/ 10 min read

Young things go global

Young things go global
The Conversation #3, WA artist Lori Pensini’s winning work in the Portia Geach Memorial Award.

Plus unforgettable songs and regional winners. 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 has just realised it’s only a month to Christmas.

Regional news round-up

Faces of the future

Five twentysomethings with dreams that could shape the future of agriculture will take their ideas to an international audience early next year.

Their projects range from indoor crop factories that produce more nutritious food as cheaply as traditional outdoor farming to pioneering new ways of cultivating seaweed to address food and climate challenges.

In Weipa, 20-year-old Malachai Clements is using permaculture and community gardens to bring fresh fruit and vegetables to his Cape York community.

He’s one of the five innovators named as “groundbreakers” by Agrifutures EvokeAG. The groundbreakers will present their ideas to investors, producers, corporates and policymakers at EvokeAG in Brisbane on 18-19 February.

The other four groundbreakers are:

  • Thomas Norman (Illabo, NSW) is demonstrating applications of a carbon-neutral fertiliser with the potential to dramatically cut emissions.
  • Townsville-based research scientist Alisa Mihaila is cultivating seaweed to address climate change, nutrient pollution and food security while boosting rural economies.
  • Alex Mantonari founded AGRA Farming Technologies in Perth and aims to take crops out of the field and indoors to address the climate impacts of traditional agriculture.
  • Indiana Rhind (Berkeley Vale, NSW) is co-founder of a startup developing indoor farms to put crops inside office spaces. She also works with schools to spark interest in agriculture.

EvokeAG is a two-day agrifood tech and innovation forum backed by Agrifutures that aims to share and drive ideas across the Asia Pacific and beyond.  


Get festive with art and wine

Celebrate art and wine this Christmas at Wonderground Gallery and Mirus Cellar Door in the Barossa, SA. From hand-blown Wonder baubles to the distinctive marks of printmaking, from vibrant landscapes to abstracts, Wonderground Gallery has the perfect forever piece, matched with the perfect wine as a gift or for yourself. An online catalogue is available. Learn more


Meet the Unforgettables

A Newcastle choir is harnessing the power of music to fight the effects of dementia.

The 40 members of the Unforgettables gather each weekend to sing, an activity that offers participants and their carers social connection and support.

The choir was started last year by University of Newcastle academics Helen English and Michelle Kelly, who see music as a powerful tool to help those affected by dementia. Kelly, a clinical psychologist specialising in improving the lives of older people, said the choir gave people living with dementia and their family and carers the chance to be part of something beyond the condition.

English said music was one of the strongest triggers for memory and had obvious benefits for people with dementia. 

Shape of things to come

A conversion of a power station on the banks of the Murray River and a northern NSW home described as “treehouse-like’’ have put regional design on the cutting edge of architecture this month.

Mildura’s Powerhouse Place, an events and exhibition space on the site of the old station, won national prizes for sustainable architecture and urban design at the Australian Institute of Architects awards.

A week later, High Tide House at Brunswick Heads won the top award at the institute’s NSW regional awards, which also included recognition for an animal recovery centre at Bathurst and a women’s trauma centre at Shellharbour.

Pick of Victorian dining

Geelong-region restaurant Moonah was named Victoria’s best in The Age’s Good Food Guide Awards this week. The 12-seat restaurant at Connewarre, near Torquay, topped the state and also picked up a hat for excellence, while Messmates at Warragul won Regional Restaurant of the Year.

Otway farm-based restaurant Brae at Birregurra picked up three hats for excellence while 11 other restaurants were awarded two hats: Chauncy (Heathcote), Kadota (Daylesford), Lake House (Daylesford), Laura (Merricks), Moonah (Connewarre), Provenance (Beechworth), Samesyn (Torquay), Stefano’s (Mildura), Tedesca Osteria (Red Hill), Ten Minutes by Tractor (Main Ridge) and Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel (Dunkeld). 

 Another 31 were awarded a single hat. 

Cash flow

The federal government has announced moves to introduce a “cash mandate” by 2026 to force businesses to accept cash as payment for groceries and other essentials.

There’s no legal requirement now for businesses to allow cash payments as long as they offer fee-free methods of digital payment.

The RBA said cash payments for in-person transactions halved in the three years to 2022 but many still have concerns about security and access to cash. Regional shoppers had traditionally been higher users of cash, but the RBA found cash use in regional and remote areas had the fastest rate of decline and varied little from urban areas now.

The government is also phasing out cheques from mid-2028.

When the river runs dry

The once-mighty Murrumbidgee has lost more than half its water to dams and other diversions in the past 30 years. University of NSW researchers found water flows at Hay in south-west NSW had declined by 55% between 1988 and 2018, due largely to dams and irrigation.

They found the most serious impacts were on the wetland of the Lowbidgee flood plain, which depended on regular inundation.

By the way …

  • Queanbeyan Hospital is reinstating surgical abortion services. The hospital was central to an ABC investigation into an “unspoken ban” on abortion services we covered a few weeks ago.
  • Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan has won the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction for Question 7. Flanagan, a past winner of the Booker Prize for fiction, said he would not accept the $97,000 prize until the fund manager behind the award reduced its investment in fossil fuels.
  • The CSIRO is encouraging Australians to keep track of their flatulence. Apparently monitoring these emissions can help scientists get a better understanding of gut health.
  • Tasmanian musician Kelvin Smith has pushed his 240kg piano to the top of Mount Wellington (kunanyi) in Hobart as part of his bid to raise $40,000 for mental health charity Speak Up Stay ChatTY.

This week's newsletter is sponsored by: Wonderground Barossa

Celebrate art and wine this Christmas at Wonderground Gallery and Cellar Door Barossa.

Tell us about it

The flock backs Rex

Galahs on the ground generally support the federal government’s $80 million guarantee to keep Rex Airlines flying regional routes, covered last week.

There was a strong view among our correspondents that there should be more investment in regional transport, including the suggestion the government should buy Rex and run it.

Here’s a selection of your responses:

“Yes, government support for Rex is essential. Here in Albury they are the only alternative to Qantas. Without them we are beholden to Qantas's limited timetable and greedy pricing. It's time that government focus is broadened from supporting city transport to include viable transport options for all Australians.Thanks for providing a forum for this issue and many other issues affecting regional Australians.” Laurine, Albury, NSW

“I’m now a city girl, so although I’m personally unaffected by country flights, I’m totally in support of the $80m lifeline to Rex. Actually, I think the government should go further – buy Rex and run it as a tax-paid service. This country is too big to try to make rural airlines profitable.” Jane Becktel, Gymea, NSW

“My answer to $80m to Rex is YES! [It is] essential to those people in the regions. It’s a good regional airline (and I think it was foolish to try to expect the “big boys” to let them into the capital-city market). $80m is a drop in the bucket compared to $2 billion to prop up Qantas by the end of 2021. Rex needs another go. They have always had a more-than-decent reputation. I’m happy to pay for that.” Max Godley, Mackay, Qld

“I don’t think anyone would have an issue with such a trivial sum of public money injected at the critical moment to keep such a critical service alive. It does highlight the need for the government to invest appropriately in regional transport solutions to support a viable regional air travel business in the long term. An $80m cash splash straight into the pockets of creditors isn’t really addressing the deeper issue of keeping a geographically vast economy connected to essential services. Airline competition in Australia is a parallel issue and shouldn’t be pulled into the argument, but who can’t resist taking a swing at the flying kangaroo piñata?  Nathan, Strzelecki, Vic


Galah goss

Gifts from Galah

We’ve come up with some Galah specials to help you find the perfect gifts for your loved ones this Christmas.

You can 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.


What’s on

Tree of New Life by Vipoo Srivilasa in re/JOY. Photo: Simon Strong.

re/JOY

Thai-born ceramic artist Vipoo Srivilasa is celebrating the migration stories of people who, like him, have made Australia their home. In a project that launched at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney this week, Srivilasa has taken seven broken ceramic objects donated by strangers and transformed them into large-scale works, plus a smaller one in honour of his own story. The exhibition continues on a two-year regional tour next year. Until 19 February 2025, Australian Design Centre. Read more

The Signs Are Good

From the atomic age to UFOlogy and to our own dreams and expectations of the space age, artist Adam Norton reflects on versions of the future and how they have changed over time. From 30 November, Bathurst Regional Gallery. Read more.

Portia Geach Memorial Award

Southern WA artist Lori Pensini, who works from the family farm at Boyup Brook, won the $30,000 Portia Geach Memorial Award for her painting The Conversation #3  last month. This is Australia’s leading portraiture award for female artists. Until 15 December, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney. Read more

Radical Textiles

From tapestry and embroidery to quilting and tailoring, textile artists have been pivotal in expressing moments of profound social change. Radical Textiles presents works by more than 150 artists, designers and activists exploring how textiles have marked acts of resistance, revival, remembrance and reconciliation during the past 150 years. Until 30 March 2025, Art Gallery of South Australia. Read more


In the flock

Aunty Cheryl Davison, artist

Months spent in hospital as a child armed with plenty of drawing materials to pass the time helped spark Aunty Cheryl Davison’s career in art. And it’s her love of the landscapes and stories of the NSW south coast where she grew up and still lives that inspire her work.

A Walbunja/Ngarigo woman, Davison lives at Central Tilba and has fond memories of spending time on the shores of nearby Wallaga Lake with her grandfather. She has served on the Gulaga National Park board of management that oversees the area. Now she has her own Garraywaa Gallery in Narooma.

 In 2018 she founded Djinama Yilaga, a choir singing songs in the Dhurga language, and has taught art and printmaking and works as Aboriginal creative producer for the Four Winds Festival in Bermagui. Paintings and prints are a feature of her work.

Davison said she felt privileged her work also featured in an exhibition at Bundanon Art Museum at Illaroo. Bagan bariwariganyan: Echoes of Country is a collaboration with fellow Indigenous artists Aunty Julie Freeman and Jonathon Jones that continues until 9 February 2025.

Has art always been part of your life?

I was always creative. When I was five years old, I was in hospital in Canberra and Moruya for 12 months after a bad accident at home. My parents obviously tried to find activities for me while I was there so I was given things like pencils and textas. My art really started from there.

Storytelling seems a theme in your work.

Yes, I think it’s an important part of my art. My grandfather was important in that, always telling us stories and showing us things when we were very young. My mother was a storyteller, too. And it wasn’t just Dreamtime stories. They were about our family and where we had come from. And some of them were sad stories, too.

Tell us about your part of the Bundanon exhibition.

It includes a huge gunyah installation. My part of that is a backdrop that’s the creation story of the glossy black cockatoo. It’s massive – 12m by 9m drop – with designs screenprinted on fabric. I’ve also got a separate exhibition space for my own works.  

 What do you want people to take away from this exhibition?

Echoes of Country is just that – it’s about that love for country and the knowledge of it. That’s what we want the chance to share. It’s also great to show what is possible. 


One last thing

Lex Marinos in an early TV appearance on the ABC's Switched On Set. The Lex Factor

The Lex factor

The Museum of the Riverland is celebrating one of Wagga Wagga’s favourite sons in an exhibition opening next month.

Actor, director and radio personality Lex Marinos, perhaps best known for his role in the 1980s TV series Kingswood Country, died in September.

Before his death, Marinos had worked with museum curator Michelle Maddison to create an exhibition surveying the 75 years since his birth in Wagga. The result is The Lex Factor: From Wagga to the World Stage, opening on 18 December. Read more


What’s new(s)?

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