WA

Serena Kirby. Festival of Voice organisers report good attendance for the start of this year’s extended program, traditionally held over three days of the WA Week weekend. This year’s program is spread across the month’s four weekends.

A trial using oyster spats from an Albany Hatchery is assessing if the water conditions of Wilson Inlet will support the growth of native flat oysters. Aquaculturist Zak Launay said conditions created with the 'exceptional opening' of Wilson Inlet last year had created a level of salinity suited to the growing of oysters.

Members of the public will have an opportunity to look inside the Royal Australian Navy’s newest ship HMAS Stalwart III when it arrives in Geraldton later this month. It is the first time the ship will visit its Ceremonial Homeport and a number of free events are happening over the weekend to celebrate including a Public Personal Training Session, Freedom of Entry March and Ship Open Day.

Horticulturists and agriculturists who take water from aquifers in the Gingin groundwater area south of Gingin Brook and Moore River will have any reductions to their entitlements delayed, according to the Gnangara groundwater allocation plan.

Celebrating inspirational women of the adventure world, Adventure Reels returns to Margaret River with their annual sell out event, the Gutsy Girls Adventure Film Tour 2022. Showcasing a unique selection of films produced by independent filmmakers from around the globe, the two and a half hour program offers something for all ages and genders.

Today, on World Oceans Day, the Minister for Fisheries joined representatives from the Western Australia Fishing Industries Council and the Marine Stewardship Council to award Rare Foods Australia (RFA) internationally recognised status as a Wild Sustainable Fishery. This achievement by RFA, which operates the world's first abalone ranch near Augusta, becomes another of WA's sustainable fisheries success stories.

Robert Onfray introduces a powerful 2015 speech by Roger Underwood, retired forester, firefighter and bushfire specialist in karri country ... "We have given warning after warning, until we sound like a broken record. We have met with Premiers, Ministers and senior bureaucrats, and written dozens of letters and submissions. We have said “get your bushfire management sorted out, or you will lose everything”, but instead of getting better, things on the ground just kept getting worse." Has anything changed?

Indonesia has 280 million people of which 38 million are farmers. Between them have 16 million cattle and 9 million pigs spread across 6000 inhabited islands, extending 5,500km East to West and 1,800km North to South. As the borders open and the world starts travelling again, we can look forward to the return of the 50 flights a week between Bali and Perth.   Each of these flights will carry the risk of the transmission of Lumpy Skin and Foot and Mouth Disease into Australia.

Serena Kirby. Fitness and wellbeing coach, Louise O’Neill, has been named as the WA winner of the 2022 AgriFutures rural women’s award ... Her new business model involves one-on-one coaching and live online group fitness workouts conducted with clients via zoom and telephone.

Reclaim the Void: weaving country whole is a collaboration between Vivienne Robertson and the Leonora-based Ngalia Heritage Research Council (Aboriginal Corporation) ... Vivienne ... asked: "What is your deepest pain?" One of the Aunties replied: ”Those gaping mining holes left all over our country”.

Denmark Rowers applied brute force to the sound of ripping in a milestone event on Tuesday, May 17 to turn their first St Ayles Skiff ... It is described as ‘a thing of great beauty’ and with the bow and stern stems as yet untrimmed looks like the Norwegian faerings used by the Vikings and probably earlier Scandinavians.

Broome artist Sobrane Simcock, is well known for her brightly coloured, joy-filled paintings and her well-stocked gallery is filled with her eye-catching work.   Her artwork also appears in large-scale murals adorning hundreds of walls, watertanks and streetscapes around Australia. But there’s one colourful talent Sobrane usually keeps to herself.   Sobrane is a synesthete; one of those rare people with the perceptual phenomenon known as synesthesia.

"Native vegetation helps mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon. This policy seeks to achieve a net gain in native vegetation, while providing regulatory clarity for business, and building a strong, accessible evidence base for policymaking, decisions, and transparency" : WA Environment Minister, Reece Whitby.

Gingin trainer Cliff Green has Atlantis Beach on a seven-day back up after his win in the Crown Perth Handicap (1600m) on Roma Cup day ... while carrying 58kg, 18hh Atlantis Beach finished one and three-quarter lengths clear of his closest opposition to nail the second win of his career.

The first step in merging Noongar cultural burning practice with contemporary fire mitigation was taken last week with a trial burn along Wilson Inlet. A small area was selected along the Bibbulmun Track, adjoining Weedon Hill, for the demonstration trial in the big step towards more collaboration between traditional custodians and authorities in bushfire prevention.

Shaun Ossinger, Patricia Gill. A Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee project, Green waste towards net zero, will target the conversion of Denmark’s green waste into biochar ... Instead of burning the green waste at Denmark’s Waste Transfer Station or transporting it to Albany’s Hanrahan Road tip, WICC is seeking solutions that benefit farmers and the community.

Serena Kirby. Emergency food provider, Foodbank, has begun a delivery service to Denmark to meet rising demand in the community ... Foodbank Albany branch manager Rod Pfeiffer said that while the mobile service had been running in Perth for some time, the regional need was now urgent.

John O'Donnell discusses the significance of a graph showing areas burnt by bushfire and by prescribed burning across Australia since 1960.

West Australian energy company Geogen is seeking a geothermal energy extraction site in the area around Casino, Kyogle, Bonalbo and Mallanganee. Geogen chief executive Adam refused to let me publish his surname. He claimed geothermal was the “greenest energy source we can use”.