australia titles.
Bailey said this is his second year competing at the event.
“It was a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to taking part again. I’ve had a pretty good year and will aim to do my best,” he said.
“I’ve also competed in a couple of campdraft events while I’m up here.”
Bailey has been around horses all his life and works as a horse trainer when he is not competing. He has been riding broncs for three or four years now.
The 21-year-old said he is looking forward to seeing a few of the stars in action including Australian Jake Finlay and Gus Gaillard from Texas.
“Taking part in the event and seeing the elite riders in action last year really helped me step up my skills,” he said.
Bailey will be joined by Australia’s No. 2 Ben Rasmussen of Nevertire, Australia’s No. 4 and current junior bull-riding world champion Cade Ferguson of Cloncurry, and Australia’s No. 5 Ken Coleman of Bells Bridge.
Mount Isa Indigenous Rodeo Champion and Australia’s No. 7 Clayton Braden, former Xtreme Broncs Australia champion and Aus No. 9 Mick Knight, 2022 Australian champion Greg “Dyso” Hamilton, six-time NRA Saddle Bronc Champion Jack Capewell, inaugural Xtreme Broncs Australia Rookie Champion Lane Edwards and former APRA Tour Champion Tom Knight complete the Australian invitation field.
They will be joined by a powerful international invitation contingent featuring three of America’s leading bronc riders: Shorty Garrett of Eagle Butte, South Dakota; Gus Gaillard of Morse, Texas; and Zac Dallas of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Returning from competition in the United States are Bronc Match co-founders Jake Finlay of Goondiwindi and Tom Webster of Injune, alongside Darcy Wockner of Julia Creek, Joe Macqueen of Millmerran, Warwick Southern of Weengallon and newly announced Regan Lyons of Meandarra who has spent the 2026 season campaigning in the United States and riding for Western Texas College, competing at major American rodeos alongside several of the world’s most accomplished saddle bronc athletes.
Australian Bronc Match Inc president Jake Finlay said the completed line-up demonstrated the extraordinary strength of Australian saddle bronc riding. “This is the field we dreamed about when we first started talking about bringing an international Bronc Match home to Australia,” Finlay said.
“We have four of the top five riders from the Australian season, national champions, international competitors, brilliant young riders and three seriously dangerous Americans coming to Warwick. There isn’t an easy section anywhere in this field. Every rider has earned his invitation, every horse has earned its place in the draw and every single trip out of those chutes is going to matter. Our Australian riders know the championship buckle, the major prize money and the saddle have gone back to America in both previous years. There is plenty of respect between these cowboys, but once the gate opens, Australia wants that buckle back.”
For the American riders, Saturday night represents the opportunity to extend a remarkable winning streak. The inaugural Bronc Match title was claimed by Cash Wilson of Wall, South Dakota, at Scone in 2024, before Brody Wells of Powell, Wyoming, won the 2025 championship in Warwick with a spectacular 89.5-point ride.
Garrett, Gaillard and Dallas will now attempt to make it three consecutive American victories. For the Australians, Finlay said, the mission could not be clearer.
“We’ve brought together the men capable of stopping them,” he said.
“The world is coming to Warwick, and Australia is ready.”
After sell-out performances of Arjun Raina’s Camp Darwin earlier this year, Castlemaine Theatre Company and Montello Productions are delighted to bring
Caryl Churchill’s celebrated postmodern play Love and Information to the Phee Broadway stage in November and December.
Tickets for the new production go on sale today.
Known for pushing the boundaries of contemporary theatre, Churchill’s plays have been performed around the world. Loosely exploring notions of love, knowledge and human connection in an increasingly fractured digital world, Love and Information, is deeply intimate while remaining anonymous and global. The play draws us into a world reminiscent of the ways we communicate online – fleeting encounters, fragments of information, moments of connection and everything left unsaid.
Constructed through a sequence of fragmented vignettes, the play invites audiences into the intimate inner realm of an ever-changing series of characters. With titles like ‘Dinner, ‘Sleep’, ‘Affair’ and ‘Ex’, each scene’s very real human situation resonates with familiarity while challenging perceptions.
To complement the shifting rhythms of each scene, musical director Dave Barclay has created a stirring score that seamlessly stitches the play together. With the cast in full voice and a live band on stage, music lovers will find much to uplift and inspire during the show.
In a first for the company, CTC has joined forces with local production company Montello Productions, who are the creative force behind the show.
Directed, produced and designed by the Montello team of Iz Little, Brendan McDougall and Caitlin Soennichsen, and ably supported by CTC’s Georgie Heydon, the production embraces the scale and community at the heart of the work. Bringing together generations of first-time performers and experienced actors in an ensemble cast of 45, you’re sure to recognise someone in the cast.
Love and Information offers a theatrical experience unlike anything you’ve seen, so come and experience it for yourself.
Performances from November 20 to December 6 at the Phee Broadway Theatre. Friday and Saturday evenings from 7pm and Sunday matinees from 2pm.
Tickets are available now through Trybooking at https://www.trybooking.com/au/event/1653641
For over five decades, the Maldon Folk Festival has brought music, dancing, and plenty of lively conversation to the historic streets of Maldon.
It returns from October 30 to November 2, continuing a tradition that began in 1974 when a group of central Victorian folk music enthusiasts decided the region needed a festival of its own.
What began as a relatively small gathering has grown into one of the region’s best-known community festivals, attracting musicians, dancers and visitors from across Victoria and beyond.
The first two festivals, held at the Bill Woodfull Oval, were described as little more than social gatherings, with around 150 to 200 musicians and listeners camping at the oval, gathering around campfires and playing sessions at the Kangaroo Hotel.
Over the years, the festival has changed and grown, but that informal, welcoming spirit has remained at its heart.
Previously, the festival was held largely at Butts Reserve at the base of Mount Tarrengower. Today the festival spreads across Maldon, with venues within walking distance of the town centre, making it easy for visitors to wander between performances, workshops and sessions.
There is plenty to choose from, with the program embracing folk, Celtic, bluegrass, bush, gospel and blues music, as well as dance, theatre, poetry, songwriting and interactive workshops.
For those who come for the music, there are performances throughout the weekend, while those wanting to get involved can take part in workshops and sessions.
And then there are the impromptu moments – the tunes that spill out of a venue, the musicians who strike up a conversation with a stranger, and the street performances that carry through the town.
It is that sense of participation that has helped the volunteer-run festival endure.
Maldon Folk Festival president and festival director Pam Lyons said the welcoming atmosphere of Maldon is part of what helps make the festival such a successful community event.
From the first campfire sessions in 1974 to the thousands of tunes played since, the Maldon Folk Festival has become part of the fabric of the town.
The 2026 festival will again offer four days of performances, dancing, workshops and social gatherings, with camping available at the Maldon Football Ground in the centre of town.
Children under 12 are admitted free, while family, youth, day and weekend tickets are available.
All venues are within walking distance of the centre of town and have access for people with a disability.
www.maldonfolkfestival.com/
Award-winning South African vocalist/trumpeter Mandisi Dyantyis is set to hold the opening show of his debut Australian tour at Theatre Royal Castlemaine tonight, October 22.
The jazz virtuoso is heading to Australia as part of a tour to headline Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
This landmark show brings one of Africa’s most compelling contemporary jazz voices to regional Victoria for a night of soulful, uplifting music, in collaboration with local powerhouse Afrospace Interchange.
Mandisi Dyantyis – a trumpeter, vocalist and composer – blends jazz, gospel, and traditional African musical influences into a sound that is both deeply intimate and powerfully expansive.
Known for selling out major venues across South Africa, Dyantyis gained widespread acclaim for his debut album Somandla and his award-winning follow-up Cwaka, which earned a South African Music Award for ‘Best African Adult Contemporary Album’ and amassed over 20 million streams.
Following the release of his third album, Intlambululo: Ukuhlambulula in 2025, and repeated invitations to perform at Herbie Hancock’s International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert, this tour marks a milestone moment as Dyantyis brings his original repertoire to Australian audiences for the
very first time.
Joining Dyantyis for this special performance is Afrospace Interchange, a dynamic seven-piece Melbourne ensemble formed to celebrate the rich tradition of South African jazz.
Co-led by bassist Zvi Belling and pianist Pat Jaffe, the collective coalesces around the extraordinary drumming of living legend Brian Abrahams (who has performed alongside jazz icons Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson and Abdullah Ibrahim).
Having honed their sound through a cult weekly residency at Fitzroy’s Old Plates Record Bar – hosting over 150 local and international guest improvisers across the past three years – Afrospace Interchange brings an undeniable groove and joyous spirit to the stage.
Afrospace Interchange are no strangers to local stages, having already captured the hearts of Castlemaine audiences as a headline act at this year’s Castlemaine Jazz Festival, where their electrifying performance earned them a resounding standing ovation.
Dyantyis’ music is an accessible, feel-good celebration – delivering an uplifting blend of high-energy grooves and rich African gospel influences that speaks straight to the heart. Together, Dyantyis and Afrospace Interchange will offer central Victorian audiences a vibrant cultural exchange of South
African and Australian jazz improvisation.
The gig will kick off at 7pm. Get your tickets at https://theatreroyalcastlemaine.oztix.com.au/
