The Whites have transformed the Drovers Arm Hotel in Goornong into one of the most popular pubs in Greater Bendigo and they’ve got a plan to do the same for the town. 

The answer, they say, is on their doorstep – it is literally an opportunity which is passing them by every single day.

Several times a day. 

They argue that if the Euchuca-Melbourne train stopped in Goornong it would bring in more people from out of town, provide a shot-in-the-arm for local business, give young people the chance to work in Bendigo and the elderly better access to health care. 

Monique and Wes are well known in town for their community spirit – when the post office was set to close down they took it over to keep the service alive. 

So it’s no surprise the idea is gaining steam. 

A petition sheet which has been sitting at the bar for the last several weeks has garnered about 330 signatures – more than half the town’s population. 

“And we haven’t really been pushing it yet,” Wes White said. 

It is one of a string of infrastructure needs which the Goornong business community say are needed in a town that is attracting growing numbers of young families yet which lacks connection to the natural gas system and which still operates on septic tanks. 

One of those young families which has been drawn to town by cheaper land prices and greater opportunities is the Walkers.

And they don’t come much more entrepreneurial than Sam. 

Like many of his counterparts in Silicon Valley, Sam Walker is a drop-out come good. The 25-year-old finished school early to pursue an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic.  

At 20 he struck out on his own, his office “the back of the ute”.

That office has steadily grown. Now he operates a large machinery shed which employs six other people, including wife Maddie. 

Instead of travelling to Bendigo or Echuca, local farmers can have their tractors and farm machinery patched up in town. The Walkers have also expanded into retail, selling machinery parts and animal food. 

But despite weathering several years of drought-like conditions, that expansion nearly took a severe blow during recent heavy rains. 

“Drainage around Goornoong is terrible,” Mr Walker said. 

“When there’s a downpour all the pipes block up … we had water coming into the office.” 

“It’s not just stock that could be damaged,” Ms Walker added. “This is where we have all the computers...” 

On the same block is another family-run business and another gripe about the town’s infrastructure.

“We need decent footpaths,” Phil Nicholas said. 

The Nicholas’ run a general store – the three children attending three different levels of schooling in three different towns.

Nineteen-year-old Victoria goes to university in Bendigo. David, 17, goes to high school in Rochester while the youngest attends the local primary school. 

“If we had footpaths the kids could get around on their bikes and skateboards and the elderly could get around safely in mobility scooters – at the moment they have to go out on the road,” Mr Nicholas said. 

“At the moment if you want to walk to the corner store, if there is any foothpath, it’s gravel, or full of holes or not there at all.

“So that’s an investment you could make that would improve people’s lives, that would encourage them to walk more and get out into the community.”  

Aside from pushing for improved infrastructure all three entrepreneurial families share a common theme.

They were drawn from other parts of central Victoria for the chance to own land and try their luck at running a business. The Whites moved up from Bendigo, the Walkers from Huntly and the Nicholas’ from Lancefield. 

It is a similar story to that which is playing out in the nation’s capital cities, as families flock to the outer suburbs, pushed out by high prices in the inner-city and drawn by the Australian dream of a backyard. 

Goornong has its lifestyle drawcards, a small school, a small town feel, the chance an acreage for the price of a block of several hundred square metres in Bendigo. 

But where those in western Sydney and Melbourne complain of long commutes and infrequent trains, in Goornong the trains don’t stop at all. Footpaths aren’t in bad nick, in some streets there aren’t footpaths at all. 

And the town’s small businesses say that infrastructure would release the entrepreneurial spirit which is already strong in Goornong. 

“There aren’t really any opportunities in town for the kids,” Mr White said. 

“You’ve got the Maccas and the Woolies just a stone’s throw from the train in Epsom, where they could find work if they could get there.

“You’ve got the doctors in Elmore and then you’ve got Echuca, which really comes alive in summer.

“It would just give a whole lot of energy for the town to get that train station going.”