🟠 Crater chaos and a refresh for drinking rooms

Also including: Eastern Freeway closures set to cause 90-minute travel delays this weekend

Author

Matthew Sims
January 07, 2026

⏱️ The 104th edition of our newsletter is a seven-minute read.

Hi there 👋 

Matthew Sims here, your reporter at the Eastern Melburnian.

💻 It’s good to be back on deck reporting on all the local happenings after a brief break. I hope you had a chance to step away from the chaos of the news cycle and were able to reconnect with your family or local community.

🌳 While my break mostly involved me chasing around my two-and-a-half year old daughter while finding space for her mountain of Christmas presents, my family went to a lovely wedding in Warburton. I used to take the drive out to Wandin and beyond a lot, but haven’t got out much lately, so it was good to get into nature and de-stress.

Today we’re covering:

  • A sinkhole forming above North East Link’s tunnelling works in Heidelberg;

  • The Eastern Freeway closing in both directions from Wednesday night to Monday morning and the detours in place;

  • The joint project to reopen Lilydale station’s old “refreshment rooms” as a community hub; and

  • A chat with the brothers behind St Albert’s Pizzeria in Mont Albert.

🛤️ A new community hub for Lilydale is on its way, with the Lilydale Community House set to deliver activities, events, and classes at the former Lilydale station “refreshment rooms” after refurbishment works were completed.

I remember popping into this pub on the platform a few times, but was never aware of the history of “refreshment rooms” across Victoria’s rail system.

I hope the community can embrace this new space and work out a way to showcase this rich history, with involvement from the Victorian Railways Institute.

🗓️ Last but not least, make sure you check out our general events, live music and kid-friendly attractions lists for January.

“There didn’t seem to be any movement in the hole, but it grew substantially while we were there.”

Heidelberg local Merrill Mackay on a sinkhole which appeared out of nowhere at AJ Burkitt Reserve on Monday night

WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

Massive sinkhole opens up near tunnelling works

Heidelberg locals enjoying a sunny Monday evening stroll were met with an unusual sight last night - a sinkhole several metres wide.

Local resident Merrill Mackay was one of the first people to discover the large hole at Heidelberg's AJ Burkitt Reserve on Monday evening, with the oddity quickly attracting a large group of onlookers.

"This is the first time we have noticed any disturbance in the parkland for us locals," Mackay told the Eastern Melburnian. "It was pretty exciting. There didn’t seem to be any movement in the hole, but it grew substantially while we were there.”

Victoria Police have since cordoned off the affected area, with locals advised to avoid the area until further notice.

Mapping on the North East Link website shows the two Tunnel Boring Machines were operating near the sinkhole site.

A spokesperson for the North East Link project said the hole was "in the vicinity of our tunnelling operations" and "investigations into the cause [were] underway".

“No injuries have been reported and there is no immediate threat to the community or residential properties," said the spokesperson.

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A new era is on the horizon for the heritage-listed building that once housed Lilydale station’s vintage refreshment rooms.

In years gone by, commuters jumping off the train at the end of the Lilydale line were – until recently – able to grab a drink and have a chat in the building.

First opened in 1914, the Lilydale refreshment rooms were one of many similar establishments along Victoria’s train lines, providing everything from a cup of tea to a three-course meal, with about 500 staff members employed across Victoria’s train stations at one point.

Despite the doors closing at Lilydale’s refreshment rooms in 1978, the Victorian Railways Institute stepped in to reopen the facilities in 1980, serving customers until July 2021, when the facilities had to be closed down to make way for the new station as part of construction works.

A VicTrack spokesperson told the Eastern Melburnian the facilities will “become a new community space providing educational and social opportunities” under management by the Lilydale Community House, a local not-for-profit organisation delivering community engagement via activities, events, and classes.

The old Doncaster Road bridge will be no more as of next Monday, as demolition works make way for a new 10-lane thoroughfare.

Eastern Freeway users are advised to plan for delays of up to 90 minutes.

The freeway will close in both directions between Doncaster Road and Middleborough Road from 10pm on Wednesday January 7 to 5am on Monday January 12.

The demolition of the old bridge will allow construction to begin on the southern side of the new Doncaster Road bridge.

Other works along the closure will include installing drainage, lifting steel beams into place at Bulleen and installing high-voltage power lines under the freeway between Tram Road and Middleborough Road.

The works form part of broader upgrades of the Eastern Freeway, which will introduce six new express lanes, new traffic management technology and Melbourne’s first dedicated busway.

Drivers will be required to detour via Doncaster Road and Wetherby Road to re-enter the freeway.

SEEN THIS WEEK 🤓

Do you know this stunning spot?

Over the break, we published a video of a local watering hole with a difference, testing our readers if they knew where it was.

The majority of commenters guessed correctly: Ferntree Gully Quarry Lake.

A couple of comments also asked if the water was suitable for swimming — sadly, no.

Knox Council said recent testing determined the water as not suitable for swimming and should not be ingested. Supposedly, it’s a good fishing spot though!

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Mont Albert’s dough bros

Contributor Evie Dinkelmeyer recently spoke to brothers Mark and Alex Micheli from St Albert’s Pizzeria about their love for cooking and serving the Mont Albert community.

Watch the video below.

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Thanks for reading this mid-week newsletter and we’ll be back on Friday to shine a spotlight on the under-reported issues in our patch, so stay tuned.

Cheers,

Matthew