Eve Lamb
Plans to create a new rock climbing club are among a suite of new outdoor adventures and cultural opportunities planned for Castlemaine and surrounds.
Experienced rock climbing instructor Emma Dubuc runs not for profit Mirawara Outdoor Experiences which is preparing to host famed rewilding mentor Claire Dunn as part of an educational and culturally enriching three-day camping experience over April 9-11.
Set for the Walmer bushland the upcoming Way of the Ancestors camp will also feature Dja Dja Wurrung Indigenous elder Aunty Marilyn Nichols who will share knowledge of traditional Indigenous culture including some hands-on basket weaving techniques.
“We need to learn from the Indigenous ways of living more sustainably,” says Ms Dubuc whose background is in outdoor education.
“A main focus is to reconnect kids with nature.”
As part of next month’s two-night camp, Claire Dunn bestselling author of My Year without Matches and Rewilding the urban soul will share her know-how and survival skills including… Read more in today’s Mail
Outdoors adventures rock
Planning a bright future for Buda
Staff and volunteers are celebrating this week after Buda Historic Home & Garden received $60,000 towards the development of a Masterplan through the Investment Fast Track Fund.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited the much loved Castlemaine tourist attraction on Tuesday to make the successful funding announcement.
Ms Edwards congratulated the dedicated Buda team on their recent improvement works and their successful funding application.
“Buda Historic Home & Garden is an iconic part of Castlemaine and is significant not only for the local region, but for Victoria.
I congratulate the director, the committee and the many volunteers who continue to maintain this beautiful homestead and garden for the benefit of all,” she said. See the Mail for the full story…
Arts Open continues this weekend
Visitors from far and wide descended on the Mount Alexander Shire last weekend for the opening weekend of Arts Open 2022 – Meet the Makers.
Don’t be alarmed if you missed it as the good news is the event continues this weekend – March 19 and 20!
Arts Open 2022 sees more than 120 artists and organisations open their studios and host exhibitions, workshops and shows.
Designed to promote regional visual arts on Dja Dja Wurrung country in the historic townships of Castlemaine, Newstead, Maldon, Taradale, Chewton and beyond, the event offers a rare opportunity to engage with artists and their work in their natural habitat, explore the cultural tourism of the Mount Alexander Shire and celebrate the truly awesome arts and culture the region is renowned for.
Among the artists to be featured are ‘The Granite Girls’.
Whilst being restricted from meeting indoors during the pandemic the group of local artists – Zoe Amor, Hilary Finch, Sue McLeod, Denise Martin and Catherine Pilgrim – gathered amongst the granite boulders to talk art, creativity and inspiration.
Premiers crowned in CDCA
Castlemaine District Cricket Association (CDCA) grand finals were battled out across all grades last Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Some top contests were enjoyed by spectators throughout the region. Our photographer Max Lesser was on hand to capture the scenes at the A Grade matches between five time consecutive winners Barkers Creek and Castlemaine United at Camp Reserve and the Taradale and Newstead clubs have also shared pics of their happy winning sides. Congratulations to all the 2021-2022 Premiers. See the Mail for our spread…
Castlemaine Idyll ready to launch!
Castlemaine Idyll returns to Lot 19 this Sunday March 20 to once again give aspiring stars their moment in the spotlight to shine.
Tickets are selling fast and the judges have been announced!
The three judges for Castlemaine Idyll 2022 are multi-talented singer and performer Aurora Kurth, writer and broadcaster Clementine Ford and Bridge Hotel publican Pat Furze.
The man behind the event, Lot 19 Art Precinct’s Mark Anstey said they are excited to be able to announce their team of three amazing judges for 2022.
“It’s a real joy and honour to have them contribute their time to our event,” Anstey said.
“Castlemaine Idyll is an uplifting, collaborative community event which brings joy and connection, and these judges are no exception,” Mark added.
In 2022, Castlemaine Idyll is celebrating with musical treats to the theme of ‘Chutzpah’ – with contestants bravely giving it their all.
Fete fun set to return
Campbells Creek Primary School is holding its Twilight Easter Fete on Friday April 1.
The special event will bring the local community together for some well overdue fun and will run from 4pm until 8pm.
Campbells Creek Primary School principal Rosie Critchley said the fete will be a great opportunity to show off their amazing school to new and existing families in the district and highlight what they have to offer.
“The last two years have proven to be incredibly challenging to find opportunities to raise funds for our school,” Rosie said.
“Our last fete in 2019 helped pay for our new basketball/netball court. All the money raised from this year’s Twilight Easter Fete will go directly towards replacing the carpet throughout our school,” she said. See the Mail for more details…
Throne of potentiality
Castlemaine’s Billmans Foundry and creatives from Lot 19 Arts Precinct have assisted American conceptual ritualistic artist Stevens Vaughn to bring his latest work dubbed the ‘Throne of Potentiality’ to life.
Stevens and partner Rodney Cone were on their way from China to Chile as the pandemic took hold in March 2020 and during a stop over in Australia made the snap decision to stay a month or two until the covid outbreak in China, Europe and America resolved.
Two years later they are still here.
The pair were embraced by the Lorne community where Stevens was invited to create a work for this weekend’s long awaited Lorne Biennale.
“When we made the decision to stop over in Australia we could never have foreseen what we would find here. We have been embraced by two incredible communities and this latest work would not have been possible without them,” Stevens said.
See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.
What the arts are worth
Eve Lamb
The arts are worth a whopping $107 million per annum to the wider Mount Alexander Shire the latest analysis of state government data has found.
The findings come as local peak business group Business Mount Alexander launches a new project aimed at enhancing the commercial clout and business savvy of local creatives.
“That $107 million per annum finding comes from state government figures and it includes all the flow-on from the arts like visitations to the area and spend on retail, hospitality and accommodation as well as what artists themselves spend in other businesses to create their work,” Business Mount Alexander’s Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns says.
The findings on the economic contribution made by the arts to the shire’s economy also comes as more than 100 local artists welcome visitors to their studios as part of the shire’s annual Arts Open program over this Labour Day long weekend and the following weekend.
The impressive figures highlighting the worth of the arts in their myriad forms coincides also with local arts-rich festivals including this weekend’s Harcourt Applefest and also Castlemaine Idyll and the Fantastico Variety Show later this month.
Business Mount Alexander is preparing to stage a two-day conference to be held in Castlemaine next month, bringing the shire’s creatives and business brains together to network, collaborate, and beef up the business savvy of local creatives while also … Read more in today’s Mail
Arts Open – Meet the Makers
Arts Open returns this weekend. Over 120 artists and organisations have responded to the Arts Open 2022 call to plan events, open studios and host exhibitions, workshops and shows for the weekends of March 12, 13, 14 and 19-20.
Designed to promote regional visual arts on Dja Dja Wurrung country in the historic townships of Castlemaine, Newstead, Maldon, Taradale, Chewton and beyond, the event offers a rare opportunity to engage with artists and their work in their natural habitat, explore the cultural tourism of the Mount Alexander Shire and celebrate the truly awesome arts and culture this region is renowned for. Among the exhibitors will be local centenarian and living treasure Peggy Shaw’s amazing watercolours will feature in a AO group exhibition at the Castlemaine Market Building. See the Mail and our Arts Open feature for all the details on this amazing event.
Autopia set to blast off
Motoring enthusiasts from far and wide will roll into town this Labour Day long weekend for the highly anticipated Autopia 2022 at Autoplex Castlemaine. The theme for this year is the ‘Future Of Hot Rodding’.
More than a dozen of our future hot rodders will be displaying their project cars in the main corridor of the trade training building from Saturday March 12 to Monday March 14.
Other attractions will include the T bucket Cruise-in, classic wooden speedboats and on Sunday March 13 only the Castlemaine Model Show. See the Mail for more…
Women’s footy returns after 74 years
A crowd of more than 100 watched on at Wesley Hill Recreation Reserve on Saturday evening, taking in the first match by a women’s football team from the Castlemaine and Mount Alexander region since 1948.
The game saw local side Mt Alexander Falcons, representing the women and gender diverse people of Mount Alexander Shire, take on the West Brunswick Magpies, in an energetic and entertaining match of heavy bumps and hard-ball gets.
Bridging the 74-year gap between the games was Mavis Herbert, who represented the Castlemaine women’s team in 1948 and was welcomed into the Falcons’ changerooms before Saturday’s game as a very special guest. See the Mail for the full story. Out Now.
Kate Ceberano to visit
Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal hosts a live performance by jazz-funk-pop diva Kate Ceberano next week.
Ceberano’s live gig at the local venue is part of her current east-coast Aussie tour featuring tracks from her latest album Sweet Inspiration for which the funky diva penned the original singles Hold On and title track Sweet Inspiration.
Produced last year during lockdown, Sweet Inspiration is Ceberano’s 28th album and debuted in the top five on the ARIA Albums Chart. See today’s Mail for Eve Lamb’s interview with the star.