Residents fear for the future of their community due to childcare closure
Families living in Falls Creek are now desperately trying to find a way to run the child care center, including running it themselves. However, they said that limited time and the Christmas break made this almost impossible.
“The biggest thing we need is time,” Beckett said.
She fears businesses will suffer if they can’t access child care on the mountain.
Families of Falls Creek (left to right): Lachlan Beckett with son Edward and daughter Charlotte; Zac Howard with his children Ollie and Zara; Lachlan’s wife Amy Hodge and son Hunter (front).Credit: Justin McManus
“We couldn’t run our business seven days a week,” he said. “We will need to employ more staff to cover the work we normally do when looking after children, so costs will start to increase for everyone.”
17 children are registered in the nursery, which is open seven days a week in winter. But Hodge said daily child care is no longer offered during ski season this year.
He said the loss of daily service had affected the centre’s finances.
“They cut it off and all of a sudden we can’t survive,” Hodge said.
She feared that children would be unprepared for school if they lost access to child care.
The 2021 census puts Falls Creek’s population at just over 320.
Zac Howard moved to Falls Creek with his partner to spend the winters in 2011 and was there permanently in 2017. He currently has two children; Their eldest, Ollie, went to the center until he got ready and his younger child, Zara, is currently attending the centre. Howard runs a hospitality and trail running business, and also works as a snowboard instructor and camp coordinator for Wintersport Australia for the Disabled.
In 2023, a major landslide was added to the facility’s troubles. Credit: Jason South
Howard said the upcoming closure will have wide-ranging consequences for people who want to live in Falls Creek.
“Young couples here will have to leave to start a family,” he said. “Young couples don’t bring their families here.”
Howard said local emergency services, including the Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Service, rely on permanent Falls Creek residents, but they would be pressed for time with the commitment to volunteer without child care.
Falls Creek general manager Colleen Gwynne said in a statement that Alpine Resorts Victoria had reviewed the operation of the child care center and decided to cease operating the service due to financial and workforce challenges.
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He said high-level compliance requirements were not core business for Alpine Resorts Victoria. Gwynne said the economic deficit will reach about $177,000 by the end of the fiscal year.
“While ARV will no longer operate this service, it appreciates that there may be private childcare providers available who have the capacity to do this as part of an existing operation,” he said.
Gwynne said 14 of the children found alternative placements. He confirmed that Alpine Resorts Victoria had entered the market, expressing interest in transferring the service to another provider in 2026.
Falls Creek had almost 165,000 visitors through Oct. 5 this year. But the popular resort has faced challenging conditions, including a landslide in 2023 that blocked access to the mountain and quarantines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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