EVERY fisherman dreams of catching the big one – the fish that turns an ordinary day on the water into a season-long bragging right. But what if I told you there’s a way to plan your fishing trips like a pro, know when the bite will be at its best, and head home feeling like […]
Settlement Point Road, Port Macquarie during the May 2025 floods on the Mid North Coast. Photo: Port Macquarie SES.
AUSTRALIANS are counting the ballooning cost of extreme weather events after they caused almost $5 billion in insured losses in 2025, more than 700 percent up on the previous year. And the financial toll is only expected to get worse, with independent analysis indicating it could blow out to $35 billion annually by 2050. The […]
The technology is assisting firefighting forces to monitor more areas and predict the spread of more bushfires. Photo: NSW Rural Fire Service.
ARTIFICIALLY intelligent cameras detected more than 1100 bushfires in Australia over summer, including some that would have been missed by humans until they posed a greater risk. One fire outbreak caused by lighting strikes, for example, could have damaged a pine forest if cameras had not alerted firefighters. Pano AI revealed the findings on Tuesday […]
DUNGOG writer and emerging novelist Shannon Benton has been awarded a fellowship with the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) and The Copyright Agency. Shannon is developing her novel Fragmented, a work of literary fiction that engages with themes of memory, authorship and myth, set between Victoria’s Mulberry Hill and Hanging Rock. Her […]
A workshop in Gresford will focus on managing livestock through a tight winter. Photo: LLS website.
LOCAL Land Services (LLS) is hosting workshops in Paterson and Gresford to support producers to adapt to current conditions and issues. The first session, to be held on-farm in Paterson on Wednesday 6 May from 9–11am, explores pasture dieback. Pasture dieback is a condition causing premature death of high yielding tropical and sub-tropical grasses. It […]
Data shows Australian horticulture experiences average food loss rates of about 20 percent per farm.
AUSTRALIAN fruit and vegetable growers are missing out on the sale of up to a million tonnes of produce annually that never makes it to market. That’s a whopping $2.5 billion a year but a figure dwarfed by the costs linked to such a huge loss. Data shows Australian horticulture experiences average food loss rates […]
Premier Chris Minns and Energy Minister Penny Sharpe want to boost NSW's EV charging network. Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS.
WAR in the Middle East and associated spiralling diesel costs could spell the perfect time for truck fleets to keep edging closer to electrification. Last Tuesday, the NSW government announced an expansion of heavy vehicle electrification incentives as part of its EV roadmap, along with investment in more fast chargers and kerbside charging stations for […]
The long-period comet C/2025 R3 has returned after an absence of roughly 170,000 years.
A VISITOR from the deep past is about to grace Australian skies. For those willing to rise before dawn, it offers something close to time travel. The long-period comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) – last seen when humans were shaping stone tools and learning to master fire – has returned after an absence of roughly 170,000 […]
2025 Hunter Volunteer of the Year David Dorhauer with Pat Conroy MP and Dungog councillor Liam Ley.
IT’S time for people across the Hunter to nominate family, friends or work mates for the 2026 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards, to help celebrate the enormous positive impact of volunteers across the state. The awards are in their 20th year and are run by The Centre for Volunteering to recognise the outstanding work […]
Local MPs celebrate the progress with the project team.
THE M1 Pacific Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace is now expected to open to traffic in late 2026, more than a year earlier than originally planned. The accelerated timeline comes as the project reaches a major milestone, with the northern section, the Heatherbrae Bypass, now complete. The M1 Pacific Motorway extension and Hexham Straight widening […]
