Castlemaine Goldfields Football Club officially launched its season last Saturday.
Over 300 members were in attendance to kick off the season with team jersey presentations, a BBQ, and of course, a whole lot of football. Chewton was awash with gold and green!
The launch was attended by junior teams from Under 10s through to Under 16s and their families. A highlight was the U10S and many new players receiving their very first team jersey. This year marks another record for the Goldfields, with 19 junior teams registered – including seven girls’ teams and 12 mixed teams – alongside five senior teams and an impressive 150 MiniRoos players aged five to nine.
In total, the club now boasts well over 600 registered players and volunteers. Supporting this growth are around 75 dedicated volunteers taking on coaching, assistant coaching and team manager roles, underscoring the vital role volunteers play in keeping local sport thriving.
While registrations are strong, there are still some places available in the MiniRoos program.
The club is encouraging families interested in giving soccer a try to get in contact with the MiniRoos kicking off at Chewton this Friday from 5-6pm.
With increasing numbers, space remains a significant challenge. This season, Under 10s and Under 12s teams will play all their home games at the Elsie Palmer Field at Wesley Hill.
The club continues to work closely with Mount Alexander Shire Council as plans progress for two full–sized pitches, lighting and supporting amenities at the site.
These developments are eagerly anticipated, with the Chewton pitch already showing signs of wear and tear due to around 500 players using it for training each week.
Currently, all teams are limited to one training session per week due to space constraints.
With the first round of junior competitions kicking off this weekend, we wish all the players a great first game and a season full of fun and development.
Seniors battle it out
In Seniors action last Sunday April 26 the Castlemaine Goldfields Division 1 Women’s side hosted Eaglehawk at Chewton in round 3 action and posted a massive 10-0 win over the visitors. Goal kickers for Castlemaine were Sophie Milton 3, Kasey Sparks 3, Fianna Gardner 2, Sienna Abicare and Kirsten Audehm.
The Youth side made the trek to Strathdale but after a tight contest recorded a 0-0 draw.
The Castlemaine Goldfields Men’s Metro League North West 5 squad kicked off their season with a 3-1 loss to Caroline Springs George Cross FC. Goal kicker for Goldfields was Jasper Amoi.

Lily Tuck

Despite a large number of cyclists in favour of the shire joining Bicycle Network’s Super Tuesday count in 2027, the Mount Alexander Shire Council has instead chosen to conduct their own count.
Next Tuesday, May 5, the council will conduct an active transport data collection. The count will take place between 7.30 am and 9.30 am, across 15 sites. It will record the number of pedestrians, cyclists, people using mobility aids or scooters, and people with prams. Direction of travel and time intervals will also be noted.
A community-led petition, submitted to the council in April, urging the council to take part in Australia’s largest standardised commuter cycling survey, has gathered 355 signatures.
Petition organiser and local bike shop owner Matthias Bringezu said he is disappointed with the outcome.
“A hastily organised count, two months later than the Super Tuesday, will not provide data comparable, nor will it get that reach as data collected and made accessible by Bicycle Network,” he said.
Despite his reservations, Matthias is encouraging cyclists to make the best of it, calling for May 5 to be ‘Ride to Everywhere Day’, asking riders to be visible on tracks, roads and bike lanes across town.
The petition raises concerns about data quality and the need for Castlemaine’s cycling figures to align with state and federal methodologies, arguing that without comparable data, the town risks missing out on infrastructure funding and its cycling community remains undercounted.
Responding to the petition during question time, the Director of Infrastructure, Michael Annear, said that the council would not join Super Tuesday and would instead conduct its own count using staff and volunteers.
“We believe we can collect data and maximise the resources available to us by undertaking the count ourselves,” he said.
Super Tuesday costs between $300 and $415 per site, with Bicycle Network coordinating local volunteer recruitment. Each volunteer nominates a non-profit to receive a $70 donation. The Bicycle Network handles all data collation, analysis and final reporting.
In response to questions regarding the estimated cost of the Active Transport data collection, a council representative told the Mail that the count will take approximately 20 hours of staff time.
“The council will collate and analyse the data and share results with the Active Transport Working Group, the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning (DTP). The data will also be used to inform priorities, future investment, and to support future funding applications,” they said.
In an update posted to his petition, Matthias outlined his concerns surrounding the timing and reach of the council’s approach.
Super Tuesday is held nationally on the first Tuesday of March, when Castlemaine averages a daily maximum of around 25°C. The council’s count will take place in May, where temperatures are presumed to drop to 16°C according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
Matthias pointed out that the data collected will not be comparable or have the same reach and accessibility as the Bicycle Network’s.
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s count, Matthias is asking every Castlemaine cyclist to be visible: wear high-vis, light up and take their usual routes.
“We should focus on the positives and make the best of it,” he said.
“If you are a cyclist, you should be seen on the tracks, roads, and the few bike lanes we have that morning. Wear high-visibility clothing, have your lights on, stay safe and make it count,” Matthias said.
A formal council response to the petition is due within two scheduled meetings. Whether it addresses the question of nationally comparable data, the door, Matthias says, remains open for community-funded Super Tuesday participation in 2027.

Jade Jungwirth

Power, Prosperity and Planet: Climate & Energy Policy for All will launch at Stoneman’s Bookroom this Sunday, where the writer Thom Woodroofe, joined by special guest Simon Holmes á Court, will discuss why good climate and energy policy should cost people less each month, not more.
Drawing on his vast policy expertise and political insights, Woodroofe has written a timely and informative book outlining the importance of widening the support base for action by making climate and energy policy work for all Australians.
The book succinctly outlines why the next wave of policy must focus intently on middle Australia, designing policies that make sense from the Cabinet Room to every lounge room across the mortgage belts and beyond.
“For about the last 15 years, give or take, I’ve had the great privilege to work at the pretty lofty halls of climate and energy policy internationally,” Woodroofe said.
“Having just moved back to Australia after a long time overseas, a couple of things have really struck me. One of which is that despite all the talk of the importance of the Paris Agreement, the importance of reaching net zero emissions and all these other highfalutin notions, there are still a large number of people in this country for whom that is either not resonating or the transition is not benefiting them.
“At the same time, there’s a whole bunch of people who want to move and often are moving to the extent they can in terms of their own household transition.”
Spending much of his working life looking at the transition from the top down (he played a key role in securing the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015, including helping establish the High Ambition Coalition of progressive nations, worked as chief of staff to former PM Kevin Rudd, for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Washington DC, and forged a backchannel for US–China climate talks during his time at the Asia Society in New York), Woodroofe said he wanted the book to chart the three big transitions the country needed to make.
“These are: what we do with our clean power or our power system, what we do with our source of economic prosperity, which at the moment is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, and what we do in terms of our planet and our natural resilience.”
Throughout the book, Woodroofe draws on his personal experiences, including growing up on a farm between Castlemaine and Maldon.
“My family moved there when I was seven. There was no electricity, there was no running water, there was no gas, and no rubbish collection, but of course, the shire council charged full rates!”
His parents used a generator to power the bare necessities of lights and charging the laptop, but the diesel-fueled device was unable to run heating, cooling or even an iron or most kitchen appliances.
“I talk in the book about how, as kids growing up, we used to be very disciplined with our homework because we only had an hour and a half of our mother’s laptop’s battery life to be able to get something done before it ran out!
“But the really transformational story that I talk about is when I was 16, so it was 2005, the Howard government introduced the first serious solar panel subsidy in Australia. Solar panels were pretty expensive back then, but people got about 20 per cent of their outlay back. My parents took that subsidy up, and for the first time, we had regular electricity,” he said.
Woodroofe uses this example to demonstrate the transformational potential of renewable energy, and noted 10 million Australians could now to go to sleep each night under the power of solar panels.
“For all of them, they now see, feel and experience that transformational potential, albeit perhaps in a slightly different way, but for me, it was a very early lesson in energy literacy,” he said.
Woodroofe said that while climate change affected us all, the arguments for climate action were rarely framed in terms of the impact on ordinary Australians.
“In the face of high electricity and petrol prices, how can more households benefit from cheaper renewable energy and electric vehicles?” he asked.
“Given our continued reliance on fossil fuel exports, how can Australia avoid falling off an economic cliff in the coming decades? With swathes of the country at risk of climate-related disasters, how can we enhance our resilience and avoid insurance loss? And what are the real benefits of seeking to be an international climate leader?”
Power, Prosperity & Planet will launch this Sunday, May 3, at 12.45 at Stoneman’s Bookroom, 101 Mostyn Street, Castlemaine.

After four decades, long-running local business Tender Chook has been sold and their last business trading day is today, Friday May 1.
Longtime owners Paul, Effie and Christopher Katis took over the business 26 years ago.
Effie grew up in nearby Kyneton and said her mum and dad ran a very successful small business there for many years.
Effie and Paul met while she was visiting Greece and, after a whirlwind visit to Australia, he later emigrated to start a new life here with Effie.
Going into their own small business was a natural progression.
The business had formerly been operated by Cheryl Maxfield for nine years and prior to that, the McMillan family operated it.
Paul and Effie continued to build on the successful business model over the next two and a half decades.
Their son Christopher has been along for the whole journey.
“We were newly married and I was three months pregnant with Christopher when we took the business on. My parents and our family and friends were incredible helping us along the way,” Effie said.
“We lived in the house out the back for the first 13 years and would put him down for his nap during lunch hour. We had the monitor on as we worked,” Effie said.
Christopher has lots of memories growing up in the store and, in later years, pitched in to help. In fact, he has been working Friday evenings for a number of years, downing tools at his day job and then pulling up his sleeves to assist with the weekend rush.
Paul and Effie say the success of Tender Chook has come down to great customer service, a consistent top quality product, a clean well-presented store, and the relationships they have built and connections they have made with the local community.
They have worked incredibly hard over the last 26 years, initially operating seven days a week, before more recently dropping back to six days.
Paul said for him Christmas has always been the busiest time of the year.
“It was a huge undertaking. Each year we’d roast up to 500 chooks. It takes around 36 hours to prepare and cook them to ensure they are fresh and ready to be collected Christmas morning,” he said.c
Over the years the couple has also thrown their support behind the community that has supported them, sponsoring Castlemaine, Campbells Creek, Harcourt and Newstead FNCs at various times and donating coleslaw and vouchers to assist local schools.
The couple said they have also been very fortunate to have had some great staff over the years. In fact, staff member of 15 years Meghan Pellas will be joining them today for their last shift to help them say farewell and thanks to the community.
A recent Facebook post announcing the sale was met with an outpouring of love, positive feedback and well wishes from the wider community.
“We were really moved by this and it makes all those years of hard work worth it. From the bottom of our hearts, we wish to express our sincere gratitude for the loyalty and support all our customers have given to our business over the last 26 years. We have been truly blessed with the amount of kindness and appreciation that people have shown us for so long,” Effie said.
“This was a tough decision for both Paul and myself, but we knew it was time to move into the next chapter of our lives,” she said.
The couple revealed that the business has been sold to Sideshow Burgers and the store is destined for a refit and new direction. The remodel will begin as early as Saturday and is expected to take around a month.
“We have mixed emotions, whilst we are sad Tender Chook will not be continuing, we are pleased the legacy ends with us and we are looking forward to what’s next,” the couple said.
They are not sure what that looks like at this stage.
“We look forward to taking some time out and thinking about what the future looks like. We are not retiring just yet, but we look forward to being able to spend more time with our extended family and friends and having our weekends back!” they said.