July 21, 2025
XPT replacement trains unlikely to arrive anytime soon An artist’s impression of the XPT replacement trains. Photo: TfNSW.
Community, Government

XPT replacement trains unlikely to arrive anytime soon

THE wait for XPT replacement trains looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, with Transport for NSW Deputy Secretary Camilla Drover unable to put a date on when the new trains would come into service. “I’m not willing to commit to a hard and fast date,” she said at a recent Parliamentary budget estimates […]

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Tea Gardens Public School P&C host Winter Disco Brodie, Hudson and Isla at the TGPS disco. Photo: R Faunt.
Community, School

Tea Gardens Public School P&C host Winter Disco

Brodie, Hudson and Isla at the TGPS disco. Photo: R Faunt. Hudson gets a look at DJ Jomeca’s turntables. Photo: R Faunt. TEA GARDENS Public School (TGPS) students enjoyed a rollicking evening at the P&C Disco on Thursday 3 July. “This night was all about the kids and they had an absolute blast!” TGPS P&C […]

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Progress Association cleans up public facilities in Tea Gardens
Community, Health

Progress Association cleans up public facilities in Tea Gardens

Unseemly graffiti was painstakingly removed from inside the public toilets. This mural was defaced and has since been rejuvenated. The men’s room door is solid and impenetrable again. MEMBERS of the Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association (HNTGPA) have dug in to keep their area beautiful and liveable, attacking several projects of late in collaboration […]

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No creature too great or small for WINC WINC volunteers help care for recovering wildlife like this feather-tailed glider.
Community

No creature too great or small for WINC

AS any pet owner will tell you, with no government subsidies such as Medicare, treating injury and illness in companion animals can be an expensive prospect. What hope is there, then, when native animals are struck by cars, or traumatised by bushfires? That’s where the volunteers of Wildlife In Need Of Care (WINC) get involved. […]

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Probus members aiming to live long with healthy eating and exercise President Barb with 10-year pin recipients: Sue and Grant Hickey, and Margaret and Noel Jones.
Community, Health

Probus members aiming to live long with healthy eating and exercise

Probus President Barb Smith with new member Lynne Bradbury. President Barb with 10-year pin recipients: Sue and Grant Hickey, and Margaret and Noel Jones. Guest speaker and mobile physiotherapist Alan Johns from Myall Physiotherapy. MEMBERS and visitors of the Hawks Nest and District Probus club braved capricious winter weather on 4 July to hear some […]

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Thursday Walkers group continue to explore across the Hunter Feed time at the wetlands centre at Shortland on 5 June. Photo: Bea Watkins.
Community, Health

Thursday Walkers group continue to explore across the Hunter

Feed time at the wetlands centre at Shortland on 5 June. Photo: Bea Watkins. Across Tilligery Creek on 12 June. Photo: Robyn Thompson. Puddle Jumping at North Arm Cove on 19 June. Photo: Bea Watkins. The long ‘up’ along the Trolley Trail on Alum Mountain on 26 June. Photo: Rebecca Jacobs. THE inexorable Thursday Walkers […]

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Stinker’s Fishin’: The good old days
Community

Stinker’s Fishin’: The good old days

DO you remember the good old days when catching calamari squid was simple? Inside the harbour, excited “squidders” gathered around the Nelson Bay Marina or drifted over the sea grass in Shoal Bay on calm days. Tossing a squid jig and slowly retrieving it ensured a bucket or so of thumping squid to be prepared […]

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NAIDOC celebrations at Tea Gardens Aaliyah , Kyan and Levi Briffa at a previous NAIDOC Week event.
Community

NAIDOC celebrations at Tea Gardens

NAIDOC Week will be celebrated on Thursday 24 July at Tea Gardens Public School from 10am to 2pm. The event is free, with the whole community invited to attend. NAIDOC stands for “National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee”, and is synonymous in Australia with celebrations of Indigenous culture and history. In 1975, it was […]

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Firefighters remind landowners of pile burn protocols An orange glow is barely visible but RFS crews were on to it.
Community

Firefighters remind landowners of pile burn protocols

The RFS’s drip-torch allows a precise application of accelerant to start controlled burns. An orange glow is barely visible but RFS crews were on to it. WITH the weather finally drying out a bit, the Rural Fire Service has received requests to assist with routine pile burns and asks that landowners proceed responsibly. Although winter […]

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Meet the crew who keep Marine Rescue boats running Maintenance crew members Mark, Victoria, Ken, Mark (Boat Manager), Rob (Coxswain), Bob, and Ian (Chief Engineer).
Community

Meet the crew who keep Marine Rescue boats running

Maintenance crew members Mark, Victoria, Ken, Mark (Boat Manager), Rob (Coxswain), Bob, and Ian (Chief Engineer). Maintenance crew member Bob Montgomery. EVERY Wednesday morning, before most people have had their second coffee, a group of volunteers is already elbow-deep in checklists, toolkits, and the unmistakable scent of salt and diesel. They’re not responding to an […]

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