Mayor and Councillors

Coliban Ward Councillor

Mobile: 0427 797 151

Email: bhood@hepburn.vic.gov.au

Cr Brian Hood was elected to represent Coliban Ward in October 2020. Councillors elected him Mayor in November 2022.

Cr Hood represents Council on the:

• Committee of Management for DELWP
• Audit and Risk Committee
• Reconciliation Action Plan Advisory Committee
• Loddon-Campaspe Group of Councils
• Central Highlands Councils Victoria

Cr Hood held a number of senior management positions across public and private sector organisations, mostly as a Chief Finance Officer. He is a company director and co-chairs the company that operates the Trentham & District Community Bank.

Cr Hood played football as a teenager. He was an AFL level umpire and secretary of the AFL Umpires Association and is a life member of that organisation. His sporting interests are AFL (Western Bulldogs), EPL (Liverpool) and athletics.

Cr Hood wants to help make our shire an even better place to live and work. His immediate focus is for Council to concentrate on delivering essential services to meet community needs, to undertake storm recovery work on roads in particular and to strengthen the fundamental operations of Council to make it more sustainable. He also wants to see Council complete important projects, such as the Trentham Community Hub, Trentham Sportsground upgrade and Creswick Trails, with infrastructure that serves the community’s long-term needs.

Cr Hood was Deputy Mayor from 2020 to 2021.

Birch Ward Councillor

Mobile: 0408 793 941

Email: lhewitt@hepburn.vic.gov.au

Cr Lesley Hewitt was elected to represent Birch Ward Councillor in October 2020. She is one of two councillors representing Birch Ward and Councillors voted her Deputy Mayor in November 2022.

She represents Council on the:

• Municipal Association of Victoria
• Committee of Management for DELWP
• Disability Advisory Committee
• Gender Equity Advisory Committee

Cr Hewitt is a retired social worker and a former Hepburn Shire Council Mayor (2020). She has worked in sexual assault and child protection front line services and policy development and has lectured at Monash University where her research interests included interpersonal violence, program evaluation and social inclusion. Cr Hewitt was inducted onto the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll in 2010.

Cr Hewitt is a bush walker and coaches at Daylesford RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association of Victoria). She aspires to a strong economic recovery post-COVID, and an active and engaged community that uses locals’ skills and knowledge to secure 21st century infrastructure to improve liveability across the shire.

Cr Hewitt was Mayor from 2020 to 2021.

Creswick Ward Councillor

Phone: 0427 503 258

Email: tdrylie@hepburn.vic.gov.au

Cr Tim Drylie was elected to Council in October 2020.

He represents Council on the:

• Committee of Management for DELWP
• Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group Forum
• Public Art Advisory Committee (as an alternative)

Cr Drylie grew up in Warrnambool in Western Victoria and completed a music scholarship at The University High School in Melbourne. He has a BA in Drama from Latrobe University and PostGradDip and has begun a MA in Cinema Studies from The University of Melbourne. He has worked with ABC TV in Melbourne as an Assistant Director and Floor Manager, tutored at the University of Melbourne, and has run a vintage furniture store in Montmorency.

He has three teenage children, lives in Creswick and runs a second-hand business. Cr Drylie also coordinates the Creswick Market and Hepburn Z-NET Home Energy Assessments. He is a member of the Transition Creswick sustainability group, Creswick Theatre Company and the Z-NET roundtable committee. He is a lead vocalist with the Creswick Brass Band. 

Cr Drylie was Mayor from 2021 to 2022.

Cameron Ward Councillor

Mobile: 0427 596 101

Email: thalliday@hepburn.vic.gov.au

Cr Tessa Halliday was elected to represent Cameron Ward in October 2020.

She represents Council on the:

• LGBTIQA+ Advisory Committee

Cr Halliday moved to Clunes in 2011 where she has six hectares and breeds Suffolk sheep. She started and ran Open House Dinners in Clunes for 18 months, an affordable healthy meal program that feeds 40-70 people.

Cr Halliday is a member of Clunes and District Agricultural Society and ChillOut Festival Daylesford. She has held roles in the Clunes Farmers Market, the Clunes Makers Market and the Clunes Landcare and Waterways Group and has run other small wellbeing groups and events. She is focused on ensuring her constituents feel informed and valued through communication, community consultation and transparency.

Cr Halliday is a proud bisexual, and non binary.

Creswick Ward Councillor

Mobile: 0427 559 684

Email: dhenderson@hepburn.vic.gov.au

Cr Don Henderson was elected to represent Creswick Ward in October 2020.

He represents Council on the:

• Committee of Management for DELWP
• World Heritage Listing of the Victorian Goldfields Region Steering Committee
• 2021 Heather Mutimer International Women’s Day Honour Roll Interim Selection Panel
• Collection of Firewood Local Law no. 2 Community Reference Group

Cr Henderson is a self-funded retiree and has been on Council since 2008. He has worked as a self-employed construction contractor and safety and industrial relations consultant. He has been advisor to the Australian Workers Union and the Victorian Building Industry Board, been president of the Ballarat Trades and Labour Council and has held roles with the inaugural steering committee of National Women in Construction, the Building Workers Industrial Union and has served as a board member/director on company and industry boards and the Homeless Building Trust.

Cr Henderson was born and raised on the Creswick goldfields. He wants to preserve nature and our built and natural heritage. He is passionate about community and empowering people, especially young people, to achieve their life goals. He has met and chatted with Nelson Mandela.

Holcombe Ward Councillor

Mobile: 0427 855 603

Email: jsimpson@hepburn.vic.gov.au

Cr Juliet Simpson was elected to represent Holcombe Ward in October 2020.

She represents Council on the Audit and Risk Committee.

Cr Simpson is a beef farmer and passionate gardener and is regenerating part of her farm with native flora. She has worked as a hotel concierge, a bank customer service officer and has been a director of the Nowranie Pastoral Company.

She is an active member of the Daylesford Historical Society, the Daylesford Horticultural Society and Glenlyon and Upper Loddon Landcare.

Cr Simpson wants to ensure the highest standards of governance are met and to represent her ward and the shire fairly.