Plus shark bites and naked truth. 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 won’t be going nude in Tasmania – ever.
The family and friends of a Victorian woman killed while saving a child are continuing her mission to give regional children better access to the specialist services they need to thrive.
Speech pathologist Eleanor Bryant died late last year when struck by a water tanker that crashed through a preschool at Riddells Creek, north-west of Melbourne. Her final act was to move a child out of the truck’s path.
Bryant grew up in the NSW town of Coonamble before moving to Riddells Creek with husband Tim and her two children. She had spent 20 years working as a speech pathologist across hospitals, schools, early childhood centres and rural communities.
Her family said she had seen first-hand the disparity between city and country for those trying to access speech pathology and other allied health services critical to children’s development.
Bryant had even used telehealth appointments to work with children in her home town when families there struggled to get the help they needed without travel.
The mission Bryant’s family and close friends will launch the Eleanor Bryant Memorial Fund at a sold-out fundraising event on 26 September. They hope it will play a role in improving regional services while honouring a life dedicated to helping others.
The fund is partnering with the Country Education Foundation to offer scholarships for regional students to study or train in paediatric allied health.
Bryant’s family has cited 2022 figures showing 180,000 children in rural NSW needed developmental support not available in their region, among a list of reasons why investing in local training and recruitment is so crucial.
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Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff survived a no-confidence motion in his minority Liberal government this week after putting expansion of salmon farming on hold and promising an independent review of the controversial industry.
The move on salmon farming, along with a promise to phase out greyhound racing, was seen as an effort to appease Greens and cross-bench MPs after the July state election.
A successful no-confidence motion in Rockliff earlier this year triggered the July state election.
Legislation to protect salmon farming was pushed through federal parliament by the Albanese government with Coalition support on the eve of the May federal election.
Meanwhile, environmental and business groups are waiting for a decision on a major wind farm that could host 100 turbines on Robbins Island in the state’s far north-west. The decision is due by 29 August.
In shark news, a five-metre great white believed to have taken a bite out of a NSW north coast surfer’s board has survived being caught on a drumline, and thousands of kilometres away off Port Lincoln in SA another giant great white has apparently been killed for its jaws.
Onlookers at Cabarita Beach said the surfer was sitting on his board when a shark attacked it, snapping the board as it took a bite-shaped chunk out. The man was relatively unscathed and apparently more worried about picking up his son and heading to work.
A great white was caught briefly on a nearby smart drumline before swimming off a few hours after the attack.
Meanwhile, Qld Sunshine Coast beachgoers have been warned to avoid potentially injured but still-venomous sea snakes slithering ashore because of rough weather.
Forget nudist beaches. Queensland couple Michael van West and Jody Airs prefer to go au naturale on their own 140ha bush property near the Western Downs town of Miles.
They originally bought the property as a weekend escape from life in Brisbane, but the couple have moved there permanently and opened the clothes-optional property to camping visitors.
Van West said he had to be careful working with livestock while naked, “especially with goats with horns”.
The south-west WA town of Nannup attracts visitors each August for its flower and garden festival and 20,000 tulips, but this year visitors have also witnessed the arrival of thousands of monarch butterflies.
Their presence is delightful but points to a dilemma. Although the butterflies are attracted by a range of flowers, they rely on two pest species to feed and breed – an invasive narrow leaf cotton bush and milkweed – which are spreading in nearby pine plantations and along waterways. Horticulturalists say the pest plants can threaten crops and native plants.
Pollinators are under threat elsewhere, with the destructive varroa mite reported in south-east Victorian beehives for the first time.
Here’s a sneak peek at the cover of Galah Issue 13, our Elements issue, out in November.
Come fire or tempest, our lives are shaped – often defined – by the elements. How to thrive in the face of uncertainty, cope with extremes, protect the environment – these are the big elemental issues.
In Issue 13 we celebrate the brilliance of the late artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, whose work features on the cover of Issue 13 (and in today’s One Last Thing). We go weather watching with a camera, witness gardening extremes, and take a look at architectural solutions to the climate quest.
To pre-order Issue 13 with free shipping, just click the link here.
Or take advantage of one of our bundles and get Galah Issue 12 now and Issue 13 in November.
COVER IMAGE: Emily Kam Kngwarray, Anmatyerr people, Alhalker Country, 1994 © Emily Kam Kngwarray/Copyright Agency, 2025. Private collection, courtesy of Deutscher and Hackett. Image courtesy of National Gallery of Australia.
Cherry blossoms will be the backdrop for two spring Saturdays of workshops that include pottery, painting and cooking as well as live music and other entertainment on a vineyard and orchard in the NSW town of Young. 13 and 20 September. Read more
This exhibition celebrates eight printmakers whose works are thought-provoking and immersive. Artists Peta West, Dianne Fogwell, Melissa Smith, David Frazer, Margie Sheppard, Grace Gladdish, Anita Laurence and Georgia Cheesman each have a distinct visual language. At Wonderground Barossa, SA, 19 September-2 November. Read more
Broken Hill textile artist Krystle Evans won the $20,000 Pro Hart Outback Art Prize for her textile work, Not so wild west. Her work is part of an exhibition of 50 finalists. At Broken Hill City Art Gallery until 2 November. Read more
SA porcelain artist Honor Freeman features in an exhibition of new works based on ordinary items intimately connected with the body, such as chewing gum, soap and towels cast in porcelain. Journalist Annabel Crabb introduced us to Freeman’s work in Galah Issue 4. At Stockroom Kyneton, Vic, until 21 September. Read more
Interview: Emma Hearnes
Based in central Victoria, Tim Pilgrim is known for his naturalistic, plant-driven landscapes, among them the enchanting Oak Cottage project in Macedon. His new book published next month, Wild by Design, is a guide to creating gardens that sustain both people and nature.
Where do you live and work? I’m in Newstead, Victoria, on Dja Dja Wurrung country about 15km west of Castlemaine. I’m originally from Bendigo, so we’re not far from where it all began. It’s a landscape of box ironbark forest and farming land, with a very Mediterranean climate – cool, frosty winters, spring rain and hot, dry summers that can reach 45 degrees – so gardens here have to be tough.
Your style is often described as naturalistic. What does that mean? To me, they’re gardens inspired by nature. It’s a holistic way of seeing gardens not only as places for people, but as spaces that support all life within them.
How does that work on the ground? Naturalistic gardens favour site-appropriate, plant-driven design over excessive hard landscaping. This approach celebrates the seasons, finding beauty in plants in all their forms, even past their perceived prime.
What inspired you to write Wild by Design? When I was asked to write a book, I was hesitant at first, thinking there were gardeners better placed than me to write on the topic. I agreed to take on the project because I saw a gap in information about wild or naturalistic gardens in our unique Australian context. In Australia we take a lot of our inspiration from Europe, the UK and North America, where the climate and context are often very different from ours. I hoped my time and experience could benefit gardeners and designers wanting to learn about an ecologically sensitive, holistic approach to gardens.
The works of 20 First Nations artists, including this month’s Telstra Art Prize winner Gaypalani Waṉambi, will be showcased to American audiences in a major exhibition in October.
Michael Reid Galleries will present the exhibition, The Stars Before Us All, in Washington DC on 16-25 October.
It’s the first move into the US for Michael Reid Galleries before it opens a Los Angeles site later this year. It coincides with the National Gallery of Victoria’s touring Indigenous art exhibition, The Stars We Do Not See, which opens at Washington’s National Gallery of Art in October before touring other US cities until January 2027.
Galah visited gallerist Michael Reid in his home and gallery in the Upper Hunter town of Murrurundi for a profile coming up in Galah Issue 13, out in November. It’s another great reason to pre-order the magazine.
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
