Plus cat killers and an outback epic. 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 is lucky enough to be an occasional childcare solution.
The WA Wheatbelt town of Moora will see its access to childcare almost triple next year with the development of a new childcare centre.
The shire of Moora will relocate its 20-place childcare centre to a new site offering 55 enrolment places in a move parents say is both welcome and overdue.
Why does Moora matter? Because it’s symptomatic of a struggle for childcare across the country, particularly in rural and remote areas. Moora parents point to the obvious problems of finding childcare when they need to travel for work. As one, who had a daily 50km commute to work, said: "Childcare centres are a necessity, not a luxury."
A recent Victoria University Mitchell Institute study found 24% of Australians live in “childcare deserts” where there are more than three children for each childcare spot. About 700,000 Australians have no access to childcare.
Last month’s Productivity Commission report into childcare recommended steps towards a universal childcare system. It also called for targeted funding for “thinly populated” rural and remote areas.
Rural parents’ challenges are obviously not restricted to childcare. Rural women are still compromising their career choices to educate their children at home.
Galah Issue 11 is officially at the printers and on schedule to reach subscribers’ mailboxes in early November. All subscribers to Galah magazine on 10 November 2024 will be in the running to win $1500 to put towards a rug of their choice from The Rug Shop. Located in Bangalow, NSW, The Rug Shop is Australia’s top family-owned online Persian rug dealer, focused on sourcing the most sustainable and durable handwoven rugs. Subscribe to be in the draw.
NSW is recruiting shooters to target feral cats within the state’s national parks.
Australia has a feral cat population estimated at more than 6 million and they kill 1.5 billion native birds and other animals and about one billion invertebrates each year. They’re regarded as a threat to more than 200 endangered species.
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has reported an increase in native animal deaths and will base its first feral-cat control team in Dubbo, Bourke or Broken Hill to try to control the invasive mammal from parks in the state’s west.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last year labelled feral cats as “walking, stalking, ruthless killers”.
Scientists are taking a dive under a jetty at a WA tourist hotspot in the hope of fighting cancer.
University of WA’s Darren Holland says the jetty in Busselton is Australia’s largest artificial reef, and sponges are among the 300 species of marine life found there. Marine sponges have already been the source of two anti-cancer drugs but little research has been carried out in WA.
In the first stage of the Busselton study, small amounts of the rare sponges will be collected and assessed for potential anti-cancer properties.
The Busselton Jetty attraction raised $25,000 to help fund the six-month study.
A healthy dose of DIY is still helping the Victorian town of Rochester two years after floods destroyed 900 homes. More than 100 insurance claims are still outstanding after the October 2022 floods.
The former shire mayor Leigh Wilson said there were still homes that needed work, but he had faith in the community’s resilience.
Resident Emma Solomano's Library of Things epitomises that can-do spirit. Instead of books, her library lends household items. Inspired by the sight of household appliances lining streets during the floods, she saw the library as a way people could borrow items they might need only rarely.
The NSW Department of Planning has recommended approval of Australia’s largest plastics recycling plant in the Southern Highlands, despite community and environmental concerns.
Plasrefine has proposed recycling up to 120,000 tonnes of plastic a year in a plant built on a 7.7ha site at Moss Vale. Wingecarribee Shire Council and residents have opposed the plan for four years. The site is only 200m from a residential area and opponents have raised concerns about land use, environmental impact and traffic.
Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick said the community was not opposed to a recycling facility “but not where this one is being proposed". The Independent Planning Commission is reviewing the Moss Vale project and will hold a hearing in Bowral on 28 October.
The council’s philosophical support for recycling but specific concerns over this project highlight the question of whose “backyards” are right for the facilities linked to a shift to a greener economy. Just last week we discussed the land-use issues surrounding solar and wind farms.
Following the money – when it’s public money – is a matter of public interest and accountability. When it comes to the private finances of public figures, it's mostly about “the look”.
Take two case studies this week.
Australia’s taxpayer and farmer-funded Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) this week defended a $479,000 termination payment to former chief executive Stuart McCullough. The payout was revealed in the wool research and marketing body’s annual report.
AWI made McCullough redundant from his controversial position as chief marketing and innovation officer in the US this year. The organisation said it had merely paid what was legally owed to McCullough, who had previously been CEO of the organisation for 11 years.
Farmer lobby group Woolproducers said it was hard to justify when woolgrowers were doing it tough.
We all took a public interest of a different kind when PM Anthony Albanese and fiancee Jodie Haydon spent $4.3 million on a luxury home on the NSW central coast. The scrutiny there, most of it political, was about a “tone-deaf” purchase by the PM when home ownership is a fading dream for many.
Some commentators have defended Albanese’s right to buy an expensive home on his $600,000 base salary but even they say it’s a bad look. Other opinions have ranged from Albanese’s own “I understand I am fortunate” to the more political: “the judgement is appalling, the optics truly terrible”.
Childcare is something that affects most of us. If you’re not directly dealing with the challenges of finding and paying for care, there’s a fair chance you might be helping. So are there answers out there? We’d love to know how you cope or what you think needs to happen. Hit reply and let us know.
We wrapped up our eight-week "On Being a Journalist" pilot course this week, which left at least one student wondering why she has a large HECS debt when she should have just done this course.
Each week, 10 students from WA to Toowoomba beamed into the classroom to receive instruction from tequila-loving, semicolon-hating teacher Dan Kaufman.
He shared cheerful words of wisdom such as "journalism is a profession without a business model" and “most editors – and readers – are not interested in you, me or any organisation”. He begged his students – including Galah editor-in-chief Annabelle Hickson – to stop writing in the first person, which they all ignored. And then he taught them about the care and attention that goes into the craft of writing.
“We've all left as better reporters and writers, and with, dare I say, new friends and a supportive writing community in each other,” said Annabelle.
"In all seriousness, it's been amazing,” said one student. “I've learnt so much more about a craft I'm passionate about, particularly being intentional about words rather than rambling.
“The Galah course also has a focus on feature writing — which three years of uni provided approximately one subject on, with no learning at all about how to write for a publication, pitch or get paid. Everything about this course was amazing."
Heartfelt thanks to the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation for a generous grant to develop the course, and to AgriFutures, and to Tory Maguire, managing director of publishing at Nine, who helped bring down the cost of the course to make it accessible to as many young writers as possible.
If you're interested in being part of this course the next time we run it, please reply to this email and we'll put your name on the waiting list.
Annabelle has spent weeks counting down with excitement to her conversation with Alone Australia winner Gina Chick at the Byron Writers Festival at Bangalow on Tuesday. The event is a sellout but the one loose end had been finding two people prepared to sing on stage with Gina. In a move that might prove a double blessing for the listening public, Annabelle says “thankfully” she has her singers, saving her from stepping in.
A grandmother, daughter and teenage granddaughter unite for a four-week exhibition in the NSW Tablelands town of Walcha. Painters Paula Jenkins and daughter Ella, 16, live in Walcha, while Ella’s grandmother, Margie Baillie, is from Paterson in the Lower Hunter. This is the first time the trio have exhibited together. Walcha Gallery of Art, until 20 November. Read more
Central NSW artist Amanda Penrose Hart won the $30,000 Calleen Art Award late last month for her painting Shepherd’s Lookout. Penrose Hart’s winning work is among the 48 shortlisted artworks showing at Cowra Regional Art Gallery. Visitors can vote for their favourite artwork in the People’s Choice, announced at the end of the exhibition. Until 17 November. Read more
The Tarnanthi Art Fair started this weekend, featuring paintings, sculpture, woven objects and other wares by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working independently or from art centres across the country. The Art Gallery of South Australia online fair supports the ethical production and sale of artworks by Indigenous artists, with all proceeds going back to the artists and their art centres. Until Monday. Read more
Interview: Emma Hearnes
UK-born Katie Stewart had a vibrant childhood filled with imagination, creativity and books that whisked her away to exciting places. Her dream was to become the next Beatrix Potter but she first took a detour through archaeology, ethnohistory, teaching and motherhood. Stewart has published five books, including What Colour is the Sea?, Wombat Can’t Sing, and this year’s Quokka Finds a Friend. She lives in rural WA with her farmer husband, three children and a menagerie of pets in what she calls a “creative mess”.
Tell me about where you live and work.
I live on a farm outside Northam in the WA Central Wheatbelt and work between my home office and my small garden studio. It’s quiet and peaceful out here. I love being able to walk for miles without meeting anyone, enjoying nature to the fullest.
Why is literature so important for children's development?
Books teach children about the world – the people, animals and plants in it and how it all works together. They also teach them how to use their imagination and give them a space to go when they just want to forget the world for a while.
How does your background as an archaeologist and ethnohistorian inform your writing?
Being an archaeologist taught me to focus on details and not jump to conclusions. When I’m writing or drawing, I’m always aware of the little details that round out the story. Being an ethnohistorian instilled the importance of detailed research. To make the world of the story believable, I make sure I know as much as possible about the animals I’m writing about and put them in the right environment.
What do you hope readers gain from your latest book, Quokka Finds a Friend?
The main thing I’d like children to get is enjoyment, but also I hope it teaches them that making a friend isn’t about finding someone who likes exactly the same things as you or about trying to change someone to be more like you. It’s about accepting someone’s differences and finding out what similarities you do have.
Who is a regional children's author you love?
That’s a hard question because there are so many great regional authors. But I do love Dianne Wolfer, a fellow Fremantle Press author who lives in Albany. Her books are always so carefully researched and well written. I know she is a lovely, kind person who is generous with her time and a great communicator to both children and adults.
Take 160 enthusiastic competitors, thousands of kilometres of travel and a mission to improve wellbeing in the bush and you have one of the world’s most remote rowing events.
Outback Rowing Australia hosted the two-day Bentley’s Outback Rowing Regatta Series at Barcaldine and Longreach in central Qld this month. Rowers travelled from as far south as Tasmania and included a couple from London.
The logistics were daunting and the lead-up included a three-day convoy of trailers picking up crews and boats in places such as Chinchilla, Rockhampton and Toowoomba in Qld as well as NSW. But it was the crew from Cunnamulla –750km from the ocean – that regatta secretary Murray Stewart believed was probably the “most remote crew in the most remote regatta”. That crew also had plenty of success.
The first day was on the water at Barcaldine Rec Park, followed by the Head of the Outback at Longreach, featuring a 7km race on the Thomson River.
The bad news for the home crews was that Qld lost the State of Origin event but it wasn’t to NSW. The race was taken out by a mixed crew.
The original inspiration for Outback Rowing Australia was a mission to improve the wellbeing of the bush by narrowing the gap in health between rural and urban residents.
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
