Plus a Mudgee revival and remembering Matilda. Welcome to Galah Weekly, our award-winning newsletter keeping you up to date with regional headlines that matter, plus other delightful things from life beyond the city. By Dean Southwell, who can’t wait to sail on a new ferry.
Imagine buying two shiny new ferries and then learning they won’t fit their home ports. And that the cost of fixing that blunder is rising astronomically. And that the bill will rise even further because someone relied on the wrong instructions.
Welcome to the island state and the saga of its Spirit of Tasmania passenger ferry replacements, where even the kindest assessment proves television satires such as Yes, Minister and The Games were never totally fictional.
TT-Line runs Tasmania’s passenger ferries and will operate their much-delayed replacements.
Failure to have a Devonport wharf ready for ferries that have cost more than $900 million was embarrassing enough. This week, TT-Line’s relatively new chairman Ken Kanofski detailed how the company even relied on incorrect specifications for part of the port redevelopment. That alone will cost $9 million to fix.
Kanofski said the company had in 2023 insisted on changes to plans for the new berth – which will not be ready until at least late next year – even though it was warned it might be making a mistake. Another state-owned company, port operator Tasports, had raised the alarm but was not allowed to contact the shipbuilder to check.
"TT-Line insisted and said, 'Dunno, we're right, they're our ships and we know what we're doing’," Kanofski told a parliamentary hearing.
The wharf development, priced at $90 million in 2020, is now costing closer to $500 million.
The new vessels have been completed by their European builder. One has been in Australia for fit-out work and the other was due to leave Finland for Scotland this week. Between them they have racked up millions of dollars in port fees tied up in Europe, Geelong and Hobart.
Meanwhile, the Tasmanian government is trying to build community trust in its plans to spend at least $1 billion – at last count – on a contentious AFL stadium in Hobart.
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A Dubbo shearer who has tackled suicide prevention and mental health issues in her industry has been named the national winner of the 2025 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award.
Carol Mudford, who is also a registered nurse, founded not-for-profit sHedway in 2023 after the suicide of a fellow shearer.
Isabella Thrupp was named national runner-up for her Prinking in Pindan project, a clothing brand shaped by life on cattle stations in the WA Kimberley.
A New England region woman is using her lifelong love of working with horses to defy a life-changing medical diagnosis.
Woolbrook-based Lynda MacCallum turned a childhood love of horses into a dream job in a family business raising and training performance horses.
Seven years ago she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and a surgeon told her she would never ride again. A few weeks later she acted on her husband’s encouragement and won a cutting event that showcased her horse’s ability to work around cattle.
Today she credits the horses with much more than simply carrying her in events. She is still riding, training and works as a wellness coach helping others connect with horses.
Persistence has paid off for two Mudgee friends determined to restore their town’s historic Art Deco theatre as a critical part of community life.
Mudgee’s Regent Theatre was built in 1935 but has been closed and neglected for the past 18 years, despite controversial renovation proposals that included the possibility of demolition.
Concerned about the condition of the building, theatre and heritage buffs Alan Kerr and Mark Hoddinott have tried to buy it several times over the years. They were finally successful in a recent expression-of-interest process.
Now they’re planning the massive job of reviving it as a performance space, cinema and conference venue. It’s expected to be at least two years before the theatre will reopen and the owners say their long-term goal is to hand it back to a community trust.
Letters from two South Australian soldiers placed in a bottle and thrown off a troopship in the Great Australian Bight more than a century ago are finally reaching their families.
The bottle and letters written by Private Malcolm Neville and Private William Harley were found last month on Wharton Beach on WA’s remote south coast. The soldiers were aboard a ship taking them to Europe when they dropped the bottle overboard in 1916.
Esperance resident Debra Brown, who made the discovery with her daughter while doing a beach clean-up, has since contacted the families of the two men.
Support for so-called “castle laws” that would allow Queenslanders to use lethal force against home invaders has more than tripled in the past year.
More than 120,000 people have signed a petition by Katter’s Australia Party in an attempt to have the law changed to allow home owners to defend themselves by whatever force is necessary. Existing laws stipulate “reasonable force”.
Brisbane-based criminal law specialist Nick Dore said the existing law offered sufficient self-defence protections for victims but did not allow disproportionate violence when there was no real danger.
Despite media attention on home invasions, the most recent figures show the number of crime victims has fallen in Qld. The Crisafulli government said there were no plans to amend the law.
What do you do when you’re bushwalking with friends in remote Tasmania and bad weather traps you in a tiny shack for days? When you’ve got a little food, a pack of bird-themed playing cards, and a lot of time?
Four Tasmanian friends created a game called A Game Called Birds. They turned their cabin-fever tomfoolery into a seriously fun board game that involves a satisfying mix of luck and strategy – and incidental learning about birds, which Galah obviously supports.
The Bird Boys will make a cameo in Galah Issue 14 next year, but in the lead-up to Christmas, we’re celebrating their brilliance with a giveaway.
The boys have got three Birds packs to give away, each including a game, a tote, a sticker and a particularly fetching crew-neck jumper.
Just follow @agamecalledbirds to be in the running. It’s for Australian Galahs only and entries close today at 11:59pm AEDT. Three winners will be chosen at random and notified by Instagram DM next week.
Subscribers should already be enjoying the delights of Galah Issue 13. If you’re not lucky enough to already have your copy organised, it’s officially on sale.
Earlier this year a Moree museum garage was turned into a pop-up barbershop for a week as part of an initiative led by self-taught master barber and mentor Charles Lomu. Chronicled by photographer Joshua Morris, this exhibition is the result. At Bank Art Museum Moree, NSW, until 24 January 2026. Read more
This exhibition drawn from the National Gallery of Victoria collection celebrates female defiance and creativity across centuries, and offers reflections on how female identity has been shaped by artistic representations. At Mildura Arts Centre, Vic, until 1 February 2026. Read more
Dubbo-based artist Jennifer Moore showcases her work in an exhibition of paintings that are a deeply personal reflection of life experiences. At Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, NSW, 8 November 2025-22 February 2026. Read more
Two fully funded scholarships are open for young women in western NSW who want to make a difference in their community or industry. It’s a chance to take part in the 2026 TRAIL Emerging Leaders Program thanks to family and community who are honouring Matilda's legacy after her death in an accident last year.
Matilda Ferguson was passionate about giving young rural women a voice. She shared a deep love of the land with her mum, Chris, and carried a locket filled with red dirt from her home near Wanaaring when she moved away to study and work at the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.
This year her family and former colleagues launched a fundraiser to create a scholarship in her name, helping to support causes close to Matilda's heart. Applications are open until 16 November.
Here, Matilda's friend Gemma Gordon shares some insights.
Tell us a little about Matilda. She was strong, wise, hard working, compassionate, creative, funny and loyal. Deeply intellectual and fabulously stubborn. She had the soul of a wise old bushie but was the most stunning young woman. Raised mostly in Wanaaring in the NSW western district, red dirt and farming were in her blood and she was prepared to do anything it took to build a life and make a living there. She cherished her mum Chris, brother Will and stepdad Robbo. She adored her partner Lachie and they'd built a successful fencing business together.
Tell us a little about her love of the land and rural life. It was just part of her. And she was part of it. Even when she wasn’t on farm, she turned her efforts to contributing to the lives and livelihoods of rural Australians.
Do you have a defining memory of her? She was in Darwin for work once and a fuel truck rolled into the service station, branded with advertising for frozen slushies. Matilda lost her mind with excitement thinking the tank was full of frozen drink. When told it was just petrol, she laughed the hardest at herself. That was her: a starry-eyed, sweetly innocent bush kid at heart forever.
Why do you think this scholarship is a fitting legacy? Matilda was creating a pathway for people like her to really live and embrace the life she worked so hard to build – living on the land and farming as a woman. The most authentic way I can think to honour Matilda is to give back to the place that meant so much to her. She thought the western districts were the bees’ knees and this is how we acknowledge that and ensure more young women like her have access to opportunities and development. She'd have been equally delighted and mortified at the support for these special scholarships.
Find out more about the scholarship here.
This is the last week to catch the work of the amazing finalists in the 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize exhibition at Bathurst Regional Gallery. The exhibition, which has included a projection on the gallery forecourt, closes on 9 November.
We’d love to hear about the news, events and people that should be making the headlines in the Galah Weekly newsletter. Share what’s new(s) in your neck of the woods with us at newsie@galahpress.com
