General News
30 December, 2025
Push for The Nest to reopen
Maryborough families are still waiting for government funding to see the return of the town’s only dedicated family support hub, The Nest, which closed this year.
Young Maryborough families are still waiting for renewed government funding while the town’s only dedicated family support hub, The Nest, has stayed shut.
David Johnson and his wife moved to Maryborough three years ago, feeling the Central Goldfields were “a good spot to raise a family”.
However, the couple recently found themselves stuck in Maryborough’s town centre on a hot day needing an adequate space for their 10-week-old baby, unaware The Nest shut its doors earlier this year.
“Years ago we were holidaying here and we walked past The Nest, we thought ‘what a great initiative’, to have a space for parents and children that is safe and neutral,” Mr Johnson said.
“We were recently in town for a dental appointment, so I thought I would wander down and warm my son’s bottle and put him on the mat for a while, but it was closed.”
Emerging in 2021 from Central Goldfields Shire’s Go Goldfields initiative, The Nest became a safe, welcoming space for parents and carers to connect and access free resources.
Free programs made available to parents and carers included peer-to-peer parenting programs, a dad’s group, infant first aid training, kinder registration, kinder preparation, and legal services.
From July 2022 until its closure, the hub saw over 2200 family visits and more than 1300 referrals to additional support services.
However, The Nest shut down earlier this year after Go Goldfields exhausted their $1.225 million State Government funding.
“That’s a pretty amazing service to have in town. That many health and mental health referrals is huge. If people needed to seek help, it was there. But you can’t get that now,” Mr Johnson said.
With no response from either tier of government to revamp funding in the near future, Mr Johnson has since began advocating online and seeking other families impacted by the closure.
“I’d like to bring it back on someone’s radar ... maybe if you bring it into the forefront of the community again, maybe someone somewhere might be able to pick it up and do something with it,” Mr Johnson said.
“Most people were saying it was really disappointing to see it close down. Regardless of whether people may need to use or access this facility at the moment or their services, there is nothing to say you won’t need to in the future, or your children won’t need it.
“It’s an ageing population here, so you would like to think, if Maryborough has got facilities to offer young families, it might bring them in, and that brings younger workers or new businesses, a fresh outlook to the community.”
The Nest cannot reopen until sufficient funding from the State or Federal Government is obtained.