Youth

Pam Dillon. Twenty-eight students from three different remote schools spent three days fine-tuning their swimming skills to improve their schools’ chances in the Barkly Region Inter-school Swimming Carnival. With the help from Swimming NT, Royal Lifesaving NT (RLSNT) and the Barkly Sport Education Coordinator, the students ranging from preschool through to Year 8 were put into groups according to their swimming ability.

A North Queensland football coach and first aid officer who has spent his life working with troubled youth has put his hand up to assist in rehabilitation of criminal offenders through a trial of Katter’s Australian Party’s Relocation Sentencing policy. Relocation Sentencing, which has long been touted by the North Queensland-based party as “circuit-breaker solution” to the unrelenting youth crime crisis, would involve repeat offenders being sent to remote properties to work the land while completing compulsory therapeutic programs over a 6-12 month period.

Last Friday, Tennis Victoria, Buldau Yioohgen (Anglicare’s Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy) and the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Community hosted Culture on Court in Castlemaine - an event that mixed culture with tennis plus plenty of fun in a culturally safe environment. Participants improved their tennis skills and experienced cultural activities.

A record number of Australian Catholic University pre-service teachers have headed into regional, rural, and remote areas nationally to complete their teaching placements this year. More than 250 teaching students will have travelled far and wide to learn on the job by the end of 2022 ... “We are hoping they will love it so much they will want to return to these regions as teachers on graduation.”

After 18 years of participating in the Back Plains Speech Competition, which features many primary school students from around the district, Sam has secured Greenmount State School its first win.

Entries are open for the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Giant Pumpkin Competition, with anyone able to get seeds delivered to them for free. The competition offers more than $3,400 in prize money, with a new bonus $1,000 for the heaviest pumpkin over a whopping 500 kilograms.

Australia's most famous Maths Teacher Eddie Woo is coming to Narrandera High School to speak to both students and staff about the wonders of Mathematics. Eddie will be coming as part of his leading role with the Mathematics Growth Team.

The outstanding educators and staff at Toowoomba Catholic Schools have been celebrated at their annual Excellence Awards ... Mary Donnelly a Year 5-6 teacher from St Patrick’s School in Allora was an Award finalist. The ‘Mary Donnelly experience' is explained by parents as one in which their child is not only educated but thoroughly engaged by her wit and intelligence.

It’s the sale of the century: six and a half acres of freehold land, right in the middle of Maldon: the former Derby Hill Blue Light Youth Camp in Phoenix Street is on the market. The camp was closed down by Blue Light Victoria in September owing to financial problems caused by the shutdown during the Covid pandemic. Blue Light Victoria is now selling it off...

Emma Pritchard. A member of the LGBTIQA+ community and a proud Indigenous woman from Gubbi Gubbi Country, Amanda Daffey is the first candidate to assume the title of Jacaranda Ambassador in the 88-year history of the Grafton Jacaranda Festival after the Jacaranda Festival Committee announced in February that Australia’s oldest floral festival would become a gender-neutral event in 2022.

Mounted games riders have the late Prince Phillip to thank for the origins of their sport. When Sir Mike Ansell was director of the Horse of the Year Show, the Queen’s husband asked if he could devise a competition for children who could not afford an expensive pony.

A Tennant Creek teacher has become a national poetry celebrity after winning the Australian Poetry Slam competition for 2022. Jo Lang performed her poem titled A Broken System at the Sydney Opera House last Sunday and was received with a standing ovation and a score of 10 from all three judges.

A massive 19 teams signed up for the Lions Club's book themed Trivia Night at the Memo Club last Saturday night. Contestants came dressed as their favourite book character for a fantastic night which was organised to raise funds to provide book packs for schools in the Barkly.

Cambooya para athletes Kyrna and Tomas Crump have come home from the Queensland school athletics championships in Brisbane with bags full of medals ... Without putting too much pressure on the pair, the next Paralympics, in Paris, are less than two years away.

The number of Australians in Tennant Creek grew by five last Friday when Acting Mayor Russell O’Donnell donned the robes to officially swear in the new citizens in front of friends and families. Ujwal Minocha, Mary Apple Martin, Elvir Rahmanovic, Fungisi Siggins and Vijay Kumar Saraf each swore the oath, showing their commitment and loyalty to their new country...

Erica Boyington, Meredith Schinckel. August 12 and 13th saw fifteen young Naracoorte musicians travel plus one adult musician travel to Mt Gambier to compete in the music division of the Eisteddfod, held at Wehl Street theatre. An Eisteddfod is a wonderful opportunity for budding musicians to gain practice and confidence with performing, while benefitting from expert feedback.

Former Australian Diamond and SP Netball Founder Susan Pettitt is coming to Narrandera to run a clinic for 6-12 year olds at the Narrandera Netball Courts. Susan Pettitt (nee Prately) represented Australia in the 21/Under Team from 2003-2005. She began her Diamonds journey in 2006, playing the Commonwealth Games (silver) and continued to be a part of an impressive Diamonds lineup...

Rita de Bon is a 15-year-old event rider with dreams of competing at the highest level. Despite being born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and battling the disease all through her young life, horses have been part of it. “She is determined,” her mother, Bhakti, said. “And even though at times the CF interferes, she knows what she wants to achieve and continues on.” ... Although her mother said no Thoroughbreds, they did look at one, a 16hh gelding named Puffin and Rita instantly fell in love.

Despite the relatively small population of the Toowoomba Region, four local boys, including Tom Campbell of Mount Rascal and Dan Burge of Vale View, contributed to over 10 per cent of participants in hockey's Under 18 Futures Camp. Tom and Dan were joined by Will Ready from Toowoomba (previously Warwick) and Oliver Harding, also from Toowoomba.

A teenager was ensuring the blacksmithing trade was front and centre for the millennial generation at the Good Old Days Festival in southern NSW. Joe Reedy, of Wallabadah in northern NSW, donned his leather apron and was kept busy working the hot forge and hammering out draught horseshoes and fire pokers for an appreciative audience at the festival at Barellan on October 1-2.