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. 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 […]

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 […]

FRIDAY 17 October marks the start of a weeklong national meeting for the Triumph Sports Owners car clubs in the Port Stephens area. The Anchorage at Corlette will house 120 registrants from all over Australia for the meet. “Some of their number will have driven from as far away as Perth and Adelaide,” said member […]

REGIONAL Arts Australia is launching a “transformative” new funding initiative with $2.4 million dollars in support from Minderoo Foundation. The program offers multi-year grants of $160,000 to support independent artists living and working in regional communities across Australia. “Practice in Community” will deliver two funding rounds for independent artists working in Community Arts and Cultural […]

NELSON Bay VIEW Club hosted a spring luncheon on Friday 26 September in support of the Smith Family’s Learning for Life program. The initiative brought together the “frocked and feathered” from within the community, all focused on giving disadvantaged students the resources they need to succeed in school. Guest speaker and “local hero”, Vicki Haines, […]

A POPULATION of koalas continues to live around Grahamstown Dam, according to a drone-based survey undertaken by Hunter Water and the University of Newcastle.  Using drones fitted with thermal cameras and spotlight technology, the project surveyed more than 2,000 hectares across Hunter Water-managed land as part of Australia’s most comprehensive drone fauna survey ever undertaken […]

COST-OF-LIVING pressures and the impact on access to basic needs like health services is one of the key issues emerging from the Country Women’s Association (CWA) of NSW Annual Women’s Survey. The survey is now in its second year and is currently open to all women in communities across the state. “Last year’s survey really […]

PORT Stephens is alive with exciting activities guaranteed to keep the kids smiling through to the end of the school holidays on 16 October. News Of The Area has put together a list for locals and visitors: – The Port Stephens Visitor Information Centre is running the Whale and Dolphin Exhibition until Thursday 16 October. […]

RESIDENTS are encouraged to cash in on clutter as the Garage Sale Trail hits Port Stephens over two weekends this November. Port Stephens residents can participate in the second-hand treasure hunt by holding their own garage sale or joining a market on one day or across both weekends, November 8-9 and 15-16. Mayor Leah Anderson […]