Plus a spike in road deaths. Welcome to Galah Weekly, our newsy newsletter keeping you up to date with regional headlines that matter, plus other delightful things from life beyond the city. By Anna Rogan, who is watching the wattle bloom.
Regional Australians are five times more likely to die in road accidents than their city counterparts, and new data from the Australian Automobile Association shows that the past 12 months on Australia’s roads have been the deadliest in nearly 12 years.
Road deaths have been increasing in recent years. In the year to 30 June 2024, 1310 people died in road accidents in Australia, an 11.7% increase on the previous year.
The reasons remain unclear. While states and territories share road-toll figures, they don’t currently share specific crash investigation data that could show whether accidents are caused by fatigue, drugs and alcohol, poor road conditions, a wayward kangaroo, or something else entirely.
If you’re in the market for health insurance that’s a little closer to home, or built on values similar to your own, you can’t go past Westfund – health insurance from a healthier place. Based in Lithgow, NSW, and available Australia-wide, Westfund is more than a health fund. It's a not-for-profit organisation building a new kind of healthcare for collective good.
Join Westfund on eligible Combined Hospital and Extras cover by 31 December 2024 and get one month FREE cover. Use promo code GALAH24. New memberships only. T&Cs apply. Learn more here.
A new study has found that sparrows can accurately predict lead levels in children who live in lead-mining towns. Commonly seen as a pest, these tiny birds could become a practical and inexpensive monitoring tool for environmental pollution on a neighbourhood scale.
Scientists conducted their research in two areas where lead exposure in children is a major concern: the NSW outback town of Broken Hill and in the Qld city of Mount Isa. They found lead levels in the blood of local sparrows could perfectly predict the likely incidence of lead poisoning in children living in those towns.
Study co-author Max Mclennan-Gillings said monitoring lead exposure in human populations is costly and complex, and sparrows can provide a cheaper, more practical approach to identifying areas where children are at risk.
After months of heavy rain, the only road to the Jenolan Caves will be closed for repairs for the next 18 months. Severe weather events have forced multiple closures at the site in the past five years. “Our feature is nature, and we’re subject to the vagaries of that,” said Andrew Le Lievre, acting director of the Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust.
The popular NSW Blue Mountains tourist destination is the oldest cave system in the world. The latest shutdown has spurred plans for alternative transport options that would protect the site from heavy tourist traffic. Options include a 1.5-km funicular similar to cliff railways in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the hill at Montmartre in Paris.
The last parcel of farmland in Maroochydore on the Qld Sunshine Coast is up for sale after the death of 82-year-old landowner and fig farmer Peter Wise earlier this year. An eighth-generation farmer, Wise had rebuffed approaches from dozens of developers over the years. All 39 hectares at the prime holiday location are on the market and will be sold by private tender. No price has been listed.
Town planner James Brownsworth said public submissions would be opened this week in response to a new development application before Sunshine Coast Regional Council. Brownsworth said the project reflects Wise's wish to include environmental corridors, public space, and a road link under a motorway leading to a subdivision on the site.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games opened with football, rugby, handball and archery events, and the official opening ceremony on Friday night. Tune in on ABC Local Radio, which is live broadcasting the games across regional Australia, as well as Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart and Canberra. Coverage will include every Australian gold-medal chance, highlights, updates of key events, and will feature long-time commentators Bruce McAvaney and Roy & HG.
We love snakey news at Galah HQ and this week did not disappoint. An international study published this week found that the commonly used blood thinner heparin might be an antidote to cobra venom. Lead author Tian Du, of the University of Sydney, said that if human trials are effective, the blood thinner could be used as a cheap, safe and effective drug for treating cobra bites.
In other snakey news, a fisherman is in a stable condition at Broome Hospital after being bitten by a sea snake while aboard a fishing vessel in the NT. Getting the patient to Broome was a team effort. With help from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, a LifeFlight crew evacuated the man by helicopter to the Mungalalu-Truscott airbase, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service flew him to Broome.
Finally, researchers from California Polytechnic State University have set up a webcam to live-stream footage from a rattlesnake “mega den” housing thousands of snakes. Rattlecam is surprisingly soothing, I highly recommend it.
Last week we asked for your hot leads on pleasure palaces for an upcoming issue of Galah magazine: regional outbuildings inspired by whim rather than common sense.
Galah contributor Alison Bennett Taylor pointed out the delightful Leaning Tower of Pisa in the front yard of a home in Albany, WA. The 4.6m replica was the life’s work of the late Aldo Scamozzi, who began construction in 1982.
Galah on-the-ground Deborah Morgan spotted a replica TARDIS from the cult TV program Doctor Who in WA’s Wheatbelt. It was built by Narrogin local Rob Shepherd as a bus shelter for his daughter, and is now a pilgrimage site for travelling Whovians.
It’s not yet August but there’s a definite sense of spring in the air. The wattle is blooming early here in Tallarook, which might have something to do with the fact that Monday was officially the hottest recorded day on Earth.
Meanwhile, Annabelle and the Hickson crew are welcoming a puppy to the family today: a fat, scruffy, beardy little Border Terrier from Boorowa. Potential names include Potato, Bean, Peggy and Nutty. We’ll keep you posted.
Artist Nicholas Osmond lives and works in the community of Ampilatwatja (pronounced um-bludder-witch) in Alyawarr country on the Sandover Highway, 400km from Alice Springs. Osmond’s exhibition, The Sandover Highway, includes portraits of people in this community rendered in his engaging style. Currently showing at AK Bellinger Gallery, Inverell, NSW. Read more.
Now in its 21st year, this festival is Australia’s longest-running regional outdoor sculpture exhibition. For 16 spring days spanning three weekends, the entire Wollombi Valley will be in festival mode. Join them on picnics among the sculptures, enjoy the local vineyards, restaurants, cafes and taverns, and visit six indoor galleries. On 14–29 September, Wollombi, NSW. Read more.
TarraWarra Museum of Art is set to unveil an exhibition of new and existing works by leading contemporary Australian artists Susan Cohn and Eugenia Raskopoulos. In 20 works, (SC)OOT(ER)ING challenges conventional understanding of ageing bodies. On 3 August-10 November at TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Vic. Read more.
Many of Zanni Louise’s 40 children’s books are inspired by the lives, conversations, quirks and passions of kids and teens - and by her own inner child. She began writing as a little tacker in the country, and now lives with her family of four (plus two bunnies) in the Byron Bay hinterland. Catch her at the Kids Big Day Out at Byron Writers Festival on Sunday 11 August.
Where do you get your story ideas from?
My ideas come from everywhere. I try to keep my antennae raised. My recent novel, Cora Seen and Heard, was inspired largely by big feelings I had as a 12-year-old coupled with a beautiful photograph of an abandoned ballroom by French photographer Francis Meslet.
Which of your books is your favourite?
They have different meanings for me for different reasons. But, if pressed, I'd say my real favourite is Hazel's Treehouse, to be published in November by Walker Books. It embodies the Little Zanni who sat in a treehouse as a kid, telling herself stories about her imaginary friends.
What’s a common misconception about children's books?
A lot of people think writing for kids is easy. But there's so, so much to learn. Just because a story is short doesn't mean it’s suitable for a picture book. I think the danger comes when you have something to teach kids; to pass on to them. The best kids' books connect with the young reader. They don't talk down to them or at them. They reach towards them. Kids are always smarter and more in tune than they're given credit for. Most of my kids'-author friends have a very close relationship with their inner child.
What do kids and parents have to look forward to at Kids Big Day Out this year?
I've been bringing my kids to this event every year of their lives. Now, they go electively with school and love meeting authors and hanging out with other readers. Kids' Big Day Out grows lifelong readers. You meet your favourite authors and learn about books you'd never have heard of otherwise. And there will be wonderful workshops for kids.
While the Paris Olympic Games will dominate headlines in the next fortnight, we’re also celebrating noble and important sporting events closer to home.
Congratulations to Adam Shale, who won the Australian Can Shooting Championship, the oldest can-shooting event in the world, at Ardlethan Beckom Sporting Clays in NSW last week.
Competitors obtain a special licence from the firearms registry to attempt to shoot empty dog-food cans to see which can will fly the longest distance after being hit. Locals donated 30,000 cans for the event. Shale beat 125 shooters with a distance of 69 metres.
Congratulations also to Scott Loughridge, winner of the National Ploughing Contest held in Eastbrook WA last weekend. Loughbridge will travel to Prague to represent Australia in the world championship next year.
In case you were wondering how one wins a ploughing competition, Richard Creek, a judge in this year's vintage leg, offered this explanation. "The goal of a ploughing competition is to plough on a grass field or paddock … and the object is to leave that paddock prepared for a seedbed," he said. "We look at the opening [and] we look at the ridge. It must be free from weeds, it must be straight. The actual furrows must be even and when it's finished, it must be not too deep [yet] not too shallow."
Last year's ploughing national champion, Adrian Tilling, is set to represent Australia next month in Tartu, Estonia. "I was going to take up Formula One racing, then somebody said you have to take up ploughing — surely," Tilling said.
We’d love to hear about the news, events and people that should be making the headlines in the Galah Weekly newsy. Share what’s new(s) in your neck of the woods with us at newsie@galahpress.com
