Life

A Tennant Creek nurse has won a major category in the NT Health Professional of the Year Awards. Tennant Creek Primary School Nurse Rebecca (Beck) Way was awarded Nurse of the Year for her efforts in preventative care and positive health messaging which have helped raise health literacy in the next generation around mental health, drugs and alcohol issues, sexual health and respectful relationships.

The presence of Varroa Mite (a parasite of adult honey bees that weakens and kills colonies and can also transmit viruses) has exacerbated and magnified the regular stresses of beekeeping in Australia ... “Lead by beekeeper volunteers from around Australia, the eradication effort is progressing well; however, if NSW can't contain Varroa Mite, then it will eventually be everywhere in time, including Victoria”: Owner and Managing Director of Warral Maldon, Lindsay Callaway.

The Young at Heart Playgroup, originally designed to connect young children with residents at the Maldon hospital, has been running for over seven years and now has more than 22 families, parents, grandparents and carers attending with their young children ... This year the playgroup has participated in the National Simultaneous Story Time and has started toddler-time sessions with visits from the Castlemaine Library.

Mayors converged on Temora Shire last Friday, to discuss health related matters. The heads of both Hilltops Region, Mayor Margaret Roles and Narrandera Shire, Mayor Neville Kschenka met with Mayor Rick Firman of Temora Shire. The leaders discussed the issue of lack of dialysis services in their communities.

The Narrandera District Garden Club’s 2022 Camellia Show at the weekend was one of the best ever, with 960 blooms of exceptional quality on display in the Narrandera Ex-servicemen’s Club auditorium. Garden Club Secretary Denise di Dalvia said it was one of the best shows she had seen in years and attracted a very high quality of blooms from visiting and local exhibitors.

Country Women’s Association members from all over NSW and parts of Victoria joined members from surrounding groups for the Barellan CWA centenary celebrations last week. One very active 90 year old member and her husband travelled from the Gold Coast in Queensland to attend ... A beautifully decorated birthday cake was cut by life members Reta Spencer and Val Hawker and served later as sweets.

Bob Rees knows only too well that life can change in an instant. And that instant hit him hard when he was on a motorbike trip through Africa with his wife Chris. A reckless driver slammed head on into Chris and Bob’s bike and the result was catastrophic. Chris lost her life, Bob lost his wife and also lost the use of his legs ... it is not just the lack of access to the NDIS that has led Bob to speak out, it's also the obstacles that people with disabilities have to deal with when moving around in public places; especially in country towns.

An initiative to help men with incontinence is being rolled out across the Sunshine Coast. In collaboration with the Continence Foundation, Sunshine Coast Council has installed 102 male incontinence product disposal bins at public amenities locations across the region.

A new op shop opens on Wednesday, August 24 in Walker St, Casino. In a town with six op shops, St Mark’s Anglican Church will have prime spot ... The space won’t only be an op-shop. It will have the parish and priest’s offices and there will be a drop-in area where people can have a coffee or tea and a chat.

A chlamydia vaccine for koalas could increase the species’ resistance to the potentially fatal disease in a trial in south-west Sydney, which is part of an almost $1.7 million NSW Koala Strategy investment across the region ... “Chlamydia is a serious issue for koalas, leading to blindness, infections and infertility in this precious species. This disease weakens koalas and can make them more susceptible to dog attacks and other threats,”: Minister for Environment James Griffin

Research led by a Charles Sturt University academic examined the innovative ‘SayBananas!’ app that may assist children with speech sound disorders (SSD) and their parents living in less populated areas ... the effectiveness study examined the usability and rating of ‘SayBananas!’, a Mario-style video-game providing high-dose individualised speech therapy with rural Australian children.

Samuel Davis. A proposal to give greater powers to local disaster management groups during public health crises will keep Cape communities safer, a long-time mayor says ... Under Cr Scott’s plan, a health emergency would be treated like a natural disaster, with government agencies working together.

Samuel Davis. Cape York mayor Patricia Yusia doesn’t want to talk about the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Not while a desperate housing crisis is crippling her communities in the Northern Peninsula Area. So, when Cr Yusia met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Horn Island last Thursday, the discussion was to the point.

Dorrobbee Grass Reserve is a beautiful reserve that surrounds the large concrete water tank on the hill just north of Dunoon. It is a special place of great cultural significance to the traditional custodians, the Widjabul Wia-bal people. The reserve is a traditional Aboriginal camping and travelling route maintained through cultural land-management practices, including cultural burning. The reserve is also a remnant ‘island’ of fire-dependent grassland and one of the last intact grassland ecosystems within the Big Scrub bioregion .

In anticipation of the return to a pre-Covid summer, the Australian Lifeguard Service is recruiting new Lifeguards to bolster its team of beach safety professionals ahead of the raising of the flags that signifies the start of the season, taking place in the September school holidays. It presents a fantastic opportunity to engage yourself in a rewarding role which will keep you fit and on the beach across the summer.

We continue with our 'Messy Church' programme which happens on the first Saturday of the month. Messy Church is church for families who may not find other forms of church appealing and who do not yet belong to a church. It is held once a month, and it includes hands-on creative experiences, a celebration, and a meal. It does not prioritise either the needs of children or adults but intentionally welcomes and provides for all ages.

Blockade Australia activities which stopped Sydney peak hour traffic on 27 June 2022 is an experience which timber harvesting contractors have been confronting for years. In the week ended August 5, 2022, on five successive days, protestors entered timber harvesting sites in Northern NSW and placed their personal safety in danger to such an extent that work ceased.

... We’ve received so much positive feedback on John’s story; many readers know this amazing, flamboyant man from around town and were excited to hear more about his life. If you are one of those people who has been fortunate enough to encounter John, you will know he is so incredibly full of life. He brings joy to those around him with his varied accents, his mannerisms and his larger-than-life personality.

The Tarrangower Australia Day Committee has made the difficult decision to disband. In recent years, committee numbers have been dwindling, and efforts to recruit new members have had little or no results. The three remaining members have made the difficult decision to cease operations.

Following its public campaign to get a child care director in Julia Creek, McKinlay Shire Council is now trying to get a new GP to live in the community. The otherwise burgeoning town is emphatically seeking a new doctor at its brand-new health facility.

Days don’t get much better for a trainer than last Thursday for someone like Tanya Parry. The Julia Creek trainer had a career-best day, producing four winners on the TAB program in front of a national audience.