August 1, 2026
Stroud Community comes together to celebrate NAIDOC Week Aboriginal traditional dancing workshop led by Murrook Culture Centre staff. Photo: Rachel Barry.
Community, Event, Local News

Stroud Community comes together to celebrate NAIDOC Week

Estelle Leishman demonstrating how to use ochre as paint. Photo: Rachel Barry. Aboriginal traditional dancing workshop led by Murrook Culture Centre staff. Photo: Rachel Barry. Uncle Justin Ridgeway sharing the Dreaming story of Yapii the platypus. Photo: Rachel Barry. Uncle Justin Ridgeway with children Connor and Charli during the smoking ceremony. Photo: Rachel Barry. STROUD’S […]

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Peter Gambrill and Mia Finch claim top honours at Stroud Brick and Rolling Pin Throwing Competition
Community, Local News, Regional

Peter Gambrill and Mia Finch claim top honours at Stroud Brick and Rolling Pin Throwing Competition

Stroud Men’s Open brick-throwing winner Peter Gambrill. Photo: Nyomi Aubrey Photography. Mia Finch claims the champion’s title in the Women’s Open brick-throwing competition. Photo: Nyomi Aubrey Photography. PETER Gambrill and Mia Finch claimed the Men’s Open and Women’s Open titles as hundreds of competitors and spectators gathered for the annual Stroud Brick and Rolling Pin […]

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Citizen scientists photograph and catalogue fungi A stinkhorn, one of many fungi that may be found in Australia. This one smells very, very bad, as the name suggests. Photo: Nico Lombardo.
Community, Event, Local News, Regional

Citizen scientists photograph and catalogue fungi

THE Great Aussie Fungi Hunt 2026 is on, and community members are playing their part in a worldwide effort to catalogue mushroom species. The Great Aussie Fungi Hunt is a yearly event organised by Fungimap, a not for profit, citizen-science organisation dedicated to researching and protecting Australian fungi. One of the chief goals of the […]

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Boronia Park netball courts and clubrooms to be renamed The courts at the Boronia Park netball facility. Photo: Supplied by MidCoast Council.
Community, Local News, Regional

Boronia Park netball courts and clubrooms to be renamed

MIDCOAST Council is inviting the community to provide feedback on the proposed naming of the netball facilities at Boronia Park to be called ‘The Pauline Carr Netball Centre’. The Great Lakes Netball Association has submitted a proposal to call the netball facilities ‘The Pauline Carr Netball Centre’. This naming honours Pauline’s decades of dedication to […]

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Port Stephens Community members turn up to form human whale at Fingal Bay Sean Andrews, from Moonshadow-TQC Cruise, and Frank Future, from Imagine Cruise, with Panda the whale in the background.
Community

Port Stephens Community members turn up to form human whale at Fingal Bay

Sean Andrews, from Moonshadow-TQC Cruise, and Frank Future, from Imagine Cruise, with Panda the whale in the background. There were plenty of activities for children, including whale face painting, proudly shown off by 10-year-old Sashenka Fernando. The drone view of the human whale formation. Photo: Aeropix Australia. Mayor of Port Stephens,Leah Andrerson joined in on […]

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New editor for News Of The Area newspaper group Eve with a few of her favourite things - eight different mastheads of News Of The Area. Photo: Angus Cheetham.
Business, Community, Local News, Regional

New editor for News Of The Area newspaper group

Eve with a few of her favourite things – eight different mastheads of News Of The Area. Photo: Angus Cheetham. Freckle, the sick little bird who grew up and identified as a homing pigeon, with his rescuer. Photo: Angus Cheetham. EVE Nesmith has been named Editor of News Of The Area, the family-owned independent local […]

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Mullets and Mackerels’ winter solstice swim Mullets swimmers brace for the early winter’s morning swim at Jimmys Beach. Photo: Supplied.
Community, Event

Mullets and Mackerels’ winter solstice swim

Mullets swimmers brace for the early winter’s morning swim at Jimmys Beach. Photo: Supplied. Proof they took to the waters. Photo: Supplied. Refreshing was an understatement for many swimmers after the event. Photo: Supplied. TWO local swimming groups took to the water on the brisk, early winter morning on a special day – the Winter […]

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Tomaree Museum seeks shipwreck treasures
Community

Tomaree Museum seeks shipwreck treasures

FOLLOWING the outstanding success of its Valerie Taylor exhibition, which attracted more than 4500 visitors to the Tomaree Heritage Precinct, and the recent ANZAC exhibition at the Nelson Bay Visitor Information Centre, the Tomaree Museum Association (TMA) is preparing to launch its third major public exhibition for 2026. Opening in September, the exhibition will explore […]

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Give former lab rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits a forever home
Community

Give former lab rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits a forever home

RABBITS, guinea pigs, rats and mice who were formerly used in research are now up for adoption and looking for their forever homes as pets and competitions. The Liberty Adoption Centre, at Wyong, on the Central Coast, is now home to Australia’s first adoption centre for small animals transitioning out of research facilities into the […]

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Whale watching season officially under way in Port Stephens The spectacular coastline viewed from the summit of Mount Tomaree.
Community

Whale watching season officially under way in Port Stephens

Views from Mount Tomaree, a popular vantage point for spotting migrating humpback whales during the annual whale watching season. The spectacular coastline viewed from the summit of Mount Tomaree. WHALE watching season is officially underway in Port Stephens, with locals and visitors already gathering along the coastline in the hope of spotting the first humpback […]

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