Latest News

Community News - March 26.

The March 2026 edition of Clunes Community News is now available online and will be landing in letterboxes and hitting the streets this week. This month’s cover story highlights the vital role Meals on Wheels plays in keeping our town connected, alongside the launch of the Residents Table community dinners at the Town Hall. It’s a powerful reminder that food, care and community go hand in hand in Clunes. Inside, you’ll also find updates on the upcoming 20th Anniversary Clunes

Mar 21 min read

Country Community Series #3: Social Cohesion - the ties that bind

In country towns like ours, community doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s built. Over cups of coffee, across fences, at the footy, in the main street, and through the quiet, everyday acts of looking out for one another. NEW Residents' Table, every third Tuesday at 6pm - 7.30pm at the Town Hall Researchers often talk about social cohesion in terms of three kinds of assets: the “bonds” within close-knit groups, the “bridges” between different groups, and the “links” that

Feb 194 min read

Country Communities Series #2: Social cohesion — and how it’s different from connection

In the first article in this series, we talked about social cohesion as something real. Not just the latest buzzword or funding policy phrase. But what is social cohesion exactly, and how does it differ from connection? Social cohesion is a way of describing how well a community “holds together.” It’s not just whether people are friendly (although that helps). It’s not just whether there are community events (although those help too). Social cohesion is about the collec

Feb 72 min read

Community Newsletter (Feb 26)

The first issue of the Clunes Community Newsletter is now available online, with print copies hitting letter boxes and shops later next week. To access the online version click on the pdf file below the image. Subscribed to the newsletter but don't think it's coming to you? A few people have said they are in the same boat. We post the newsletter each month when it goes to print, and when we do it should automatically be emailed to those subscribers who have signed up on th

Jan 311 min read

Country Communities Series #1: Social cohesion matters

In regional communities, we often talk about resilience. We talk about it after a fire, during a flood, in a heatwave, or when a service closes and people are left to figure things out together. But long before resilience shows up in a crisis, something else has already been at work in the background. That something is social cohesion. Social cohesion isn’t a buzzword. It isn’t a strategy or a program. It’s the everyday fabric of relationships that holds a community together

Jan 302 min read

We have a Plan

The next few days are looking hot, hot, hot – but we have a plan. This time last year a group of local volunteers came to Clunes Neighbourhood House with the idea of opening a Cool Room on hot days. Using the last few days of summer to trial the idea, the team realised that heatwaves posed greater risks to people’s health than single hot days. Making a few tweaks to their plans (with the help of Hepburn Shire Council and the Grampians Health Public Health Unit), the Clunes

Jan 62 min read

Heatwave HELP

With hot weather predicted for later this week, it’s worth asking: How well do you cope with heat, and how about your family, friends, or neighbours? Extreme heat is Australia’s deadliest weather hazard, causing more deaths than bushfires, floods and storms combined. More than half of Australia’s heat-related deaths in the past decade occurred in Victoria. The Heatwave H.E.L.P. project, delivered with Hepburn Shire, the Grampians Public Health Unit and Central Highlands Rura

Jan 52 min read

25 Wrapped

It's been another exciting and meaningful year at Clunes Neighbourhood House. By working together, each dollar that has been invested in us returned a staggering $9.94 in community value. It's an outcome that our two part-time staff, committee and 28 weekly volunteers are rightfully proud of. Our office doors close until January 27th, but BOOM Clunes will continue to operate (excluding public holidays) as usual. To all, we wish you a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

Dec 22, 20251 min read

Traders Are Shining Together

If you’ve spent any time in Clunes recently, you’ll have noticed the garlands on shop verandas and the rotunda decorated. Despite a tough few years between the drought, rising costs and fewer volunteers to share the load, the town is looking festive, welcoming and quietly determined to make Christmas feel like Christmas. And that's no small thing. When everyone is watching their budgets and trying to stretch limited time and resources, a little creativity goes a long way. Th

Dec 3, 20253 min read

Clunes Newsletter Available

The November 2025 newsletter will hit streets later this week, but the online version is available now (click on the pdf link to read the file, just under the image below). In this month’s edition, we’re excited to share: · Tips for getting prepared for fire season · Tips from our Pharmacist for managing medications - important during heat · Clunes Show!!! · Updates from our local councillor, police and many of the clubs · …and much more Not

Oct 27, 20251 min read

Prioritising Wellbeing

It’s not easy to prioritise our own health and wellbeing when life is busy. There’s always something, or someone, that feels more urgent. But as we get older, we start to realise the cost of constantly putting ourselves at the bottom of the “to-do” list. Yesterday we celebrated a group of women who are paving the way for us, reminding everyone to 'Let's Make a Date' for self-care. Over the past two years, through an innovative partnership between Clunes Neighbourhood House

Oct 18, 20252 min read