Arts

It's back to school after the Easter break and Educate Ewe is set to rejoin her friends on the Sheep Art Trail ... Sheep Art continues to provide a great opportunity to our local community to participate in a nationally promoted public arts project which seeks to embody the principles surrounding public art design," said KDPA’s Helen Hobbs.

Young leaders from across the Buloke Shire met at the Juke Restaurant in Sea Lake on Wednesday night to review the Buloke FReeZA program, “Music, Mates and Multiformity” auspiced by the Birchip Neighbourhood House.

Fleur McDonald is one of Australia's leading rural fiction writers and with 22 novels already to her name, and publishing two books a year, she’s certainly a highly prolific author ... Fleur recently took time out from her busy day to talk to Australian Rural and Regional News contributor, Serena Kirby, about what she writes, about plots and characters, and where she finds her inspiration.

A four-bedroom, two-bathroom house on a one-acre block for $500,000 is but one of the perks of life in Dalby, south-west Queensland, for passionate local government employee Dan Fletcher and his young family. Dan tells his regional-move story in the latest episode of You Moved Where?! podcast, hosted by TV and film producer Bec Bignell (herself a ‘returner’ to regional Western Australian).

More than Tea and Scones is a new theatrical production about the women of the QCWA recognising 100 years of effort in 2023, its centennial year. Written by award winning Cairns playwright Angela Murphy of Veranda Theatre, the show could be set in any CWA hall.

Local band ‘Artifact’ based in Wagga Wagga have progressed onto the grand final of the Wacken Metal Battle. The competition sees metal bands from all over Australia and New Zealand compete to win a once in a lifetime chance of performing at the largest Metal Festival in the world, Wacken Open Air.

Well known author Maya Linnell visited Narrandera Library last week and called in to Mon Repos store to visit the owners Scott and Rebecca Rowlings. The reason she visited Rebecca and her husband Scott was because of Rebecca’s review of Paperbark Hill for Australian Rural and Regional News - Rebecca is a book reviewer for the online news site.

Georgina Swan. As stockwhips woke the echoes, they gathered at Banjo’s Block to celebrate the tradition that gave rise to the Man From Snowy River festival - bush poetry and music. For the audience, it was a chance to pay homage to Banjo Paterson’s iconic poem, to hear favourite classic verses and to discover new poets and works...

Are your dreams of becoming the next Jimi Hendrix tucked away in a cupboard collecting dust?  One man’s vision, along with his supporting wife, amazing connections and generous donors is changing the lives of people across the world through an initiative called Noteworthy.    

Growing up on her family’s beef cattle property at Fine Flower in the Clarence Valley, Brooke Chapman has always been surrounded by the rugged beauty of the Australian bush ... Inspired by her rural upbringing, her admiration for the regional landscape, and her love of writing, the 15-year-old recently penned an exquisite piece entitled ‘Love Poem to the Bush’ which she entered in the secondary school’s section of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW A.B. Paterson Bush Poetry Award at the 2023 Sydney Royal Easter Show ...

An estimated record number of spectators tartaned up and headed to the riverside community of Maclean on April 7 and 8 to experience a jubilant, colourful, and cultural celebration of all things Scottish during the 118th Maclean Highland Gathering. Amidst the dominant humming of bagpipes, Chief Peter Smith from the Lower Clarence Scottish Association declared the crowd was the largest he had seen in more than 20 years...

When journalist Samantha Elley saw the Woodburn cemetery for the first time, it was from a distance ... Sam said she is a taphophile – a lover of cemeteries. She has been writing family history stories for more than 30 years ... The book –  A Bend in the River  – took five years.  

The opening weekend of the Kangaroo Island Easter Art Exhibition has been a resounding success with higher-than expected visitors, increased artist participation and healthy sales. Lori Smith winning the esteemed the Diana Keir Art Award with her oil portrait of a local Islander, called Staring at the Sun.

A striking collaboration between artists of stage and screen honours the trials and triumphs of extraordinary everyman A.B. Facey, whose award-winning Australian classic autobiography, 'A Fortunate Life', has been adapted for theatrical presentation by THEATRE 180 and CinemaStage. ‘A Fortunate Life’ embraces themes that are intrinsic to our history and culture as modern Australians...

When I sat down to read this book I thought I’d just cast my eye over a couple of pages while waiting for the kettle to boil. Trouble was I never got to make that cup of tea because I simply couldn’t pull myself away from the mystery that was unfolding on the pages.

A leather mask made in a studio in Kyogle has won a second place ribbon at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Artist Mario Sanchez Huertas placed second in two categories – art picture category and creative design and won two ribbons.

Gerrit Fokkema. Wesley Stacey died recently in Bermagui, where he had lived since the mid 1970’s. Between 1968 and 1972, Wes made pictures in Wilcannia of buildings and street scenes that were used in a book, ‘Historic Towns of Australia’.

Sadly anthropologist Jeremy Beckett passed away in the last months of 2022. A Celebration of his Life was held on 19 February 2023 at Chai Chak Wing Museum, Sydney University ... I would like to share memories of my association with Jeremy when I worked at Wilcannia River Radio in 2012-13.

Allora Landcare Group (ALG) is delighted to announce the 2nd edition of their book "A Pictorial Guide to the Birds of Allora Mountain Flora and Fauna Reserve" is now available. Since the success of the first edition in 2020 more species of bird have been identified on the Mountain with now well over 100 which suggests the Mountain's ecosystems are richer and more diverse than originally thought.

Robbie Kerwin says, 'I started doing art when I was a kid ... I learnt a lot from Nana Jessie Kerwin and Aunty Elsie Jones' ... Vicki Dutton says, 'When I was a kid I loved going down to the river with my family, going fishing and hunting. I'd sit down with pencil and paper and draw from the Darling River, everything I'd see.'

At the heart of "Our Dangerous Friend" is author David Jefford Ward’s belief that traditional Noongar knowledge should be a respected source of bushfire philosophy, ecology and management in south west Australia. In fact Ward, who started as a workman in the then Forests Department, places more value on Noongar bushfire knowledge than some refereed scientific papers.

A smorgasbord of chamber music combined with a chance for students to be mentored by the masters and a world premiere is in store for Border audiences in May. Murray River Fine Music present the Inventi Ensemble and pianist Benjamin Martin live in concert across three iconic venues – The Cube, Wodonga, Peregrines, Table Top, and Albury Public School Hall, Albury – on May 6-7.