RECORD-BREAKING saleyard numbers at Scone, Tamworth, and Dubbo signals that cattle producers are selling down, with Hunter Local Land Services (LLS) urging landholders to keep making these proactive decisions as conditions tighten moving into winter. Three key indicators point to increasing pressure on producers. Scone’s largest yarding on record, with more than 4,000 head, reflects […]

A SPATE of fire bombings could be just the beginning as concerns mount the tax system is driving a burgeoning alcohol black market putting lives and the budget bottom line at risk. Police have not confirmed whether illicit alcohol was behind 15 incidents at hospitality venues across inner Melbourne since 14 April, but the industry […]

HUNTER Water has begun supplying drinking water from the Tomago Sandbeds to supplement surface water storages as dam levels continue to decline across the Lower Hunter. Overall water storages have reduced by more than 20 percent since the start of November due to below-average rainfall, with storages currently around 63.7 percent capacity. The Bureau of […]

DETECTIVES are appealing for information following a series of recent grass fires in the Hunter Valley. Between Monday 2 March 2026 and Friday 24 April 2026, a total of 24 grass fires were reported in areas surrounding Singleton. The fires have occurred along Golden Highway at Warkworth, and Mitchell Line of Road, Jerrys Plains Road, […]

THE 2026 Port Stephens Support Services and Community Connections expo comes to Tomaree High School on Wednesday 13 May. Hosted annually by Tomaree High, the event was previously called the Port Stephens Disability Expo. “We have expanded the event to include all support services and partnered with Tomaree Neighbourhood Centre to make it a bigger […]

POTENTIAL changes to negative gearing or capital gains tax in the federal budget would not be breaking the trust of voters, the treasurer says. As Jim Chalmers prepares to hand down his fifth budget, the government faces accusations it is coming after “mum and dad” investors as family trusts join capital gains tax discounts and […]

I’VE often wondered how the Fingal Island light keepers and their families survived in the very early years with the unreliability of fresh food, particularly after the land artery was washed away in 1891. Isolated on the island with little to no contact with the mainland, the families relied heavily on dried foods and what […]

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 […]

Photographer Cory Small beautifully captured the atmosphere of the solemn service. Photographer Cory Small beautifully captured the atmosphere of the solemn service. Photographer Cory Small beautifully captured the atmosphere of the solemn service. Photographer Cory Small beautifully captured the atmosphere of the solemn service. Photographer Cory Small beautifully captured the atmosphere of the solemn service. […]

IT is that time of year for the mature mullet to leave the peacefulness of the NSW estuary systems and swim out into the open ocean with all its dangers – including fishermen. Anytime now, unless it has already happened, huge schools of sea mullet will pour out of the Swansea Channel and the Hunter […]