Daylesford Conversations: Putting Local Springs in Order
About
The ‘Spa Fairy’ with her magic wand was invoked a century ago to help promote the perceived healing effects of the many local mineral springs, including from their natural radioactivity, and to encourage tourist visitation.Barry Golding’s intention behind this Daylesford Conversations session is to critically interrogate some of the convenient myths behind the Spa Fairy and the concerning way some local groundwater and mineral water springs are today being managed.
Perpetuating myths about water is not a sensible or sustainable strategy with a changing climate. Whilst Barry’s contention is that while all is not right or what it seems, with knowledge of how it came to be like this, and with creative and determined local involvement and intervention, things can be put right for future generations.
Honorary Professor Barry Golding AM self-describes as a ground-up, community-oriented, polymathic, place-based story teller. He has higher degrees in geology, environmental science, arts and education. Barry is widely published internationally in the field of adult and community learning, former President of Adult Learning Australia and Patron of the Australian Men’s Shed Association since 2009. His recent book which informs this Daylesford Conversation is local, multidisciplinary and First Nations-focused: Six Peaks Speak: Unsettling legacies in southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Barry has been a community representative on Hepburn Shire's RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan), living in the rural landscape between Daylesford and Creswick for almost 50 years, and founder of the Great Dividing Trail (in 1991).
Date
Thursday 17 September 2026 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (UTC+10)Location
Community Bank
113 Main Road, Hepburn Springs Vic 3461
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Daylesford Conversations: Putting Local Springs in Order
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