ANDY Wilson will join The Euroa Gazette in 2025, replacing journalist Darren Chaitman, who left on Monday for a new role in Adelaide after 20 months with the Gazette.

Andy is hardly a blow-in, having been a journalist with Country News for two years, featuring weekly in the Gazette's print edition, including his column which just ended its run of adventurous snake stories.

“I am a bit of a local now and I figure it was time to get cosy in such a warm welcoming community,” Andy said.

“I don’t live too far out of town and for me Euroa has been that ‘I-am-yet-to-discover-it-properly’ town.

“And I am certainly not blind to the fact that Darren has left me a newspaper of such high quality – I will take the baton and keep the momentum going."

Prior to journalism, Andy was a post-doctoral agronomist with CSIRO in Brisbane and then had a 20-year career in education across four states and at several universities.

He has, until recently, also moonlighted as a science editor of peer-reviewed papers for a Mumbai company.

Andy has even been a small-time cattle farmer in Tasmania, where he built his own cherry orchard.

“But this is quite different to all that went before; and it has been quite a journey to get here,” he said.

“This is different, this is now, this is something I am really looking forward to.”