Education & training

It doesn’t matter if you’re a grassroots community group or a land manager wanting to roll out a landcare project on private property, how you put that project together is essential if you want to get funding, engage other people and ensure outcomes on the ground. Following the success of its workshop in Clifton last week, Condamine Catchment Management Association (CCMA) will be holding another free workshop at the Harvest New Life Church Hall in Pittsworth on Wednesday, 16 November.

As the granddaughter of Australia’s first Aboriginal bishop and the niece of an award-winning fashion designer, Sara Fagan set her bar high from an early age. “I’ve always wanted to be a surgeon,” says the Medical Program student. “I've also got an unfinished paramedicine degree that I want to complete, but that's a future problem!”

As Queensland celebrates World Teacher’s Day ... the University of Southern Queensland is demonstrating its commitment to shaping the next generation of leaders in rural and remote classrooms. In 2021 92 per cent of USQ graduates in the School of Education Alternative Context Project chose to start their career in classrooms outside of metropolitan areas ... Taylah Hoffman travelled to Quilpie for one of several placements ...

"World Teachers’ Day seems an opportune time to reflect on both the challenges facing the profession and the myriad reasons it is great to be a teacher ... People are still drawn to teaching for a fulfilling and rewarding career that really makes a difference. More career-changers than ever are pivoting to teacher education to prepare for careers as teachers": CSU's Associate Professor Will Letts.

A massive 19 teams signed up for the Lions Club's book themed Trivia Night at the Memo Club last Saturday night. Contestants came dressed as their favourite book character for a fantastic night which was organised to raise funds to provide book packs for schools in the Barkly.

Murdoch University sustainability lecturer Nicole Hodgson describes the central core of Mt Hallowell reserve as precious unlogged, long unburnt forest. This was mostly karri, jarrah, marri, sheoak, and more than 100 other plant species. Home to many animals and more than 70 bird species, some in the reserve were critically endangered like the Carnaby’s and Baudain’s cockatoos.

Cambooya para athletes Kyrna and Tomas Crump have come home from the Queensland school athletics championships in Brisbane with bags full of medals ... Without putting too much pressure on the pair, the next Paralympics, in Paris, are less than two years away.

I am very pleased to the deliver the Regional Budget Statement on behalf of the Government ... This Budget delivers on our election commitments and provides funds for the Government’s purposeful and targeted approach to investing in regional Australia. It contains more than 760 initiatives which the Government is delivering to boost regional communities and industries.

The crowds poured into Cambooya State School on Sunday to celebrate the school's 140th birthday. “We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” Claire Fogarty, President of the Cambooya State School P&C Association, said. “The weather was perfect, the numbers exceeded our expectations and the atmosphere was just brilliant."

Former Australian Diamond and SP Netball Founder Susan Pettitt is coming to Narrandera to run a clinic for 6-12 year olds at the Narrandera Netball Courts. Susan Pettitt (nee Prately) represented Australia in the 21/Under Team from 2003-2005. She began her Diamonds journey in 2006, playing the Commonwealth Games (silver) and continued to be a part of an impressive Diamonds lineup...

Kirstin Nicholson. Turn back the clock three years and Cassidy Bullock was unaware that her life path was about to take a different direction ... Cassidy was encouraged by her trade school teacher to enter the Victorian Apprentice of the Year competition run by the Australian Meat Industry Council ... “I was so nervous – it was very nerve wracking. A lot of them were Melbourne butchers, so they were a bit more fancy than a small town butcher" said Cassidy.

Fltlt Nick O’Connor. Employers throughout Australia who went above and beyond to support their Army reservist employees were officially recognised as part of the state-based Employer Support Awards ... For Barkly-based physical education teacher Sergeant Pam Dillon, consecutive civilian employers have paved the way for her distinguished military career.

And she’s off! Jeanette ‘Netty” Foy-Wilson left Kyogle on Monday morning, October 10 on her ride to the Gold Coast ... The Stop it where it starts tour aims to raise money to buy education courses for local schools to teach children about safe relationships.

A former scientist with the State Electricity Commission, the Latrobe Valley’s Ray Burgess, has scathingly attacked AGL’s plan to close Loy Yang A station by 2035, calling it “fairyland thinking” ... Mr Burgess said if a low carbon society was mandated by the voting public, “then we need to seriously be considering a nuclear future, and quickly”.

Alba Brockie. The Paterson Street Hub shared the Beanie Love with Tanya Hattingh from the Alice Springs Beanie Festival leading workshops at the Barkly Regional Arts, Tennant Creek Primary School and the Hub itself, in May ... The theme for 2022 was ‘Stitching Hearts ‘and beanie makers were encouraged to depict scenes that made their heart happy.

Catastrophic floods and droughts are currently being experienced across the world. Paul Wyrwoll and Quentin Grafton argue that our existing approaches to managing water are not working. We need a new paradigm for how we manage water, a rethinking where human societies work with and nurture the hydrological cycle, instead of trying to master it.

Pam Dillon. Water Safety week at the Tennant Creek pool recently had a real family feel to it. Lots of families came down to the pool to celebrate and learn more about how to be safe in and around water.

The NSW Government has launched two new groundbreaking projects to encourage landholders and farmers to invest in sustainable timber production as part of their land management practices. The Forest Stewardship Program and Farm Forestry Certification Pilot are the first of their kind in Australia and mark a new era in sustainably managed forestry on private land in NSW.

The capability of scientists investigating solutions to Australia’s invasive pest problems shone out at the Australian Academy of Science’s Shine Dome in Canberra earlier this month at an event hosted by the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions ... “Graduates of our Balanced Researcher Program are now adding to Australia’s biosecurity and invasive species research and innovation within the government and university sectors...": Andreas Glanznig, Chief Executive, CISS.

Cries of “make sure our TAFE is here to stay,” rose high in the air as staff and members of the NSW Teachers Federation from Grafton TAFE joined hundreds of their colleagues across the state on September 21, holding a stop work meeting to voice their concerns regarding uncompetitive salaries, exploitation of casual employees, and untenable workloads.

Angela Willsmore. Falls in older people are a serious health concern. In South Australia, SA Health reported in a March 2020 report that 47 people are admitted to an SA public hospital every day due to an injury caused by a fall ... Earlier this year, Good Country Physiotherapy commenced a falls prevention pilot program at Longridge Aged Care.