From the mayor’s desk: Cr Claire Pontin
Welcome to another year. For many residents, 2025 was a challenging and difficult 12 months, which saw our region endure the worst flood in recorded history in May, followed by devastating bushfires last month. The bushfire danger, unfortunately, has not yet abated, and I ask all residents to be prepared in case we have more […]
The Write Direction: new aspirations
NEW Year – New Aspirations. Rather than going over the trials and tribulations of last year, I prefer to look ahead with renewed vigour in order to see what our society can do better, in order to make improvements to our way of life. The area that offends me greatly, and needs to be corrected […]
The Write Direction: Finish the job before moving on
MY FINAL article for the year is not about regrets for opportunities missed during the past year, it is more about what our society has started but won’t finish. Often governments prefer to sweep it all under the carpet and start new projects in the hope that voters will simply forget what needs to be […]
Cr O’Keefe with newly promoted Stroud SES Deputy Unit Commander Sandy Snape at the site of the sod-turning in Stroud.
Letter to the Editor: Reflection on the final weeks of 2025
DEAR News Of The Area, ANOTHER year has come to an end, and it has been, once again, a big one for us all. I would like to reflect on the last few weeks for a moment. After serious rains and floods in autumn, summer has brought an unsettling return to bushfire season with the […]
The Write Direction: Super stats
INTERESTING information has just been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showing that more Australians are now living from their superannuation investments than those receiving a pension from the government. This is a really productive situation. Some of the praise must go to ex-Prime Minister Paul Keating, who introduced incentives to have Australian […]
The Write Direction: Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose
OCCASIONALLY something happens which reminds you of the anti-gambling punchline “sometimes you win but mostly you lose”. Sadly, this has applied to my most recent overseas trip. The holiday was really great but getting home proved a much more difficult task. It has been many years since I last arrived in Australia via Brisbane then […]
Some of the symbols and decorations associated with Christmas date to ancient times.
Christmas symbols and decorations steeped in ancient history
HAVE you ever wondered why we decorate cone-bearing trees, eat turkey and ham, light candles, pull bonbons, hang Christmas stockings, decorate homes, make wreaths and credit Santa with delivering presents via flying reindeer? Most of us know that many Christmas traditions from the Northern Hemisphere sailed south with immigrants. But many so-called Christmas traditions originated […]
Parents List
The Write Direction: Cycling investment thoughts
HAVING spent over 40 years in the financial investment industry, you became aware of cycles caused by human reactions. People operate the same way in every generation and most people understand, often too late, that the sins of the fathers are usually repeated by the sons in the following years. It doesn’t need to be […]
