The Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner, and Australian Magpie topped the charts in 2024.
THE 2025 Aussie Bird Count, one of Australia’s largest citizen science events, began on Monday. This national celebration of our unique and diverse birdlife will run to Sunday, 26 October 2025. BirdLife Australia invites people of all ages to take just 20 minutes out of their day to spot, identify, and count the birds around […]
Dwayne Bannon-Harrison, Chair of the NSW Aboriginal Tourism Operators Council.
Dwayne Bannon-Harrison, Chair of the NSW Aboriginal Tourism Operators Council. A smoking ceremony welcomed guests to the roundtable. A panel discussion featuring Phil Lockyer, Sharon Winsor and Andrew Smith. Speed networking at the event. REPRESENTATIVES from the Aboriginal business and cultural tourism sectors came together at the Murrook Culture Centre in Williamtown for the eighth […]
FOUR independent Port Stephens councillors have released a statement seeking to clarify their position on a proposed ban on “powered vessels” in local waterways. In February the four councillors backed a unanimously supported motion requesting that Transport for NSW complete an “urgent review into jet ski usage, including speed limits for all personal watercraft and […]
PORT Stephens residents can now have their say on a review of Council’s “Our Incredible Place Strategy”, with a survey now live. “First adopted in 2021, the strategy provides Council, local businesses and the community with a blueprint on how to work together to grow and celebrate Port Stephens’ unique identity,” Council said in a […]
The humpback whale mum and calf breaching the surface.
LOCAL cetacean researcher Leanne Maffesoni has captured the breathtaking moment a humpback whale and its calf breached the water off Port Stephens. “We saw several mum and calf pairs heading south, however this female calf and her mum were next level,” Leanne said. Leanne has spent over 27 years photographing cetaceans along the east coast […]
Posidonia australis forms rich underwater meadows. Photo: Seeds of the Sea.
A NEW citizen science project led by UNSW Sydney is inviting beachgoers, snorkelers and divers to spot and share photographs of seagrass flowers along Australia’s coasts. The endangered seagrass Posidonia australis forms rich underwater meadows that capture carbon, support fisheries, and help stabilise shorelines. It’s one of the most important habitats in coastal ecosystems but […]
While the country lifestyle and lower cost-of-living was appealing, access to housing, health care, connectivity and public transport were seen as key barriers.
A QUIET life in the countryside appeals to nearly half of Australia’s city residents, but concerns about access to health care, housing and jobs are stopping them making the move. Country Australia is on track to become home to 11 million people by 2032, or 40 percent of the population, while 40 percent of people […]
The loss of forest canopy has long been claimed to increase the risk of flooding – but actually proving the direct link has proven difficult since the impact of other factors such as changing climate are hard to exclude. Photo: NSW SES.
THE chance of large-scale flooding in a specific catchment area can increase by as much as 700 percent if widespread deforestation has occurred. That is the finding of a new paper by academics who analysed decades of flooding data from regions in Australia which frequently suffer forest fires. The loss of forest canopy has long […]
Raymond Terrace Lions Club’s working committee helped raise a record-equalling $10,000 for the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.
RAYMOND Terrace Lions Club has raised a record-equalling $10,000 for the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation through its fourth annual Biggest High Tea. This strongly supported event is held each year in St John’s Anglican Church and continues to raise public awareness of the plight of young children diagnosed with cancer. Lions Club membership […]
Road users are being invited to contribute to a survey. Photo: TfNSW.
TRANSPORT for NSW is leading a “once-in-a-generation” review of the Roads Act 1993 and is seeking input from councils, community members, peak bodies and industry experts about how the legislation should be reformed. “The aim is to create a more modern, flexible and easy-to-use law that can help enable NSW Government initiatives such as housing […]
