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From swamp to stage The long wait is almost over as Melton Christian College students return to the stage for the first time in two years this month with a new production of Shrek The Musical JR’. Based on the popular Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film, later adapted into a hit Broadway musical, the project is a welcome return after the school’s annual musical was abandoned last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff and students have been working away behind the scenes to bring the latest performance to life with the help of choreographer and ex-student Zoe Xuereb. Xuereb’s last musical at the school was the 2018 production of Mary Poppins JR, in which she choreographed a whole show for the first time during her final year. The latest production is being directed by Derek Bendall with Carla Bendall as music director. Performances will be held in the school auditorium from July 21 to 24. Tickets are $10-15 via ticketebo.com. au/mccshrekthemusical Benjamin Millar
FAITH HANSEN, JAD EL AMIN AND GEORGE GRAPSAS IN CHARACTER
New national park created By Benjamin Millar A significant slice of Moorabool will become Victoria’s newest national park when Lerderderg State Park joins much of the Wombat State Forest and is placed under permanent protection. The new Wombat-Lerderderg National Park will convert more than 44,000 hectares of forest between Bacchus Marsh and Daylesford into national park, providing protection for hundreds of rare and threatened animals and plants. In the most significant changes in more than a decade, a 15,000-hectare Pyrenees National
Park will also be created northwest of Avoca and the existing state park north of Buangor will become the 5282-hectare Mount Buangor National Park. The changes come more than 18 months after the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council recommended the protections in its Central West Investigation Final Report. Wombat Forestcare’s Gayle Osborne welcomed the new national park designation. “After such a long campaign we are closer to protection for so many threatened species in the Wombat Forest,” she said. Victorian National Parks Association
executive director Matt Ruchel said the changes are a win for wildlife, their habitats and the communities who can enjoy these new parks while protecting their natural values. “As Victoria fronts up to alarming rates of ecosystem decline and the real-time impacts of climate change, this news could not come at a better time,” he said. “The creation of these parks will create critical habitat connectivity over a fragmented landscape and be good for both environment and local economies.” Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the new national parks and a series of new reserves to protect habitat for rare and
threatened species will ensure the region remains a significant drawcard for outdoor recreation and tourism. Campgrounds, walking tracks and facilities will be upgraded throughout the region through the $105.6 million Victoria’s Great Outdoors program. Ms D’Ambrosio said people will continue to be able to go camping, four-wheel driving, horse-riding and prospecting across the central west. “These changes will improve how we manage and care for our precious natural environment, and will ensure these areas can be used for recreation for generations to come,” she said.
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