Jobs and growth is a mantra which resonates in central Victoria but many residents of Maryborough and Dunolly argue more than a three-word slogan is needed to fix their unemployment woes. 

Locals say education to ensure equal opportunity for the next generation, skills training to equip the current workforce and infrastructure to attract talent are all required if their towns are to go ahead. 

Last year a major national report placed Maryborough once again in the top five most disadvantaged post codes in the state and locals told the Bendigo Advertiser stories of drugs, crime and robbery.

But among the business community there is a quiet sense of optimism of new opportunities for the city which once served as a hub for local agriculture. 

At the Capilano honey processing plant on the outskirts of town a bright yellow sign bears the slogan ‘We’re Back!’.

Operations manager Michael Notley explained the plant shut its doors in 2012 amid a honey crisis. 

“We opened operations again in October last year and we’re still building things up again,” Mr Notley said. 

Mr Notley flew down from the company’s headquarters in Brisbane for the position but all bar one of the rest of his 16 staff were hired locally, he said, and there was no shortage of candidates.

“We’re still getting five or six resumes a week,” Mr Notley said.

It is not just those hired directly who are impacted by the company’s decision to re-open its doors. Mr Notley said there were more than 500 suppliers in the area and the plant serviced producers – many families and individual bee keepers – from across the state and into South Australia and southern NSW.  

But despite the number of willing workers Mr Notley said not all skills sets could be sourced locally. One senior staff member was hired from Sydney after no suitable local candidate could be found. 

“If you want to attract those people – and keep them here – you’ve got to do something about isolation,” he said. 

Mr Notley then repeated a one-word mantra heard across regional Australia – “infrastructure”. 

Better roads and rail, he argued, would connect his workers to Bendigo, Melbourne and the wider world.

Further down the Mildura line in Dunolly residents feel even more isolated. That town’s station has been closed for decades. 

And it’s not the only place to close its doors. The town’s one cafe is shut in winter, the take-away store opens sporadically and its historic bed and breakfast is now a private residence. 

But hairdresser Steph Hubble said the talk of the town centred on the closure of two other venerable institutions – the town’s only two pubs. 

“We do need more shops, more things to attract people,” she said. 

“Apart from the bakery there’s really nowhere for them to eat and with no pubs there’s no where for them to go.”

With the lack options, local business owners say they are struggling to attract the critical mass of visitors required to stay viable. 

Mick Hargadon said he and his wife had moved to town from Bendigo five years ago for a tree change, opening a patchwork and quilting store.

Business, he said, had slowed considerably. 

“We need to get those pubs open again to get people into town and stimulate the economy,” he said. 

“And we need to get more people moving up from Melbourne, selling their homes and having a bit of money to spend in the town.”

But here too there is hope. Anna Yu, who runs the local grocer with her husband, said the pair had decided to take matters into their own hands and buy one of the pubs. 

“Because everyone was going to Maryborough,” the Chinese national said.

“We want to bring more people into town.

“But the building is very old and we need to fix-up everything.” 

Mrs Yu said she hoped to have the pub up and running by the end of the year. The talk of the town is that the other hotel is to re-open soon and locals are hoping for the much needed boost to business confidence it would bring. 

But even with an uptick in the local economy most young people will need to leave town if they are to find employment. 

For 21-year-old graphic designer James Stuart, education is the key to making sure they are equipped to enter into the modern workforce. 

Mr Stuart now lives in Ballarat where he has recently graduated from university, but returns to Dunolly to visit his family and do freelance design jobs. 

He credits a supportive family and teachers who encouraged his creativity with allowing him to chase work in his dream job. 

And even though he is pursuing his career out of the town in which he was born and raised, Mr Stuart‘s skills will not likely be lost to regional Victoria – he hopes to find work as an illustrator in a studio in Ballarat. 

“I’ve been fortunate enough to become a graphic designer, I feel very fortunate and I wish everyone had the same opportunities that I have had to be able to achieve my dreams,” he said.