Please be advised that Council hubs and libraries will open from 10 am to 12 pm, close over lunch and reopen in the afternoon. Trentham Transfer Station will open at 10 am, one hour later than usual.
Council has engaged CollectAU to assist in the recovery of rates and charges which are overdue from the 2024/25 financial year. If you receive correspondence from CollectAU regarding outstanding rates via email, post, or SMS, please contact CollectAU as soon as possible to discuss your options.
The Fire Danger Period for Hepburn Shire started at 1 am on Monday 24 November.
Published on 25 February 2026
I hope everyone has had the opportunity to pause and recharge over Christmas. This year is going to be busy and I am looking forward to collaborating with our community, Councillors, officers, our neighbouring councils and state government over the coming year.
At the local level we are heading to our local community events starting with the ChillOut Festival on the Labour Day weekend in March. This is closely followed by Clunes Booktown on 21-22 March where book enthusiasts come from around the country to enjoy the written word. CresFest is then on 10-12 April, Creswick will light up with an amazing array of talent. Finally, we have Spudfest in Trentham on 2-3 May which keeps on getting improved every year.
Behind the scenes we have lots of work to do. Underpinning everything we do is the challenge all local governments face in relation to sustainability. All councils are in an environment where we are constrained in our ability to raise revenue and there are increasing reductions in funding from state and federal government. The traditional approaches where our core infrastructure is ageing and needs replacement is in most cases not an option. We are going to be focusing on working with government in an advocacy role together with our surrounding councils and I am keen for this Council to take a leadership role in this space.
Some important things to look out for will be our aquatics strategy and revamping our engagement framework – all which needs community input. Keep safe and I am looking forward to working with everyone over the coming 12 months.