A Great Country Town

Newstead is a thriving, vibrant town on the Loddon River in Central Victoria, 15 minutes from Castlemaine and about 1.5 hours north-west of Melbourne.

Come visit - you'll find a café, two pubs, a free wireless network, motel and bed and breakfast accommodation, antique and collectable shops, vineyards and artist's studios. We are home to a kindergarten, a primary school, a swimming pool and football, netball and tennis facilities. There are spots for picnics and a  butcher, a baker and supermarket and a children's playground.

Across the year we host the Newstead Short Story Tattoo - Australia's only festival dedicated to the short story,  the Chopped Rod and Custom Show - a celebration of all things hotrod, and Newstead Live  - a festival of folk, world and acoustic music.

Our website showcases all this activity.  Newstead community groups and businesses maintain their own pages here, uploading news and events.

Newstead Short Story Tattoo 3 - 5 May

Newstead Short Story Tattoo arrives again in May 2013 championing storytelling in all forms with an infectious, seductive and engaging arrangement of sessions such as Survival Stories, Horror Stories, Earth Stories, Sticky Stories, Sisters Salon, Nano Narratives, Scripted Stories, as well as the signature, outdoor, surround sound, storytelling extravaganza Fire Stories.

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An initiative of Newstead 2021