For a town that, statistically speaking, may be struggling to maintain the population status quo, Serpentine refuses to be defined by the numbers.
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In the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics census, Serpentine, along with Toolleen and Mia Mia, slipped under the 200 population bracket, which the ABS considers the threshold for town status.
But most locals are privately disgruntled by the census data which some argue unfairly redrew regional boundaries and wasn’t an accurate reflection of how the town has progressed.
There is one number that most in the town, most parents in particular, agree upon.
Eight.
In the Loddon Shire, just eight pre-kinder childcare spots are available.
Four in Inglewood and four in Wedderburn.
For Prue Milgate, a mother-of-two with a desire to get back to work, the situation is a huge problem.
“There’s lots of qualified people, qualified women like myself who can’t get back to work because the childcare facilities are non existent,” she said.
“There’s a huge demand for it, we’re in the middle of a baby boom.”
Your town, your voice: Find out what issues matter in other central Victorian towns
Ms Milgate, who had her second child James seven months ago, said it was not cost or time-effective for her to travel to Bendigo each day to use the greater childcare services available, and argued a facility could be developed at the East Loddon P-12 school down the road in Dingee.
“The shire should be supporting us to work and live locally and they need government funding to make that possible,” she said.
Loddon Shire’s director of community wellbeing Wendy Gladman agreed, arguing the current situation limited family choices.
“It is something that's vital, a real missing link in the community,” she said.
However, the situation was more complex than turning a P-12 or K-12 into a PK-12, Ms Gladman said.
“When we start to look at childcare we need a certain amount of floor space, then there is regulation for children-per-staff ratios, the younger the child the lower the child to staff ratio,” she said.
Ms Gladman said a review of the childcare system was part of the Loddon Shire’s four-year council plan, but in reality the municipality was reliant on Commonwealth funding.
“Ideally you would love to see the early years services out of the same area (East Loddon P-12) but the reality is the current facilities might not be up to scratch,” she said.
“It (childcare) is a core area of a service gap for our community – we need to work on what is a sustainable model going forward.”
Ms Gladman said it was just as important for people in regional and rural areas to access adequate childcare as those in metropolitan areas, but given the geographical and population differences, alternative systems had to be considered.
NEW SHED, NEW TRUCK?
Centrally situated in district 20, Serpentine CFA gets through a lot of work, be it fires or floods.
A significant portion of the town’s population are volunteer firefighters, according to Ms Milgate – and a good chunk of those are women.
We don’t even have a meeting room. We can do better than that. We deserve better than that.
- Serpentine CFA volunteer Prue Milgate
But that volunteer base is serviced by what is best described as a tin shed which has no changing or toilet facilities.
“We don’t even have a meeting room. We can do better than that. We deserve better than that,” she said.
Ms Milgate said the brigade has been promised a new fire truck, but the bigger truck needs a bigger shed.
Other improvements the townspeople would like to see include; improved floodlights at the Serpentine Recreation Reserve and road upgrades.
HAPPY WITH OUR LOT
After 18 years at the helm of the Serpentine Post Office – wedged in between the Loddon Valley Highway and Bridgewater-Serpentine Road – Dianne Walker has, quite literally, seen plenty of people come and go.
She said traditionally people living in the town were born and bred, but of late more younger couples, ‘out-of-towners’, were moving in, which she said might be an indication of what the future holds for an area within commuting distance of Bendigo.
“As Bendigo starts to grow, you might see more and more people coming a bit further out to towns like Serpentine,” she said.
Ms Walker said while the town’s population had stagnated, it certainly hadn’t gone backwards, as the census data suggested.
“I don’t see the need for a whole lot of change, but it would be great if they had a few more people coming in the area from a school and sporting perspective,” she said.
ADDY HEADS TO THE REGION
Serpentine is just one story in a central Victorian region rich in diversity.
From farming towns in the north and west to progressive communities in the south, and wine-making, apples, cattle and sheep all around, each town is unique and its residents have their own unique set of values.
To capture this – and with one eye on the looming state election on November 24 – the Bendigo Advertiser has visited, and will continue to visit, almost 30 towns in our region.
We have heard from towns where a lack of service forced a woman to give birth in a car park, some residents are forced to bathe in a river and poor water supply makes showering difficult.
We also heard stories of hope – a growing town with an eye on starting its own football-netball club, community groups banding together to win improvements, a town bouncing back after a freeway bypass was built and professionals moving away from Melbourne to start a new business in small-town Victoria.
The stories paint a picture of an ever-evolving region where some towns are seeing population booming, while others are desperate to get more people to take up residence.
A perceived lack of support and consultation from local, state and federal governments is almost universal.
Guildford to Boort, Wedderburn to Heathcote, we hope that, by telling your stories, it can raise the profile of issues that might otherwise be overlooked.
To read further on some of the issues affecting other central Victorian towns, click here.
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