News

More than $400 million is expected for the Worral Creek Aggregation in Queensland, which is tipped to account for over 10% of this year’s Australian cotton crop. The Reardon family is bringing the 26,855 hectare aggregation in the Border Rivers region to the market as record crops and commodity prices attract more investors into the agricultural sector.

Music is the food of life someone famous once said and that is for sure -  for people of all ages. Music has been proved to be powerful in the management of dementia and related issues ... With over 40 years of broadcasting experience, Gary Thorpe OAM developed Silver Memories in 2007 to address social isolation in the aged in the community. And now it is going stronger than ever.

Committee Chair, Dr Anne Webster MP said, ‘Regional newspapers in Australia represent a large and diverse industry, which has experienced significant challenges over the past decade. With the transition to digital news and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assessing the health of our regional newspapers is more important than ever before.’

A report from the Inquiry into Australia’s regional newspapers released earlier today has made 12 recommendations including that the Australian Government ensure a percentage of government print advertising is placed in regional newspapers.

Serena Kirby. Community member and South West MLC Dr Sally Talbot, who was instrumental in getting WA’s VAD law passed in State Parliament, spoke of the process at the Dying To Know forum convened by death doula Kit Bewley.

Patricia Gill. Sumer Addy started her job as chief executive at the Denmark Chamber of Commerce in 2020 in what she describes as a baptism of fire. ... Sumer leaves the Chamber at the end of April to take up a consultancy job with the economic and community development partner consultancy, Rural and Regional Economic Solutions.

Serena Kirby. Extreme snowboarder Henry Edmondson has surprised everyone with his recent results on the international junior Freeride circuit. Henry, 16, is ranked among the top 40 junior freeriders in the world after competing in several events in France in January.

A perfect autumn evening and the setting sun’s golden haze set the scene for the Sara Storer concert in Wakool, presented by the Australian Government’s National Recovery and Resilience Agency ... 21-time Golden Guitar winner ... Backstage, Sara said it was great to be back on the road after a quiet two years.

Jo and Don Hearn from Restdown Winery and Jungle Lane Beef Co and their business were recently recognised as part of Tourism Australia’s new international marketing campaign on sustainable tourism, and Tourism NSW has also included them in the top 10 things to do along the Murray River, alongside the iconic Mungo National Park.

Joan de Bondt. When the Legacy Bowls Tournament was initiated in Barham 55 years ago in 1967, it attracted four greens of bowlers, drawn from surrounding areas as far away as Bendigo. The event was established as a fundraiser to assist war widows and their families.

A former Narrandera resident who now lives in the tourist town of Noosa wants to alert Narrandera residents to a project she believes will have a negative impact on tourism in Narrandera– the proposed skywalk which will extend over and above Lake Talbot .... The preliminary design for the skywalk at Lake Talbot has been completed by Teleo Design and put out for public feedback by the Narrandera Shire Council by April 15 with intentions to start building it in July this year and complete the project by December.

A farmer, a pre-school teacher and a secondary school teacher are sought to live and work for a year or two in the Meru District, Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania in East Africa. Father Andrew Mutubusi is visiting Griffith from Tanzania to learn about local irrigation methods in the hope of supporting the peasant farmers in his community back home.

... these disastrous wildfires have also given land managers and fire services a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get on top of the bushfire situation. By the end of this year, the fuels in the NSW and Victorian 2019/2020 fire areas will be three years old. The next few years will be a wonderful opportunity to break up these large areas of contiguous fuel by widespread prescribed burning, safely, with minimal chance of escapes. It is a chance that must not be missed.

For two years, the Casino Truck Show was cancelled because of covid restrictions and the gathering of crowds. But the trucks are back this year. The event will be held on  Saturday, August 6, coordinated by Richmond Valley Council with support from the North Coast Petroleum  Casino Truck Show Organising Committee.

Houses identified as being at risk in the Kyogle Flood Study are purchased at market value in a voluntary House Buy Back Scheme. Kyogle Council contacts all identified property owners each year and asks them if they would be interested in selling their properties. Only identified properties are eligible for the grant.

Empty shells of houses. Rubbish piled up outside homes. Waterlogged Woodburn is drying out. In week three since the floods, the sound of dozers and trucks echoes though the empty streets removing the rubbish piles, one at a time. There was one place where there were a lot of people – a queue of them. The Woodburn Wurlitzer Bakery opened today, March 21.

Brigadier Robert Lording, Commander of ‘ADF Operation Flood Assist 22’ for the NSW Northern Rivers Region said the first request for assistance came from the NSW State Emergency Services. “By Saturday February 26, the SES were aware there was going to be a flood emergency develop and they were quickly onto it, requesting ADF assistance to doorknock residents and provide other logistical aid”, said the Brigadier.

Geoff Helisma. As the federal election nears, former ABC journalist, presenter and interviewer, Kerry O’Brien, will join former member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, at the Grafton Services Club on Sunday April 3. The pair will speak about how independent candidates can help stop the “erosion of democracy” in Australia.