A SIX-HECTARE grass and scrub fire started just after noon at the Epsom Sewage Treatment Plant today. About 40 firefighters from both the CFA and DSE brought the blaze under control in just 20 minutes. A CFA spokesperson said the fire was believed to have started accidentally by a workma..

Bill Hearne is one of our newest Australians, making his affirmation as a citizen at the ceremony held in Bendigo yesterday. That now makes all seven Hearnes dinky-di, with Bill and eldest son William taking part in this year’s Australia Day ceremony a little later than the rest. “Th..

IT’S no surprise flags were the order of the day yesterday as Bendigo residents took Australia Day to their hearts. Celebrations were held across the city, with citizenship ceremonies leading the festivities. But after the oaths and the speeches it was down to waving the flags and back to ..

Fortuna is being used as a political football City of Greater Bendigo council has committed to asking the Federal and State Governments to meet “face to face” to discuss the stalled redevelopment of Fortuna Villa. A petition from the Friends of Fortuna was voted on at the c..

You know him from that Eaglehawk UFS TV ad, surrounded by the many locals who have been on the receiving end of his benevolence. Laurie Fitzgerald might come across as the Pied Piper, but he’s naturally a shy soul, whose sublime community work has thrust him into the local spotlight. &ldqu..

By ANTHONY RADFORD and BEN CAMERON THE City of Greater Bendigo council has given Bendigo Stadium approval to borrow almost $1 million to buy pokies, despite fighting against it acquiring more. The loan is needed in response to the changes to gaming licences, brought in by the former State Govern..

TWO people died when the Tiger Moth plane they were in crashed at the Maryborough airport today. Emergency services were called to the Maryborough Airport just after 5.10pm. The crash sparked a grass fire at the airport, which has been extinguished by the CFA. The Australian Transport..

HEALTH Minister David Davis has hosted a roundtable of Victorian families at Parliament House to share ideas on healthy eating. Speaking at the Victorian consultation forum of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, Mr Davis said he was de..

PREMIER Ted Baillieu has announced his controversial chief of staff will be moving on. Michael Kapel, who met with Sir Ken Jones at the height of the Simon Overland tensions, will become the government’s Commissioner for the Americas. “Throughout the past five years Mr Kapel, a..

MEMBER for Bendigo East and Shadow Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan has urged the State Government to take Heinz products off their menus. More than 140 workers were made jobless when Heinz’s Gigarre factory, which makes tomato sauce, closed down earlier this month..

ENVIRONMENT and Climate Change Minister Ryan Smith has announced a $15.4 million funding package which will help rebuild and repair public infrastructure in flood-affected communities across Victoria. Mr Smith said the funding would be shared by around 28 local communities to re-build shared..

VICTORIANS continue to favour old-fashioned classics for their newborns with Mia and Jack the most popular names for 2011. Acting Attorney-General Andrew McIntosh announced the most populargirls’ names during the past year were Mia, Ruby, Olivia, Chloe and Charlotte. The boys&rsqu..

All Australian Army Reserve Armoured Corps will receive Bendigo-built Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles to provide protected transport for troops as part of reforms announced today. Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Senator David Feeney, and Commander 2nd Division, Major General..

Sir Zelman Cowen, who died yesterday in Melbourne, aged 92, will be remembered for his "healing touch", Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. "The modern prestige of the office can be greatly credited to his healing touch and for this alone I believe we owe him a debt of gratitude," Ms Gillard ..

A history of a historian and a book about bad war deeds have split the money in this year's Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History. A Three-cornered Life: The Historian WK Hancock by Jim Davidson and Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Mutiny and Murder in the Great War by Peter Stanley each ..

Shepparton is one of ten centres which will trial a support program for teenage parents to complete education and enter the workforce. The federal government announced the Teenage Parent trial will begin in 10 "disadvantaged locations" from January. People on income support for more than..

A print and publishing network will help industry face the "overlapping issues and challenges" of digital technologies, the federal minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Industry said Noterday. Speaking at the handover of a year-long study into digital publishing, Senator Kim Carr s..

Bendigo home owners have been given some relief, with the Reserve Bank board today agreeing to slash interest rates by 0.25 per cent. At its meeting today, the bank decided to lower the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.5 per cent, effective 2 November 2011. The statement from Reserve B..

THE GIG GUIDE Friday, January 27 THE BASEMENT BAR The Well Hungarians from 9pm. Free HAPPY JACK RESERVE, LOCKWOOD SOUTH The Old Buzzard Medicine Show with Urban Creatures from 7pm. THE GOLDEN VINE The ..

The Bendigo music invasion continues, as a move to Melbourne four years ago starts to pay dividends for Neil Wilkinson. The guitarist relished the ultimate homecoming last April when his brooding, psych-rock band Redcoats played Groovin The Moo. And less than a year later, they’ve crac..

Clairy Browne wears her heart on her sultry sleeve. “I’m definitely a woman of heartbreak,” Browne admits, the leading lady of nine piece the Bangin’ Rackettes, whose rich layers of northern soul, jump blues, doo-wop, ska and gospel, are winning a “shit tonne o..

It’s not every day that you find yourself surrounded by gun-wielding soldiers with your undies around your ankles during a drug bust in the hills of northern Thailand … but that’s exactly what happened when Sunshine Coast songwriter Ange Takats took up a job as a foreign corre..

Forget those overhyped warblers, the Spice Girls. When it comes to genuine girl power, Stonefield are a four piece force of nature. Ever since winning Triple J’s Unearthed High competition in 2010, the rocking sister act from Darraweit Guim have stormed the Australian indie music scene..

Despite 25 years in the music business, singing in front of her family still makes Vika Bull a little weak at the knees. “You do get nervous (performing) in front of your family,” she says. "They’re usually our worst gigs. “It’s really stup..

Needing to win all of its four remaining games to safely lock down a play off position, and with an injured Kristi Harrower, Bendigo Spirit coach Bernie Harrower is all too aware of the huge challenge that awaits his charges this weekend. Crunch time has officially arrived for the fifth placed Spi..

One of the region’s top swimming officials has praised the efforts of the Bendigo East Swimming Club, which mixed it with the best swimming clubs in the state at the Victoria Country Swimming Championships. Championship chief official Margaret Lang said East’s effort to ..

The Emu Valley Cricket Association has a new ladder leader in Mandurang after United suffered their second straight defeat since the Christmas break. Spring Gully got the perfect start with an opening stand of 173 with skipper Shaun Makepeace leading from the front with a magnificent 115, and grea..

Young Strathfieldsaye quick Lachlan Ross has claimed a hat trick in just his eighth senior match of BDCA cricket, and broken a 27-year club drought in the process. It was a memorable afternoon for the 16-year-old, who not only claimed his first-ever wicket in seniors, but his maiden “five f..

It’s been all about development for Bendigo Blue in Division Three of Bendigo Country Week. The colt team, comprising some of Bendigo’s up-and-coming talent, went down in their first three games of the competition, losing to Deniliquin by 128 runs on Monday, 41 runs to Northern United ..

Women’s cricket in Bendigo will continue to grow as the Twenty20 version remains a viable introduction to the traditional format of the game. Speaking after Essendon Maribrynong Park/Western Waves beat Ringwood in the grand final of the women’s division of Bendigo Country Week b..

Bendigo is planning to celebrate the National Year of Reading with a new writers’ festival. The Capital theatre is set to be the location from August 10 to 12 for a three-day program of discussion and events. Building on Bendigo’s strength as a contemporary cultural centre with a ric..

Loong may be a bit faded, and his mirrors a little cracked, but he is famous around the world. This week, conservator Jude Schahinger began a complete nose-to-tail overhaul of the 120-year-old ceremonial dragon, who will take part in the Chinese New Year celebrations on January 28. Working with ..

Grace Kelly exhibition ‘misses out on heart and soul of screen icon’ Bendigo Art Gallery’s celebrity opening party, which will be attended by the new Grace, Princess Charlene of Monaco, will kick off what is likely to be the gallery’s biggest, most talked about ..

A FIRE at a Marong industrial site last week reignited a long-running dispute between landowners. “Our biggest concern is that it’s a fire hazard,” resident Sue McKeown said. “When it was only small it wasn’t an issue, but in the last few years it’s gone craz..

After a decade living back in Bendigo, Noela Stratford is still waiting for that moment when the landscape takes hold of her and won’t let go. “For my work, I have to experience a place with real impact, something that makes me go ‘wow’,” the artist says. She has tr..

BENDIGO’S Thales factory has failed to win a major Federal Government contract, but has “potentially” won another. Up to 1300 light fully armoured protected vehicles may be built at Bendigo’s Thales plant, in a contract worth up to $1.5 billion. However, Thales failed in ..

THE Bendigo Bank has announced it will reduce its variable home loan rates by 0.25 per cent, passing on Tuesday's Reserve Bank rate cut in full. Managing director Mike Hirst said the bank’s pricing decisions aimed to strike a balance between the interests of all stakeholders – its..

BENDIGO and Adelaide Bank has joined the ranks of Australia’s A-rated banks following an upgrade announced by Standard and Poor’s. S and P’s decision to raise the bank’s long-term rating from BBB+ to A– means the bank is now rated A by all three of the world&rsq..

Bendigo can be a national leader in the changing world of energy production, green-conscious City if Greater Bendigo councillor Keith Reynard said this week. Cr Reynard, also the chairman of the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance, said energy production would change significantly in..

Water – a dry topic, you’d think. But the new chairman of Coliban Water sets to explaining the corporation and its objectives with a zeal that is infectious. Bubbling like a spring creek, Andrew Cairns takes to the topic enthusiastically. That’s not..

Central Victoria will boom on the back of the introduction of a carbon tax in Australia, according to a prominent Bendigo company director. “The carbon tax has already had a positive impact on what we’re doing,” Australian Turntable Company and Eco Villages Wo..

IT looks like no decision will be made on Thales’ bid for the lucrative LAND 121 Phase 4 defence contract before Christmas. Under questioning from Bendigo-based Nationals Senrator Bridget McKenzie, Defence Materiel Organisation acting chief executive officer confirmed the decision, del..

The lovely match between cafes and reading has created a partnership that now, tried and tested, looks set to continue. St Luke’s partnered with the Good Loaf bakery and cafe last year for a trial of Saturday morning bookstalls. Developing St Luke’s online social enterprise with Brot..

Meat-lovers rejoice, a new restaurant opening in the former Puddler restaurant in Williamson Street will be a welcome return to the good old steakhouse style. Paul Pitcher, former executive chef at the National and Queen’s Arms hotels for the last seven years is working towards a Valentine&r..

Renowned as one of Bendigo’s best locations for a restaurant, The Boardwalk Bendigo is enjoying a new lease on life with new faces, new menu, new plans going ahead and a name tweak. New owner Andy Lawson took over six weeks ago and immediately went to work with paint and elbow grease. &ld..

The new year welcomes some new places to eat and be seen in Bendigo while other eateries are celebrating new chefs and menus. One of the newbies is The Groove Train at the Mitchell Street entrance to the Bendigo Marketplace. Open since early December, they were kept busy over the Christmas break..

Christmas lunch has been slaved over, served and savoured and now many of us have leftovers languishing in the fridge. The ham and turkey that was so scrumptious at the feast starts to lose its appeal after a couple of days on the menu. Here’s a quick and easy recipe from www.taste.com..

One Bendigo business is doing something about getting the healthy living, healthy eating message out to our younger citizens. Bendigo Wholefoods organised a Go and Grow poster competition among local primary schools to coincide with the onset of spring. Eight schools took part creating a mammoth..

This is one of those books you have to go back to the beginning to read, once you’ve finished it. The first short chapter is very weird, so it’s important not to let it put you off. But once you’re in to this rather black comedy, it’s both enjoyable and thought-provoki..

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad Constable and Robinson, $19.99 THE way writers such as Jennifer Egan go about their novels may just be a reason that the paper book will not be entirely replaced by the ebook. While you can whip through Egan’s fast, funny, bol..

Keeper Of The Light Diane Chamberlain Harlequin, $29.99 Don’t be fooled that this is your average love story. Dr Olivia Simon is a dedicated doctor with experience in a large and busy hospital. She has been persuaded to come to a smaller town by her husband, Pau..

The Seamstress Maria Duenas Picador, $32.99 If you’re a reader who likes a touch of history with your fiction, this epic novel, set in Madrid, Morocco and Lisbon will be right up your alley. It’s 1935 in Madrid when we first meet Sira Quiroga, a young seamstress raised by her si..

Troubling as the arrival of ebooks is for books and publishing, there has never been a better time for reading. Where once people who live in the country had only a fraction of the access city people have to both new publications and old, now, we are linked in to libraries, bookshops and publisher..

We asked Bendigo Weekly bookclubbers to send us the titles of books they have enjoyed this year. Most are new, some are classics... Ape House by Sara Gruen: the follow-up to Water for Elephants, about a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab The Art of Fielding by Chad Har..