The town does not currently offer any childcare services, leaving parents with no other option but to travel to Stawell or Ararat, or to find a private operator – Council chief executive Michael Bailey said they were working with the community to change this.

“Obviously there is a number of steps that need to occur, none more important than quantifying the demand,” he said.  

“Once that occurs we will support the Halls Gap community to establish the service within the area.

“It's great to see a community being proactive and we are keen to assist where possible."

Mr Bailey said council would continue to push the implementation of the Halls Gap masterplan as the popular tourist town continued to thrive. 

"All the information we have on Halls Gap is that the town is going through a period of significant growth, from tourist numbers to school enrolments, things are happening,” he said.

Current enrolments at Halls Gap Primary School are the highest in 16 years, while International visitors continue to flock to the Grampians National Park.

International visitors stayed for 386,200 nights in the region for the 2016-17 period, up by almost 30 per cent on the previous year ending June, 2016, a recent international visitation report found. 

Cr Jason Hosemans welcomed the idea and said it would make the lives of younger families at Halls Gap much easier. 

“We just have a playgroup at Pomonal, a day a week, but that isn’t really childcare,” he said. 

“You would need to travel which is time-consuming and inconvenient, so a local childcare service would make life much easier.

“If we want Halls Gap to keep growing we need to offer a childcare service, so parents can continue running their businesses.”