By Lachlan Abbott and Melissa Cunningham
The most action Clunes typically experiences is during its annual Booktown festival in March, when thousands of people descend on the Victorian former gold mining town and locals line its streets with second-hand books.
But in just under a fortnight, this small town, nestled in a steep valley surrounded by extinct volcanoes, has twice been thrust into the national spotlight and left swarming with journalists after tragedy has struck.
The town of Clunes, where Rachael Dixon died at the weekend after consuming a mushroom drink at the Soul Barn Creative Wellbeing centre.Credit: Justin McManus
On Wednesday, television cameras and media crews hovered outside the Soul Barn Creative Wellbeing Centre in Fraser Street, from the early hours until the sun went down.
The grey building, with its distinctive red door and window frames, is where 53-year-old New Zealand-born health practitioner Rachael Dixon mysteriously died early on Sunday morning after consuming a drink at a wellness event.
Two other people were taken to the Ballarat Base Hospital for observation. Grampians Health confirmed they had been discharged.
Investigators continue to probe whether some kind of toxic mushroom, potentially mistaken for the psychedelic variety known as magic mushrooms, was used in the drink thought to have made the trio ill.
Rachael Dixon.Credit: Facebook
It has been a grim fortnight for Clunes. Late on Wednesday afternoon, about 100 metres down the road from Soul Barn, where Dixon died, Debbie McGuire, the grief-stricken mother of Hannah McGuire, was crossing the road and heading back to work at the historic National Hotel.
Clunes-born Hannah was the third woman allegedly killed in nearby Ballarat in two months. Her body was found on April 5 and her ex-boyfriend has been charged over her death.
Flowers still line the front of the historic pub where her parents are publicans, a tragic reminder that less than two weeks ago the media had flocked to this same Gold Rush town to report on the 23-year-old’s alleged murder.
Hepburn Shire Mayor Brian Hood said the entire municipality, including the town of Clunes, about 30 kilometres north of Ballarat and home to fewer than 2000 people, had been left reeling following a spate of recent tragedies.
Hannah McGuire, 23, whose body was found in a burnt-out car on April 5 near Ballarat.
At the end of last year, five people, including two children, died when a car ploughed through a beer garden in nearby Daylesford. Less than two months later, Ballarat mother-of-three Samantha Murphy disappeared and was later deemed to have been murdered.
Days after Murphy’s disappearance, Rebecca Young, a 42-year-old mother of five, died in her home in Ballarat, in an apparent murder-suicide by her partner. In March, 37-year-old miner Kurt Hourigan died in a rock collapse at the Ballarat Gold Mine.
“Council is very mindful of the cumulative effect of these sorts of events,” Hood said. “Now, we’ve had [Rachael Dixon’s] very unusual death. It’s quite a shock.”
Hood, who moved from Melbourne to the nearby town of Trentham seven years ago, said he hoped the death at the Clunes wellness centre would not cause economic harm across the region, which is slowly getting back on its feet after the coronavirus pandemic.
“[Clunes] is more of a farming community, I think it’s fair to say,” Hood said. “But there are these wellness retreats that are so popular right across Hepburn Shire. They are more known in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, but they are spread right across the shire.”
The mayor said those attracted to Hepburn Shire for its many alternative health and wellness retreats had coexisted peacefully for decades alongside the local farming community.
Clunes’ main street resembles something out of a Wild West film – a wide road dotted with heritage buildings from the Gold Rush era, including a pub, bakery and bookshops. Filmmakers have used this historic streetscape, filming scenes for Mad Max and Ned Kelly movies.
Soul Barn. Credit: Justin McManus
Since the beginning of the 19th century, bathing in Hepburn Shire’s mineral springs has been intricately tied to health, wellness and healing retreats.
Yet Clunes is no alternative lifestyle capital like Byron Bay or Nimbin. Soul Barn, the “creative wellbeing centre” where attendees fell ill, is one of just two alternative health businesses in the town.
And, despite a small but growing arts community, Clunes still thrives off the farms on its fringes, unlike nearby Daylesford, which is known for its award-winning restaurants, day spas and art attractions, and is brimming with alternative health businesses offering everything from massages to holistic healing services.
Without wanting to comment about the specific Clunes case, and discussing wellness retreats in general, Dr Ian Musgrave, a molecular pharmacologist who works at the University of Adelaide, said events at such retreats were designed to improve both physical and mental wellbeing.
The events varied greatly in nature, from being strictly vegetarian or vegan, to others that may include the use of mind-altering substances.
This masthead is not suggesting that a wellness event on the weekend at Soul Barn included use of such substances.
Soul Barn released a statement on its Instagram page on Wednesday distancing itself from the event.
“There are no words to express the deep sorrow and shock we are feeling here at Soul following the tragic incident that occurred on April 13th,” the post said.
“Soul Barn hires out workshop spaces to external businesses and facilitators. The event which took place on April 13th was a private event, and those facilitating the event do not work for or represent Soul Barn in any way.
“None of our regular therapists, staff or facilitators were present at any point during this event.
“We share the shock and devastation of everyone involved, and our hearts are with those families affected. Soul Barn is closed while police complete their investigation.”
On Wednesday, Hood was still struggling to reconcile the deaths of the two women linked to Clunes.
“It’s a great little community. It’s a historic town,” he said. “Just a few weeks ago, [the town] celebrated their major annual festival in Booktown. That attracts a lot of visitors. It’s a great festival. But people now will be doing it tough.”
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.