Gold Camp Castlemaine is inviting the whole of Castlemaine to attend one of two public meetings at the Castlemaine Town Hall on Thursday, June 11, to look at a new vision for Camp Reserve.
The group said the new plan could potentially break the current impasse and offer a once-in-a-lifetime redevelopment that delivers premier facilities for sporting clubs, Camp Reserve user groups, and the community.
Group organisers told the Mail that the new plan draws on the body of work already compiled by the council and aligns with sports codes and multiple levels of policy.
Gold Camp Castlemaine has engaged Rush\Wright Associates and their team of consultants to review the planning application for Camp Reserve PA077/2025. They say the result is fresh and inspiring, could unite the community and tick all the boxes on everybody’s wish list.
As well as meeting relevant planning policy, the plan would keep the essence of the Camp’s historic landscape, which can then be restored.
The group are hopeful all parties will see merit in this review and rethink, including all the sports clubs and community groups that have given feedback in the past.
The two sessions will take place from 4 pm-5.30 pm and from 6pm-7.30pm.
You can find out more, meet the external consultant team, ask questions and see what you think.
“It is time to bring the community together with a plan that delivers for everyone in the shire,” a Gold Camp Castlemaine spokesperson said.
Everyone is warmly welcome.
It was all action stations at Castlemaine Town Hall last Sunday as artists delivered their artworks for the 37th Rotary Castlemaine Art Show.
The show was officially opened last night with a Gala Opening event to announce the 2026 award winners.
The crowd enjoying entertainment by The Blackbird Echo, a central-west Victorian duo combining jazz, soul, country and blues influences.
With an incredible 510 works from 166 artists from across Victoria and beyond in a wide array of mediums, there’s sure to be something for all tastes.
Art Show curator Catherine Tait designs the show through the week with a fantastic team of volunteer helpers.
“Once again, we have a wonderful display of artistic talents. The diversity and range of work from beginners to experienced artists amazes me. It’s a wonderful opportunity to support Rotary Castlemaine,” Catherine said
The Art Show is open to the public from 10am daily, Friday through Monday, across the King’s Birthday long weekend June 5-8. Adult entry to the show is $8.
The Rotary Castlemaine Art Show Raffle this year features a limited edition print of a Peter Kingston watercolour. Tickets, $2, available at the door.
Funds raised from the event will be directed to a range of community groups and projects.
Jade Jungwirth
“I think teaching is the most important job in the world – it is a privilege to stand in front of a classroom and say, ‘You’ve got to change the world – you’ve got a big job to do, and I want to help you get ready for that.'”
After half a century in education, teacher and artist Ken still lights up when he talks about the classroom.
Last Sunday, Ken was recognised for 50 years of service to the Victorian Education Department at a ceremony held at Pullman on the Park in East Melbourne — a milestone few teachers ever reach.
Despite officially spending 45 years in the classroom, Ken’s teaching career began five years earlier when he began studying.
“I got a studentship, so the Education Department paid me to go to university, because they were short of teachers. I was bonded to be a teacher in the technical school for two years,” he said.
Ken completed a three-year diploma in fine art and spent several years developing his own arts practice as part of his agreement to work at the technical school.
He worked in nurseries in the Grampians and then in Bendigo, while exhibiting drawings in galleries across Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra.
One early exhibition at Richmond’s Christine Abrahams Gallery proved a career-defining moment.
“I sold everything, including to the National Gallery of Victoria, which was pretty exciting.”
His drawings also earned him finalist spots in the prestigious Faber-Castell Drawing Prize, and many of the works that he exhibited were bought by Artbank.
Ken’s first teaching post was at Mooroolbark Tech in 1980, before being transferred to Hamilton Tech — his twelfth preference on a list of schools offering senior art programs.
He stayed for five years and then applied for a job in Castlemaine – he arrived in 1986 and never left.
At the time, the town’s arts scene was flourishing. Artists were moving to the region in large numbers, and the Castlemaine Technical School’s T.O.P (Tertiary Orientation Program) was considered one of the best in Victoria.
Back then, the Year 12 art department was run out of the top floor of a building in Lyttleton Street, across the road from Togs.
The T.O.P course offered students an intensive arts education, including English, art history, ceramics, photography, graphic design, fine art, and life drawing.
“It was an amazing course and an incredible team of teachers,” Ken said.
He joined the Castlemaine Arts Co-op — later known as Castlemaine Artists Inc — eventually becoming president of the organisation, which had over 200 members at its peak.
Monthly gatherings at Wallace Brothers Gallery and the old Brickworks in ‘Little Bendigo’ became legendary.
“We used to show movies and one of the members would show their work and give a talk. There’d be discussions and critique sessions, and there’d be lots of drinking and brawling… but everyone would kiss and make up,” Ken said.
The second instalment of Ken’s two-part interview will be published in the next edition of the Castlemaine Mail on June 5.
Aimee Chapman, Newstead
I support flood mitigation work in Newstead. What I do not support is a process in which council advances a preferred option despite worsening flood outcomes for a small number of identifiable homes, without those owners being directly and clearly notified of the specific impact on their property.
My concern is not that no community consultation occurred. My concern is that general consultation through public meetings, flyers, notices and broad invitations to participate is not the same thing as direct, property-specific notification once council had identified that its preferred option would adversely affect a limited number of homes.
In our case, neither my mother nor I were directly informed that our home was among the properties facing worsened flood outcomes under Option 6.
I only came across the relevant flood study material by chance while researching a separate project involving flood-affected communities in another shire. Otherwise, we would have remained unaware that our property was among the homes at risk under the preferred option. We then had to work through technical documents that were not clearly labelled and repeatedly follow up after earlier emails received no response at all.
We were also given no clear indication that any support, mitigation or compensation was in place for the small number of households whose flood outcomes would be worsened under the preferred option. That makes direct notice and transparency even more important.
I have repeatedly raised these concerns directly with council, including through formal correspondence to the mayor and a formal complaint to the CEO, yet I have still received no substantive response addressing the core issues.
If a flood mitigation option benefits the township overall but makes a smaller number of homes worse off, that fact must be made transparent. Those owners should be written to directly, clearly told the impact on their property, contacted by phone, and offered individual meetings before any vote to proceed.
General community consultation is not an adequate substitute for that level of notice.
This is not an argument against flood mitigation. It is an argument for fairness, transparency and proper treatment of the households most directly affected by council’s chosen option.
Kevin Sharkey, Castlemaine
Tim Matheson, President of the Castlemaine Football Netball Club, was quoted in local media last week, expressing surprise and disappointment at Mount Alexander Shire Council’s decision to knock back the proposed redevelopment of the Camp Reserve.
Like Tim and many other people, I too am disappointed and surprised with this decision. What appears to be the primary sticking point is the removal of a couple of established native trees at the southern end of the precinct. Aside from their inherent value, no one has yet been able to adequately explain why they should be retained at the expense of an outstanding plan to renew the sporting facilities of the Camp Reserve to make them fit for purpose for generations to come.
Old photos of the Camp and surroundings show no trees in the area. Indeed one such photo published in the Mail a year or so back shows a grandstand in the footprint of the proposed pavilion. Being relatively young, as far as tree ages go, they have no connection to the either Dja Dja Wurrung heritage, or to the colonial era settlement of the area.
As a show of good faith, given that being a sports lover and participant does not preclude us from valuing and nurturing our environment, I am confident that the football, netball, cricket and other sports and community groups and any individuals that will greatly benefit from the upgraded facility could effectively work with council and landcare groups in the area to plant, say 1000 trees, where they are needed.
This would not only make up for the very small number that would be lost in the redevelopment, but presents a golden opportunity for council to show some leadership by approving the proposed redevelopment. This would bring the community together, not set us apart as is currently the case.
Ron Cawthan, Castlemaine Football Netball Club Life Member
A sad day for girls/women’s sport in Castlemaine. At last Tuesday night’s council meeting a last minute amendment to the master plan supported by the mayor killed the redevelopment of Camp Reserve again.
We will continue to expect our girls and women to use substandard rooms and courts. Premier sports ground should be re-titled to reflect the standards of the area.
Wendy Droney, Campbells Creek
As the fourth of six generations of ‘Creekers’, I have no words to describe my feelings when I read eight words at the bottom of the apt headline ‘A TOWN DIVIDED’ on the front page of the Castlemaine Mail, May 22, 2026 and ‘the renaming Campbells Creek to an Indigenous name’ which was added on to yet another controversial, council generated article.
Unfortunately, controversy and divided public opinion appears to be a weekly occurrence in this our shire in recent times.
The water from Campbells Creek runs through my veins as it has through those of my ancestors who, history has shown, were heavily committed to ensuring Campbells Creek, both the town and the waterway, thrived in so many ways.
I have no problem in name changes providing there is a valid reason for doing so, perhaps to recognise an exceptional contribution, but this item was apparently listed on the agenda makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Community consultation in June 2025? Just how transparent are these ‘community consultations’ and particularly only 100 residents were consulted? (page 129 of the May 19 council minutes).
Yet again we are experiencing change for the sake of change and not for the first time either. I defy anyone who had had the misfortune to be notified that their loved one had been admitted to Dhelkaya Health not to be able to guess their first question, walk down the street and verbally ask people the ‘new’ name of Jim Crow Creek (‘verbally’ to prevent Googling) and the outcome would be very predictable.
Unfortunately, it would appear that elected councillors no longer seek the input of ratepayers in their riding but instead use the local government forum to represent particular political parties, minority groups and unidentified social media users who have either got a ‘locked profile’ or some totally identifiable name, or, in the case of the photo on the front page of the Mail, hide behind a placard causing me to seriously question the courage of their convictions.
Councillors, you were elected to represent the ratepayers in your riding, maybe some, and I’m not saying all, need to show some interest in the opinions of the people who elected them and act accordingly.
One can only hope that commonsense will once again prevail in local government as it has in the past or there might just become a time when the need for a third tier of government is questioned.
