Community

The Shire of Broome has wrapped up a successful Youth Week 2026, with hundreds of local young people taking part in a series of free activities designed to encourage participation, build confidence and celebrate youth in the community. Across the week, skateboard and scooter workshops at the BRAC Skatepark provided structured sessions for all skill levels...

Hancock Prospecting. In a move to recognise a national crisis and national disgrace, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting is contributing $200m to buy properties to help Australia’s homeless veterans and war heroes, the biggest ever private commitment for Australian veterans. 

Trevor Neale. The time was 2pm on the 25 April 1919 - Lieut. Robert Brown (Ret. AIF) marshalled the gathered groups at 53 Warwick Street, (now Historical Museum) for the Anzac Day march to the Fallen Soldiers Memorial via Forde, Drayton, Herbert and Warwick Streets. Main service was at 3pm ... This was the start of a 106 year association of the Salvation Army with Anzac Day in Allora.

The latest in the list of varied and engaging productions by Castlemaine Theatre Company is about to hit the stage, offering a rare glimpse into a singular place and time. Set at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility during the Covid-19 pandemic, Camp Darwin brings together a diverse group of Australian characters who are trying to return home.

The undoubted highlight of the Man From Snowy River Bush Festival was the performance of Emma Webb in the Ladies Challenge whose victory gave her a 10th title ... Despite the current fuel crisis, crowds were comparable to previous years and once again, camping on the Corryong golf course and nearby properties was booked out.

Patrick Tucker. Farmers across the region are preparing for a series of VicGrid visits to properties in the coming weeks, as part of ongoing efforts to conduct ecological studies linked to the proposed VNI West transmission project ... "This is the second attempt from VicGrid to get access to our properties to do the ecological study," he said.

The BAAKA Board is very pleased to announce the appointment of Liane Wendt as the new Executive Director of the BAAKA Cultural & Arts Centre. Liane comes to Wilcannia from Derby in WA, where she led the Mowanjum Arts and Cultural Centre.

Last weekend, members of the Nhill RSL Sub-Branch, Nhill Lions Club and the Lowan Lodge spent a busy afternoon erecting a great many of the Australian flags at the gravestones of military persons who had served in conflicts across the world. Mrs Jenny Blackwood is to be congratulated on her rigorous research as well as those who have made suitable the boring of holes for the Australian flags.

This year marked a turning point for the Origami Folding Art and Sound Festival, held at the Japanese Gardens at Gosford Regional Gallery ... Playful, surreal and grounded all at once, the event fostered a shared sense of wonder created in real time.

"They can stay, they can study, and they can succeed - right here in their own community." These were the words spoken by Mayor Carol Oataway during her address at last Wednesday's official opening of Hay Community Universities Centre (CUC).

They raised $50,000 in six months. Sam Irvine and St Mary’s School students worked hard to make Mary’s Mobile Laundry Trailer a reality. The mobile laundry will open on Tuesday, April 28 at 4–6pm behind St Mary’s Catholic Church ... The service is free...

Ned Thomas. The biennial Yorke Peninsula Saltwater Classic returned to Stansbury and Port Vincent across the weekend, April 17 to 19, delivering a high-energy celebration of boating in all its forms — sail, steam, electric and human-powered. Classic cars and coastal culture also helped lure the crowds who rolled in from across South Australia and interstate.

A free community event in Armidale next month will look at a question becoming increasingly important for regional Australia: what happens to renewable energy infrastructure when it reaches the end of its useful life? The event will explore the recycling, reuse and responsible disposal of renewable energy infrastructure, with a focus on rooftop solar panels, large-scale solar farms and, to a lesser extent, wind farm components.

National Seniors Australia’s campaign to Keep Cash is working and cash is making a comeback as demonstrated by the RBA’s 2025 Consumer Payments Survey that shows cash usage is on the rise. The survey reveals cash usage has increased by number of transactions (15 per cent in 2025 compared to 13 per cent in 2022) and by the total value of transactions.

The Finocchiaro CLP Government is delivering stronger, more reliable power for Alice Springs and Katherine, with an $82.1 million investment in battery energy storage. Territory Generation has awarded Pacific Energy a contract to deliver the next phase of the battery energy storage system (BESS) program.

Nationals Member for Central Wheatbelt, Lachlan Hunter MP, has slammed the Cook Labor Government for its lack of understanding of regional Western Australia, as the fuel crisis continues to bite across the Wheatbelt.

Victoria’s peak farming body has released a sweeping 20-point plan that demands all major parties commit to the strongest farmland protections in Australia ahead of the Victorian state election in November. The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF)’s Victorian Farmland Protection Plan calls for a fundamental reset in the way Victoria safeguards its agricultural land.

Winter is normally the season that outback NSW towns look forward to most. The tourists arrive, the caravan parks fill up ... This year, the question being asked by operators from Broken Hill to White Cliffs to Menindee is whether that migration is actually going to happen.

The Office of Local Government will take no action against Clarence Valley Council following a fact-finding mission triggered by a significant number of complaints. In November 2025, the OLG announced it would be conducting a review into Clarence Valley Council following multiple complaints and concerns about the operation of Council.

As a medical physicist, specialising in radiotherapy cancer care, Newstead Fire Brigade member Anne Perkins decided she wanted to help her community further when she joined CFA in 2009. Anne and her husband George first joined Newstead Fire Brigade over 17 years ago in response to the February 2009 bushfires, having just moved there three years earlier.

The Allora Men’s Shed has done a magnificent job of giving new life to this old wool classing table. During the past month Graham Hickson has been the main man to work on this unusual project.