Hepburn Shire has awarded $20,000 to help cool the regional towns that once never needed air conditioning.

Chrissy’s house in Clunes once had no air conditioning - until recently. After 30 years of living in the typically cool region, rising temperatures have meant Chrissy and her neighbours see it as becoming a necessity. 

The change in temperature has also confronted regional communities with the challenge of improving heat resilience. 

❓What happened: Last month, Hepburn Shire Council awarded both Creswick Neighbourhood Centre (CNC) and Clunes Neighbourhood House (CNH) $10,000 each to prepare the towns for extreme heat.

The funding came through the Sustainable Hepburn Grants Program, to expand heat resilience work that has been piloting in the community since 2023. They were chosen against 17 other applicants. 

🌳 From Creswick: Chrissy Austin, manager of CNC, said neighbourhood centres and libraries are where residents seek refuge during extreme heat. 

• The new funding will contribute to the installation of more cooling systems in their community hall and neighbourhood house. It will also help the organisation purchase a battery to protect their fridges, freezers and power sources should power outages occur during heatwaves.

Austin said for the community of Creswick, having a comfortable community space during extended heat waves was crucial, especially for older residents. 

“It makes sense for people to come together. It’s more cost-efficient,” Austin said. “Having a chat is better than sitting at home day after day.” 

📚 From Clunes: Lana de Kort, the manager at CNH, said Hepburn Shire had an increasingly ageing population, but any resident could be overheated and not even know. 

• “It’s like a car engine, revving and revving. You haven't slept well the night before, you’re dehydrated.” 

She told the Brolga small communities depend on their connection during extreme weather events like heat waves. 

• “They know someone that knows someone, can tell if someone is falling between the cracks, [they’re] aware of the local barriers and local issues that someone else may not be aware of,” she told the Brolga. 

🗣️: “In country towns, when you when you walk through the street on a hot day there is no shade, no public water taps, and you can’t walk long distances. And if you’re in a town that doesn’t have public transport, that can become an issue.” 

Change on the horizon: Hepburn Shire Councillor Tim Drylie said the project was a key example of council and community coming together to collaborate on heat resilience. 

• “They don’t need a lot of convincing because it’s their lived experience. We probably needed it 10 years ago. There’s been major delays from all levels of government in rolling out mitigation measures.” 

🌏 The bigger picture: Data from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCEEW) shows that Australia has warmed by 1.51 degrees since 1910, and extreme heat events are becoming more common on both a national and global scale. 

Doctor Annette Stellemma, a Research Scientist at CSIRO said that in the coming decades, a changing climate will cause temperatures to continue rising. 

⌚What next: Councillor Drylie said with recent fires, livestock loss and biodiversity loss across the region, regional councils are increasingly supporting their ratepayers through extreme events. 

• “The future is partly about better funding models, both at council level and a federal level, like the councils coming together to advocate for a polluter’s pay model.” 

Both de Kort and Austin said temperatures are not going down, and it’s important communities are given the new information they need to adapt.