General News
26 April, 2026
Moyston Reserve upgrade inches closer
ARARAT Rural City Council has secured two grants through Sport and Recreation Victoria’s Local Sports Infrastructure Fund 2025–26, paving the way for major upgrades at the Moyston Recreation Reserve.
Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence said investment in local facilities was key to growing participation.
“Community sport facilities are at the heart of towns and suburbs right across Victoria,” she said.
The approved funding will support the reconstruction and line marking of the reserve’s netball and tennis courts, along with the design of new changeroom facilities for players at the Moyston Willaura Football Netball Club.
The multi-use court upgrade will include a full resurfacing of the existing courts with asphalt, edging, improved drainage and tree root barriers to improve durability and playability.
The courts will be enclosed by new black chain mesh fencing with integrated access points and new paths.
The upgraded space will be line-marked to accommodate two multi-use netball and tennis courts. New sporting infrastructure will include tennis net posts and nets, and netball goal posts with padding.
Plans are also underway for new changeroom facilities, designed to meet Netball Victoria and Tennis Victoria standards, including home and away changerooms with toilets and showers.
Mayor Bob Sanders said the project would deliver safer and more accessible facilities while encouraging greater participation in sport.
“This is a great outcome for the Moyston community and for everyone who uses the Recreation Reserve,” he said.
“These upgrades will provide safer, more functional facilities for netball and tennis, and they will encourage more people to get involved in local sport.”
Moyston Willaura A Grade netball coach Mel Beal said the upgrades would be a major step forward for the club.
“For the Pumas itself, it’s excellent because we’ve got no facilities over here,” she said.
“It’s good for safety reasons and it will attract new players for next year. And it will help retain some of the players that we’ve already got.”
Ms Beal said the improvements would support the club’s growing culture.
“At the moment we are building a really good culture and this is just part of a positive change,” she said.
With sports such as basketball, futsal and tennis also popular sports, Ms Beal said the upgraded courts could support broader community use.
“Kids come down and play on the footy field, they’ll come over here and play on the netball courts. Hopefully these (other) sports can start back up again,” she said.
“The impact this will have is so broad for not only kids and families and women’s sport but for the community, I don’t think you can quantify any of that.”
Netball coordinator Alayna Pitcher said the announcement was a significant moment for the club.
“It’s exciting to see all the hard work from the committee and the council finally getting the green light. It’s very exciting for our club,” she said.
“It’s really good to be getting the facilities for female sports because, particularly here in Moyston, we haven’t had good facilities for female sports. Right now we get changed in the toilets, and so do the opposition.”
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