Cr O’Keefe with newly promoted Stroud SES Deputy Unit Commander Sandy Snape at the site of the sod-turning in Stroud.
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
DEAR Jasminda, MY husband’s Netflix viewing history shows an abnormal amount of True Crime shows, serial killer series, and murder mysteries. Should I be worried? Petra L. Dear Petra, For some strange reason, many people like having the living daylights scared out of them for relaxation. I’m not one of them, and it sounds as […]
THAT time is upon us again. Christmas seems to sneak up on us a little quicker each year. As we approach the end of the year and families head off on holidays, I would just like to remind everyone to be safe, make sure you stop, revive, survive if you’re taking on a road trip […]
DEAR News Of The Area, I WRITE regarding the story titled “The secret star maps of moths”, published in NOTA on 4 December 2025. After reading this delightfully written article I will now look at moths in a completely different way. Such tiny and very beautiful creatures that flutter almost silently into our homes. The […]
