🟠 Book bunkers and chain reactions

WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• THURSDAY 04/12/25 - WEDNESDAY 10/12/25 | Cameo Cinemas Turns 90

• FRIDAY 05/12/25, 6-7PM | Live at the Library - Millie Jane and Gaji

• SATURDAY 06/12/25, 2-6PM | Comedy Among the Ferns

• SATURDAY 06/12/25, 5.30-9.15PM | Monash Carols by Candlelight

• SATURDAY 06/12/25, 6-10PM | Maroondah Carols

• SATURDAY 06/12/25, 9PM-LATE | The Wax Eaters

• SUNDAY 07/12/25, 10AM-4.30PM | Garden of Hope - Open Gardens Victoria

• SUNDAY 07/12/25, 2.30-5PM | Legends of Sunbury

• MONDAY 08/12/25, 7-9PM | Fawlty Towers Dining Experience

• TUESDAY 09/12/25, 7.45-10PM | The Burning Bridges

• COLDSTREAM — EVERY DAY UNTIL 24/12/25; WANDIN — EVERY DAY to 04/01/26, EXCLUDING CHRISTMAS DAY | Cherry Picking @ Cherry Hill Orchards

📰 RECENT LOCAL HEADLINES

📚 How eastern suburbs libraries are playing a part in climate resilience

In the wake of the Mount Dandenong storms in June 2021, Hills residents without power fled down the hill searching for places where they could charge their phones for free.

The first places they found? Local libraries.

It’s a shift in thinking that has seen the way the public use libraries change – and those running the community hubs have had to respond.

One obvious development: libraries becoming safe havens during extreme heat.

Your Library chief experience officer, Sarah Hopkins, said during her 23 years of working within local libraries, the spaces have transformed into more than just a place where you can borrow books and can serve as a meeting place and a refuge for people.

Your Library manages a total of 14 libraries, including the newest library space in Bayswater.

Hopkins said Australia’s changing climate was “becoming everyone’s problem” to solve – and libraries were no exception.

“Part of our role in libraries is to help people to be informed, to be aware and to be able to find information and answers to their questions,” said Hopkins. “I think libraries see their role as trying to grapple with the issues of our time, if they can.”

Beyond a place to connect and learn, Hopkins said Your Library needed to plan and develop its library spaces sustainably to cope with additional demand during natural disasters like heatwaves or bushfires, especially when people need power to charge their devices.

“Power becomes a really precious commodity when you don't have any at home,” said Hopkins. “One of our strategies is to promote the libraries as a place of shelter during extreme weather events, so that the library is on someone's radar when they think I need to go somewhere.”

According to the Bureau of Metrology, the last financial year running from July 2024 to June 2025 was officially Australia’s warmest on record, with the national average temperature 1.68 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average.

According to the Australasian Fire And Emergency Services Authorities Council’s (AFAC) Summer 2025 Seasonal Bushfire Outlook, there would be an increased risk of fire for most of western and north-east Victoria, due to severe rainfall deficits.

The National Climate Risk Assessment report, released earlier in the year, detailed how climate change threatens and will continue to endanger our communities, economy and health.

Currently, there are about four days of extreme heat per year in Australia.

According to the CSIRO, extreme heat days are defined as days where the average Australian temperature is in the top one percent of records.

The report showed this would increase to 18 days per year under a 3°C warming scenario, leading to a 250 percent increase in heat-related mortality.

Global warming is currently confirmed at 1.2ºC above the pre-industrial average temperature from the late 1800s. However, warming across Australia has already reached 1.5ºC.

Your Library’s strategic plan for the next four years is already prepping for higher temperatures. The second key objective is taking action on climate by providing safe spaces during times of “disruption and climate stress”, as well as supporting communities to build climate resilience and preparedness.

Sweltering Cities is Australia’s only national advocacy organisation working specifically on issues related to the health and wellbeing of communities by advocating for climate-resilient development practices.

Founder and executive director, Emma Bacon, said while local governments were making positive steps towards local climate resilience, more was needed on a state and national level.

“In Victoria, we don't have a serious heat wave plan that really will address the increase in heat risks and heat deaths that we're going to see,” Bacon told the Eastern Melburnian. “There's a lot we can do to protect people. There's less and less we can do, the hotter it gets.”

Landslides “don't stop at our boundaries”: Knox Council zooms in on erosion risk to homeowners

Knox Council will look into its own erosion risks on private properties and communities, following the Yarra Ranges Council’s proposed broadening of its erosion controls.

An Erosion Management Overlay (otherwise known as an EMO) is a restriction placed on the planning requirements for properties looking to develop in areas seen to be at risk of a landslide or mudslide.

Yarra Ranges Council recently proposed changes to its EMO mapping – placing an additional 2,365 homes within the risk zones.

Those changes are currently waiting on the Planning Minister to be made final.

For homeowners in the Yarra Ranges, inclusion in a new EMO could mean they must get a geotechnical report before doing any building or earthworks – usually costing between $700 and $3,000 or more.

Other potential impacts could include rising insurance premiums, changes ot the ability to rebuild after damage, as well as a property’s sale value.

On Monday November 24, Knox Council voted to make a submission to Yarra Ranges Council to highlight the potential risk posed to Knox communities by the new mapping.

Knox councillor Meagan Baker moved an alternative motion to also request council officers undertake a preliminary erosion risk assessment for areas in Knox. This would then be presented in a future report focused on the potential dangers of landslips and mudslides.

The preliminary work would take place within existing budget resources. Further work would be subject to further decisions and budget allocations in the 2026/27 financial year.

Councillor Baker said the new mapping outlined by Yarra Ranges showed there may be “clear implications” for areas in Ferntree Gully, Upper Ferntree Gully, Sassafras and The Basin, projecting these areas may be impacted if a landslide or mudslide occurs.

“These changes don’t just stop at our boundaries,” said Baker.

SEEN THIS WEEK 🤓

The Nationals’ $9 trillion figure questioned

Despite Insiders host David Spears fact-checking David Littleproud on his party’s use of a figure of $9 trillion for the country to reach Net Zero, the National Party leader refused to backtrack.

The analysts behind that $9 trillion figure have released a statement calling its use by politicians a misrepresentation.

Watch the National Account’s Archie Milligan breakdown of the interview below.

The best kids’ events across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in December

Here are some of the best family-friendly events and activities over the next few weeks.

Did we forget any upcoming events for kids in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs? Let us know and we’ll add it to the online list.

Croydon wetlands inundated after heavy rain

Local contributor Justine de Jonge headed down to the Tarralla Creek Wetlands, Reserve & Trail for a stroll over the weekend.

However, she found the wetlands and parts of the trail were flooded after the last few days of heavy rain.

“Who needs to go to Lake Eyre when our own community wetlands are in flood,” said De Jonge. “Despite the overcast conditions, it was a great sight as always.”