Life

In Beef Town, cattle are proving to be a problem. Disorientated and lost in the floods, cows have been spotted in backyards and in the streets of Casino.

Timmy Maxwell. We are open! What a journey it’s been up until the point we poured our first beer four weeks ago! As with many great things on this island, it all started with a simple idea. We wanted to brew fresh beer and a create a great place to enjoy it in.

LHI welcomed St Gregory’s College to the island last week to celebrate our annual Discovery Day. Assistant Principal, Mr. Joel Weekes, and Director of Boarding, Mr. Luke Morrissey travelled to the island to represent the College. LHI currently has 6 young men boarding at St Gregory’s in grades 8 through to 11, and a long history of young men attending the College from the island.

“JEV is a mosquito-borne viral disease that mostly occurs in pigs and horses, but can cause disease in people and rarely other animals. Animals and people become infected through the bite of infected mosquitoes. It cannot be caught through eating pork or pig products. The disease is not transmitted from person to person”: DAWE.

History was made last week when Brad Welsh was named as the first Indigenous Australian to lead an ASX-listed minerals company. Welsh was named as the CEO and managing director of Energy Resources Australia in the Northern Territory.

Beer lovers will rejoice at the incredible range of 175+ brews to try from 25 craft breweries and cideries such as Rocky Ridge, Colonial, Eagle Bay, Boston and Brewhouse Margaret River, including some crazy, delicious, mind boggling special and new release brews showcased by each brewer at their bar.

Chris Oldfield. Naracoorte and Millicent have welcomed three new paramedic trainees to their dedicated SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) teams. Jasmine White has joined Naracoorte, while Ben Merchant and Amy-Lee Hay have teamed up with Millicent's SAAS.

Gabrielle Duykers. An Apsley farmer and community advocate is running as a candidate for the state Legislative Council in the upcoming election. Paula Gust has joined the Advance SA Party in the hopes of securing a seat in the Upper House at the State Election on March 19.

Despite lingering COVID restrictions, the Armidale Show Committee has worked hard to develop a full schedule for the public to enter and compete in, and a jam-packed entertainment program over two nights.

The Victorian Government has approved the proposal put forward by the Maldon Hospital and Castlemaine Health boards to come together as one organisation ... The new health service will officially commence on 1 March 2022. The integration follows more than 42 years of strong collaboration and partnership between the two health services.

Daryl Walker, from the Maldon Vintage Machinery and Museum, has spent months putting together a tribute to those that lost their lives in the Ash Wednesday fires on 16 February 1983. The exhibition, consisting of newspaper articles and photographs, is informative and moving.

The numbers are in on the accelerated escape from the city trend, with quarterly migration from capital cities to regional areas over the past two years up 15% on the two years prior to the global pandemic. According to the latest Regional Movers Index, produced in partnership by the Commonwealth Bank and the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), the December quarter index showed net migration to the country’s regions is more than double what it was in the two years pre-COVID.

Patricia Gill. Rob and Sally Seminara tell of how a ‘firey’, overcome with emotion, had wept while presenting them with a cake after the couple had returned to their burnt out house. The show of emotion and gesture touched the hearts of the devastated couple whose home of 30 years at Parryville was razed overnight on February 4.

Kirstin Nicholson. Ben Timms, of the Barham Licenced Post Office, was out on his delivery run when he came across another driver in need of help at around 10am ... Rushing to assist, he grabbed the fire extinguisher from his own vehicle to prevent the fire from spreading. While performing his good deed, the driver of the burning vehicle fled in Ben’s utility, driving east along Barham Road.

Kirstin Nicholson. Let us introduce you to Sidney CP Reid JP. Sidney Reid was born in 1889 in Grafton. He came to Koondrook to manage Arbuthnot Sawmills in 1918 ... instrumental in establishing the Barham-Koondrook Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital ... operated a dairy farm ... "possessed a tremendous capacity for getting things done."

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) has launched a new commemorative book, at a function held at Government House in Sydney, honouring the bicentenary of the organisation in July this year.  

On the 19th February, Gulgong Show Society hosted its 134th Gulgong Show. It was a huge success and we were pleased to host a fun packed show for the local families and the visitors that came with over 3,500 visitors coming through the gate.

It’s not until you’re up close to the mural drawn onto Casino’s water tower that you can really know the scale of the artwork. It is huge. Mural painters Steve Falco and Jordan Bruce are aware of the impact the mural will have on the town’s residents. The water tower can be seen from nearly everywhere.

Emma Pritchard. The Grafton Chamber of Commerce hosted its first breakfast meeting of the year at the Clocktower Hotel last week ... In assuming his new role with the Chamber, Mr Jablonski, a passionate advocate for local youths, spoke to the crowd about encouraging mentorships for young people and getting them actively involved in entrepreneurships and business.

Geoff Helisma. ‘Not out’ septuagenarian Bob Walker came to comedy relatively late. “It saved my life. I was deeply depressed when I took it up – it’s changed how I think about myself and my outlook on life.” ... the Tucabia man is back with a stellar line-up of comedians at the Maclean Bowling Club – and all of the money from ticket sales will be used to potentially save lives.

Researchers at Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have developed a technique that addresses the challenge of transporting temperature-dependent vaccines, which researchers hope may increase access in rural and remote communities in Australia and developing countries.