A NEW multi-agency taskforce has been launched to accelerate hazard reduction and better protect communities across NSW. Launched by the NSW Government, Taskforce Fire Guard will bring together fire agencies and land managers to strengthen coordination and prioritise high risk areas over the coming months. Operating from the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) State Operations […]

FIVE animal rehoming organisations across the Hunter are sharing in more than $150,000 in funding, delivered as part of the first round of the NSW Government’s $6 million Companion Animal Welfare and Rehoming Grants program. This funding will support projects like the construction of a new cattery, and subsidising desexing, microchipping and vaccination. Successful grant […]

THE NSW Government is encouraging young women and girls in the Hunter to seek opportunities in emergency services through the Girls on Fire program. Girls on Fire received over $180,000 in funding under the government’s Investing in Women grants, to provide teenage girls in regional and remote areas with a hands-on, practical program of what […]

Artist Jenny McCracken and visiting student Charlie Haberstock. Photo: Julie Overton. Artist Jenny McCracken led the workshop. Photo: Julie Overton. YOUTH Week 2026 has officially kicked off in Paterson with a vibrant, community-driven art workshop celebrating a key part of the town’s unique agricultural heritage. Organised by Paterson Community Builders, the Youth Week launch event […]

HUNTER-BASED sailor and death doula Ruth Boydell has released a memoir, “Rocking the Boat: A Life in Three Voyages”, outlining global ocean adventures in the days before GPS and chartplotters. Ruth’s story begins at the age of 17, when she joined a thirty-something Englishman who was single-handing a sailboat around the world. The adventures came […]

EMERGING filmmaker and local historian, Jacob Ure, 24, shared his unique approach to uncovering and telling hidden local stories at a Youth Week workshop held on Sunday in Paterson. Invited by Paterson Community Builders, Jacob – the creator of local history platform Our Past – delivered an engaging session focused on how he creates compelling, […]

HAVE you ever wondered who the first astronomers were? What an interesting question. Astronomy is the oldest science, but it’s also the newest. Everything we know about the night sky has been passed down through history, and we find the oldest continuous culture on Earth, the Australian Aboriginal people, were very likely the world’s first […]

Photographer Cory Small from Camera Crave captured all the action trackside at the iconic Gresford Billy Cart Derby. Photographer Cory Small from Camera Crave captured all the action trackside at the iconic Gresford Billy Cart Derby. Photographer Cory Small from Camera Crave captured all the action trackside at the iconic Gresford Billy Cart Derby. Photographer […]

A NEW group of young people from across the Dungog Shire is stepping up to make a real difference in the community. The recently formed Dungog and Surrounds Youth Council is already taking action, with a clear goal to create more opportunities for local young people. Their first focus is raising funds to help send […]