Arts

A compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Goodwood and Cedar Valley ... 'Clarke is illuminated with such wonderful, vivid characters. Rarely have I felt so deeply invested in a story - I loved this book so much. Throsby is a supremely gifted storyteller, and Clarke truly is a wonder.' Mark Brandi.

The Territory’s iconic Barunga Festival is set to take place from 12-14 August, with thousands of attendees from across the Territory and Australia set to descend upon the remote community for the three-day cultural extravaganza.

For one night only - Sunday 28 August - the Whyalla Left Hand Club will come to life, hosting visiting and local music acts as part of the Festival of Small Halls Winter Tour.

On the corner of Allans Road and High Street is a little library that is crammed full of books waiting to be read.   It’s the brainchild of local residents Doug and Glenda, who created it just before the pandemic arrived. During Covid, when the Athenaeum Library and the Castlemaine Library were closed, Doug’s and Glenda’s library was many a reader’s salvation.

This year’s Desert Harmony Festival has been hailed a success with more than 3,000 people passing through the gates over the Picnic Day long weekend. The Barkly Regional Arts’ event featured 27 performances, an extensive workshop series and an art fair over four days in Tennant Creek, the annual festival provided an opportunity to celebrate and showcase talented creatives from the Barkly region alongside some special guest performances.

It's on our doorstep, foot and mouth, it could devastate our nation, Livestock on whom we depend, on feedlot, farm or station ...

A captivating memoir about a woman's passion to save the wild brumbies who mysteriously appeared on the rugged landscape of the Mount Beckworth State Forest.

Australian musician Paul Kelly has written a song called  Northern Rivers  on his  Rivers and Rain  compilation album. While the song was written before the floods, its release is a poignant tribute to the Northern Rivers and a girl.

In partnership with Varuna, The National Writers’ House, the New England Writers’ Centre is delighted to announce that entries are now open for the fourth year of the prestigious Varuna-New England Writers’ Centre Fellowship.

We Al-li is providing culturally informed-trauma integrated workshops in Tennant Creek and is planning to visit communities across the Barkly. The programs, which are free and open to all community members, are for health, sharing culture and regenerating the spirit.

During Jumpers & Jazz, Glengallan is proving popular offering guided tours of one of the region’s finest historic homesteads and oldest sheep stations. Last Saturday saw a special treat with Jazz at the Homestead.

Geoff Helisma. Translated from the Yaygirr dialect (historically spoken near the mouth of the Clarence River) these words are: ‘Hello there, how are you; this is Yaegl country. I remember my Elder men and Elder women.’ On Friday July 22, as part of the NAIDOC Week exhibition of Yaegl Elders portraits at the Yamba Museum, a book was launched, Keeping our Stories - Stories from Yaegl Country.

After taking a Covid-forced hiatus for the past two years, the Laidley Spring Festival is back for 2022, with a raft of new and exciting events set to make their Festival debut. The theme for the 2022 Laidley Spring Festival is ‘Swing into Spring’ and Lockyer Valley Mayor, Cr Tanya Milligan said Council, and the community, were excited to welcome the event back come September.

From live open-mic zine-readings through to learning the basics of zine-making and meeting some of the biggest names in the industry, all this and more is outlined in the official Mildura Zine Fair program, which is now available. Zines – short for magazines or fanzines – are small-circulation, self-published works of text and images, which at times have been hugely popular over many decades.

What the heck is 'placemaking anyway'? - that's the hot topic on the table when Scenic Rim Regional Council hosts its third Arts Dinner of 2022 on Tuesday 2 August. Set against the backdrop of the Life in Focus exhibition, which includes the Scenic Rim Story Marker Trails project, the dinner explores the concept of how public art connects people with places, builds community pride and reflects the space in which it resides.

Wayne Winchester’s love of surfing began in his early teens and he’d live for the weekends when he could head to the coast to spend hours in the surf. He never dreamed that his hobby would lead to a lifetime career and the creation of a world class surfboard gallery. “I started fashioning my own boards when I was a teenager and I then started making them professionally in the mid 1970s,” Wayne says. “It was an exciting time as I shaped all sorts of boards just to see how they performed.”

Tennant Creek kids were lucky enough to be able to participate in dance/hip hop workshops with artists Matty, Franceska and Michael from Indigenous Outreach Projects (IOP) this week. The week was full of workshops, run with assistance from Julalikari, culminated with a dance performance at Nyinkka Nyunyu on Saturday night.

Showcasing the best of the Barkly’s creative talents and providing memorable and exciting experiences for all ages, the Barkly Regional Arts (BRA) 33rd Desert Harmony Festival is set to be as fun and engaging as ever ... BRA will light up for an evening of poetry, music, circus and dance featuring acts by Kasey Chambers, Olive Knight and many more artists.

Chris Oldfield. Alan Phillips remembers highland dancing in public for the first time during a Naracoorte Caledonian Society function at Bool Lagoon when he was four years old. Now he is a 10-year-old State champion highland dancer, eager to compete in as many competitions as he can. But the prizes are not everything. For Alan, his greatest passion is just being able to perform, meet up with “lots of friends” and have fun.

“My father was born in London, he was a pacifist who refused to go to war. Even though he only had one eye, which prevented him from fighting, he was sent to jail for 12 months for his radical views. This totally changed the direction of my parents’ lives ... As a child, I would not stop moving. My mother would play classical music and I would dance around the big wooden table in the kitchen.

There was creativity on display at the CWA Hall recently as two separate groups participated in Resin Pouring workshops led by Craig Eibeck, who came up from Alice Springs to introduce the techniques of resin pouring.

The sixth annual Gomaren & Doctors Creek Catchment Landcare Group ‘Focus on Farms’ photography competition is underway with a wide range of categories for people of all ages. A key component of the competition is that all photos must be taken in the Darling Downs, defined as the Toowoomba, Southern Downs, Western Downs and Goondiwindi regions.