Business

Ali Bohn. After five years, two locations and more than 350 print editions, The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper (The Bridge) is officially for sale. It has been quite the journey for proprietor, Lloyd Polkinghorne and his family, who took over the newspaper in 2016 after making the transition to journalism and reporting from his first passion, farming.

Narrandera’s Narrungdera Earth Fest has been hailed as a resounding success by locals and visitors ... Mrs Powell was delighted that the program attracted hundreds of people to each event during the three days of festivities.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) welcomes the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) crackdown on chicken meat processers and any potential unfair contract terms in the industry ... “Greater contract term transparency between processors and growers is critical to foster a fair deal for all and we see this as a positive step forward for the chicken meat industry” : Colin Peel, VFF President.

Beef Week celebrates 40 years this week. Come along to your favourite events, and if you’ve never been before, here are four reasons to go in celebration of every decade of the Casino event: 1. Free steak 2. Brenda in the moke 3. Men in undies 4. Cows ... lots of cows.

A positive outcome for both the environment and a developer has been successfully negotiated by Clarence Valley Council with the approval of modifications to a proposed subdivision at Lawrence ... Community concerns were first raised in November 2021 when a Development Application for the first house in the subdivision was lodged with Council, which would have impacted on koala habitat and feed trees in the road reserve.

GreaseBoss, an Australian start-up founded in 2020 on the Sunshine Coast, is going for gold in the global award program dubbed the Innovation World Cup Series ... Three mining industry engineers launched the company after developing a novel system to automate the lubrication of heavy equipment and avoid the costly hassle of breakdowns.

People anywhere in the world can now take a step back in time to what was making the news during our region’s Soldier Settlement years thanks to Mildura Rural City Council Libraries’ newspaper digitisation project.

One of the Far North’s popular events returned on the weekend as the Great Wheelbarrow Race was run and won. Now in its 19th year, the three-day race was proposed to inject cash and visitors into small towns like Almaden, Dimbulah, Chillagoe and Mutchilba.

Community members are invited to review and provide feedback on updated forest management plans for the softwood plantations and coastal hardwood forests managed by Forestry Corporation of NSW.

National Farmers’ Federation President Fiona Simson: "This election, the NFF was looking for ideas and funding commitments to propel the farm sector’s growth trajectory and to give the support regional Australia needs to reach its potential. Unfortunately, all parties have fallen short ... The NFF was shocked and frustrated, when at the eleventh hour this week Anthony Albanese put a red pen through the $500 million Regionalisation Fund. This announcement was not included in Labor’s official response to the NFF." The Coalition’s regionalisation plan also falls short of the $4.1 billion ask from the NFF.

Mike Riley. The Naracoorte Swap Meet and Show n Shine had something for everyone last weekend. The Naracoorte Historic Vehicle Club was very pleased with the turnout after a break of two years. The number of sites was over 320 and there were plenty of buyers. Site holders were very happy with their sales and generally believed that the Meet was better than the 2019 event.

A decision on a controversial subject which has split the community was finally resolved when Narrandera Shire Council voted to proceed with the skywalk project during its meeting on Tuesday ... Narrandera Mayor Neville Kschenka was pleased a decision had been reached to give the project the green light and implied that Narrandera could be the catalyst for other councils to build their own skywalk.

Narrandera’s first ever three day Narrungdera Earth Festival will start Friday 20 May with a welcome event at the Narrandera Fisheries Centre ... Saturday’s activities include a Cultural Day at the Narrandera Showground featuring animal encounters by Taronga Zoo, a rock climbing wall by Base Zero and weaving with Nioka Dupond. Aboriginal Elder Uncle Michael Lyons will deliver a Cultural Talk and celebrity chef The Black Olive will talk on bush foods.

cluBarham has finalised a 5-year strategic overview ... The 5-year strategic vision aim is to directly contribute to local population and tourism growth that will enhance the economic benefit to the community. ... “The main vision of it is really to focus on population growth and community support" : cluBarham CEO, Jason Wallace.

West Australian energy company Geogen is seeking a geothermal energy extraction site in the area around Casino, Kyogle, Bonalbo and Mallanganee. Geogen chief executive Adam refused to let me publish his surname. He claimed geothermal was the “greenest energy source we can use”.

Emma Pritchard. Despite moderate flooding preventing the Clarence River from being illuminated by floating lanterns, community enthusiasm for the inaugural Riverlight Ulmarra Festival shone brightly on the weekend. More than 600 people gathered in the historic village to celebrate the event on May 15, with many expressing their wishes to see it become an annual attraction.

Geoff Helisma. Environmental watchdog, Valley Watch, first began predicting flooding of Yamba, as a result of developing West Yamba, in about 1995; on Sunday May 21, the group will present a more than 1,000-signature petition to the mayor, Ian Tiley (or his proxy), calling for a moratorium on further filling and development approvals on the Yamba floodplain. “Basically, the petition is demanding a well-designed master plan for West Yamba,” Valley Watch spokesperson Helen Tyas Tunggal said.

Emma Pritchard. Flicking through the pages of The Lonely Jacaranda, Manager of The Book Warehouse in Grafton Jess Wood is delighted by what she sees and reads. Written, illustrated and self-published by Grafton author Russell Irving, The Lonely Jacaranda tells the tale of a little jacaranda tree, the first one to arrive in Australia from South America as a seed.