ELABORATE, quirky and hopeful are all words that could describe a new public art piece which will take up residence at the Kyneton Town Hall.

MACEDON Ranges Council will hail its most talented, passionate and plucky at its annual Australia Day awards today.

WOODEND will be showcasing its green credentials next month at the Sustainable Living Festival.

MACEDON Ranges Council will employ a contractor to carry out an independent review of drainage in Gisborne by July.

A NEW fire residents group is demanding Macedon Ranges Council broaden its search for a Neighbourhood Safer Place for those in Macedon and Mt Macedon.

GRAHAM Barker has redirected more than $3 million of would-be profits to charity organisations near and far.

MT Macedon’s Barb Heine has shrewdly picked vocations, roles and projects that make a difference.

Sunbury is set to rock and roll with the Sunbury BackRoad Festival on April 10.

GIVING to other people is the best way to be a happy person, according to Mount Macedon resident Barbara Heine.

IT was the Aussie lifestyle that drew James and Evelyn Nutkins to Australia three years ago.

Every year on behalf of the National Australia Day Council, Macedon Ranges Council celebrates the vital contributions made by members of the community. Reporter JESSICA FOULDS speaks to our ‘top citizen’.

NATIONAL priorities and options for health reform were on the agenda when federal Rural and Regional Health Minister Warren Snowdon met health professionals in Kyneton last week.

VICTORIAN Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority chairwoman Christine Nixon last week had a preview of the Black Saturday bushfire memorial mural wall to be built in Kyneton.

THE newly formed Macedon Mt Macedon Community Bushfire Group has expressed concerns over the lack of neighbourhood safer places in the two towns.

AN unlicensed Romsey youth was issued with a penalty notice after taking his parents’ car for a 30-kilometre joyride to get fast food in Sunbury last week.

In March, the 100-year milestone of the first sustained, powered flight will be celebrated at Diggers Rest. But the race to be the first came down to the wire, and it remains hotly debated in aviation circles, as GRANT REYNOLDS reports.

SUNBURY United Bees swarmed to the top of the Gisborne and District Cricket Association McIntyre Cup with a commanding 65-run victory over Woodend at Gilbert Gordon Oval on Saturday.

GISBORNE and District Cricket Association has stuck to the script in becoming Victorian Metropolitan Cricket Union under-16 Keith Mackay Shield premiers for 2010.

SUNBURY came within a couple of bowls of pulling off one of its biggest wins of the season over third-placed Melbourne on Saturday, as the side went down 92-90 in a thrilling match in round 14 of the Royal Victorian Bowls Association premier division.

FEEDING the needy will be easier in 2010, thanks to a new national campaign.