Charity

Gunbower Racing Club is taking a big punt on itself – and the payoff would be huge. But more for Gunbower Lions Club and Echuca Regional Health’s Wellbeing Centre, because there’s $50,000 up for grabs as part of the 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour National Sweep.

Rural Aid is encouraging farmers across Outback Queensland to register early for assistance, as locust outbreaks continue to damage pasture and raise serious concerns about the potential for a major plague - the first in Queensland in more than two decades. Millions of locusts have already been reported across parts of western Queensland.

The Mundi Mundi Plains were shaking today as 6,779 festival-goers lined up in formation for the final ever Nutbush Dance World Record Attempt at the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash – smashing the previous record - held by the event - of 6,594 dancers.

The Wedderburn Historical Engine and Machinery Society is busy getting ready for its annual rally. The rally is held over two days and welcomes exhibitors from all over Victoria and Interstate.

Last week young students at St Patrick's School were treated to an entertaining session on campdrafting. The idea was to educate and obviously amuse the students in readiness for the Pacific Seeds 88 to Educate Charity Campdraft to be held on 23 and 24 August at the Allora Showgrounds.

If you ask members of the Grafton Vintage Motor Vehicle Club how special Holdens are, you’ll be told a variety of different answers, each one overflowing with praise, pride, and passion ... A popular annual attraction which features a huge line-up of classic and vintage vehicles including race cars, motorcycles, trucks, and vans...

Check out the powerful exhibition Scars of Fire by photographer Liam Cuce, now showing at the Purple Starfish in Kaniva. With ancestral ties to Kaniva dating back to the 1800s, Liam returned not to retrace old footsteps but to document the impact of the present.

It was a busy weekend for members of the Rotary Club of Nhill and the A&P Society with 107 cars and 350 crew from the Variety Bash visiting Nhill. The Rotary Club has been communicating and planning with event organisers for the past few months in readiness for the arrival of the 'Bash'.

Australian health promotion charity, Gotcha4Life Foundation, has today launched a powerful new podcast series centred on First Nations voices, exploring what truly shapes and sustains mental fitness – in culture, in community, and in individuals. The inaugural series is hosted by award-winning Indigenous businesswoman and Gotcha4Life Board Member Mundanara Bayles and produced in partnership with award-winning Black Magic Woman podcast. 

As Australia marks DonateLife Week, and local neighbourhood houses in Buloke encourage everyone over the age of 16 to sign up, the Hogan family from Birchip have shared their life-changing moment and the gift of a kidney from father to son.

A “deceased” auction, August 10, has considerable personal interest to families living in the wider Wimmera region. The auction features some exceptionally rare passenger vehicles, circa late 1930s to the mid-1960s.

Launch of ground-breaking new first aid app, the All Hands Lifesaver app. “We wanted to put access to immediate help in every parents' pocket across Australia, removing some of the barriers rural and regional people face when it comes to both first aid education and access to emergency healthcare”:  Grace Larson, co-founder of charity The Sisterhood Project and paediatric intensive care nurse.

We're cousins Jonas and Olive, and together with Clint, our dad/uncle, we're travelling to Fiji in December with the Wanderers Australia Under 14's Hockey team. We'll be playing a series of test matches against the Fiji National Under 14 team on tour....a first for a team from Australia...

It’s 23 years since Woodenbong has had a rodeo. Renai Pearce and John O’Reilly changed that by putting on a rodeo at Woodenbong Showground yesterday, Saturday, July 20.

It’s Millie Trustum’s 14th birthday on Saturday, July 26. After being cancer-free for six years, Millie has been diagnosed with an incurable high grade glioma ... Millie’s parents Erica and Kevin said they weren’t sure what to get her for her birthday.

INEOS Automotive has announced a new partnership with independent charity, Rural Aid, that is set to bolster the organisation’s critical support capability in regional Australia ... Through the partnership, INEOS will offer financial assistance and provide a fleet of nine (9) of its Quartermaster utes to Rural Aid’s counsellors and disaster support personnel...

Battle-ground engagement raged in Charlton last weekend, but it was more bonhomie than bloodshed as the 5th Mallee Melee unfolded at the Charlton RSL Clubrooms … the miniature wargaming weekend – likened by one participant to "chess on steroids" – saw visitors from Berwick, Nunawading and the Mornington Peninsula gear up for a weekend of the Napoleonic "General d’ Armee 2 Campaign Game".

Two men are planning to undertake separate journeys down Australia's longest river to raise funds for charity ... In April 2026, Tony Pearce, the former Inspector-General for Emergency Management and current chair of the Emergency Services Foundation (ESF), will embark from Bringenbrong Bridge on an unsupported paddle to raise awareness of the mental health...

The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail was a buzz of excitement on Sunday morning, 13 July with perfect weather and record numbers at the 22nd annual Somerset Rail Trail Classic. Somerset Regional Council’s 2025 event broke the 2021 record with 978 registrations across categories – the 3km and 8km walk or run, and the 20km and 44km bike rides.

Last Week The Allora Homestead was presented with a syringe driver by Rod Kelly on behalf of the Belinda McGowan Foundation. Syringe drivers are small battery-powered pumps that deliver a steady flow of medication through a small tube just under the skin.

A spellbinding evening of classical guitar filled the Birchip Uniting Church on Saturday night, as Chathura Silva returned to the town where his musical journey began, to perform an intimate concert for an appreciative audience.