Life

Together with family members, hundreds of friends and admirers packed the Donald Anglican Church and surrounds ... for the service celebrating the remarkable life of legendary sports therapist, the late Pat Allen. The service was conducted by the Rev. Judi Bird, who spoke feelingly of the difference made by Pat to the lives of people from near and far.

Birchip is aglow with holiday cheer as the town sparkles under dazzling Christmas lights and festive decorations ... There is another exciting reason to keep it local this festive season, with over $3000 worth of Big Bucks and prizes up for grabs in the annual Birchip Big Bucks Promotion.

Hundreds of thousands of people around Australia followed Farm to Fork with Manu – a digital mini-series campaign by Ingham’s - taking a peek behind the scenes in our country’s poultry farming and processing industry to see how our nation’s top-selling meat-protein, chicken, makes its way from the farm to your fork.

This Christmas, the spotlight is on the 17,390 local businesses across the Toowoomba region, as Groom’s Gifts, spearheaded by Groom MP Garth Hamilton, returns for 2024. Groom’s Gifts supports small businesses and rewards shoppers in the lead-up to Christmas.

Communities from across the Riverina region are being urged to get behind their local volunteer finalists for the 2024 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards to be held in Sydney on Tuesday December 10. They include the Riverina Volunteer Team of the Year the Barellan Working Clydesdales Committee.

Patricia Gill. Shamara de Tissera began to play the harp as a young woman when pregnant with her son and no longer able to do eurythmia ... With her move to Denmark and first performance directing the Hildegard Harp Meditation at the Brave New Works Festival in January, she brought a wave of interest in the instrument.

Honor Auchinleck. Artist Simon White’s mural ‘The Men and their Mounts’ in Corryong tells the story of the bush horses or brumbies and the stockmen who mustered and brought them down from the High Country and the bush-covered hills surrounding the Upper Murray before the First World War. The breeders of the Remounts and Walers often turned the young horses out into the bush to toughen them up and then brought them back in as four-year-olds for sale to buyers for the British Army in India.

Greyhound Australia reveals its top ten locations for travellers in 2024. Brisbane has retained its crown as the most-visited destination in Australia for coach travellers in 2024, highlighting the River City's appeal and popularity among tourists from around the world.

Anne Longworth bowed out as the final president of Bishop’s Lodge Management Committee last Wednesday when the final meeting took place after the last of Hay Shire Council’s Section 355 museum committees was dissolved. This reluctant step was taken at the request of the committee due to the chronic volunteer fatigue experienced in Hay over the last few years.

A West Wimmera Shire Council survey on maternal and child health and support playgroup services has highlighted the overwhelmingly positive experiences from families in the community. The survey, which gathered responses from parents and caregivers from across the shire, showed strong satisfaction with the support and care currently provided.

Making every step count, close to 100 Clarence Valley residents joined members of the Iluka-Woombah Rotary Club on November 29 for a twilight walk to raise awareness of domestic and family violence and the devastating impact it has on communities around Australia. Organised as part of the global campaign 16 Days of Activism, an annual event aimed at eliminating violence against women and young girls while promoting respectful relationships, the initiative received an outpouring of support throughout the coastal village.

Regional Australia is the nation’s ‘destination of choice’ according to the latest Regional Movers Index (RMI) report, with data showing that while city dwellers are continuing to relocate out of metropolitan areas, regional Australians are increasingly staying put. Regional Australia Institute (RAI) CEO Liz Ritchie said data from the September 2024 quarter report shows city-to-regional relocations are now sitting at 19.8 per cent above the pre-Covid average...  

Rachel Hagan. Price is a town with a deep history and has been a key part of Yorke Peninsula, but one key feature it has been missing is a museum — that is until now. By mid to late January, the Price Museum will be structurally ready to go ... Price Progress Association secretary Karen Newbold says it all needs to be finished by April 20, 2025, and she is confident all the work can be achieved by that deadline.

The Rural Applied Drug and Alcohol Research group (RADAR) will tackle the prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse in Western NSW, which is higher than most other parts of NSW ... Core priorities of RADAR include addressing the specific, geographical issues those afflicted by substance misuse in western NSW often experience.

Am I the only person in the entire world that loses socks? I can go into a shop and buy six pairs of identical black socks, the family will wear them once, throw them in the washing machine, and out will come 12 socks with different patterns that have obviously never met each other.

The butchers at Metcalf Quality Meats in Evans Head, Tom Karry, Jacob Lane, Mark Simeoni, Riley Stothard, Nathan Scully and Wade Goldthorpe, grew moustaches to raise money for men’s mental health. Wade said the young fellas didn’t stand a chance in the moustache-growing race.

Allora born and bred Geoffrey Smith, was named Queensland Australian of the Year at the recent awards ceremony held in Brisbane. Proud parents Debbie and Alan Smith said Geoffrey was born in 1989 and went to Allora Kindergarten, Allora Pre-School and Allora P-10 School until Year 7 when he moved to Toowoomba Grammar.

The remarkable achievements of 2024 Paris Olympian bronze medallist Matthew Denny will be celebrated with two significant legacy projects in Allora. The local community was invited to vote on two proposals. Naming the Allora Cricket Grounds discus ring after Matthew Denny, creating a walking path in Dalrymple Park, featuring markers that highlight the distance of the various records achieved by Matthew Denny.

The Newstead solar project that was launched in August is rolling out and has been holding regular information sessions at the Newstead Rural Transfer Centre. The project, a partnership between Renewable Newstead and retailer Flow Power, centres around the newly operational Newstead Solar Farm.

MS Australia is bringing together the nation's top researchers to unlock the complex link between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and multiple sclerosis (MS); with the potential to revolutionise how we treat, prevent, and ultimately cure MS. The EBV in MS National Collaborative Platform, launched today at MS Australia's inaugural Frontiers in MS Research Symposium at the University of Sydney, aims to unify and strengthen Australian research efforts into EBV and MS.

In Ukraine food prices continue to rise and the state is unable to help citizens. A natural solution to the problem could be for the starving to move to rural areas to farm on their own land. This is how 4 million Ukrainian families live.

Q: What do Carols by Candlelight, the Easter Parade, Maldon and Baringhup Show and almost every other major event in town have in common? A: The fantastic musical presence of the Maldon Brass Band, that’s what!