Mayor's Message 8 September, 2023

Hello everyone,

I often reflect on how grateful I am to be living and raising a family in a small community, where there is so much support and comradery.

This past week, the Chiltern community has demonstrated this in spades, rallying around all those involved in last week’s horrific quadruple fatality, showing such genuine care and kindness.

Last night, we saw another example of community support at the opening of a unique art show at the new Chiltern Community Hub.

The exhibition, which will travel the Shire, features tiny works of art submitted by 140 community members aged between two and 80 years. This terrific initiative has obviously struck a chord, with the number of entries surpassing expectations. I’m really looking forward to taking my two children to view the show. Congratulations to our libraries team for organising.

Following last week’s Council meeting we’ve received some really positive media coverage about our hopes to be accepted into a consortium of Victorian Councils bidding for world heritage listing.

Council will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage listing bid stakeholders, and if supported, we will be among 15 Councils seeking to be recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

While there’s a long process ahead of us and many hoops to jump through, being invited to join the expanded bid is an incredible opportunity and the flow-on effects if world heritage listing is granted, are probably beyond our wildest dreams.

We’ve long recognised the value of our rich history, which is why we place such high importance on the preservation and maintenance of our built heritage and assets. We are confident that we will be accepted into the bid and will keep you all updated on any developments.

Take care, stay warm and enjoy the weekend and if your team has made the footy finals or any other sport, good luck.

Sophie Price.