In episode three of the Mill Park Podcast, I share a candid update on the show’s direction and some local priorities. Rather than rehashing which level of government handles what, I focus on what affects us day‑to‑day: council-managed parks, paths and facilities. I call out simple but meaningful upgrades—like more bins, shade and toilets at local reserves around Plenty Parklands Primary and Kellynack Reserve—and float the idea of widening shared paths along Plenty Road to make family rides safer. I also invite you to send through issues, tips and local events so we can push for practical improvements together.
I talk through plans to evolve millpark.blog into a more useful local hub, including police updates and community notices, and explain the value‑for‑value approach: contribute time, talent or treasure if you find the project useful. There’s some behind‑the‑scenes honesty about audio hiccups this week and a promise to keep refining the setup. This podcast is for Mill Park and surrounds—help shape it by telling me what you want to see next.
Transcript
Good morning, Mill Park, and thank you for joining me here on this episode three of Mill Park podcast. My name is Cameron Blewett. I’m the host of this episode for Tuesday 20 Jan 2026. So last couple episodes, we’ve been talking about what Mill Park is, giving a bit of a rundown of it, things to do in Mill Park. And I was going to kick this off and sort of have a bit of a discussion about who does what in Mill Park. When it came time to sitting down and actually talking to you, I read my outline before I recorded this. I sort of had a feeling that it might be a bit insulting to you guys who are listeners because obviously you know that trams are the state government, but there’s no tram in Mill Park, it ends at DFO.
I know there’s been talk for years about using that middle strip up Plenty Road for a tram line all the way up to South Morang. Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to happen, so I’m not going to talk about how that state government trains are. I don’t think we have any federal roads running through. No, don’t. Because Plenty Road would be a state road. The Hume kicks off out at Campbellfield, so that’s federal there. So there’s not much federally responsible in the area. So I’m not going to go through all that, but hey, you would like to know who does what or you’re having trouble with getting something done in the area, feel free to drop me a note at notesmilpark.
Blog. I’ll explain what your challenge is and I’ll see what I can do about it. Now, that being said, the majority of the stuff that’s going on in Mill Park is council related for the reserves and things like that. Obviously the schools are government, state government, stables, shopping center is the owner of the stables, who I’m not quite sure of at the moment. Obviously, Plenty Valley is owned by Westfield, so they look after that and all that sort of stuff. I think that we need to be putting more pressure on council to improve things.
If you go to the back of Blossom Park Primary? Plenty Parklands Primary on Blossom Park Drive. The park at the back there, it’s a fairly decent reserve or park or something like that. It has no toilet and no rubbish bins. There is a shaded area that is probably just barely big enough to cover the table and chairs or the bench and chairs bench and table. There’s bark on the playground, lots of green grass and all that sort of stuff around but there’s no rubbish bin there. There’s lot of crap left after people have their little birthdays and all that sort of stuff there. Same as if you go to Kalinak Reserve, I think that there is noticeable.
I won’t say absence because I think there is two bins there. But there’s not enough for those who use the area and what they’re trying to do with the area. And even then, the shaded part of that is very small. I can’t see why they can’t put one of their big shade sails above the playground that’s there at Kelly Knack Reserve. It’ll make it more usable for kids. I mean, the last thing you want is your kids getting burnt. We’re in middle of summer now for that. And so it sort of restricts the use. Full marks were for putting all this stuff out there, though they don’t do it in a way that is genuinely usable for those who are intending to use it. So I have a feeling that it’s just some bureaucrat or someone that sits down and says, let’s put a park in there and not thinking about anything more because they’ve got a playground in there. That’s it. Hey, you know, using the whole Field Of Dreams and you build it and they will come. Well, yeah. It’s it’s one of those things that hasn’t been well thought out of thought of thought out of. Out? Planned out.
So, you know, I think, you know, over the, you know, next couple of years that I’ll be doing this podcast, I wanna get some things improved in the area on this side of Plenty Road. You know, I would like to see probably a bit of a wider bike path up and down Plenty Road. You know? Yes, there’s a footpath there and I’m not saying that there’s not. I’m not saying it’s a dirt track or anything like that. But I think that they could make it a bit wider because, you know, if I’m going for a ride with the kids, the last thing I want to do is put them on Plenty Road and then, you know, even the footpath, you get two people walking on the footpath and you’ve either got to go into the grass or they’ve got to walk in the grass and all that sort of stuff.
You know, the footpath or the walking path or whatever you want to call it up up on and that’s on both sides of Plenty Road. It could be a bit wider. So, you know, there are things that I’d like to change and I have a feeling Plenty Road, the footpath is going to be state government, but I’ll look into that and let you know in future episodes about what we can do and petitions and all that sort of stuff to present to counsel to get it done and go from there. So what else is Obviously, know that the majority of the staff is controlled by Whittlesea Council. Whittlesea Council, I’m not sure.
I think it’s one of those councils that is going to be looked at for a number of years to come because there seems to be a little bit of dysfunctionality in it. It seems that the councils want what the councils want and whilst supposedly they’re independent, there’s a lot of councils that align with a particular party and that they’re their agenda. But anyway, as I said, this isn’t gonna be a political podcast. I’ve created it, you know, just to recap, just to be a resource for those people who live in Mill Park, those who live in the area, because there’s there’s not really one spot where you can go to for things, what you can find out about stuff and and things like that. And it’s, you know, this this is what I want it to be. I I fully believe that you’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. And with me, just sitting back thinking, you know what? Someone should do this. Someone should do this. And, well, why not? So, you know, I’ve I’ve I’ve done this.
And, yeah, so this is what I’m doing, the Mill Park podcast. In the process of getting the website updated. So that millmillpark.blog, it’s it’s going to be a bit more of a a better resource for things. I will obviously, there’s the weather on it. Actually, hang on. Let me have a look at it while we’re talking. Apologies about that short intermission there. It seems that there was a bit of a ticking in the sound. Now I couldn’t hear it from my headphones. When I’m talking about this, I still can’t hear it now. I’m just going to record a little bit of this and see if I can hear it on the playback. I did find it on the playback because I got interrupted halfway because Carriage Band was telling me that there was something going on and so that notification was coming up and then that came up. I wasn’t sure whether it transferred through to the podcast, and it did. So I sort of went back and that’s when I noticed that a little ticking.
Apologies about that at the start, and I’m hoping it has gone by now. So where was I? Yes, talking about the website. So that’s the thing. The plan is to update the website, build a bit more of of a functional website, and see what goes from there. So it’s it’s gonna be a bit more of a resource and all that sort of stuff. So people that are in Mill Park can find out what’s going on in the area, what’s happening and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, it’s just one of those things that, you know, it’s a work in progress. We’ll just have to see, you know, as time goes by and I can put more resources into it and put time into it that it’ll it’ll develop a bit more into into something that I think, you know, is going to be of benefit for the area. As I started to say as well, I will be putting sort of random news articles. I’m in the process of talking to the Mill Park Police Station just to get some of their news reports.
I’ll you know, and add that all up sort of stuff and and and see how it goes from there. But, hey, this is a resource for you guys. You tell me what you wanna see. You tell me what you don’t wanna see, and we’ll see how we can go about putting all that up there. Okay. This is a third attempt. I did listen to that short spiel that I had before, just talking about then, and I did notice that the crackling was still there. Without getting into too much of technical stuff, I thought it might have been a noise gate issue that’s part of GarageBand, I turned that off. It’s still there.
So I’ve resorted to changing microphones. We’ll see how this goes. So my apologies. All this is done on the fly. I’m not reading a script or anything like that. So if I start rerecording it, the podcast is going to change because I’ll start waffling about something else. And I don’t want to do that. I want to just, you know, keep this as is, you know, keep it real, know, quote unquote real, and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, anyway, what was I going to say now after all that sort of stuff? Honestly, I’ve clearly forgotten. I’ve veered off so far off my plan that I don’t even think I’m going to worry about getting back onto it.
One thing I do want to talk about, mentioned it before and talk about it now, is that this podcast and samysmillpark.blog, I want it to be a resource for you guys, the listeners out here and the residents of Mill Park or even Surrounds. So yeah, it’s the thing. Not obviously having a look at the website and listening to this podcast. I’m not funded by any big studios or big donors or anything like that. I’m not going to take sponsorship for the website. I’m not going to put in members only areas where hey if you sign up for $15 a month you get access to this and you get access to that. That’s not what I want to do or that’s not my plan for this because this is a, for want of a better term, public service. This is what I’m doing for the people who live in the area or those who are interested in the area.
And as part of that, I run on the value for value model, which is the three t’s of time, talent, or treasure at the time. Hey. Talk to someone about the podcast. You know, share it with someone. Even contact me and say, hey, Cameron. Hey. How about if you do this? You know, you do you tweak this a little bit in GarageBand or, hey. Let’s just ditch GarageBand altogether. I’m not going to ditch the Mac because I’ve got a Mac and I use it for a lot of other things. I am in the process of doing my due diligence on getting laptop and money maybe running Linux through it.
I just haven’t decided about that. I don’t want to touch Windows because I think Windows has more problems than Mac does for that one. If you think Logic Pro is a better version, better option for me for the podcast, go for it. I may or may not go there because I’m running off a laptop at the moment and I’m just recording podcasts. I’m not making music or anything like that. I think maybe Logic Pro or something like that is maybe a little bit of overkill, but I’m open to suggestions and any help and all that stuff that anyone can give me. So, you know, me with a tip about, hey, know, x y z down the road is doing a b c, this is the date, hey, can put it on your calendar or can you talk about it on the next podcast?
Happy to do that. Talent. So the second T is talent. So there’s time, talent and treasure. So this is the talent bit. You know, if you’ve got an idea, hey, You know, use your talents to to help me spruce up the website to get the podcast a little bit better and things like that, or even create a different artwork for the the podcast because I run on a podcasting two point zero platform. My preferred one is Fountain. That’s what I use. I’ve got it hosted on a two point zero platform so we can have chapter art. We can have different different artwork for different chapters. We can change the artwork for each episode, all that sort of good stuff.
I don’t go through the Legacy podcast app, so probably won’t find me on Spotify. I think I am on Apple Podcast. I’m not sure about that. So, yeah, that’s Italian. If you can help me spruce up the website, feel free to contact me. So notes at millpark.blog, and we’ll go from there. And, obviously, the last one is your treasure. If you get any value out of this, maybe, you know, and you think it’s worth a financial contribution, donation, support, whatever you want to call it, feel free to details are on the website, millpark.blogdonations I’m not going to go to paypal so there is only Stripe there and I will put up for those obviously the land down under I will put in a pay ID email.
It’s probably going to end up being paymillpark.blog. That’s just something to keep it simple from that one. And then yes, if you want to do it that way, hey, go for it. Else is there? Time, Talent and Treasure. This is a resource for you guys. As I’ve said, I do have a day job. So I’m sort of doing this on the side, You know, if you guys support it enough and it becomes something that I can dedicate more time to because we’ve all got bills to pay and things like But you know, in the early days, and I’m not just let’s make it clear. I’m not going to use this to replace my income. I’m not going to be one of those influences in the area that solely live off this. You know, this the the money through here is going to be to be developing developing these podcasts and the website. So, you know, you know, if it gets to the point where I can take a day off my other businesses and all that to spend a day doing Suffolk Mill Park, that’s out running around the streets chatting to people, you know, during business hours, whatever else needs to be done, hey, I’m more than happy for it because that’s what I want to be doing.
I’m doing it at the moment sort of after hours talking to people and things like that. I’d like to do it a bit more during the day. Though at the moment, it’s just something that happens after hours, of, you know, when I finished doing my day job stuff from there. So yeah, so anyway, this is something that’s sort of, you know, coming down the track that I want to do and I want to see develop on the website. But anyway, I think that’s about it. If you’ve stuck with me so far, thank you so much for this. I know it’s been a bit of a pain in the kyber to start off with.
Hopefully, the microphone that I’ve gotten now has improved it. Gonna do some more experimenting between this episode and the next one to make sure that that ticking doesn’t continue. The cackling, I mean it could have been the noise gate, I’m not sure, but changed microphones. The microphone that I was using I don’t have a problem with when I’m doing outside broadcast, but that’s probably a little bit lower quality recorder there and it wouldn’t pick it up. Whereas this one I’m looking at going into the Mac recording of GarageBand. I have recorded it. I’ve got a is it, a roadie broadcaster or whatever they call it, sound desk or whatever it is. There was no ticking in that recording.
So maybe it’s just something that it’s the broadcaster talking to a garage band that’s caused the tics, but hey, I’ll keep playing and we’ll find out what happens. But anyway, thanks for listening and thanks for sticking with it. And I look forward to having you join me on the next episode of the Voice from Will Park Zone. Until then. Bye for now.