GRAMPIANS National Park was closed on Wednesday due to the Catastrophic fire rating imposed for the Wimmera fire region, but vehicles were sighted in the car parks of both Mt Sturgeon and Piccaninny where the occupants were presumed by local police to be walking in the park.

REVELATIONS this week that Victorian hospitals share a combined debt of $1.46 billion have caused alarm that the state’s health system is being run on a credit card.

WILLAURA is set to welcome the annual Willaura Health Care (WHC) Outdoor Market this weekend with more than 70 boutique stalls.

FEBRUARY 29, 2024, is a leap year day, granting those born on this day the rare opportunity to celebrate their actual birthday date that occurs only every four years.

SUSPECTED blue-green algae bloom was detected from water samples at Lake Hamilton on Tuesday by the Southern Grampians Shire Council (SGSC), indicating an unacceptable level of the potentially harmful bacteria.

DESPITE having an extra day this year, February in Hamilton has had virtually no rainfall - only 0.4 millimetres - setting an equal record for the month since records began in 1878.

FORMER The Hamilton and Alexandra College (THAAC) school teacher, Ann Scott recently had the opportunity to reconnect with her former student, Dr Bruce Webber, an esteemed ecologist with the CSIRO.

THE Southern Grampians Shire Council (SGSC) announced this week that with the one-month grace period coming to an end, paid-parking rules in the Hamilton CBD will be officially enforced as of yesterday, March 1, with fines up to $96.

IT is an unofficial count, but apparently the new number of steps to the top of the Cape Nelson Lighthouse is 8,700.

LUCKILY a passerby spotted a grassfire in Bolwarra at 12.44am yesterday and reported it with a call to triple zero.