Plus a naughty quilter and transport deserts. 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 we undervalue our cultural assets.
A Victorian mayor has defended a $50 million redevelopment of his rural town’s art gallery from critics who say it only caters to “elites”.
South Grampians Shire Council endorsed plans for the new Hamilton art gallery last month. It sees the gallery as the centre of a major community hub and a way of diversifying and drought-proofing the economy in a region historically built around agriculture.
Mayor Dennis Heslin told Galah this week that while the council’s commitment will be capped at $10 million, the rest is expected from state and federal grants and philanthropic investment.
Yet critics say money would be better spent on roads, health and education and that the new gallery would only appeal to the “hoity-toitys”.
Heslin said he didn’t consider himself an art person, but had no trouble selling the benefits of the new gallery to the broader community and the potential for the redevelopment to make the town a destination.
Heslin cited the thousands of children at events at the existing gallery as just one example of its broader impact. He also pointed to a major exhibition in Hamilton last year that boosted visitor spending by $1 million a month to highlight the economic potential.
Debate over cultural spending is obviously not new and a $45 million redevelopment of the Bendigo Art Gallery has also faced community criticism but there are plenty of people who make the case for galleries and museums.
In July, as her Armidale gallery faced funding cuts, NERAM director Rachael Parsons said regional galleries were vital to the health of their towns: “We’re not just about artworks on a wall. We’re places people come to meet, socialise and connect. We deliver social inclusion and so much more.”
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Higher livestock prices are expected to drive the value of Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry production to a record $101.6 billion this financial year despite drought, the aftermath of floods and trade uncertainty.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences said this week that while crop values would fall slightly, booming prices meant livestock production would be worth $41.6 billion.
ABARES chief executive Jared Greenville said exports would fall slightly to $74.6 billion but still be well above average.
A mini-bus packed with up to 13 often elderly residents has become a partial solution to a lack of public transport in Victoria’s South Gippsland region.
The Leongatha Community House operates a weekly service offering pick-up from homes for those wanting to go into town or nearby Korumburra.
For many pensioners who pay $6 for the ride, it’s the only affordable transport for those needing appointments or to visit friends in a region that has few public transport options.
Monash University researcher Graham Currie said the young, elderly, Aboriginal communities and people with disability were most affected by public transport deserts, which were common across regional Victoria.
Peter Trembath, whose work bringing veterinary services to cattle stations and towns across northern Australia featured in the 1990s ABC documentary series The Flying Vet, has retired after 45 years.
Trembath gained his pilot’s licence in Australia before an eight-year stint in Zimbabwe where his patients included rhinos. He moved back to the NT and bought a vet practice in Katherine. It became his base as he flew across a region covering 500,000 square kilometres.
The Flying Vet followed his work treating everything from crocodiles to cats.
Trembath has handed the reins over to his son Rupert, who is one of a fleet of vets who now fly across the outback.
Plans for a giant wind farm in Queensland state forests around Gympie and Maryborough have been dropped after intense community opposition.
The Forest Wind project would have had up to 226 turbines that could power about 500,000 homes. Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said legislation allowing the development in state forests would be repealed and end uncertainty for affected communities.
Construction of a 100-turbine wind farm on Robbins Island in Tasmania’s far north-west is expected to start in 2031 after Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt granted approval with 88 conditions. Conservationists said the island, which is home to a wagyu beef cattle operation, should have been a “no-go” zone for development.
Our lives are shaped – often defined – by the elements. How to thrive in the face of uncertainty, cope with extremes, respect and protect our world – these are the big elemental issues. Elements is the theme of Galah Issue 13, where we celebrate the brilliance of artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, learn what it takes to sculpt in bronze and explore elemental architecture and the climate quest.
You’ll also meet gallerist Michael Reid at home in Murrurundi and even learn how to finish a VERY long book.
The Elements issue is out in November but you can get in early to pre-order for free shipping by clicking the link here.
More than 40 emerging regional artists will exhibit their work across two days with a chance to acquire paintings, photography, drawing, ceramics and sculpture. At Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, NSW, 13-14 September. Read more
Murwillumbah artist Dean Stewart deconstructs and rearranges salvaged materials to evoke emotion and memory in this solo exhibition. At Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW, until 30 November. Read more
Northern Rivers artist Drew McDonald’s beach ball spider will be one of more than 80 contemporary works at Queensland’s largest outdoor sculpture festival. The event also includes guided twilight walks, live music and artist workshops. At Currumbin, Qld, 12-21 September. Read more
More than 100 galleries and the works of 500 artists will feature across four days in Australia’s largest and most diverse gathering of leading contemporary art galleries. At Carriageworks, Sydney, 11-14 September. Read more
Growing up in Albury, Sarah Stamm’s original plan was to study visual arts in Melbourne. When that didn’t quite work out, she moved to Sydney to juggle interior design studies and work in corporate services with David Jones. She and her husband later moved to 10 hectares overlooking the Victorian Alps near Beechworth.
There she has been making bespoke quilts, wall prints and other pieces from home for more than a decade. She doesn’t run a website and doesn’t take orders. Instead, she posts on her salisburyandmaude Instagram page when pieces are ready for sale. And they sell fast, often within a few minutes and to a base of followers that includes celebrities such as Kate Ritchie, Bec Hewitt and Johanna Griggs.
Tell us about your work in interior design. Like 99% of people, I originally thought interior design was about making spaces look pretty. It’s far more about interior architecture and space planning, so getting spaces to work was my specialty. I got my first job in Sydney with a retail design firm that designed Westfield’s shop fit-outs. I was able to design shop fit-outs and see them built next door. Later I had my own interior design store in Beechworth.
How did you move into quilting? When I shut the design store in Beechworth, I looked at the huge investment I still had tied up in fabric. I’d always been arty and can turn my hand at most things so I started making patchwork quilts. Friends and family saw them and started to buy them, commissioning more from me too. I knew there was something in this!”
Why do you consider yourself a “naughty” quilter? Traditional quilters are far cleverer than me and have a precise formula but I don’t follow any rule book. I really don’t like following other people’s patterns, so I just figured out how to create things on my own. I love the process of designing something and I don’t ditch an idea if it doesn’t work at first. I just persevere until I get it right. The squares I create are “Sarah-size” – done my way.
It must be peaceful work? It is solo work but there’s joy in the process and I love the environment here. It’s usually just the dog, cat and me, maybe with a few kangaroos I can see out the window.
And the part you don’t love? I do everything on my own from the design ideas, sourcing the fabric, stitching and eventually the ironing – so much ironing! It’s the moment I least enjoy and it takes so much of my time.
You’re big on self-belief? Yes, we all have courage to try things. But you have to be courageous by taking the next step and trusting something will be okay. I trusted that all would be okay, that eventually my work would be admired, enjoyed and loved. Trusting yourself is the key to flourishing!
A couple based in the Victorian alpine gateway of Bright have both been recognised at major professional photography awards – but their achievements have been tempered by traumatic events in the region.
Matt Palmer won the Australian professional landscape photographer of the year at the Iris Awards in New Zealand last month. Wife Mieke Boynton, who was a finalist in the 2023 Galah Regional Photography Prize, was judged Australian travel photographer of the year.
Melbourne-based Jo Howell won the overall prize for Australian professional photographer of the year.
Boynton and Palmer run Alpine Light Gallery in Bright and live in nearby Porepunkah, a town that has grabbed headlines for tragedy over the past few weeks.
The couple returned to Porepunkah as it became the centre of a manhunt sparked by the shooting deaths of two policemen. Boynton said this week that they, like many others, had been deeply affected by the drama surrounding the region.
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
