NSW

Kirstin Nicholson. It was a moment of mayham that had people looking on in disbelief – a pig waltzing down King George Street, Cohuna. Well, it wasn’t quite that glamourous, but it was definitely a pig.

Lismore City Council and Rous County Council today signed a three-year lease for Rous to rent the Lismore Visitor Information Centre on Molesworth Street. Lismore City Council’s Director of Partnerships, Planning and Engagement Eber Butron said Lismore Council will work with Rous in delivering tourist information, and environmental and cultural services.

Eight units are under construction at 115 Centre St in Casino through Momentum Collective ... Across the region, there is a chronic shortage of affordable housing, said Mark Edwards from Momentum Collective. “This is a positive move to support local people and key workers who may not be able to access safe, affordable housing.”

A hereford bull smashed a Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange sales record last week. The bull fetched $16,000 at the annual Ramsey & Bulmer Bull and Female auction. The price was $7000 more than last year’s top-priced seller.

The artists who will transform Casino’s water tower have been decided. The Brightsiders are working on a project in the far south-western Queensland town of Thargomindah and will be in Casino mid-July to start painting the tower.

Geoff Helisma. Corazon Mining announced on the Australian Stock Exchange on June 17 that it has “commenced drilling at the Mt Gilmore Copper Cobalt Gold Project”, which is 25km northwest of Grafton. “Drilling will target the priority 8km-long Gordonbrook Hill – May Queen copper-cobalt/silver-gold anomaly, within the greater 20km long Mt Gilmore Trend,” the announcement states.

Emma Pritchard. Featuring a colourful and symbolic representation of Maclean and its place on Yaegl land, and the importance of connection to country and culture, Frances Belle Parker’s stunning design printed on the Maclean Public School uniforms also incorporates the powerful message of Angwirri, her artwork which featured prominently on the Sydney Opera House.

Emma Pritchard. Blessed with beautiful winter weather and clear skies, more than 80 rowers and paddlers in 31 boats took to the waters of the Clarence River on June 26 to participate in the Grafton Rowing Club’s annual Rowathon to raise funds for the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter ... eager participants traveled from Maclean, Iluka, Coffs Harbour, Murwillumbah, Lismore, Ballina, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay and Port Macquarie, with Grafton Rowing Club seniors and rowers from Grafton and South Grafton High Schools also joining in.

The BEST Nursery in Inverell has received around one million radiata pine seedlings from Forestry Corporation of NSW in preparation for a bumper 2021 State forest planting program. The nursery will manage the seedlings on behalf of Forestry Corporation to acclimatise to northern NSW conditions, before they continue their journey to the Walcha region for planting.

The first of over 9.1 million pine seedlings have started their journey to State forests across NSW from Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Blowering Nursery, the largest crop in the nursery’s history. Phil Green, Plantation Improvement Manager, said the 9.1 million seedlings will join with a further five million from the Grafton Nursery and contracted supply and will be planted to rebuild fire-affected and previously harvested plantations around Tumut, Bombala, Bathurst, Mossvale, Walcha and Grafton.

Forestry Corporation of NSW has started its record 2021 replanting program, with three million seedlings set to be replanted into 2,800 hectares of Bathurst pine plantations previously harvested or affected by the black summer bushfires. Forestry Corporation’s Silviculture Manager Mike Freeman said this winter’s planting program is an important milestone in the organisation’s bushfire recovery program.

Australia’s leading rural charity Rural Aid has today delivered hay to farmers battling the ongoing mouse plague. Two road trains carrying 144 bales of hay arrived in Narromine on Thursday 24 June. Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said most farmers receiving the hay had their stockpiles decimated by mice.

South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group has quickly exited of the Warragundi aggregation in the NSW Mudgee region, selling the 5,800 hectare property for $25 million just two years after its acquisition.

Last Wednesday a group of 40 local sheep producers attended a Lamb Marking Best Practice workshop organised by Western Murray Land Improvement Group (WMLIG) and Central Murray Sheep Producer at “Glenbar” in Mallan. The workshop was facilitated by Geoff Duddy from Sheep Solutions who has dedicated the last 30 years to improving sheep producers’ and enterprises’ skills and knowledge base across all areas of sheep production. Whilst recent wet weather has not been ideal for marking, the dry day offered up the opportunity for farmers to learn and recognise best practice.

Kirstin Nicholson. Cohuna’s Josh Treacy has been signed on to the Fremantle Dockers for another two seasons. Josh played his first AFL game for the Dockers in round four of the 2021 season in April against the Hawks and now has seven games under his belt, citing the win against Sydney as the best game he has ever played in and been a part of.

Thousands of new jobs and significant infrastructure builds in regional NSW will be delivered through the 2021-22 NSW Budget, supporting the recovery and future prosperity of regional communities following drought, bushfires, floods, the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the mice plague.

“If we lose churches, we lose the soul of our community,” says Stuart Holm. Stuart is not a member of the St John’s Uniting Church in Adams St in Coraki but he cares about its closure and what it means for the community. He is one of eight people in a working group discussing the re-invention of the church. “The conversation started three weeks ago and it’s building momentum,” Stuart said.