Arts & Culture

A little preschool in the deep, some say remote part of the southern Bega Valley has been identified as one of the best in the industry. Rocky Hall Preschool has been rated as 'Exceeding the National Quality Standard'. The National Quality Standard (NQS) sets a national benchmark for the quality of children’s education and care services across Australia. “An overall rating...

Moruya's Red Door Theatre Company is set to go this weekend with their fourth production - The Magical Moments Radio Show. This two-act play will tour Moruya, Tilba, Broulee, and Narooma over the next three weekends (March 30 to April 14) taking the audience inside the studios of a 1930's radio station. The production is set in Sydney and centres around...

A swell of lilting voices resonated within the Orde Poynton hall at the national gallery in Canberra on an overcast Friday morning, uniting in a message of peace following the Christchurch attack: Our values provide a guiding light in our darkest hours.  We stand together in representing diversity and inclusion. They are us.  A fitting sentiment in a space where...

The Bega Valley Advocates for Timor-Leste will hold a fundraiser show, "One Night in Timor-Leste" on Friday (29 March) at Mumbulla School Hall, building on the $10,000 they have raised so far. Their goal is $65,000 to bring a Timorese choir to Australia in 2020. The evening will include a performance by the Bega-based Belun-Malu Choir, the latest incarnation of...

As the count continues in the NSW seat of Monaro, the incumbent John Barilaro is stretching his lead out to a 9% swing with just over 80% of the vote counted. From 56,951 enrolled voters, the two-party preferred result has Mr Barilaro of The Nationals on 60.28% and Labor’s Bryce Wilson - 39.72%. The local Member since 2011, and Deputy...

The 'Ideas from the Edge' forums at the Cobargo Folk Festival, "are an opportunity to refresh your activist spirit, meet with local troublemakers, activists, and thinkers, as they discuss their ideas and visions for a better world," according to the Yuin Folk Club. At the 2019 festival held earlier this month, the Ideas agenda took in climate change, education systems,...

Murrah-based actor Patrick Dickson has a very familiar face. He could be your friend's dad. Or your son's friend. Maybe someone you used to work with? Dickson laughs as he explains his familiarity to the Australian public, "I was the reason Pippa left in 'Home and Away' and I was Sigrid Thornton's ex-husband who happened to be bonking her sister...

It's an event once lovingly described as the equivalent of an intellectual CWA meeting, but the Jugiong Writers' Festival (held this Saturday) is going from strength to strength in the picturesque riverside village west of Canberra. Much of its energy comes from a very strong and supportive community. The program gathers together locally connected writers including Gabrielle Chan, who will...

Eurobodalla artist Shirley Goodhew is the next to adorn the walls of the new Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre in Moruya, and the first local to fill the space with her spark. Deep Waters, an eclectic and contemporary exhibition, spans more than 20 years’ of work and opens at the Bas tomorrow night (March 22). Eurobodalla Shire Council’s Creative Arts Coordinator...

Coinciding with the first anniversary of the Reedy Swamp, Vimy Ridge, and Tathra Bushfire comes the last allocation from the fund established to support those impacted by the flames of March 18, 2018. Over $1.5 million was donated to the Bega Valley Mayoral Appeal - made up of donations from around Australia as well as $160,000 raised at the Band...

Bega Valley photography group, The Sapphire Snappers, recently celebrated two years of casual monthly gatherings also known as 'Instameets,' where amateur photographers meet, take pictures and share their best work on Instagram. One of the group's founding members, Jason Guthrie says Snappers was inspired by the positive response he and others were getting after posting pictures on Instagram and decided they...

You can catch Canberra hip hop artist Daniel Kirkland's enthusiasm, it is that contagious. People speak quickly when they are passionate and excited, and at the rate of knots Daniel talks, you can tell he lives his life at 100 kilometres an hour and with fervent intensity. Chatting in the Sunday afternoon sun, our conversation darts from hectic travel stories in Morocco...

If you're going to spend a million dollars on a major new acquisition, would you expect it to melt in the next six months? On Friday morning (15 March) National Gallery director Nick Mitzevich ascended a scissor lift in front of assembled media and lit the wick on a four-metre monolithic statue of a man made entirely of wax. The...

It's a Candelo collaboration that makes so much sense - it's hard to believe it hasn't happened sooner! Independently acclaimed musicians Kate Burke, Robyn Martin and Melanie Horsnell have banded together as The New Graces and will perform their first gig as a trio tonight (March 15) at the Candelo Town Hall. "We've been on stage together quite a bit over...

Sculpture Bermagui is pulling crowds to the picturesque seaside town as art and environment fuse in a feast for the eyes. Sculpture President Paul Payten says the event is rated as one of South East NSW’s top five flagship events, and aims to present “art for the community, to excite and stimulate locals and visitors." People travelled from Sydney, Canberra,...

Greedy suits on weedy legs and women with wide bums surface in bush poetry that is riding a resurgent wave across rural Australia. The gut-wrenching dilemma of having to sell the family farm is there too, as verses of poetry swing from humour to all-too-familiar despair. At the centre of much of the revival is Robyn Sykes, a farmer from...