Arts About – Unearth your local potter
Nancy Whittaker. On 13 and 14 November, several local ceramic artists are participating in the annual Australian Ceramics Open Studios. They include Tracey Koolen, Andrea Ebsworth, Felicity Ceramics and Angie Robinson ... I recently met up with Ellen Hansa, the longest serving local potter in the area. She told me about how there used to be four local potters 50 years ago, who made a living entirely by selling their utilitarian pottery, such as mugs, bowls and plates for every day use.
Headline act blossoms at the Saraton Theatre
Emma Pritchard. From the moment they walked onto the stage at the Saraton Theatre on October 31, the audience applauded and cheered loudly as they watched two of the most iconic musicians in the country deliver a beautiful acoustic performance. When he told the crowd he “brought a friend along” to his hometown, Troy Cassar-Daley shot Ian Moss a cheeky grin as their fingers glided skilfully over their guitar strings.
Local performers orchestrating their talents online
Emma Pritchard. More than 40 members of the Maclean Music Academy will feature alongside bands, choirs and musicians from across Australia as part of the AMEB Online Orchestra this week ... To participate, the academy filmed and submitted footage of several of their members performing segments from the specially commissioned song, 'Morning Star and Evening Star'.
New infrastructure protects ancient petroglyphs at Ewaninga
New infrastructure at a Central Australian conservation reserve will help protect prehistoric Aboriginal rock engravings and enhance visitor safety to the site. The new viewing platform and boardwalk at Napwerte/Ewaninga south of Alice Springs, enables visitors to have an optimal view of the petroglyphs which date back around 30,000 years, while preventing inadvertent damage to the works by visitors.
Justin Gilligan new photography award
Justin Gilligan. I'm excited that my image 'Rich Reflections' has been announced as the winner of the Plants and Fungi category of this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The digital awards ceremony was just broadcast live from the Natural History Museum in London, with more than 50,000 entries from 95 countries.
Fairy Queen’s wit, wonder a delight
Ross Dwyer. Denmark Baroque and the Darlington String Quartet presented a classical concert at the Civic Centre on October 22 to a delighted audience. Musical director Georg Corall conducted from the harpsichord excerpts from the Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell. In the second half of the evening, the Darlington String Quartet performed the Bell Birds Suite by Emma Jayakumara and Tchaikovsky’s quartet number one in D Major.
Milbi Festival kicks off this weekend! 29 October – 7 November
Join us for the annual celebration of all things art, culture and entertainment.
Surprise win for Wild Honey
Jasmine Phillips didn’t have a speech prepared. “I didn’t expect to be named as a winner,” Jasmine said. Four years ago, Jasmine started her design business Wild Honey Creative and this week won a Northern Rivers business award ... “We’re the smallest organisation and it was nice for a small studio in our little town to win.”
Royal Flying Doctors Service (Wellbeing Out West): “Your Story Roadshow”, 1-4 November
Paroo Shire Council would like to invite you on behalf of the Royal Flying Doctors Service (Wellbeing Out West) to the “Your Story Roadshow”.
Tynan – rapped in his music
Kirstin Nicholson. Tynan. Remember that name. It’s a name you are going to see a lot of in the future. Tynan Dove is a 16-year-old from Cohuna who is set to make a name for himself in the world of rapping. He appears to be an ordinary teenager, studying Year 10 at Cohuna Secondary College and doing what other district teenagers do. Tynan is, however, an aspiring artist who is building a reputation as a renowned melodic rap artist.
Meet the artist: Can you imagine a world without seeds?
The question – can you imagine a world without seeds? inspired Afterlee artist Jenny Kitchener’s latest solo exhibition. Jenny’s new exhibition Seed highlights the important role bees, birds and other pollinating insects play in seed production.
At Home: Margaret Olley & Ben Quilty
This exhibition tells the story of mentorship, art and friendship between Margaret Olley (1923–2011) and Ben Quilty (b.1973), two of Australia’s most celebrated artists. At Home is a sublime collection of recent still life paintings by Ben Quilty alongside still lifes and interiors by Margaret Olley, from the latter half of her extraordinary career.
Hitting Wall launched at Memorial Park Tennis Complex in Bordertown
Tennis SA has launched a striking art mural at Memorial Park Tennis Complex in Bordertown as part of a collaborative project with Tennis Australia which has seen the reimagining of hitting walls across the country, an initiative designed to increase community participation and engagement in tennis.
Prior wins Tatiara Art Prize
Gabrielle Duykers. A “poignant” and “emotional” textile work has taken home the 2021 Tatiara Art Prize and is now on public display at Walkway Gallery. The winning work, ‘The Shortest Day of the Year', comes from artist Deborah Prior and tells the story of family connections as inspired by her grandmother. Made from vintage Australian woollen blankets, the beautifully crafted piece also represents the wool industry and its critical connection to regional and remote communities.
Festivals a casualty of Covid
Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 led to the cancellation of four Narrandera Shire flagship events which traditionally draw large crowds and boost the local economy ... Narrandera Shire’s Covid casualties were the Narrandera Show, the Good Old Days Festival at Barellan, Narrandera’s popular 50s and 60s rock n’ roll festival Rockin’ on East and Narrandera Garden Club’s Camellia Show, most of which were cancelled for the second consecutive year ... The Good Old Days Festival drew a record crowd of 7500 in 2019 and has grown into the Narrandera Shire’s biggest event valued at $1.8 million to the regional economy.
Salty singers not too shabby at shanty show
Denmark's sea shanty singers, the Salty Seadogs, gave audiences at the Albany International Folk ’n’ Shanty Festival renditions of old and new shanties with heaps of gusto ... Nine shanty-singing groups and 26 Australian folk music acts and seven international acts played in several venues around Albany waterfront including the Albany Entertainment Centre.
Latest gallery exhibitions build the natural connection
Two exhibitions open at the Caloundra Regional Gallery Friday October, 15, exploring our connection to the ocean and the many ways nature sustains our wellbeing. I Sea U and Healing Garden are on display until December 5.
Anika Molesworth talks about Our Sunburnt Country
An inspiring breed: climate advocate and farmer.
Tune in to the Cleve Harvest Music Fest, 30 October 2021
Cleve Harvest Music Fest is the newest live music festival on the South Australian calendar, situated in the thriving Eyre Peninsula, agricultural town of Cleve.
New release – Abandoned
In the country town of Alumuna Creek, things are about to turn deadly. Samuel Levi, a young man molded into a life of crime, is left to die in the harsh Australian outback after a botched drug deal.
Review – Walkabout to Wisdom
In many ways this captivating book describes the relationship between the author, Lachlan Hughson, and his much loved Australian Outback. In travels rivalling those of Odysseus in extent, the author takes us across the vast expanse of the ancient Australian continent, mixing geological insights, historical background, and personal experiences with vivid descriptions of nature in all its forms.
Tale about NT town has links to the Barkly
When Caroline Graham and Kylie Stevenson set out to write a book about the town of Larrimah, 490km north of Tennant Creek, they had no idea the research would lead them all over the Northern Territory, including the Barkly region. The journalists, who met in a newsroom in Mackay 15 years ago, first told the story of missing man Paddy Moriarty in their 2018 Walkley Award-winning podcast Lost in Larrimah.

