July 15, 2025
Mosquito numbers set to soar after long rains Aedes aegypti mosquito ready for a meal, followed by laying eggs in your birdbath. Photo: Dr Cameron Webb.
Health, Regional

Mosquito numbers set to soar after long rains

Aedes aegypti mosquito ready for a meal, followed by laying eggs in your birdbath. Photo: Dr Cameron Webb. This backyard birdbath, filled by the recent rains, contains dozens of mosquito larvae that can mature within a week. The black spots are mosquito eggs or pupae, ready to hatch. MOSQUITO numbers are set to soar due […]

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Gresford Community Gallery celebrates Winter Exhibition The gallery opened its doors last September.
Entertainment

Gresford Community Gallery celebrates Winter Exhibition

GRESFORD Community Gallery will hold a celebratory opening of its Winter Exhibition on Sunday, 1 June from 2-4pm. Almost nine months old, the gallery is set amidst the botanical gardens and visitors’ park in the rural village of East Gresford. “The Winter Exhibition will include a stunning array of quality Hunter Valley art and craft, […]

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Dungog Shire ‘better prepared’ for recent flooding Clarence Town Road at Woodville. Photo: Joseph Richards.
Local News

Dungog Shire ‘better prepared’ for recent flooding

Clarence Town Road at Woodville. Photo: Joseph Richards. Dunmore Bridge at Woodville. Photo: Joseph Richards. Flooding on Butterwick Road. Road closures in Dungog on 19 May. Photo: Karen Turner. Flooding in Dungog. Photo: John Squires. DUNGOG Shire Mayor Digby Mayor has praised the response of the community and emergency services to intense rainfall and flooding […]

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Knife-edge recounts could decide parliament’s make-up A rare recount in a Sydney electorate will delay confirmation of Australia's next parliament. Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS.
National

Knife-edge recounts could decide parliament’s make-up

IT could take weeks to confirm the members of Australia’s next parliament, with one seat sitting on a margin of only eight votes and an incumbent in another requesting a second tally. Independent MP Zoe Daniel has requested a recount in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein. The Australian Electoral Commission finalised a margin of 260 […]

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Shed occupation policy to be reviewed
Dungog Shire

Shed occupation policy to be reviewed

MAYOR Digby Rayward has put forward a Mayoral Minute seeking Dungog Shire Council to review its policy relating to the residential occupation of sheds. The current policy, adopted in 2001 and re-adopted in 2003, requires applicants to have full development and construction approvals for a dwelling before permission can be granted to temporarily live in […]

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Disaster assistance activated for flood affected local government areas
Community, Health

Disaster assistance activated for flood affected local government areas

THE Albanese and Minns Governments have activated disaster assistance to communities in Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the Hunter and Mid North Coast following severe weather, including heavy rainfall. The NSW Government’s Natural Disaster Declaration applies to the LGAs of Bellingen, Central Coast, Cessnock, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Dungog, Kempsey, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, MidCoast, Nambucca, […]

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Fodder drops provide lifeline to flooded farmers Fodder is being air-dropped to farmers in need.
Community

Fodder drops provide lifeline to flooded farmers

HELICOPTERS have provided isolated farmers with emergency fodder for their stranded livestock, as part of a range of support available to flood-affected farmers across the Mid North Coast, North Coast and Hunter. As of midday Saturday, 24 May, there had been 43 helicopter aerial drops of fodder, and nearly 131 emergency fodder drops by other […]

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Fifth death linked to floods as body found in burnt car More than 1600 flood damage claims have already been made, the Insurance Council of Australia says. Photo: Lindsay Moller/AAP PHOTOS.
National

Fifth death linked to floods as body found in burnt car

A FIFTH person died in a region devastated by floods after dangerous conditions prevented emergency crews from accessing a home. The body of a man believed to be in his 80s was found inside a burnt-out vehicle in the shed of a Cooplacurripa property, about 50km north-west of Taree. A concern for welfare had been […]

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Origin enforcer playing for flood-ravaged hometown NSW Blue Mitch Barnett is heartbroken by the flood damage on the mid-north coast where he was born. Photo: Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS.
Sport

Origin enforcer playing for flood-ravaged hometown

AFTER the siren sounds on the State of Origin series opener, Mitch Barnett hopes to roll up his sleeves and lend a hand on NSW’s flood-ravaged mid-north coast. Warriors co-captain Barnett has had to watch from afar as flood waters ravaged the Manning Valley area where he was born and raised, and where his parents […]

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