Plus cat tax and a lightning bolt. 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 considers the blackberry a personal enemy.
A hardy central Victorian group known as the Cactus Warriors has spent 20 years fighting to control an invasive plant considered one of Australia’s worst weeds.
The Tarrangower Cactus Control Group, based at Maldon, has spent back-breaking hours removing the wheel cactus (Opuntia robusta), a Mexican native from the same family as the prickly pear.
Australia has 32 weeds of national significance and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions estimates they cost the country $5 billion each year in harm to agriculture and the environment, as well as the cost of control measures.
Ali Bajwa, a lecturer in weed science and agronomy at La Trobe University, puts plants from the opuntia family such as wheel cactus in his top 10 worst weeds.
The other plants in Bajwa’s top 10 are: blackberries, gorse, serrated tussock, alligator weed, lantana, parkinsonia, parthenium, gamba grass and water hyacinth.
Most of Australia’s invasive weeds are garden escapees. Prickly pear, which hosts the cochineal insect used to make dye, was among those brought to Australia in an attempt to import a new industry.
It’s hard to look past cats in any discussion of invasive species, yet some researchers and farmers argue there should be tax deductions for their role as farm working animals.
NSW south coast dairy farmer Sam Holmes’ family, for example, has kept cats on their Candelo dairy farm for generations, using them to help control rats and mice.
University researcher Olivia Forge said dairy farmers relied heavily on cats and she had worked with Bega Valley farmers to control cat numbers.
Researchers are now arguing some of the costs involved in keeping cats, such as desexing and tick treatments, should be tax-deductible. The ATO recognises only horses and dogs as working animals, although UK and US farmers can make tax deductions for their working cats.
There are an estimated 5.6 million feral cats across Australia. Each day cats kill more than 6 million mammals, birds and reptiles, most of them native wildlife.
Sydney dietitian Nicole Senior believes the humble, healthy potato has been given a bad rap.
The potato has picked up a reputation as an unhealthy, high-carb vegetable, and she argues that’s unfair and largely fuelled by the rise of low-carb and high-protein diet trends.
Potatoes are actually a quality carbohydrate full of nutrients and benefits include vitamin C, fibre and resistant starch, Senior says.
That’s good news for Spud Sisters Kerri Farrell and Catherine Ramage, whose family has been producing potatoes in Victoria’s central highlands for three generations. They, too, are determined to debunk some of the myths about the spud.
Farrell and Ramage get an honourable mention in Galah Issue 12, in which chef Ben Shewry exposes the Great Hot Chip Scandal. It’s among the earthy stories in the magazine’s Earth issue, which you can order here.
Six south-west Queensland councils are taking a fight against 300% increases in flood premiums to the Insurance Council of Australia.
Charleville resident Sonya Johnstone said her annual insurance premium tripled from $3500 to $13,500 in the past two years, so she and husband Michael had to go without flood insurance and hope they avoid flooding in the next year.
Meanwhile, farmers on the NSW north coast are starting to tally the bill from Cyclone Alfred damage. Pastures, crops, infrastructure, fences and roads have been damaged or destroyed, with horticulture hardest hit.
At Ballina, thousands of dead fish have been found in the Richmond River, apparently killed because the rotting organic material that has washed into the river removes oxygen. There were even reports of mud crabs and eels leaving the river because of the conditions.
SA woman Sarah Eccles-Smith was back at work and apparently suffering no ill effects just a day after receiving an electric shock when a lightning bolt struck her home near Millicent.
Eccles-Smith was flicking off a light switch just as the bolt hit the house, sending current through wiring and to her arm. She was taken to hospital by ambulance but was released within five hours with just a sore thumb and finger.
Electrical engineer Keith Kikkert said electricity from such strikes was usually directed to the ground through the metal earth stake found outside homes. He encouraged people to occasionally water it or “get your dog to wee on it” to ensure conductivity. He also suggested people wear shoes during a storm and try to stay on insulated surfaces such as vinyl.
Galah’s Yes, Chef! newsletter writer Sophie Hansen isn’t the only person with a soft spot for a certain Tasmanian bread box. Inspired by last week’s story on Bread Box Baker Michelle Ball, Galah-on-the-ground Rae Kennedy, of Candelo, NSW, wrote in praise of the Bread Fridge, a venture by the Bruny Baker on Bruny Island.
“It’s a total honour system with two old fridges stacked with the most delicious sourdough,” Kennedy wrote. “I made two trips in one day because it was so good. It’s also a popular spot for tourist selfies. I thought there was a bread line-up but it was mostly selfie-takers because the fridge looks that good!”
We’re compiling a national list of honesty systems selling bread, so please let us know of others in your part of the world.
Have you heard? We're throwing a party in Armidale, NSW, on Friday 2 May, and we'd love you to join us.
Help celebrate the finalists and winners of the $27,000 Galah Regional Photography Prize at the exhibition party. Get a crew together, make it a road trip and help shape the future of regional photography.
We will celebrate all 42 finalists from all over the country. There will be dancing, excellent food and drinks, and the big announcement of the winner of regional Australia's richest photography prize.
“Vibrant, diverse communities are key to making regional Australia strong and one of the most effective ways to contribute is to support our regional artists,” says Galah editor-in-chief Annabelle Hickson. “You can be a part of this. And did I mention it's going to be great fun?” Get your tickets here.
Plus, you can help decide the People’s Choice winner, who will receive $2000. Cast your vote here.
Cowra artists Shani Nottingham, Brenda Stace Chat, Linda Chant and Ken Hutchinson unite for an exhibition that celebrates the environment, the creatives that work in it and real life issues like family, money and health. Nottingham, who featured in From Little Things in Galah Issue 10, is the curator. At WAYOUT Artspace, Kandos, NSW, until 27 April. Read more
Located in the NT, the Outdoor Gallery, Outback Way is taking the show on the road and into regional Qld in an exhibition featuring 25 prints. Manager Mel Forbes is also offering Galah readers a limited-time 25% discount on prints. Use the code 25OFFER at the online check-out. At Stanthorpe Regional Gallery, Qld, until 4 May. Read more
The volunteers of the Penrose Community Association are showing off the work of emerging local artists around their NSW Southern Highlands village in their third annual art exhibition. At Penrose Village Hall, NSW, on 5-6 April. Read more
Interview: Emma Hearnes
From their gardens in Tasmania’s Huon Valley, Madeleine Gasparinatos and Emily Allen co-host Avant Gardeners, a chart-topping podcast about the joy, chaos and lessons of growing – often with a cocktail in hand. With backgrounds in farming, midwifery and storytelling, they bring a sense of play to garden talk.
Maddie, how did you meet Emily and what inspired you to pair up for a podcast?
Our friend Pip brought us together. The three of us had babies, and Pip would invite us over for coffee and cake in the garden. The next thing you know it’s time for an Aperol spritz or a sparkling wine. When Pip moved to Victoria, Emily and I missed the garden get-togethers and mining Pip for gardening tips, and we decided a podcast would be the best way to ensure it continued. Pip was our first guest.
Emily, how did you know gardening has the potential to connect people?
It was when I uprooted my city life and landed in the Huon Valley that I began to see gardening as a connecting experience. New friends would arrive with homegrown goodies or flowers and the idea of bringing something to the table from my backyard was appealing. Someone would suggest I meet someone else who could help me with an issue or a plant I was after, until I had a whole bunch of generous, garden-loving people in my life.
Maddie, you say you're no gardening expert. What’s a gardening failure you’ve learned from?
Emily and I often talk about the concept of “dead or deciduous”, when you think you’ve killed something but it’s just the natural cycle of winter dieback. I’ve been known to unknowingly pull out (healthy) plants. I’ve also netted plants thinking the wallabies ate all the foliage only to realise later it, too, was deciduous.
Emily, which guest has surprised you most?
We interviewed Diego Bonetto last season and it was one of the most thought-provoking conversations I’ve ever had. He made me re-examine my childhood memories of mulberry picking in the most magical way. Diego also opened my eyes to food sources I’d been walking past and ignoring my whole life.
Galah-on-the-ground Alison Ford liked our definitive guide to snakes so much she’s suggested Galah does something similar on wombats.
Ford, who lives in a wombat hotspot near Braidwood in the NSW southern tablelands, believes they are curious, yet relatively little-known creatures to most people.
Just a few days after Ford’s suggestion for a wombat investigation, American influencer Sam Jones posted her video of a wombat joey picked up on the side of an unnamed Australian road. Ford said this week she hadn’t seen the video: “I refuse to watch the video or listen or read about idiots and wild creatures, so I don't know what happened.”
Other Galah readers can make up their own minds about the influencer’s explanation.
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
