Life

Cape York residents and tourists are being encouraged to cover up and wear insect repellent to avoid mosquito bites after the Japanese encephalitis virus was detected in feral pigs near Skardon River. JEV cannot be spread from the pigs to humans, experts say, but are transmitted by mosquitoes.

“The Spirit of the Bush competition attracts photos from every corner of the country and reflects every part of life on the land. It’s mesmerizing to see the highs and lows of farm life reflected in action shots, sweeping horizons and moments of quiet reflection” : John Warlters, Rural Aid CEO.

Prominent Cairns trainer Stephen Massingham is unlikely to be recognised by regular bush punters at Laura this weekend, but it's not because he's rarely sighted at the non TABs. "I've lost 45kg," ... The rapid weight loss hasn't led to a loss in ability, with the Far North's top trainer still knocking up winners across the region.

Queen Elizabeth’s representative for Queensland has given Cooktown and its annual Discovery Festival the royal thumbs up after visiting the Cape over the weekend. Her Excellency, the Honourable Jeannette Young and her husband Graeme Nimmo were eager participants ... Highlights of the weekend were the markets, with hundreds flowing through the stalls over the weekend, the street parade, inaugural 4x4 muster, the sunset soiree and fireworks, all capped off by the reenactment on Sunday morning.

The world’s most remote music festival – the Birdsville Big Red Bash – is set to return in just over two weeks (July 5-7), drawing more than 9,000 festivalgoers to the remote red sands of Queensland’s Simpson Desert for an epic line-up of outback entertainment and live Australian music acts including Jimmy Barnes, Missy Higgins, Kasey Chambers, Kate Ceberano, Shannon Noll and many more.

The City partnered with the Kwinana Social Club and the Medina Residents Group to celebrate the life of one of Kwinana’s historic figures, Margaret Feilman, with a unique artwork designed specifically for the area and installed on the external wall at the Club on Pace Road, Medina. At sixteen, Margaret became the state’s first female architectural cadet.

The past decade has seen a huge rise in gin consumption and one of WA’s newest distilleries is producing this popular spirit using a rather unusual product. The Cannabis Botanical Distillery (CBD) uses, as its name implies, cannabis as its alcohol base ... CBD’s owner, Matt Beaton, says he’d always had a dream to start a distillery and after joining his wife on her parents' 360 hectare Raintree Farm in the Great Southern region, that dream has become a reality.

Serena Kirby. Festival of Voice organisers report good attendance for the start of this year’s extended program, traditionally held over three days of the WA Week weekend. This year’s program is spread across the month’s four weekends.

Kristin Nicholson. Community discussion has centred on the concern for the safety of the town’s youth who will seek out local alternative swimming locations such as creeks and channels, lack of leisure opportunities (including the water slide), lack of, or reduction of, swimming lessons and other organised aquatic-based lessons, and the cost of travelling to other towns or shires to access aquatic facilities.

Kristin Nicholson. 50 years is an impressive length of time to be associated with one organisation. That's how long Barham’s Phil Mertz has been involved with the St Vincent de Paul Society, better known as Vinnies. Last month, Phil was recognised for his years of service. Phil began his association with Vinnies in the 1960s when he lived and worked at Hay.

Australian Eggs has announced the launch of EggTrace, a new tool designed to help egg farmers trace eggs back from point of purchase to the date and location that the eggs were laid ... By creating full visibility on the path an egg takes from lay to despatch, egg farmers now have the ability to more easily and efficiently identify any quality or health issues affecting eggs, ensuring a safer and more reliable egg supply chain.

A delay in starting employment has resulted in an Argentinian woman now living in Narrandera turning her hand to cooking familiar South American delicacies to tantalise the taste buds of Narrandera locals. Lourdes Hurt from Cordoba came to Australia two years ago and arrived in Narrandera two months ago in readiness to take up employment at Avonlie Solar Farm.

The Awards recognise towns whose tourism operators, businesses and community groups work together to encourage tourism and offer outstanding experiences for visitors. Public voters from across Australia and beyond selected Tamborine Mountain as a favourite destination for weddings, honeymoons, special events and extra long weekend adventures.

Clarence Valley Council's Resilient Clarence project proudly sponsored the Festival of Small Halls at the Wooloweyah Hall on the 26 May and the Dundurrabin Community Centre on the 27 May as part of the Woodfordia Inc Resilience Tour 2022. Using storytelling and music to connect people, the Resilience Tour is travelling to small halls in bushfire impacted communities.

Bernice Shepherd. For many of us, getting into the garden is a healing and grounding activity, a balm for the soul. But after devastating floods and relentless wet weather, what was once a beautiful sanctuary or productive food garden has become a muddy, stinky quagmire, no good for growing anything.

Three state of the art High Clearance Vehicles are now in permanent operation for the NSW State Emergency Service (SES), expanding flood rescue capability by helping volunteers get to hard to reach places. The vehicles, known as Unimogs, have been handed over to the SES by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) after being used on deployment in military operations.

In an ambitious endeavour, a group of Central Victorian residents have come together to establish a Regional Community Vet Clinic (RCVC). The goal of this clinic is to support people who are experiencing dire financial situations to care for their companion animals, to run neutering programs and to support and promote the value of companion animals in the community.

Kate Foran. Alana Drury has been with us at Barkly Vet for four weeks, and sadly she leaves this weekend. I decided to interview her about her time here. Alana comes from Central West, NSW where she grew up on a 25 acre hobby farm ... She learned how quickly you become a part of the community, given that there’s no easy way to duck ‘back home’ for the weekend, or even on to the next town for dinner, like rural life in other parts of Australia.