News

Forestry Corporation of NSW is halfway through the delivery of 25,000 koala food tree seedlings to Port Macquarie Koala Hospital for their annual koala food tree giveaway program ... The seedlings were grown at Forestry Corporation’s Grafton nursery and have had an exceptional start with the perfect growing conditions and look extremely healthy and luscious, said Forestry Corporation’s Partnerships Leader, Sandra Madeley.

Researchers at UniSA have developed a cost-effective technique that could deliver safe drinking water to millions of vulnerable people using cheap, sustainable materials and sunlight ... A team led by Associate Professor Haolan Xu has refined a technique to derive freshwater from seawater, brackish water, or contaminated water, through highly efficient solar evaporation, delivering enough daily fresh drinking water for a family of four from just one square metre of source water.

The Shire of Toodyay is one of the two WA towns to have achieved ‘wildflower-friendly’ status as a result of the 2020-21 Wildflower Friendliness Award Scheme. The scheme encourages local governments to protect WA’s valuable wildflowers and native vegetation along roads and in nature reserves for visitors and locals to enjoy. WA has one of the largest display of wildflowers with more than 12,000 species – which is a unique selling point for the State.

Western Cape communities have been urged to have their say on the Indigenous Voice process after workshops were held in the region last week. Prominent Indigenous leader Professor Marcia Langton was joined by Yarrabah mayor Ross Andrews for talks in Napranum, Weipa and Aurukun. The sessions were to discuss the key points of the Indigenous Voice report, released in January, and to garner feedback to take to the federal government.

Jai-Mec Rural Contracting has joined forces with Remondis to create new company Red Earth Industrial Services ... Sandra Kirk, who runs Jai-Mec with husband Jai Christie, said Indigenous employment was one of the priorities under the Red Earth Industrial Services structure. The longer-term goal is that Red Earth Industrial Services will flourish into a diversified industrial business, offering a variety of additional services which may include sand blasting, painting and electrical work.

Weipa Town Authority chairman Michael Rowland says officials must move quickly to bring the 20 men stranded on a cargo vessel to Weipa and take care of them here. Another crew member left the ship last week, taking the number to 20 on board, from 22 originally. Movers 3 has been anchored off the Port of Weipa for seven weeks and needs major repairs for it to be seaworthy. Mr Rowland said it was now a humanitarian issue and urged the relevant authorities to intervene.

The three levels of government will be meeting in Tennant Creek next week to acknowledge the key achievements to date of the Barkly Regional Deal and discuss future priorities ... The Barkly Regional Deal is the first Regional Deal in Australia - a 10-year $78.4 million commitment between the Australian and Northern Territory governments and the Barkly Regional Council. However Barkly MLA Steve Edgington said the NT Government was nowhere near meeting its commitment to the 28 economic, social and cultural initiatives to be implemented across the region over the first three years of the deal.

As a part of the School Holiday Program, local band The Last Resort has been performing series of gigs at different Town Camps each evening. Intended to help keep the kids off the streets, the gigs have been well attended by families and supported by Elders and community organisations.

The past 12 months have seen Forestry Corporation of NSW implement a $46 million bushfire recovery program to repair NSW State forests, the largest in the organisation’s history. The equity injection has seen Forestry Corporation repair priority damaged public infrastructure, expand its Blowering and Grafton nurseries, and start replanting bushfire-affected State forests.

Rockhampton Airport has today welcomed one of Alliance Airlines new commercial aircraft with a special water cannon salute to mark its arrival. The Embraer E190 is one of 30 newly acquired aircraft Alliance is adding to its regional fleet with an exciting proposal on the cards to build a hangar and maintenance facility at Rockhampton Airport to help service the airlines entire fleet of over 70 aircraft.

The Coastal Fox Control Program will be underway again this autumn in an effort to protect our native wildlife from the predatory fox in coastal bushland areas from Maroochy River to Peregian Springs.

Barellan is now on the map when it comes to historic aircraft with the Whispering Pines Aviation Museum securing the naming rights to the Australian Aviation Museum. The museum was officially opened on Saturday by Bland Shire deputy mayor Rodney Crowe. Guests flew in from Bankstown and Wagga Wagga for the occasion with around 13 planes on the property’s dirt airstrip. Among the planes surrounded by red dust and cropping paddocks are a De Haviland Dove, Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, a 1963 Cessna 172D, a replica Spitfire and a Clancy Sky Baby, reputedly flown by pioneer aviator Charles Kingsford Smith.

Can you quantify the impact music has had on your life? Don Hearn from Caldwell near Barham believes music is intrinsic to our DNA and is enjoyed in every culture, and in every country around the world and he is looking to share the unity that music brings to us all ... Noteworthy’s aim is to repurpose pre-loved guitars or the like and provide them to people around the globe.

Kirstin Nicholson. A turtle nest – a wonderful construction, dug by the female to lay her eggs in and filled back up to keep the eggs safe from the world until they hatch up to a year later ... Despite being backfilled, the eggs are still in danger from predators like foxes and water rats. While we may not be able to easily identify a turtle nest, unfortunately a fox can ... Graham Stockfeld from Turtles Australia has been visiting the Gunbower and Cohuna area several times a year to protect the nests and collect data.

“Fisher folk, stand-up boarders, kayakers and everyone are invited to bring their sailboats, tinnies or whatever and come along with us to stand up for our inland rivers,” says Carol Carney. Carol is the proud owner of "Sneaky Snag", a beautiful 4.8 metre long blue and white trailor-boat that floats around the Murray River and other waterways near Echuca, one of Victoria's primo river towns. At 3pm on April 16, 2021, boats of all descriptions will launch into the weir-pool above Lock 32, at Menindee in Western NSW.

With power out throughout the Midwest and extensive damage to properties in the region, the City of Greater Geraldton is reminding people to be cautious of food safety and to be asbestos aware.