Plus regional alert and a love letter to teachers. 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 thinks eating toad once is enough.
Regional communities live daily with the problems limiting their growth. Symptoms range from a north Qld mining town struggling for mobile phone and internet connection as its population grows, to rental housing in regional NSW being unaffordable and scarce. Add childcare deserts and the struggle for medical and aged care services.
Why it matters now: The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) released a report last week showing 40% of capital city residents were considering a move to the regions – but it issued a warning to policymakers.
The report lamented a lack of region-specific solutions to key shortages in housing and skilled workers. The institute also released research showing regional Australia had gone backwards on key metrics such as housing, migration and education.
The opportunities: Three weeks ago researcher Caitlin Buckle raised similar issues and said the regions had a “fleeting moment” to capitalise on growth.
RAI chief Liz Ritchie said the studies should ring alarm bells. “Demand for regional living has never been higher, but as a nation we are not keeping pace with delivering the fundamental building blocks that are needed as we rebalance the nation,” she said.
Communities are crying out for skilled workers with 76,000 jobs available across the regions, yet fewer overseas migrants are filling those roles. Even so, cuts to national immigration are likely to be a focus in the lead-up to next year’s federal election.
The federal government this week secured passage of key housing legislation that aims to make more affordable homes available to rent and buy, but experts say it’s not a quick fix.
We’ve come up with some Galah specials to help you find the perfect gifts for your loved ones this Christmas.
Buy a bundle and save on the Galah book and magazine issues, plus receive a free cookbook by Galah regular Belinda Jeffery if you spend more than $200.
All Galah Christmas specials are available until 11 December, but we recommend ordering before then to ensure your gifts arrive well before Christmas.
Could Australia’s next bootmaker to the stars be living in the regions? Here’s a chance for someone with the right skills who likes a challenge and travel.
Jodie Morrison has made boots for Hugo Weaving and Orlando Bloom for their roles in The Hobbit and put shoes on performers around the world in shows such as Mary Poppins, Kinky Boots and The Phantom of the Opera.
The Sydney-based bespoke bootmaker operates in a world where few have the traditional skills and training of her craft, and her services are in demand for film and theatre productions around the world.
Morrison still loves her work but, after turning 71 last month, she’d like to retire soon and has no idea what will happen to her business, Steppin’ Out. She sees her 50th year in the trade in 2026 as a possible retirement target, though she expects to take some time off next year.
The TAFE courses that gave Morrison her start have disappeared and she has struggled to find someone with the skills and willingness to take over. Maybe that’s where someone in the regions could step in.
There’s a great tradition of regional Australians using traditional skills to make things the world wants. Saddler and leatherworker Bede Aldridge, who featured in Make Australia Make Again in Galah magazine’s Issue 5, is one who trained his own staff in traditional skills to make his business a success.
NSW’s Tweed Regional Gallery has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the final $200,000 it needs to bring Ben Quilty’s Archibald Prize-winning portrait of artist Margaret Olley home to Murwillumbah.
The gallery, which is home to the Margaret Olley Art Centre, is hoping the campaign will raise enough to complete the $600,000 purchase. Olley’s family farmed in the area in the 1930s and she went to primary school in Murwillumbah.
Quilty’s portrait of his friend and mentor won the 2011 Archibald shortly before the acclaimed artist died. A portrait of a 25-year-old Olley by William Dobell won the prize in 1948.
Farmers for Climate Action released polling this week showing 70% of Australians living in renewable energy zones support the switch to greener energy.
The group, which says it represents 8400 farmers across the country, used the polling to push its case that there’s a “quiet majority” that supports clean energy projects on farmland.
But polling support alone doesn’t overcome community concerns around renewable energy projects and in October we outlined some of the dilemmas farmers and communities face.
Researchers hope a 5.62m great white shark found dead on a “smart” drumline off the Qld city of Gladstone can give insights into protecting the species while keeping people safe.
The loss of the pregnant female, which was slightly bigger than a dual-cab ute and the largest shark caught on a Qld drumline, was described as “devastating” for the species by the Humane Society International.
The smart drumlines are supposed to let the shark survive and are being trialled as a catch-and-tag alternative to simply killing them on traditional hooked drumlines. More than 100 sharks have been caught on drumlines in the Gladstone region, among more than 1100 statewide.
Researchers have taken tissue and genetic samples from the great white to learn more about the species, which is believed to number only a few hundred mature sharks on the east coast.
The frontline for those trying to contain two of the country’s worst invasive pests is shifting south.
Bushfires and consecutive wet seasons have seen cane toads accelerate their hop south in northern NSW. Populations have been found as far south as Wooli and near Grafton. While toads have been spreading west at a rate of up to 60km a year in the tropical north, their spread south has generally been much slower.
This week’s One Last Thing looks at a left-field option for dealing with cane toads.
Meanwhile, northern NSW has also become a hot spot for fire ants. NSW has banned imports of turf from Qld after fire ants were discovered in a batch at Eureka in the Byron Shire, 53km from the border. Control efforts in Qld have been hit by the South American pest’s ability to form “rafts” and migrate during floods.
A more familiar home-grown pest is irritating Victorians. Climate change has been blamed for the abundance of flies.
One generous woman who taught three girls to play the piano in an area short on musical options has helped remind us why Galah exists.
"We live an hour away from a small country town," wrote Galah editor-in-chief Annabelle Hickson. "In this town there are no music schools. But there is a musical friend, Annabel Cleeve, who lives on a farm on the western side of town. Even though she's super busy with her farm, work and family, she decided to hold weekly lessons at her house for three girls who wanted to learn the piano."
This love letter to regional music teachers, which Hickson posted on Instagram this week, explains what happened next.
And you Galahs loved it.
It's been viewed more than 43,000 times, and more than 200 of you shared the post with others.
In a media landscape full of clickbait and negative headlines, you've shown us that there's room for stories about everyday kindness, too.
Galah is lucky enough to report inspiring stories from regional Australia, many of them about wonderful people like Annabel Cleeve. We feature them in our newsletters and three times a year in Galah magazine.
If you're looking for a Christmas gift that supports regional arts, culture and industry through quality journalism and storytelling, a Galah magazine subscription makes a wonderful present.
TarraWarra Museum of Art is holding a major group exhibition featuring artists who work out of Arts Project Australia (APA), a gallery and studio that supports artists with intellectual disabilities. APA celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and the exhibition highlights 13 artists who have emerged from the studio. Until 10 March 2025, Healesville, Vic. Read more
Queensland photographer and visual artist Jim Filmer has collaborated with Indigenous elders for a multimedia exhibition that combines video presentations of personal stories with portraits printed on translucent fabric. Esk-based Filmer created the project in partnership with his cultural adviser and friend Aunty Adeline Chong. Until 24 December and 6-10 January 2025, Somerset Civic Centre, Esk, Qld. Read more
One of the largest regional markets in NSW is happening in the New England region today. Currabula Boutique Market’s Christmas version features more than 180 stalls and money raised goes to local schools and the pony club. 8am-1pm today, Currabula Recreation Ground. Read more.
The Carrington, a heritage building in the NSW town of Peak Hill near Parkes, will host two photography exhibitions over summer. Arts OutWest will show Behind the Lens by 10 photographers, and Peak in Focus is an exhibition by Peak Hill photographers. Open 4 December then weekends until 5 February 2025, the Carrington, Peak Hill, NSW. Read more
Interview: Emma Hearnes
Nadja Wallington grew up in a winemaking family and her innovation and dedication to quality have earned her industry acclaim, including Young Winemaker of the Year in 2022 and consecutive nominations for Young Gun of Wine. Rooted in generations of winemaking tradition, Chalou – the boutique winery in Orange she co-owns with her husband, Steve Mobbs – embodies the shared passion that first brought them together. In August the winery was named the 2025 Halliday Dark Horse Winery at the Halliday Wine Companion Awards.
Where do you live and work?
We live and work on a beautiful property just 10 minutes east of Orange. We have six hectares of land under vine and our whole process is done on-site, from bud to bottle. We get the most incredible view from our house overlooking the vineyard. It’s a pretty special place to wake up.
Living and working are all the same for us at the moment. We have a four-year-old business and two daughters, aged nine months and three years, who tag along most of the time. This is how we grew up and we’re pretty stoked to have the opportunity to do the same.
You and Steve come from winemaking families. Why are you continuing the tradition?
Growing up, Steve and I had always enjoyed being involved in what was happening on our respective farms and loved the buzz of vintage when things picked up and there was excitement and energy to the season. The understanding and love of the craft of winemaking is something that has grown through our careers as we learn from each season.
What's got you excited at the moment?
We’re about to prepare the 2024 pinot noir and 2023 fumé blanc for bottle. I love bringing these parcels together, seeing how each wine has evolved during its time in the barrel and how each piece fits together. It’s always a really fun time, but equally nerve-racking as you work to make the finishing touches to 18 months' of hard work and diligence.
What wine have you not stopped pouring lately?
We’ve just rolled over to our 2024 riesling and I cannot get enough. It’s a pretty perfect wine for spring with its fragrant aromatics and vibrant, refreshing palate. Otherwise, I’m reaching for a chardonnay and I can’t go past the Canobolas 2022 chardonnay, fine-boned yet powerful with lovely savoury citrus-focused fruit.
Maybe we should be trying to eat our invasive species into oblivion. That’s an option posed in an ABC television series that airs early next year.
Eat the Invaders is a six-part series hosted by Tony Armstrong and featuring Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona). The series looks at the impact of invasive environmental pests, from cats to cane toads, and explores creative and often culinary ways of dealing with them. The episodes culminate in feasts prepared by Mona executive chef Vince Trim and curated by Mona’s Kirsha Kaechele, whose Eat The Problem project inspired the series. The first episode airs on 5 January.
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
