Arts & Culture

Small towns have made their presence felt after the first flush of counting in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council election. Just over 10,200 of yesterday's votes have been counted at this point, with 11 new councillor positions to be decided from a field of 27 candidates. Former Bombala Mayor and grazier Bob Stewart has polled the most votes with 1,447, followed...

Momentum has been building in recent months around a film called the 'Namatjira Project'. ABC Radio National and the countries big newspapers have been detailing the story behind the film on an almost weekly basis. A South East local has been one of those with her hands on the lever driving the campaign. It's a captivating tale involving one of Australia's...

Wednesday dawns, I’ve woken early to the deep throated chanting from the nearby mosque that melds into early morning prayer and song from the Catholic Sisters at Fatuhada. Ahead lies the 150 kilometres to Natarbora, it doesn’t sound far, but from Dave’s experience, it will be a long and painful trip. This morning though we are feeling somewhat reassured that...

A new era in Local Government is set to bloom with elections for Snowy Monaro Regional Council this Saturday (September 9) ending 16 months of administration by former Cooma Mayor, Dean Lynch. Pre-Poll voting is already underway at Jindabyne, Berridale, Cooma, and Bombala with 27 candidates contesting 11 positions in the merged council chamber. Familiar names on your ballot paper include Bob...

The Bega Valley is about to recognise the contribution of one local father to World War 2. A tribute plaque will be dedicated in Bega on Friday, 1 September at 11 am telling the story of Henry ‘Pop’ Lucas and his nine sons that went to war. The grandson of Henry Lucas, Guy said most families of the time had...

https://vimeo.com/230550888 Gabrielle Powell is one of those familiar faces around Bega, but she has just had an experience that took her way beyond her Pedan Street base. For almost 11 years Gabrielle has been the manager of the town’s Women’s Resource Centre. With long service leave in her sails, Gabrielle took off for Malawi in South East Africa, a country...

Soil collected from sixty-five war memorials across South East New South Wales will be featured in a new state memorial honouring First World War veterans and their hometowns. The Office of Veterans Affairs is overseeing the program, which is collecting soil from almost 1,700 WW1 enlistment locations for an art installation in what will be known as the Hall of...

Twenty-four Japanese drums hand crafted in the salty air of Tathra are being delivered to Western New South Wales today. "We often stop work to watch whales breach and blow their spray," Luke Hamilton says. Luke and Chris Korvin are both drummers with the Bega Valley based Stonewave Taiko but have branched out to create their own taiko making business....

High school students from Cooma have combined with a locally based, online fashion house in a colourful approach to tackling family violence. The idea of a workplace 'Colourathon' is being trialed at Birdsnest in Cooma, with female students from Monaro High School preparing to launch the idea nationally in November. New 'Colourathon for Corporates' kits come packed with everything a business...

I wake before 6am to the sounds of the Sisters and the congregation singing during early morning prayers. The beauty of their voices and harmonies is mesmerising, an absolute joy to experience... The day dawns overcast, hot & sticky. The temperature hovers around 34 degrees during the day dipping to just 24 overnight. So I have no complaint about the...

News this week that Aboriginal people reached Australia at least 65,000 years ago won't come as a surprise to those who saw Mallacoota based writer Bruce Pascoe speak in Moruya last April. Research out of new excavations of a rock shelter at the base of the Arnhem Land escarpment in the Northern Territory has pushed back estimates of human arrival on...

The 'Festival of Daring Possibilities' at the Funhouse in Bega has asked people to think big and solicited ideas that lead to new solutions and attitudes. In stimulating the discussion, Funhouse founder, Cayce Hill said, "It's the people not like us that make us grow." Cayce urging her audience of 30 people or more to inspire each other with their...

The Air North flight from Darwin to Dili can take 76 passengers and it’s a full house. Two Australian school groups and their teachers, all bubbling with excitement for the adventure that lies ahead. One group is bearing gifts of ukuleles, fourteen in all. I imagine a Timorese ukulele orchestra in the making. We land in Dili a little after...