Health & Wellbeing

Day two of the Tathra bushfire emergency has broken under smokey skies but thankfully without the hideous heat and north-westerly winds that put lives at risk yesterday and destroyed at least 70 homes in the idyllic seaside village of Tathra, east of Bega on the New South Wales Far South Coast. Given the haste and intensity of the emergency, it's...

The full sale of Snowy Hydro to the Federal Government is a $4.2 billion injection into the New South Wales economy, and the Mayor's of South East NSW are lining up to spend it. Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and Deputy Premier and Member for Monaro, John Barilaro have "ring-fenced" those dollars for infrastructure projects in rural and regional NSW. "4.2 billion...

Women are making their presence felt at the National Sheep Dog Trials underway at Hall Showground, 25 minutes west of the Canberra CBD. President of the Trials Association, Charlie Cover says 41% of entries this year come from female handlers. "Its a record for us and I think it might also be a world record," Charlie says. "Women's sport, in...

Summer in Bermagui is busy, a time when locals surrender their beaches and cafes to welcome tourists, but what only locals know is that autumn is the best time in Bermagui. The water is warmer, the Gang Gang’s move into the Spotted Gums, a fire at night becomes an option again, the daytime sun is a little weaker but still...

The principals of 50 public schools from across Southern New South Wales have gathered in Batemans Bay to meet with chiefs of the NSW Education Department. Schools from the Monaro, Far South Coast, Illawarra, Shoalhaven, Southern Tablelands, Southern Highlands and Queanbeyan were all represented, part of a road trip by Department Secretary, Mark Scott, Deputy Secretary School Operations and Performance,...

A fresh approach to youth health that started in Bega is expanding to five new locations. South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network and Senator John Williams, Duty Senator for Eden-Monaro, have announced Commonwealth funding to roll out “Teen Clinic” in GP practices at Bermagui, Eden, Narooma, Merimbula, and Kiama. Bega Valley Medical Practice in Bega started the free drop-in service...

Bega Valley Shire Council says it's disappointed and frustrated by a recent incident of fish waste being dumped in a shared community space at Bermagui. New Wallaga Lake resident Deborah Taylor came upon the fishy horror scene one day last week while walking her dog at Bermagui Harbour. The heads of a number of big Marlin along with fish frames...

The Bega Valley is on the verge of reshaping its definition of garbage. The Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) bin collection that will start later this year will divert around 1000 tonnes of household waste from the shire’s landfill and turn it into high-quality compost. Garbage won’t be garbage anymore but the building blocks of healthy soil and a good garden....

  The Long Beach Community Association is celebrating news that new dog exercise areas will be trialed on their beautiful strip of sand. The request came from the Community Association and was championed by Eurobodalla Shire Mayor Liz Innes at Tuesday's (27 February) Council meeting; a unanimous decision when the vote came. Under the trial, dogs will remain prohibited on...

Over the last 11 years, this small rural community has raised over half a million dollars to take some of the stress out of life with cancer. Can Assist provides simple and confidential financial assistance to people from regional communities. Over 50 branches are at work across New South Wales, including the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla. The green shirts of...

Pooh Bear’s Corner on the Kings Highway between Canberra and Batemans Bay has been delighting travelers for decades, and it would appear that something similar is being created on the Monaro Highway just out of Cooma. In recent weeks, extra teddy bears have been slung into the hollow of an old Ribbon Gum northwest of Nimmitabel. The first teddy; a...

The beaches of the Bega Valley are clean and largely weed free for a reason. It doesn’t just happen. This 225 kilometre strip of gold and sapphire coastline is tended to like a garden, a huge community effort that has just celebrated ten years of grassroots environmental action. But as this collaboration between traditional owners, government agencies, and community organisations...

Politics is part of every country show. There is the tongue-in-cheek variety between Jersey and Friesian dairy farmers, between sheep and goat graziers, and between dressage horses and motorbike clubs, but room is always made for the "more serious" variety, the politics that normally takes place in a parliament house or council chamber. In fact, country shows provide one of...