Hepburn Energy Wind Farm | Private Tour | SOLD OUT

Open Door Series

Hosted by Peter Duncan AO, Chris Gallagher and Weston Lewis

Join fellow Melbourne Forum members and guests for a private tour of Hepburn Energy's Wind Farm.

As Australia accelerates its clean energy transition, Hepburn Energy offers a case study in community ownership, local benefit-sharing and energy security. It is Australia’s first community-owned windfarm, now seeking to become the first wind, solar and battery co-op. This co-operative model has gained worldwide recognition and shows how communities can help build social licence and local resilience, raising the question of what models like this could play in Australia’s future energy system. Daylesford-based Melbourne Forum member Peter Duncan AO is a Hepburn Energy co-op member.

Private Tour of Hepburn Energy’s Wind Farm (near Daylesford)
Saturday 24 October, 2.30pm.
$20 per person payable at time of booking.

Please note: numbers are capped at 25 people for the Hepburn Energy Wind Farm Tour.  Numbers for the dinner are capped at 18 people.

Come just for the afternoon visit to Hepburn Energy at 2.30pm or consider spending the day or weekend in the beautiful Daylesford area. 
After the Hepburn Energy tour, a group booking has been made at Bellinzona Hotel or those interested in sharing a meal on Saturday evening (details below). We may also arrange a lunch on Saturday.
(All meals and accommodation will be at members' own expense.)

At 11am on Sunday 25 October, a private tour of a local heritage house and gardens, Wombat Park Estate have also been arranged. (This tour is complimentary.) 

Saturday Dinner at Bellinzona following the Private Tour of Hepburn Energy’s Wind Farm.

Saturday 24 October, 6.30pm arrival please.

$55 per person to be paid at time of booking (includes two course share-style dinner). Alcohol is available on consumption.

Dietary requirements should be identified at the time of booking and paying please. Numbers for the dinner are capped at 18 people.

As part of the Saturday evening dinner, we are delighted to feature Guest Conversation Leader, NSW Agriculture Commissioner, Alison Stone.
Alison will present "Who Gives Way? Competing Demands on a Finite Landscape".

Now more than ever, we are asking a great deal of Country, land and landscapes.

Since colonisation, Australia has transformed land on a vast scale. For a long time, it appeared there was enough land to accommodate almost every need: housing, agriculture, food and fibre production, transport, industry, manufacturing, mining, waste disposal, forestry and conservation.

At the same time, First Nations peoples have had to pursue recognition of their rights and interests in traditional lands through processes that remain lengthy, complex and often contested.

The demands on land are now intensifying. We need more housing, transport infrastructure and mineral production, while also making space for renewable energy, transmission lines, data centres, critical minerals, carbon sequestration, reforestation, biodiversity conservation and environmental offsets.

But land is finite. We cannot simply make more of it.

How, then, do we avoid framing every decision as a “land-use conflict”? That language can quickly push debate into an either-or contest: production or conservation, development or protection, the environment or the economy.

The real challenge is to build a bridge across these divides.

Increasingly, we need to identify where the same land or landscape can deliver multiple benefits, where different uses can coexist, and where genuine trade-offs must be acknowledged. We also need greater clarity about how decisions affect property rights, communities, industries, environmental values and competing government priorities.

When all demands cannot be accommodated, who gives way—and who decides?

Alison is a highly experienced leader who has shaped strategic direction and driven reform across primary industries, land use, fire and emergency management. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, she has contributed through senior executive, board, consulting and advisory roles in New South Wales, Victoria and the Commonwealth.

As the inaugural statutory NSW Agriculture Commissioner, Alison is deeply committed to rural and regional advocacy and to fostering collaborative, inclusive and community-led approaches. She also brings practical experience from 25 years of hands-on involvement in a prime lamb and farm-stay enterprise in Victoria’s western Otways.

As Agriculture Commissioner, Alison has four key priorities:

• piloting a Farm Practices Panel, with an initial focus on intensive agricultural industries;
• supporting the NSW Government’s development of agricultural land-use mapping;
• working with the NSW Net Zero Commission and providing advice on the renewable energy transition; and
• promoting a more coordinated and collaborative approach to agricultural matters across government.

Further information about the Commissioner’s work is available through the NSW Agriculture Commissioner website.

Please note: numbers are capped at 25 people for the Hepburn Energy Wind Farm Tour.  Numbers for the dinner are capped at 18 people.

Don't miss this fabulous Open Door event – but do rug up, remember your scarf, beanie and gloves!