May 1 - 31, 2025: Issue 642

Our Youth page is for young people aged 13+ - if you are younger than this we have news for you in the Children's pageNews items and articles run at the top of this page. Information, local resources, events and local organisations, sports groups etc. are at the base of this page. All Previous pages for you are listed in Past Features

 

Narrabeen News: ARIA Chart Topper- Nick Woodford

Monday May 12, 2025

Huge congratulations to Narrabeen Sports High School's Head Teacher Faculty of Arts, Mr Nick Woodford!

When he’s not inspiring students in the classroom, he’s on the road with Aussie country star Travis Collins—playing keys and singing backing vocals. And now, the latest album 'The Band Album', released March 28 2025, has just:

  • 🥇 Hit #1 on the Australian Country ARIA Charts
  • 🥈 Scored #2 on the Australian Album Chart
  • 🥉 Landed #3 on the overall Country Chart

What an outstanding result! Narrabeen are beyond lucky to have a touring, chart-topping musician as their Head Teacher—sharing his real-world experience and passion for music with students every day.

Rock on, Mr Woodford! We’re so proud of you!

Nick attended Windsor Primary then Windsor High School where he was School Captain and earned a 1st in Music.

He went on to the University of Western Sydney, attaining a Bachelor of Music and returned to earn a Masters of Teaching (Secondary school) in Music Teacher Education in 2012. He was one of two selected by the Australian Literacy and Numeracy to complete a special practicum at Tennant Creek, NT.

Nick has been with the NSW Department of Education since 2013.

Travis William Collins (born 4 May 1985, Campbelltown) is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and guitarist. Travis busked on Peel Street, Tamworth at age 11. He was a graduate of the NSW Public Schools Talent Development Program.

Three of his albums have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 20, Hard Light (2016), Brave & the Broken (2018) and Wreck Me (2020). He has won eight Golden Guitar trophies at the annual Country Music Awards of Australia and four CMC Australian awards. Collins is an ambassador for RUOK? Day.

The boys are returning to their home stomping grounds this Sunday May 18, playing at the Camden Hotel.

Pittwater's Australian Emus

Three of Pittwater High School's talented student athletes made their Australian debut in the Australian Emu's at the 2025 Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup in Redcliffe, Queensland on Thursday May 15; Max D, a Year 12 student, is a member of the U18 Boys team, while Tyrone F represents the U18 mixed team. Taj T, who graduated in 2024, will join Max. 

The school states; 'We are extremely proud of these young men and wish them every success over the next few days'. 

Australia's national representative Touch Football teams are known as the Australian Emus. The highest-level Australian Emus teams are the Men's Open, Women's Open, and Mixed Open teams. Unlike other team sports, there are Mixed divisions at the most elite level of Touch. Touch Football athletes can also represent the Emus at Youth and Masters levels. The Emus represent Australia in Touch World Cup events and Trans-Tasman Test Series.

Why are they called Emus?

The emu sits beside the kangaroo on the coat of arms and takes pride of place on all Australian team shirts, over the heart. Sharing the coat of arms with the kangaroo reflects the partnership between the NRL and their national men's Rugby League team, The Kangaroos, and TFA and our national Touch Football teams, Australian Emus. Working side by side, representing both sports, are the kangaroo and the emu.

The Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup 

Launched in 2023, the Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup (APYTC) returns to the Touch Football calendar in 2025 showcasing the best emerging youth talent on the international stage, with teams competing from across the South Pacific region including but not limited to Australia, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, and Tonga.

The international youth event will feature six divisions across Boys, Girls, and Mixed 18s; and Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed 20s. The APYTC follows last month’s Open Trans-Tasman Series (OTTS) held in Christchurch – a tri-series contest between Australia and New Zealand Open teams where the Australian Emus achieved a series clean sweep.

The inaugural APYTC in 2023 saw Australia sweep the series with wins in all six divisions to be crowned Champion Nation – one against the Philippines and five against New Zealand – with the Trans-Tasman rivalry expected to be reignited at this year’s event in the City of Moreton Bay.

Touch Football continues to ignite the next generation of athletes who will have the opportunity to show their wares at the APYTC in light of a new World Cup cycle. A host of NRL and NRLW stars including Kalyn Ponga, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Sandon Smith, Tarryn Aiken, and Tamika Upton have previously donned the green and gold of the Australian Emus at the youth level on their journey to elite athletes – highlighting the opportunities presented by the sport.

Among those listed as 'ones to watch' for this comp. is another local:

20s Mixed – Maxwell Marsters

Maxwell Marsters is no stranger to international Touch Football, having served as captain of the 18s Mixed side two years ago in Brisbane. On that occasion, he helped lead his Athelite Australian Emus side to a 3-0 clean sweep over New Zealand to claim the inaugural APYTC title in the division. A key leader for this outfit, the Sydney Scorpions representative has always adopted a team-first mentality, willing to do the hard work in the middle of the park. Whether it’s driving up the field or making regular touches on defences, Max can always be counted on. In attack his speed and step are incredible. Whether it’s crossing the line himself or opening up spaces for his teammates, the Manly Touch representative is certainly going to cause headaches for opposition defences. Back in the green and gold, expect Maxwell to once again step up in the big moments this tournament. 

Touch Football Australia CEO, Marcus Ashcroft praised the impact of the international event and its capacity to create a platform for a plethora of young talent.

“The Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup presents a fantastic opportunity for the best youth talent from across the South Pacific region to compete on the international stage, in what is a critical component of our high-performance pathways,” Mr. Ashcroft said.

“We are thrilled to host this event with the support of City of Moreton Bay and look forward to seeing all the exciting talent on display this week.”

City of Moreton Bay Mayor, Peter Flannery said he was proud that, for the first time, City of Moreton Bay’s Kayo Stadium would be the Australian host destination for the incredible and up-and-coming Touch Football talent in this international contest.

“City of Moreton Bay has established itself as a premier destination for international level sporting competition, and I’m certain the almost 2,000 expected visitors will enjoy the beautiful, vibrant, and welcoming surrounds of the City,” Mayor Flannery said.

Chair of Federation of International Touch (FIT), Peter Topp highlighted the continued growth of the international game ahead of the youth event.

"On behalf of FIT, I'd like to thank Touch Football Australia and City of Moreton Bay for their support in bringing this second iteration of the Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup to fruition. I would also like to thank all the volunteers at TFA and across the participating nations for their commitment to making the event possible,” Mr. Topp said.

"With an increase in the number of teams and nations taking part in both this event and the Atlantic Cup equivalent in Ireland in August, we are delighted to see further growth across the junior international game. Finally, I would like to wish all those participating as players, referees, coaches, and support staff an enjoyable and successful event."

NRL Touch Football Australia states:

Everyone can play Touch Football, that's why it's Australia's largest social sport. Find out about different competition types in your area.

Visit: touchfootball.com.au

Pictured below are the boys at the Wednesday May 14 jersey presentation.

 

Surf Beach: 1965

From the Film Australia Collection. Made by the Commonwealth Film Unit 1965. Directed by Bern Gandy. 

From beach inspectors watching for danger to the ice cream vendors helping people cool down, Australia’s major beaches in summer have the hustle and bustle of a small town. Surf Beach looks at the proud tradition of surf lifesavers, who give up their weekends voluntarily to patrol our beaches, keeping ordinary folks safe from disaster. Witness the thrilling rescue of a young woman who has got herself into trouble, and the military precision of the surf lifesavers as they bring her back into shore. 

The highlight of the season is the Surf Life Saving Championships – a marvel of pageantry as surf lifesaving clubs from across Sydney march proudly along the beach, led by the UNSW Regiment brass band. 

Beautifully shot and set to a swinging soundtrack, Surf Beach pays tribute to an Australian icon: the beach.

More than 1,000 apprentices, trainees and cadets to start careers in NSW councils

May 14, 2025

Hundreds of new apprentices and trainees vital to the delivery of essential local services have hit the ground running with councils across the state, thanks to a landmark $252.2 million investment by the Minns Labor Government.

The NSW Government’s Fresh Start program is funding the wages of an additional 1,300 apprentices, trainees and cadets in the local government sector over the next six years.

Councils have now been given the green light to employ 1,008 new apprentices, trainees and cadets this year under the first two rounds of funding.

Hundreds commenced their new roles with councils across the state earlier this year, with more onboarding every month as councils fill roles to coincide with the start dates of a wide range of training programs.

More than 60 per cent of the approved new roles are in regional and rural councils, providing a major boost to regional communities and more job opportunities for people in country towns.

The Fresh Start program enables students and school leavers to study and learn on the job while gaining a nationally accredited qualification.

Councils have applied for the jobs they need most including 58 more apprentice mechanics, 25 electricians, 146 parks and gardens staff, 82 civil construction apprentices and trainees and 44 early childhood trainees.

47 planning cadets and trainees and 58 in engineering have also been approved, vital to driving local housing approvals and enabling supporting community infrastructure to help tackle the housing crisis.

A 2022 report by the Australian Local Government Association found that 91 per cent of respondent councils in NSW reported skills shortages, with close to 30 per cent reporting shortages in trades such as plumbing, automotive and mechanical work.

The Fresh Start program supports the government’s goal of boosting the number of apprentices and trainees in councils to make up 15 per cent of the local government workforce, to address the growing skills shortage that is slowing down the delivery of homes and community infrastructure.

The program has shown great success with nearly 90 per cent of local government organisations successfully applying for funding.

A third round will be open to councils soon aimed exclusively at apprentices, providing opportunities for hundreds more young people start jobs in councils from January next year.

Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said:

“Council staff are out in our communities every day, providing the services we often take for granted.

“This program is a massive boost for local government and for young people looking for a job where they can work in their local community.

“Councils employ more than 50,000 people in NSW, and many council workers who start as an apprentice or trainee go on to have life-long careers in local government.

“It means more horticulturalists to look after our parks, more childcare staff to educate the next generation and more planners to help deliver more homes.”

Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig said:

“From Wollongong to Walgett, the Blue Mountains to Ballina, the Fresh Start program is an investment in the future of local government in NSW.

“The uptake from councils has been fantastic and goes to show how desperately councils need this support, especially in regional and rural areas.

“We’re opening the door for hundreds of young people to learn life-long skills, making sure councils have the workforce they need to continue delivering for their communities.”

Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education Steve Whan said:

“The Minns Labor Government was elected on the promise that we would rebuild local services, restore confidence in local education networks and boost local job opportunities.

“It’s pleasing to see the Fresh Start program helping to plug gaps across the local government sector in NSW, including in critical skills shortages areas such as construction and childcare.

“Vocational education and training provides a valuable career path for many young people and there’s no doubt the Fresh Start program will help build a stronger workforce for NSW councils.”

Top five roles by position type

Apprentices                           Trainees                 Cadets

Parks and Gardens             Business Administration Engineering

Civil Construction             Waste and Water         Urban and Regional Planning

Mechanics                     Childcare                         Building (Surveying, Inspection, etc.)

Electricians                     Information Technology Finance

Plumbers                          Parks and Gardens         Environmental Services      

Councils with significant positions approved

  • Inner West Council – 29 positions
  • Blacktown City Council - 23 positions
  • City of Newcastle Council – 23 positions
  • Ku-ring-gai Council – 21 positions
  • Dubbo Regional Council – 20 positions
  • Sutherland Shire Council – 20 positions
  • Ballina Shire Council - 19 positions
  • Penrith City Council – 18 positions

 

School students help Sydney save critically endangered gum

May 12, 2025

Students from Nepean Christian School have put on their gardening gloves to be part of a ground-­breaking conservation project to save the Camden white gum across western Sydney.

Sixty students planted 12 Camden white gum seedlings in the school grounds at Mulgoa to create an insurance population with diverse genetics.

The project is part of the NSW Government's Saving our Species (SoS) program and aims to establish insurance populations of the critically endangered gum by using specially bred plants.

Six hundred seedlings bred by CSIRO Canberra will be planted across Western Sydney this autumn at 14 different sites to grow new populations to reduce the gum's potential extinction risk.

The NSW Department of Environment and Heritage states a small number of Camden white gums remain in the wild along the Nepean River area but have lost their fitness to survive due to their small population size after decades of land clearing. These gums, due to inbreeding, are now effectively "living dead" trees as they cannot regenerate.

Nepean Christian School students and staff will care for the plants for at least two summers, by regularly watering and maintaining the site, so the seedlings can grow into a mature population.

Once established, the trees will provide shade and canopy cover for up to 300 years, given their incredibly long lifespans. The species gene flow will also increase through pollen exchange, connecting with other isolated subpopulations in the Nepean River corridor. Camden white gums (Eucalyptus benthamii) only remain in small areas with pockets in the Blue Mountains and Western Sydney, which is where the school is based.

Eucalyptus benthamii, commonly known as Camden white gum, Bentham's gum, Nepean River gum, kayer-ro or durrum-by-ang, is a species of tree that is endemic to New South Wales. It has mostly smooth bluish grey or white bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped, bell-shaped or conical fruit.

Eucalyptus benthamii is a tree that grows to a height of 35 or 40 metres (115 or 131 ft) with a trunk diameter attaining 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth bluish grey or white bark which is shed in ribbons, except for about 1 metre (3.3 ft) of rough brownish bark at the base of the trunk. The leaves on young plants and on coppice regrowth are arranged in opposite pairs, egg-shaped to heart-shaped, 30–90 mm (1–4 in) long, 20–40 mm (0.8–2 in) wide and sessile. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, 80–230 mm (3–9 in) long, 17–27 mm (0.7–1 in) wide on a petiole 5–35 mm (0.2–1 in) long and the same colour on both sides. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven on a peduncle 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long, the individual buds sessile or on a pedicel up to 2 mm (0.08 in) long. Mature buds are oval, 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long, 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide with a rounded operculum. Flowering occurs between March and September and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, bell-shaped or conical capsule 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long and 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide.

This tree was well-known to the Aboriginal people of the area, who knew it as durrum-by-ang. Stands of Durrum‐by‐ang were important distinctive landmarks within their country.

Eucalyptus benthamii was first formally described by Joseph Maiden and Richard Hind Cambage in 1915 from a specimen collected "from the banks of the Nepean River near Cobbity". The description was published in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. Maiden and Cambage did not give a reason for the specific epithet (benthamii) but it is assumed to honour George Bentham, an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".

Camden white gum grows on alluvial plains on sand or loam over clay along the Nepean River and its tributaries, in tall open forest, where it either forms a pure stand or is found with other eucalypts such as mountain blue gum (E. deanei) and river peppermint (E. elata). Other associated trees within this tree community itself include grey box (E. moluccana), forest red gum (E. tereticornis), grey gum (E. punctata), cabbage gum (E. amplifolia), narrow-leaved ironbark (E. crebra) and broad-leaved apple (Angophora subvelutina), while associated understory species include blackthorn (Bursaria spinosa), bracken (Pteridium esculentum) tantoon (Leptospermum polygalifolium) and fern-leaved wattle (Acacia filicifolia).

Camden White Gum (Eucalyptus benthamii) Location: Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Date: 2005-09-21 Source: picture taken by Danielle Langlois. 

The conservation project is managed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)'s Saving our Species Program. DCCEEW works with partners including CSIRO Canberra, Australian Botanic Gardens, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service(NPWS), Greater Sydney Local Land Services, Local Landcare Groups, local councils, and private industry such as Sydney Metro Airports.

Threatened Species Officer, DCCEEW, Dr Ahamad Sherieff said:

"Local school students planting Camden white gums in their school's backyard will help save this critically endangered species from potential extinction.

"It's wonderful to see these seedlings planted at the school, where students can learn first-hand about genetic diversity, and the purpose of insurance populations in nature, all while experiencing what a tree needs to grow and thrive.

Principal of Nepean Christian School Dr Cameron Nunn said:

"We are thrilled to be part of this vital conservation effort. Our students are excited to contribute to saving the Camden white gum and learning about the importance of biodiversity.

"This project exemplifies the power of collaboration in conservation. By working together, we can secure a future for the Camden white gum and enhance our local environment."

Four Nepean Christian College students helped save critically endangered gum. Image Credit: DCCEEW

Opportunities:

Big Brother Movement's Scholarships Now open for All Young Australians

For a century, the Big Brother Movement (BBM) has been a catalyst for change and opportunity, opening doors for young people to explore the world and make their mark.

It began as Australia’s most successful migration program for young men moving from the UK to Australia, the Big Brother Movement. 

Today, built on this legacy, BBM continues to empower young people to venture overseas for work experience through their Global Footprints Scholarships program. 

So instead of bringing young people to Australia to access all the opportunities here, they are providing a chance for young Australians to follow their vocational dreams overseas.

few insights into their Global Footprints Scholarship opportunity for young men and women aged 18 to 24.

What is a Global Footprints Scholarship?

A Global Footprints Scholarship is a self-directed career development opportunity for young Australians in agriculture, trades and horticulture. Successful applicants receive an AUD $9,000 grant to travel overseas for industry experience, professional development workshops, networking opportunities and mentoring.  University Students are not eligible to apply - this is for young people outside of that system.

Scholarships are awarded once a year. 

Who can apply?

To be eligible for a Global Footprints Scholarship you must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident and be between 18-25 years old. Check their “Who can apply?” page for full details. If your application is shortlisted you will need to provide evidence for the above.

Applications open every year on 1 May and close 1 June. Shortlisted applicants will be notified by September. 

Will you assist me in finding a work placement?

The Global Footprints Scholarship is a self-directed career development opportunity. You are expected to have a good idea of where you want to go and why, including an understanding of who the industry trailblazers in your field are and where they are located. Networking to find your placement is the first critical learning opportunity of your scholarship experience. We will give you advice on how to approach them, and put you in touch with past scholars who can help.

Find out more and apply at: www.globalfootprints.org.au

Soundboks Oz Grom Open – Now Bigger and Better Than Ever

Presented by O’Neill and Incorporating the WSL Traeger Grills Pro Junior

The 2025 Soundboks Oz Grom Open, hosted by Le-Ba Boardriders, is set to return for its 14th year of this iconic junior surfing competition. This long-standing event has evolved, bringing a fresh new look and feel as it attracts surfers, fans, and sponsors from around the world. With a brand-new naming sponsor, Soundboks, and presenting partner O’Neill, the event is poised to be bigger and better than ever.

Incorporating the WSL Traeger Grills Pro Junior, the event will take place from 3–8 July 2025 in the beautiful, surf-rich region of Lennox Head. As one of the most prestigious junior surfing competitions globally, the Soundboks Oz Grom Open brings together top-level competitors contending for national rankings, with the U16 and U18 divisions vying for selection to represent Australia at the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Junior Championships.

The Soundboks Oz Grom Open event features both the U14 to U18 divisions (competing for national rankings and ISA selection) and the WSL Traeger Grills Pro Junior, where surfers under 21 battle for qualification to the upcoming WSL World Junior Championships. This unique combination of elite junior talent and professional-level competition makes the event one of the most exciting junior surf events worldwide.

Taj Air - 2024 comp. Photo:  Surfing NSW – Ethan Smith

With divisions for both boys and girls and a strong focus on inclusivity and youth empowerment, the event celebrates surfing’s universal appeal—fostering confidence, community, and connection among the next generation of champions.

Built to mirror a WSL Tour event, it features a professional judging panel, computerised scoring, digital priority boards, athlete zones, and a live global webcast with commentary from world-renowned surf personalities, reaching more than one million viewers worldwide. In 2024, ISA World Junior Champion Dane Henry’s perfect 10-point ride wowed the crowd and racked up 1.1 million Instagram views, spotlighting the world-class talent the event attracts.

“The Oz Grom Open is more than a surf comp — it’s where the next generation of champions are forged and where our town comes together to celebrate youth, surf, and the coastal lifestyle,” said Anthony O’Brien, Event Manager. 

“Each year, the energy grows, and with new partners like Soundboks on board, 2025 will be our biggest event yet.”

Beyond the waves, the event has long been a key driver of the economy and regional tourism during the traditionally quieter winter season. Locals affectionately refer to it as Christmas in July, as families, surf fans, and athletes flock to Lennox, bringing a welcome upswing for local cafes, retail, accommodation, and tourism operators.

“The Grom Comp embraces so much of the Aussie surfer’s journey — the classic road trip, the grommet enthusiasm, and the time spent with other kids who all love surfing. Memories and friendships are made that stand the test of time... and maybe the opportunity to prove yourself in Australia’s biggest grom event. We are stoked to be involved,” said Rob Bain, O’Neill Marketing Director.

Whether you’re a surf fan, travelling family, or regional explorer, the event is the perfect chance to experience the Northern Rivers—from whale watching and rainforest hikes to vibrant markets, beachside dining, and its famously relaxed lifestyle.

Registrations open at 9 a.m. on Monday, 12 May, and close at 5 p.m. on Monday, 19 May. 

Full entry details and registrations will be available via the Soundboks Oz Grom Open website and the Surfing Australia Just Go platform. Surfers are encouraged to register early, as divisions are limited and demand is expected to be high.

Council's 2025 Environmental Art & Design Prize - Entries open now

Council has announced Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran (art) and Keinton Butler (design) as the judges for this year’s Environmental Art & Design Prize.

Now in its fifth year, Environmental Art & Design Prize is open to artists and designers of all levels and diverse disciplines from across Australia. Submissions will be accepted until 19 May 2025.

Mayor Sue Heins said the prize has developed into one of the leading competitions covering both art and design focusing on the environment.

“Each year fascinating art works and designs are submitted for this environmentally thought-provoking prize.

“The prize is an important platform for the natural environment to take centre stage, enabling artists and designers to share their work inspired by nature, climate change and sustainable living.

“In past years we have seen impactful submissions from creatives including painters, ceramists and furniture designers. This year we would also love to see more contributions from architects, product, fashion and industrial designers.

“We are looking forward to an amazing array of powerful artworks and designs for 2025,” Mayor Heins said.

This year’s judges have vast experience in the art and design worlds. Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran is a contemporary artist with his work appearing in galleries across the globe. Keinton Butler is Senior Curator at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and the Creative Director of Sydney Design Week.

There are four prizes on offer this year with prize money totalling $46000. 

The visual arts and design winners will each receive $20,000. The people’s choice winners and the young artists/designers have a prize pool of $3,000 each.

All finalists will be featured in an exhibition across the Council’s 3 galleries, Manly Art Gallery and Museum (MAG&M), Curl Curl Creative Space, and Mona Vale Creative Space Gallery from 1 August to 14 September 2025.

Finalists will be announced on Friday 23 May and the winners will be announced on Friday 1 August 2025.

For more information, and to enter, visit Council's webpage at: https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/arts-and-culture/northern-beaches-environmental-art-and-design-prize   

Inaugural Murcutt Symposium 2025, 11-13 September 2025

Glenn Murcutt AO is Australia's most celebrated living architect. To mark more than five decades of architectural practice, the inaugural Murcutt Symposium offers 3 days of tours, activities and events in Sydney from 11-13 September 2025.

Murcutt will not be alone in headlining the Murcutt Symposium in 2025. Fellow Pritzker Prize winning architect and friend Francis Kéré will join Murcutt on stage over two days in Sydney - delivering a public lecture, and keynote at a one-day symposium.

Join us for a rare chance to come inside some of Murcutt's most awarded buildings on guided tours. Hear the backstory and share in tales of the design evolution from those who have lived in and loved these places.

Witness the first ever award of the Murcutt Pin, a new international award for architecture designed by Murcutt and presented at the flagship public Murcutt Oration in Sydney on Friday, 12 September.

Dive deep into the themes that have driven Murcutt and informed his unique model of practice, and his internationally awarded projects at a one-day symposium.

Join us for 3 days of tours, talks and deep dives into architecture with a meaningful connection to place.

Murcutt building tours
Thursday 11 September: 8am-5pm
This is an exceptionally rare chance to go inside the iconic Nicholas House (Mount Irvine) and Simpson Lee House (Mount Wilson), with Glenn Murcutt AO as your guide. 
Lunch provided. Vigorous walking involved. Numbers strictly limited.

Friday 12 September: 1.30pm-5pm
Come inside an early Murcutt house in Cromer, north of Sydney, that has been described as "a hidden masterpiece in the suburbs" - given a new life by architect Matt Chan, in consultation with Glenn Murcutt.
Vigorous walking involved. Numbers strictly limited.

Murcutt Oration 
Friday 12 September 2025: 6pm-8pm
Award of the inaugural Murcutt Pin, and Murcutt Oration 
The inaugural Murcutt Oration will be delivered by Francis Kéré, laureate of the Pritzker Prize (2022) and Praemium Imperiale (2023) - widely recognised as one of the worlds leading architects.

Murcutt Symposium 
Saturday 13 September 2025: 9am-5pm
Join us for a deep dive into the themes behind Murcutt's work (3 hours Formal CPD, 2 hours informal CPD):

In-conversation - Glenn Murcutt AO and Francis Kéré
Hear these two eminent Pritzker Prize winning architects and warm friends engage in conversation on events and experiences that have shaped their personal lives and their practice over decades. 

Keynote - Piers Taylor (UK)
Piers Taylor is the founder and principal of the highly awarded Invisible Studio, and Professor of Knowledge Exchange in Architecture at UWE; founding 2 renowned academic programs: ‘Studio in the Woods’ and 'AA Design and Make'. Both engage students in hands-on design and construction. Piers Taylor originally studied in Australia and currently lives in a prototypical self built award winning house in the UK and manages a 100 acre woodland as a research resource for the practice.

Healthy buildings breathe - Lindsay Clare, Ché Wall, Kerry Clare, Rod Simpson
Buildings that breathe and have good natural ventilation are now event more critical in a changing climate. Are our current planning and building regulatory settings match-fit? Three eminent practitioners question the current state of play at the intersection of architecture, environmental science and emerging building regulation. 

Design for climate/Design for change - Carol Marra, Marra + Yeh
Carol Marra is an award-winning architect and Churchill Fellow specialising in sustainable and climate-resilient design. For over 25 years, her architecture, advocacy and research have guided the success of city-based and regional projects. Awarded an Alastair Swayn Strategic Research grant, her practice recently released Design for Climate | Design for Change, a toolkit for climate-resilient design. Originally from Argentina but trained in the United States, Carol has worked across cultural landscapes from North America, Australia and the Asia Pacific region, in urban, regional and remote locations.

The Murcutt legacy - celebrated documentary film maker Catherine Hunter shares footage from 30 years following Glenn Murcutt AO.
Catherine Hunter has followed and documented the work of celebrated architect Glenn Murcutt for more than thirty years and collaborated on a number of film projects. Share in Murcutt's warmth, humanity and skill in pursuit of an architectural vision that always seeks to respond to place and provide delight.

Contributors
Glenn Murcutt AO, Australia
Francis Kéré, Germany/Burkina Faso
Piers Taylor, UK
Brit Andresen, Australia
Kerry Clare, Australia
Lindsay Clare, Australia
Ché Wall, Australia
Richard Leplastrier AO, Australia
Peter Stutchbury, Australia
Carol Marra, Australia  

Tickets are designed for you to choose one or more events, including ticket packages if you can't decide. 
The 2025 Murcutt Symposium is supported by the Robin Boyd Foundation and National Gallery of Victoria; Sydney Design Week (thanks to the Powerhouse); and the Futuna Chapel Trust (NZ). 

This event is presented in partnership with the State Library of New South Wales.

Financial help for young people

Concessions and financial support for young people.

Includes:

  • You could receive payments and services from Centrelink: Use the payment and services finder to check what support you could receive.
  • Apply for a concession Opal card for students: Receive a reduced fare when travelling on public transport.
  • Financial support for students: Get financial help whilst studying or training.
  • Youth Development Scholarships: Successful applicants will receive $1000 to help with school expenses and support services.
  • Tertiary Access Payment for students: The Tertiary Access Payment can help you with the costs of moving to undertake tertiary study.
  • Relocation scholarship: A once a year payment if you get ABSTUDY or Youth Allowance if you move to or from a regional or remote area for higher education study.
  • Get help finding a place to live and paying your rent: Rent Choice Youth helps young people aged 16 to 24 years to rent a home.

Visit: https://www.nsw.gov.au/living-nsw/young-people/young-people-financial-help

School Leavers Support

Explore the School Leavers Information Kit (SLIK) as your guide to education, training and work options in 2022;
As you prepare to finish your final year of school, the next phase of your journey will be full of interesting and exciting opportunities. You will discover new passions and develop new skills and knowledge.

We know that this transition can sometimes be challenging. With changes to the education and workforce landscape, you might be wondering if your planned decisions are still a good option or what new alternatives are available and how to pursue them.

There are lots of options for education, training and work in 2022 to help you further your career. This information kit has been designed to help you understand what those options might be and assist you to choose the right one for you. Including:
  • Download or explore the SLIK here to help guide Your Career.
  • School Leavers Information Kit (PDF 5.2MB).
  • School Leavers Information Kit (DOCX 0.9MB).
  • The SLIK has also been translated into additional languages.
  • Download our information booklets if you are rural, regional and remote, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or living with disability.
  • Support for Regional, Rural and Remote School Leavers (PDF 2MB).
  • Support for Regional, Rural and Remote School Leavers (DOCX 0.9MB).
  • Support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander School Leavers (PDF 2MB).
  • Support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander School Leavers (DOCX 1.1MB).
  • Support for School Leavers with Disability (PDF 2MB).
  • Support for School Leavers with Disability (DOCX 0.9MB).
  • Download the Parents and Guardian’s Guide for School Leavers, which summarises the resources and information available to help you explore all the education, training, and work options available to your young person.

School Leavers Information Service

Are you aged between 15 and 24 and looking for career guidance?

Call 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337).

SMS 'SLIS2022' to 0429 009 435.

Our information officers will help you:
  • navigate the School Leavers Information Kit (SLIK),
  • access and use the Your Career website and tools; and
  • find relevant support services if needed.
You may also be referred to a qualified career practitioner for a 45-minute personalised career guidance session. Our career practitioners will provide information, advice and assistance relating to a wide range of matters, such as career planning and management, training and studying, and looking for work.

You can call to book your session on 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337) Monday to Friday, from 9am to 7pm (AEST). Sessions with a career practitioner can be booked from Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm.

This is a free service, however minimal call/text costs may apply.

Call 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337) or SMS SLIS2022 to 0429 009 435 to start a conversation about how the tools in Your Career can help you or to book a free session with a career practitioner.

All downloads and more available at: www.yourcareer.gov.au/school-leavers-support

Word Of The Week: Wild

Word of the Week remains a keynote in 2025, simply to throw some disruption in amongst the 'yeah-nah' mix. 

Noun

1. a natural state or uncultivated or uninhabited region.

Adjective

1. (of an animal or plant) living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or cultivated. 2. (of a place or region) uninhabited, uncultivated, or inhospitable. 3. (of a playing card) deemed to have any value, suit, colour, or other property in a game at the discretion of the player holding it. 4. Very angry (informal).

Verb

1. behave in an unrestrained  manner.

From: Old English wilde, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German wild - "in the natural state, uncultivated" (of plants, herbs), "untamed, undomesticated" (of animals), from Proto-Germanic wildia-, a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from word root welt- "woodlands; wild" -  cognate to be Welsh gwyllt "wild."

Of persons, "self-willed, lacking restraint," late Old English; also of a region, "unpeopled, without civilisation." Of wind, weather, c. 1200. The specific meaning "sexually dissolute, loose" is attested from mid-13c. The meaning "distracted with excitement or emotion" is from 1590s. U.S. slang sense of "exciting, excellent" is recorded from 1955.

Compare Wilderness

Noun

1. Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. 2. an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region. 

From: Old English wildēornes ‘land inhabited only by wild animals’, from wild dēor ‘wild deer’ + -ness.

Men are shaving off their eyelashes on TikTok. Here’s why that might be a bad idea

Bhatakta Manav/Shutterstock
Amanda Meyer, James Cook University and Monika Zimanyi, James Cook University

Videos of men removing their eyelashes, by trimming or shaving, have been circulating on social media in recent weeks. This trend is based on the idea short eyelashes look more masculine.

Hair can tell us a lot about our social and cultural values. As the Canadian sociologist Anthony Synnott says, it can represent embedded ideas about biological sex, such as “opposite sexes have opposite hair” and “head hair and body hair are opposite”.

But do sex differences have any basis in biology? And what about the health risks of tampering with your lashes?

If the idea of a buzzing razor coming near your eyes makes you nervous, there’s good reason.

Does sex determine eyelash length?

Most warm-blooded animals have eyelashes. Human eyelashes begin to develop in the womb at around seven weeks and by six months they are fully formed.

Typically, we have 100 to 150 lashes on the upper eyelid that grow in two or three rows. There are half as many eyelashes on the lower lid.

Eyelash length is usually around one-third of the eye’s width. Lower lashes are shorter (6–8 millimetres) compared to the upper lashes (8–12mm).

The density, length, thickness and curl of eyelashes are determined by your genetics. But there is no evidence these anatomical differences are linked to sex.

This means the idea men “naturally” have short eyelashes – and women’s are longer, darker and thicker – is based in culture, not biology.

Regardless of your sex or gender, eyelashes serve several important functions.

What are eyelashes for?

Protection

Eyelashes provide a barrier against dust, debris, bugs, bacteria and chemicals (such as hairspray and deodorants), stopping them from entering the eyes.

Tears form a fluid film that covers the eye to keep it lubricated. Eyelashes also prevent air drying out this film.

From an aerodynamic point of view, medium-length lashes (8mm) are ideal for stopping the eye’s surface from drying out. Very short lashes can expose the surface to air, while very long lashes can channel more air flow towards it.

Eyelashes also shield our eyes from glare, reducing how much light enters the eye by up to 24%.

Sensation

Eyelashes are highly sensitive, so touching the eyelashes triggers a blink reflex that makes the eye shut. This protects it from unwanted materials.

Blinking also activates the release of tears and distributes them across the eyes’ surface.

Social interaction

Eyelashes help us communicate. Blinking slowly can signal attentiveness or flirtation – and eyelashes make this more appealing.

Wearing mascara or fake eyelashes emphasises the eyelashes and can make the eyes look larger and more expressive.

Toddler with long eyelashes.
Eyelashes form in the womb by six months of pregnancy, and are not linked to male or female sex. DUSITARA STOCKER/Shutterstock

So, what if you don’t have eyelashes?

People can lose their eyelashes for various reasons.

For example, chemotherapy for cancer often results in hair loss – including eyelashes – as does alopecia, an autoimmune condition which causes the body to attack its own hair follicles.

Some people also pull out their eyelashes when they are anxious or stressed.

If you can’t stop this behaviour, and your eyelash loss is noticeable and affects day-to-day life, you may have a condition called trichotillomania.

The compulsion to cut or shave hair (rather than pull it out) is known as trichotemnomania.

If you’re worried, you should speak to your doctor to get support.

No matter how hair is lost, without eyelashes you will likely feel greater discomfort. More foreign particles can enter the eye – exposing you to greater risk of infection – and you will blink more to try to wash them away.

More air on the eyes’ surface can also make them feel dry and irritated.

Is removing eyelashes risky?

Putting sharp blades near your eyes means if you are bumped, slip, or even blink, you risk injury to the eyelid or cornea (the clear, dome-shaped covering at the front of your eyeball).

Anything that goes near your eye should be very clean. If blades aren’t sterile, bacteria can lead to blepharitis (eyelid inflammation) or conjunctivitis (“pink eye”).

Will shaved eyelashes grow back?

Cross-section diagram of a hair follicle.
Cutting eyelashes doesn’t remove the hair follicle. art4stock/Shutterstock

Yes. If eyelashes are trimmed or shaved, the hair bulb and follicle (the sac surrounding the hair) remains in the skin of the eyelid, allowing the hair to keep growing.

Eyelashes grow at an average rate of 0.12mm per day, or 3.6mm a month. It could take up to three or four months for your eyelashes to grow back to their typical length.

Shaving does not affect the length, thickness and darkness of your regrown eyelashes – these will grow back the same as before (unless there has been irreversible damage to the follicle itself).

Sex, gender, and eyelashes

Perceptions of sex and gender differences in eyelashes persist, thanks in part to social norms and media portrayals.

For example, a 2023 study from the United States surveyed 319 people (142 men and 177 women) of diverse ethnic backgrounds about eyelash length in women. Men and women of all backgrounds said images of female faces with no or short eyelashes were the least attractive, regardless of ethnicity.

Cartoon characters illustrate how deeply ingrained and socially constructed these gender differences are. Compare Minnie Mouse’s long, thick lashes with Mickey Mouse, who has none.

Dress-up mascots of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Mickey has no eyelashes and Minnie has long ones.
Cartoons often depict women with exaggerated lashes and male characters with none at all. Loren Javier/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

This is not a thing of the past, as the masculine- and feminine-presenting characters of a popular current children’s cartoon Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir still demonstrate.

Two male cartoon characters with no eyelashes and two female cartoon characters with long, thick, dark eyelashes.
The top row depicts masculine-presenting characters with no lashes, and the bottom row shows feminine-presenting characters with long and plentiful eyelashes. Zagtoon Wiki

In reality, all bodies and features, including eyelashes, are naturally diverse.

Body autonomy means recognising that personal choices about appearance are valid and should be respected without judgement. But when altering your body, it’s important to also know the health risks.The Conversation

Amanda Meyer, Senior Lecturer, Anatomy and Pathology, James Cook University and Monika Zimanyi, Associate Professor in Anatomy, James Cook University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Dishevelled, dehydrated delirium: new Aussie film The Surfer, starring Nicolas Cage, is an absolute blast

Madman Entertainment
Grace Russell, Monash University

Nicolas Cage has made a career from his highly entertaining scenery chewing. He follows a performance style he calls “Nouveau Shamanic” – an exaggerated form of method acting where he acts according to the character’s impulses. This allows for the wild, unpredictable outbursts his characters are known for.

Cage films are also usually about masculinity: its worst excesses, the parameters restricting it, and what ennobling versions of it might look like.

The Surfer, a new Australian feature film from Irish director Lorcan Finnegan, leans right into masculinity as a theme.

Our unnamed protagonist (Cage) is returning to his former Australian home from the United States. He is newly divorced, and trying to buy a beachside property to win back his family.

He takes his teenage son (Finn Little) for a surf near the property, but they are run off by an unfriendly pack of locals.

Returning alone to the beachside car park to make some calls, he is besieged there over the next several days by the same gang. They are led by a terrifying middle-aged Andrew Tate-esque influencer, Scally (Julian McMahon), who runs the beach like a combination of a frat bro party and wellness retreat.

The protagonist’s fast descent into dishevelled, dehydrated delirium as the group’s hazing escalates, fuels much of the first two acts.

Fish out of water

It is impossible to think of an actor other than Cage who could make a character like this so enjoyable to watch.

From the first moments, he seems pathetic: giving his uninterested teenage son metaphorical speeches about surfing, losing arguments on the phone with his broker and real estate agent, reeking of pomposity and desperation.

The sense of a man out of his depth is compounded by his Americanness contrasting with the particular brand of Australian masculinity the locals display. Both types are brash and entitled, but with entirely different ways of expressing it.

Cage is in the face of another surfer, wearing a Santa hat.
This is a man out of his depth. Madman Entertainment

Cage’s distinctively American confidence has no resistance to the terrifying switches of Australian masculinity from friendly to teasing to violent.

“Don’t live here, don’t surf here,” they hiss at him on first meeting, forcing him to retreat, cowed, to the car park, where he remains for most of the rest of the film.

The wide-open and the claustrophobic

What a stroke of genius it is to use this single location.

Filmed in Yallingup, Western Australia, The Surfer beautifully captures the natural surroundings, stunning views and shimmering heat of Australian coastal summer.

At the same time, a confined, interstitial semi-urban feature like a beachside car park feels so bleak and uninviting. The only amenities are an overpriced coffee cart, ancient payphone and a dingy toilet block.

Cage stands next to a phone booth.
The beachside car park feels so bleak and uninviting. Madman Entertainment

As a film setting, it is both a spectacular wide-open vista and stiflingly claustrophobic – a perfect mechanism for The Surfer’s psychological horror.

It must have been attractive in getting the script funded as well. With such an affordable location, more of the budget would have been freed up for a big name like Cage.

A modern Wake in Fright

With its oppressive setting, overexposed orange and yellow light and grade, and a sweaty spiral into madness, The Surfer invites comparisons to Wake in Fright, Ted Kotcheff’s 1971 brutal depiction of Australian men and their drinking culture.

Both take place at Christmas and feature an antagonist who enjoys confidently explaining their dubious moral worldview to everyone. However, Wake in Fright’s horror lingers because we know the culture remains even after the hero escapes it. The Surfer struggles a little more in landing the ending.

Men in a sweaty hug: perhaps they are cheering, or maybe they are yelling.
The film’s depiction of masculinity echoes Wake In Fright. Madman Entertainment

For the mean, violent, misogynistic villains to be defeated, it would be unsatisfying for Cage to stoop to their level. This means – without spoiling too much – Cage remains an oddly passive character throughout the film, while others perform the avenging actions.

The only way the protagonist’s masculinity can be resurrected as upright, ethical and empowering is for the character to literally turn his back on the vengeance we’ve been waiting for him to deliver.

It’s not that the film has an inarticulate grasp of its own politics, but more that the otherwise terrific script by Thomas Martin feels written into a difficult corner.

A blast along the way

I don’t want to imply that this ending means The Surfer isn’t an absolute blast along the way. A lot of the fun is in anticipating each dreadful humiliation – and it somehow turning out worse than you could have expected.

A spilled coffee leads to drinking recycled wastewater which leads to chewing on a dead rat, and we still haven’t reached the lowest rung on the ladder of indignities that Cage’s character suffers.

In less skilled hands this could feel nasty or gross, but the hallucinatory quality of Finnegan’s direction makes it feel almost sublime. And Cage’s pleading, groaning, sobbing and gibbering feel believable and relatable.

The pathos works – and it’s pretty funny too.

The Surfer is in cinemas from today and streaming on Stan from June 15.The Conversation

Grace Russell, Lecturer, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Don’t click without thinking – and 4 other ways to keep yourself safe from scams

tete_escape/Shutterstock
Meena Jha, CQUniversity Australia

Think about how many things you have done online today. Paid a bill? Logged into your bank account? Used social media or spent time answering emails? Maybe you have used your phone to pay at a supermarket or train station.

We are all plugged in, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But with all these conveniences comes a growing risk many Australians are unprepared for: cyber crime.

According to the most recent cyber threat report by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, more than 87,000 reports of cybercrime were made in 2023-2024. That’s a report every six minutes. And that’s just what gets reported. Many people do not even realise they have been hacked or scammed until it’s too late.

Earlier this year, Scamwatch, run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, revealed Australians lost nearly A$319 million to scams in 2024 alone. In a recent example, cyber criminals used stolen login details to hack several major superfunds in Australia and steal a collective A$500,000 of people’s retirement savings.

A big part of this worsening problem is poor “digital hygiene”. Here are five easy ways to improve yours.

First, what exactly is ‘digital hygiene’?

Just like brushing your teeth keeps cavities away, digital hygiene is all about keeping your online life clean, safe and protected from harm.

It is a simple idea: the better your habits when using technology, the harder it is for scammers or hackers to trick you or get access to your personal information.

It means being aware of what you are sharing, whom you are trusting, and how your devices are set up. Unfortunately, most of us are probably more hygienic in bathrooms than we are online.

How should you protect yourself?

Good news: you do not need to be a computer whizz to keep clean online. Here are five simple practical steps anyone can take:

1. Stop and think before clicking

Got an unexpected message from your bank asking you to verify your account? Or a text about a missed parcel delivery with a link? Scammers love urgency. It gets people to click before they think. Instead of rushing, pause.

Ask yourself: was I expecting this? Is the sender’s email or phone number legitimate? Do not click the link, go directly to the official website or app.

2. Use strong, unique passwords

Using your pet’s name or “123456” is not going to cut it. And if you reuse passwords across websites, a breach on one site means hackers can try the same password everywhere else. This is called a credential stuffing attack, and it is how the cyber attack on superannuation funds happened earlier this year.

The best move? Begin securing your online accounts by using a password manager and updating any reused passwords, prioritising your most sensitive accounts such as emails, banking and cloud storage first.

3. Turn on multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication means you need something more than just a password to login, such as a code sent to your phone or an app such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator.

It is a simple step that adds a powerful layer of protection. Even if someone guesses your password, they cannot log in without your second factor.

4. Update your apps and devices

Yes, those software updates are annoying, but they are important. Updates fix security holes that hackers can use. Make it automatic if you can, and do not ignore update prompts, especially for your operating systems such as Windows, iOS or Android. However, it is important to recognise that older devices often stop receiving updates because manufacturers stop supporting older models or are not developing updates for older devices as it can be costly.

Outdated software harbours known vulnerabilities that hackers actively can target. While keeping devices longer supports sustainability, there is a balance to strike. If your device no longer receives security updates, it may be safer to responsibly recycle it and invest in a newer supported model to maintain your digital safety.

5. Be mindful of what you share

Oversharing on social media makes you an easy target. Public posts that include your birthday, where you went to school, or your pet’s name can be used to guess security questions or build convincing fake messages. Think before you post – would a stranger need to know this?

A phone screen displaying icons of multiple social media platforms.
Oversharing on social media makes you an easy target for scammers. Cristian Dina/Shutterstock

What should I do if I have been hacked?

To check if your passwords have been leaked in a breach, you can use HaveIBeenPwned – a free tool trusted by security experts.

If you have been hacked, follow the tips provided by Australian Cyber Security Centre. For example, you should change all your passwords and passcodes and use software to scan for malware on your computer.

Need more help? Visit esafety.gov.au for practical guides, especially for parents, teachers and young people.

Digital hygiene is not a personal responsibility, it is a collective one. We are connected through emails, group chats, workplaces and social media. One weak link can put others at risk. Talk to your family and friends about the risk of scams and how to avoid them. The more we talk about this, the more normal and effective digital hygiene becomes.

Because just like washing your hands became second nature during the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping your online life clean should be a habit, not an afterthought.The Conversation

Meena Jha, Head Technology and Pedagogy Cluster CML-NET, CQUniversity Australia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How a toxic seaweed choking Caribbean beaches could become a valuable resource

Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock
Emily Wilkinson, ODI Global and Emma Tompkins, University of Southampton

Each year, between March and October, large amounts of brown seaweed called sargassum wash up on the shores of Caribbean islands – choking beaches, damaging marine life and threatening tourism and public health. But a number of local entrepreneurs are hoping the seaweed could create an economic opportunity.

From the coast of west Africa to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, climate change is warming the temperature of the ocean. Seas are also becoming more acidic as water absorbs carbon dioxide. This all results in more intense growth of sargassum in the tropical Atlantic.

Small Caribbean nations are among the hardest hit. With 20 million tonnes of this seaweed washing up on the beaches in 2024, sargassum is fuelling an economic and public health crisis.

The piles of noxious seaweed on the Caribbean islands’ white sandy beaches are putting off visitors to these islands and probably dampening tourism revenues.


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The fishing sector is also suffering, with blooms of seaweed getting caught up in fishing nets, often ripping them due to the weight of the seaweed. This makes it hard for fishers to catch fish and make a living.

The sheer volume of sargassum left to decompose on land produces toxic fumes that have forced people on islands like Guadeloupe to leave their homes. These toxic fumes have been linked to serious health issues including respiratory infections, sleep apnoea and even preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy).

The sargassum problem is just one of many slow-onset events that are being exacerbated by climate change. But gradual changes get much less attention or resources to address the consequences than, say, alarming wildfires or flash floods.

Slow-onset events are also much harder to quantify than climate-change-induced extreme weather, such as worsening hurricanes or floods. Our team at ODI Global, a thinktank, recently published a study that estimated the cost of these at US$2,000 (£1,500) per person. Calculating the tourism lost each year due to seaweed inundation is trickier.

Despite these challenges, through small-scale, locally developed solutions, as well as government policies that support small businesses including helping them access climate finance, entrepreneurs can find sustainable solutions to help their populations thrive in an era of climate change.

Legena Henry, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, uses sargassum to produce a biofuel that can power cars. Johanan Dujon, the founder and chief executive of St. Lucia-based Algas Organics sells plant tonics made from sargassum and is trialling methods to convert sargassum into paper.

Meanwhile, other innovations are helping to minimise the impacts of sargassum in the region.

Andrés León, founder of SOS Carbon, a spin-off organisation from the mechanical engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has designed a boat-based harvester to collect sargassum at sea to stop it from beaching and causing damage onshore.

Some islands, such as Jamaica, are using early warning systems, typically used to predict hurricanes, to predict the ocean currents that might bring a bumper arrival of the seaweed to their shores. This could give fishers up to 30 days notice of just how bad the inundation will be.

Barriers to scale up

But while small businesses are emerging, turning them into larger enterprises across the region remains difficult. As usual, small island nations struggle to get funding because investors think the projects are too small and won’t make enough money.

As Legena Henry recently told us on the Small Island Big Picture podcast, spending a few million dollars (as opposed to a few hundred million dollars) can feel administratively cumbersome for funders as they often have limited administrative capacity and large sums of money to manage.

Another issue is ensuring the benefits from any sargassum solutions flow into the affected Caribbean islands to support local growth and economic development.

Several opportunities exist for small island nations to generate some income from sargassum. They could, for example, sell licences to permit companies to harvest sargassum within their exclusive economic zones, which can stretch around many islands for hundreds of nautical miles.

They can also sell licences to businesses trialling or operating new sargassum technologies within their exclusive economic zones — for example, SOS Carbon has a patent pending for technology designed to sink sargassum to the seabed to store carbon.

Will sargassum continue to be a nuisance, or could it be an important renewable natural resource? It’s not yet clear.

Ideally, as with other renewable natural resources in developing countries, small island nations that own the sargassum need to find ways to extract a fair share of the value from that ownership, as well as selling to external companies that come in, remove it and profit from it.

With tax incentives and low-cost finance for domestic innovators, small islands can manage and sell sargassum and then use the proceeds to develop climate resilience measures.


Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.The Conversation


Emily Wilkinson, Principal Research Fellow, ODI Global and Emma Tompkins, Professor of Geography, Environment & Development, University of Southampton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How Denmark’s oysters are transforming foodies into citizen scientists

Lea Meilandt Mathisen, CC BY-NC-ND
Dominique Townsend, University of Southampton; Camille Saurel, Technical University of Denmark, and Pedro Seabra Freitas, Technical University of Denmark

This year 80 people put on their waders, grabbed buckets and quadrats (square metal frames), and splashed through the clear shallow waters. Once they reached one of the many sampling locations, marked by miniature floats, they threw their quadrats into the shallow water, ready to collect all the sea life that landed inside their quadrats.

No one had any idea what they might find living on the seabed until they reached into the water. Nearby, kids peered down at the seabed using underwater scopes, grandparents chuckled as they returned for a second forage.

This citizen science project combines coastal ecology and gastronomy. Our groups returned to the sorting stations to identify, count, weigh and measure each bucket of creatures and algae. A typical bucket might contain four living Pacific oysters, nine dead, a brush-clawed shore crab, four folded sea squirts and a handful of snails.

Then, we sat down together to eat a gourmet oyster dinner, prepared by Denmark’s top chefs. Organised by a shellfish gastrotourism association called Danmarks Skaldyrshovedstad, this oyster hunt (Østerjagten 2025) is a new annual festival held at the Salling Sund Bridge in the Danish Limfjorden, a 110-mile strait of water in northern Denmark.

Citizen scientists of all ages gather flora and fauna samples from the seafloor with the Salling Sund bridge in the background.
Citizen scientists gather flora and fauna samples from the seafloor. Lea Meilandt Mathisen, CC BY-NC-ND

The invasive Pacific oysters people had collected from the seabed then went on to be shucked and cooked. They were served au gratin, with wild flavour combinations, ranging from blueberry and blue cheese to shavings of prosciutto with strawberries and lime.

Most people told us they came along because of the quirkiness of this event, and the promise of gourmet food. Less than one in five people stated their interest in marine research as their reason for joining. Nobody attended the event just for the science.

As a coastal change researcher, this result was exciting – we were reaching an audience that might not normally engage. Even after participating, many people didn’t feel like citizen scientists. But when asked what they had learnt, most recalled facts about coastal ecology, as well as new ways to cook oysters.

A plate full of delicious Pacific Oysters au Gratin.
A delicious plate of Pacific oysters served au gratin. Lea Meilandt Mathisen, CC BY-NC-ND

Eating aliens

Back to the basket sample contents. Pacific oyster, brush-clawed shore crab, folded sea squirts: none are native to the Limfjorden or Danish waters. So many people were shocked to find out that their baskets were full of invasive species – these “alien species” are non-native and can compete with the resident species for both food and space.

Despite an increase in the number of empty Pacific oysters shells we found this year compared to last (indicating more oyster deaths), temperatures are rising in this estuary system. This means that conditions are becoming more suitable for the Pacific oysters and the other invasive creatures, many of which originate in warmer waters.

A pair of hands measures the length of a Pacific oyster with a ruler.
Individual Pacific oysters were measured by hand. Lea Meilandt Mathisen, CC BY-NC-ND

All oysters provide ecosystem services; improving water quality, forming new habitats and protecting coastlines from erosion by reducing wave energy. As Pacific oysters are bigger, rougher, tougher and much faster growing than native European oysters, they can have a greater impact on the environment.

This, however, is not necessarily a good thing. As Pacific oysters take over European oyster and blue mussel beds, birds which once fed on these species are left without vital food sources. The thick shells mean they have no predators once they reach a certain size. Beach goers can also be affected as the razor-sharp shells occupy previously sandy bathing areas.

Farming of the Pacific oyster has been banned in Denmark since 1998, yet despite this measure, Pacific oyster beds are now widespread and prevalent across Denmark’s estuaries. A single oyster can release between 50 and 200 million eggs during a spawning event each year meaning it is impossible to control them.

A small shore crab rests in the palm of a little girl.
A young citizen scientist holds a small shore crab. Lea Meilandt Mathisen, CC BY-NC-ND

While children were discovering the joy of sea squirts, other marine scientists and I could have tougher conversations with adults about climate change. We explained that warming temperatures are clearly visible in the here-and-now of local monitoring data.

The Limfjorden is made up of a series of fjords and islands in northern Denmark which link the North Sea to the Kattergat (the sea between Denmark and Sweden). This area is characterised by undisturbed coastlines and rolling hills, as well as some famous geological sites. It is a popular holiday destination for those that enjoy being in nature, some Danish hyggelig (comfort) and seafood.

But the Limfjorden is subject to numerous pressures: eutrophication (when extra nutrients in the water cause toxic algal blooms), changing climate, fishing, dumping of dredged materials and the arrival of invasive species. Its resilience to these may serve as an ecological bell weather for the rest of the world’s coasts.

Our event highlights how we’ll have to deal with environmental issues together. One feedback form still sits on my desk, the participant wrote in Danish: “Forskning er alle mands projekt og at det har effekt.” This translates to “research is everyone’s project and it has an effect”.

This edible approach offers a new way of communicating complex issues such as biodiversity and the introduction of alien species. Oyster hunt-style events such as this offer an excellent opportunity for scientists like us to provide some food for thought.


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Dominique Townsend, Visiting Researcher, School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton; Camille Saurel, Senior Researcher, Coastal Ecology, Technical University of Denmark, and Pedro Seabra Freitas, Senior Researcher in Coastal Ecology, Technical University of Denmark

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bronze-age Britain traded tin with the Mediterranean, shows new study – settling a two-century debate

Bronze age tin ingot from Salcombe, England. Benjamin Roberts / Alan Williams
Benjamin Roberts, Durham University and Alan Williams, Durham University

Tin was the critical mineral of the ancient world. It was essential to alloy with copper to make bronze, which for many centuries was the preferred metal for tools and weapons. Yet sources of tin are very scarce – and were especially so for the rapidly growing bronze age towns, cities and states around the eastern Mediterranean.

Though major tin deposits are found in western and central Europe and in central Asia, by far the richest and most accessible tin ores are in Cornwall and Devon in southwest Britain. Yet it has been difficult to prove that these British deposits were used as a source for people in the eastern Mediterranean. So for more than two centuries, archaeologists have debated about where bronze age societies obtained their tin.

In a new study published in the journal Antiquity, our team analysed the chemistry and different forms of particular elements in tin ores and artefacts from across Britain and Europe. These included tin ingots found at prehistoric shipwreck sites at Salcombe and Erme, southwest Britain, as well as in the Mediterranean.


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This revealed that tin ingots from three ancient shipwrecks discovered off the coast of Israel and one shipwreck found off the Mediterranean coast of France originated in southwest Britain. The shipwrecks found near Israel date to around 1300BC, while the wreck from France has been dated to around 600BC.

Small farming communities across Cornwall and Devon would have dug, washed, crushed and smelted the abundant tin ore from the alluvial deposits in the region. The heavy sand to gravel-sized tin ore is in a layer buried under soft layers of barren silt, sand and gravel.

The tin ore is eroded from hard rock mineral veins and deposited by streams and rivers. There was simply no need for any complex and difficult mining of hard rock here. The tin would then have been taken to coastal locations where it could be traded.

It’s probable that the tin was then moved by traders through France to the Mediterranean coast, where it was loaded onto ships. It would make its way through flourishing trade networks between the islands of Sardinia and Cyprus before reaching markets in the east Mediterranean. The tin’s value would have increased immensely as it progressed along this 2,485 mile (4,000km) journey.

Tin is the first commodity to have been exported across the entire European continent. It was produced and traded at a potentially vast scale, but is rarely found in archaeological sites due to corrosion. But what we do known is that by 1,300BC, virtually all of Europe and the Mediterranean had widespread and consistent access to bronze.

We know of more than 100 bronze age copper mines from Ireland to Israel and from Spain to the southern Urals in Russia. Yet these would have been just a small proportion of the copper mines active at the time.

Given that bronze was typically made from 90% copper and 10% tin, if the copper produced by each of these known mines had to be matched by 10% tin, then tens or even hundreds of tonnes of tin were being traded each year – perhaps across distances of thousands of miles.

St Michael's Mount may be the site of the ancient island Ictis.
St Michael’s Mount may be the site of the ancient island Ictis. Alan Williams

The volume, consistency and frequency of the estimated scale in the tin trade is far larger than has been previously imagined and requires an entirely new perspective on what bronze age miners and merchants were able to achieve. It is no coincidence that it is around 1,300BC that technologies from the east, such as sophisticated systems for weighing items, as well as bronze swords, reached small farming communities living on the Atlantic coasts.

A millennium later, around 320BC, Pytheas the Greek, from Massalia (modern Marseilles), journeyed by land and sea to Britain, which was at the edge of the known world at the time. Pytheas wrote the earliest account describing the island and its inhabitants in a book which is now lost, but which has partially survived in snippets quoted by later classical authors.

Pytheas described how tin in southwest Britain was extracted and traded off a tidal island he called Ictis, before being taken across the sea and down the rivers of France to the mouth of the Rhone in only 30 days. In our research, we provide the first direct evidence for the tin trade Pytheas described. We show that tin from the Rochelongue shipwreck, off the south coast of France and dating to around 600BC, came from southwest Britain.

While we can establish the movement of tin across the seas, we know very little about the markets on land in which it was traded. We are now working with a team of archaeologists from Cornwall to excavate on the tidal island of St Michael’s Mount, which has long thought to have been the island of Ictis described by Pytheas.

A pan-continental tin trade continued in all periods after the bronze age and, in the absence of written records, our approach, using different methods of analysis, allows us to determine whether the tin came from Britain.

Historical records show that during the medieval period, tin from Cornwall and Devon enjoyed a virtual European monopoly, with production continuing until the last tin mine closed in 1998.

Today, tin is once again a critical and strategic mineral, this time for use in the electronics industry. As such it forms a vital part of the tools and weapons of the 21st century. Cornwall’s tin production is also set to soon restart, reviving a 4,000 year old industry.The Conversation

Benjamin Roberts, Associate Professor in Later European Prehistory, Durham University and Alan Williams, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology, Durham University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How to write a perfect wedding speech – according to ancient orators

IVASHstudio/Shutterstock
David Roberts, Birmingham City University

Looking for an example of how not to give a wedding speech? Try this. I was recently told an anecdote about guests at a wedding who became suspicious about the detached, cliched style of the groom’s speech, and the monotonous way it was read. Gathered at the reception afterwards, they asked ChatGPT to write a groom’s wedding speech. Bingo! The result was as good as identical.

Admittedly, whether you’re bride or groom, best man or chief bridesmaid, giving a wedding speech can be a scary prospect. But if you want to keep it personal and memorable, AI is not the answer.

So what is? You could do a lot worse than following the five canons of classical rhetoric, as recommended by the great practitioners of the ancient world, Cicero and Quintilian: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery.

1. Invention

The first canon of classical rhetoric is invention. That’s the process of discovering and developing the ideas you’ll use in your speech.

You can’t speak about everything, and no one likes a speech that drones on. Around ten minutes is all you need. That leaves you time for maybe six or seven events in the life of the person you’re talking about.

If you visualise those six or seven events, that will help you remember them. Is there a theme or characteristic that binds them together? Identify one or two, and use them to create a thread.

Good speakers often begin with a bit of a warm-up – maybe some light-hearted comments about the venue, or something in the news, or just a good joke. Plan to single out people in the audience for a mention or a laugh. Say something nice about the new family, or friendship groups you’ve discovered through the relationship.


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2. Arrangement

History is your best friend when it comes to arranging the order of your speech. The events you’ve chosen under “invention” happened in order of time. So lean on history and organise them chronologically.

Also, remember that many of the best wedding speeches often follow an arc from light to serious. You can make fun of your subject for a while, but nothing quite beats ending with love.

3. Style

This will vary depending on your role. Best men and chief bridesmaids traditionally skirt the boundaries of politeness, or sometimes go crashing through them (the worst best-man jokes are not repeatable here, nor anywhere else, and there’s no shortage of books dedicated to them).

Mostly you’ll be talking to a mixed audience. You can be a bit risqué without offending anyone (sexist jokes are not recommended). And because you’re likely to be talking to people you know, try to be informal – the “familiar style”, as it used to be called. That also means being personal. The speech has to sound like you.

bride and groom cheers their glasses with guests
Keep your speech as personal as possible. Dupe/Chloe Christianson, CC BY-SA

4. Memory

The prospect of remembering a speech may feel daunting or impossible. But speaking without notes makes a huge difference to how you engage your audience.

Look into their eyes and they will be drawn in. The ancient Roman educator Quintilian was one among many orators to recommend visual analogues as a memory aid – often, the ground plan of a house, where a porch leads to a hall, which leads to a dining room, and so on. You populate each room with clues. They might be verbal or visual.

Anything that helps you lift your eyes from a script will increase your chances of getting the audience on your side.

5. Delivery

Calm your nerves by visualising the scene ahead of time. Most people visit their wedding venue before the big day, so take the opportunity to get used to the space, and then run it through in your head afterwards.

Try rehearsing the speech while you’re going for a walk. When it comes to the big day and the room is full, remember that you can’t speak directly to everyone. Instead, pick out maybe three or four people to focus on, in different parts of the room.

A wedding venue laid out with a table and lights
Taking a walk around the venue ahead of time can help you to memorise your speech. Dupe/Marissa Gradei, CC BY-SA

There are novel approaches and there are disasters. The double-act approach can work brilliantly, where bride and groom take turns to deliver a single speech, but it may need scripting. If the venue has the facilities, a slide show can work well. Picking out the various groups of families and friends and getting them to wave usually works as a good warmup.

When you get a laugh, ride it – start speaking again just as the laughter is dying down. Don’t wait for silence. If you get into a panic and can’t think of anything, just say you’re so happy that you’re speechless, and raise your glass for a toast.The Conversation

David Roberts, Professor of English and University Orator, Birmingham City University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Australia’s ‘inconvenient’ women writers blazed a trail through the 20th century

Katharine Susannah Prichard, Miles Franklin, Kylie Tennant, Mary Gilmore, Marjorie Barnard and Pamela Travers. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Anthea Taylor, University of Sydney

In Inconvenient Women, Jacqueline Kent shines a spotlight on some of Australia’s most radical and influential writers.

For Kent, these iconic women were “inconvenient” in many ways. They pursued careers as journalists, poets and novelists at times when many women were relegated to the private sphere. They spoke out against injustices, despite the personal cost. They lived unconventional lives, personally and professionally. And they embodied alternative forms of womanhood.


Review: Inconvenient Women: Australian Radical Writers 1900-1970 – Jacqueline Kent (NewSouth)


The limits of the “wave” metaphor to categorise periods of feminist activism are well known. Kent explicitly seeks to recentre women who were in between the “waves” – that is, she is interested in those who came after the campaigns for women’s suffrage during the so-called “first wave”, but predated the revitalisation of Western feminism in the “second wave” of the 1970s.

These women writers clearly laid some important foundations for later feminist activists, especially those who called for more radical social upheaval.

The book’s subtitle – “Australian radical writers” – clarifies its focus. Kent does not explicitly discuss the criteria for inclusion, but it becomes clear that “radical” is shorthand for the most left-leaning women writers and activists in the first two thirds of the 20th century.

Accordingly, much of the book is preoccupied with tracing their varied engagement with political ideas and organisations. As Kent clarifies in the book’s first few pages: “These were all women who used their power with words in support of their beliefs, and to question and change elements of the world they knew.”

Kent makes it clear, however, that this is a “joint biography”, not a work of history or literary criticism. Inconvenient Women focuses on how these women lived and how their literary contributions were informed – and indeed made possible – by their more unorthodox ways of being and living, rather than on the writing itself.

Kent puts it this way:

All these women were brave. Common to them all were unquenchable curiosity, fearlessness and willingness to take risks – with their lives, with their relationships, with the work they did.

Challenging norms

Written in an engaging and accessible style for a broad audience, Kent’s ambitious group biography places these formidable women at the forefront of Australia’s literary, cultural and political history. Spanning a period of 70 years, Kent maps the cultural and political shifts that enabled and constrained these women writers. Their activism took different forms across different periods, but for all of them writing was a key tool in their political arsenal.

The book’s five-part structure is chronological. Part one covers Federation, the granting of suffrage, and the first world war. It discusses a number of 20th-century writers who honed their skills in the journalistic field before publishing award-winning and often controversial novels.

Kent begins with journalist, poet and novelist Mary Gilmore. For more than two decades, from 1908 to 1931, Gilmore used the Women’s Page in the socialist magazine Worker to advocate for a mother’s allowance, support women who wished to eschew marriage, and criticise Christianity for its assumptions about women’s innate inferiority.

These ideas challenged the gender norms of the day, though in other respects, as Kent shows, Gilmore did little to disrupt prevailing ideologies. She supported the White Australia policy, for example.

In this opening section, Kent introduces several other women who return at various points in the biography, including Katharine Susannah Prichard, Miles Franklin, Marjorie Barnard and New Zealand-born novelist Jean Devanny.

Kent reflects upon the barriers encountered by these pioneering women authors. Devanny’s 1926 novel The Butcher Shop, which condemned the subservience of women in marriage, was the first book to be banned in Australia. Other lesser-known women whose work “hovered at the border of what was acceptable” included Jean Campbell, Doris Kerr and Marjorie Clark, who wrote under the pseudonym “Georgia Rivers”.

Kent’s commitment to reevaluating women writers who have not been foregrounded in literary or cultural history, such as poet Marie Pitt, is laudable. However, some of these figures – Marion Knowles and Elinor Mordaunt (the pen name of Evelyn May Clowes), for example – are only given short paragraphs. This reclamation is an important feature of the book, and I wanted to read more about these historically marginalised women.

Political dangers

Inconvenient Women is well researched and given texture through a variety of sources, including correspondence between some of these writers. Kent establishes how the subversive politics of her subjects informed their lives and their writing, and provides important insights into the communities they formed.

Marjorie Barnard c.1936. State Library of New South Wales, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Many of these women supported each other across their often lengthy careers. Examining the intricate webs of connection and fruitful collaborative relationships – such as that between Marjorie Barnard and Flora Eldershaw, which produced novels, plays, short stories and essays – Kent foregrounds the intimacies of those who moved in literary and left political circles across the 20th century. This is one of the strengths of a group biography as a way of reframing histories from which women have been excluded.

At times, the focus turns to key male figures, such as journalist and communist activist Egon Kisch and Guido Barrachi, who was integral to the establishment of the Australian Communist Party and romantically involved with women writers such as Lesbia Harford and Betty Roland. This can distract from the book’s professed goal, though I acknowledge Kent’s introductory comment that “men figure in this story, too, both as antagonists and supporters”.

The extent to which the women’s writing overtly engaged with political issues varied, as did their positions on communism. While Prichard and Christina Stead wholeheartedly endorsed it, writer and critic Nettie Palmer appeared more ambivalent.

The second part of Inconvenient Women covers visits to the Soviet Union in the 1930s by Roland, Prichard, and Pamela Travers, the Australian-born author of Mary Poppins. Later in the decade, Palmer and Stead travelled to Spain, becoming caught up in the civil war and the protests against fascism. For Palmer, the experience cemented the importance of art as a “weapon”.

Continuing the book’s interest in women who may have been overlooked, Kent shows how Australian war correspondents, such as Women’s Weekly reporter Adele “Tilly” Shelton-Smith and Lorraine Stumm from the Daily Mail in England, played an important role during this tumultuous time.

Katharine Susannah Prichard c.1928. May Moore, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Communism, Kent remarks, “influenced the work of some of Australia’s best women writers, whether they followed the Party or not”. This left them in vulnerable positions when war broke out in 1939. The third section of Inconvenient Woman considers how they responded to the second world war, personally and professionally. For many of them, this meant dealing with censorship, state surveillance and police raids on their homes.

To be a supporter of the left in the 1930s and 1940s, especially as a woman, could come at grave cost. Police raided Prichard’s house; Devanny was also subject to surveillance. As evidence of the oppressive political climate, Kent discusses how Dymphna Cusack, a teacher in inner-city Sydney, was transferred to Bathurst after the publication of Jungfrau (1936), her controversial novel exploring female sexuality. There were dangers in transgressing social mores.

As Kent shows, surveillance continued into the 1950s. Writers were increasingly subject to monitoring by ASIO. This included those who had received grants from the Commonwealth Literary Fund, such as Kylie Tennant, who returned the money after conservative parliamentarian Bill Wentworth publicly labelled her a communist.

The difficulties of publishing in such an environment, especially for women, are brought into sharp relief throughout the book. In the fourth section, which covers the years 1945–60, Kent addresses the difficulties experienced by women seeking to engage with the androcentric publishing industry. This is exemplified by the protracted publication journey of Come in Spinner (1951), co-written by Cusack and Florence James, which won a prize as an unpublished manuscript in 1946, only for its publication deal to be withdrawn. It eventually appeared five years later in an expurgated version.

Kent also emphasises how these women sought to ensure that writing be taken seriously as a form of labour. Many were involved in establishing and maintaining writers’ organisations. Gilmore and journalist Connie Robertson set up the Society of Women Writers in 1925, which was followed a few years later by a broader association, the Fellowship of Australian Writers, with Gilmore again at the forefront. Women were highly active, too, in the Australian Society of Authors, established in 1963 and still thriving today.

A formidable legacy

Despite living unconventional lives, Kent suggests many of these writers were not overt in their feminism. Dorothy Hewett’s social realist novel Bobbin’ Up represents a shift in this regard. Published in 1959, it is closer to the burgeoning modern women’s movement than any other literary text considered in the book.

Given certain voices have historically been privileged over others, it is unsurprising that the majority of the women in this book are white and heterosexual. A little more reflection on the conditions that made their careers possible could have further illuminated how some “inconvenient” women in Australia, as elsewhere, have always been seen as more acceptable than others.

There is, nevertheless, an important discussion of Indigenous women writers and activists, including the poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) and the activist and writer Faith Bandler, in the book’s fifth and final section.

Inconvenient Women lacks a conclusion. Its account stops before the 1970s, a turbulent time of social and political change, when “inconvenient women” became more visible than at any other time in Australian history. Some additional gesturing towards subsequent developments might have given a stronger sense of how the foundations laid by these trailblazing women were built upon by second wave writers-as-activists, such as Germaine Greer and Anne Summers.

At different points in the book, I found myself wishing for further reflection on certain figures and the reception of their work. But this is a limitation of the group biography sub-genre rather than Kent’s writing. Inconvenient Women may function as an introduction for some readers, sparking curiosity about these remarkable women and a desire to seek out their books, plays and poems. For others, it might illuminate connections between these figures, or provide a deeper understanding of their cultural and historical contexts.

Whatever the case, Kent urges us to acknowledge and reconsider the legacy of these formidable Australian women. Each of them, in their own way, models what it is to be an “inconvenient” woman – something we certainly need now, perhaps more than ever.The Conversation

Anthea Taylor, Associate Professor, Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Meta’s new AI chatbot is yet another tool for harvesting data to potentially sell you stuff

Tony Lam Hoang/Unsplash
Uri Gal, University of Sydney

Last week, Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp – unveiled a new “personal artificial intelligence (AI)”.

Powered by the Llama 4 language model, Meta AI is designed to assist, chat and engage in natural conversation. With its polished interface and fluid interactions, Meta AI might seem like just another entrant in the race to build smarter digital assistants.

But beneath its inviting exterior lies a crucial distinction that transforms the chatbot into a sophisticated data harvesting tool.

‘Built to get to know you’

“Meta AI is built to get to know you”, the company declared in its news announcement. Contrary to the friendly promise implied by the slogan, the reality is less reassuring.

The Washington Post columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler found that by default, Meta AI “kept a copy of everything”, and it took some effort to delete the app’s memory. Meta responded that the app provides “transparency and control” throughout and is no different to their other apps.

However, while competitors like Anthropic’s Claude operate on a subscription model that reflects a more careful approach to user privacy, Meta’s business model is firmly rooted in what it has always done best: collecting and monetising your personal data.

This distinction creates a troubling paradox. Chatbots are rapidly becoming digital confidants with whom we share professional challenges, health concerns and emotional struggles.

Recent research shows we are as likely to share intimate information with a chatbot as we are with fellow humans. The personal nature of these interactions makes them a gold mine for a company whose revenue depends on knowing everything about you.

Consider this potential scenario: a recent university graduate confides in Meta AI about their struggle with anxiety during job interviews. Within days, their Instagram feed fills with advertisements for anxiety medications and self-help books – despite them having never publicly posted about these concerns.

The cross-platform integration of Meta’s ecosystem of apps means your private conversations can seamlessly flow into their advertising machine to create user profiles with unprecedented detail and accuracy.

This is not science fiction. Meta’s extensive history of data privacy scandals – from Cambridge Analytica to the revelation that Facebook tracks users across the internet without their knowledge – demonstrates the company’s consistent prioritisation of data collection over user privacy.

What makes Meta AI particularly concerning is the depth and nature of what users might reveal in conversation compared to what they post publicly.

Open to manipulation

Rather than just a passive collector of information, a chatbot like Meta AI has the capability to become an active participant in manipulation. The implications extend beyond just seeing more relevant ads.

Imagine mentioning to the chatbot that you are feeling tired today, only to have it respond with: “Have you tried Brand X energy drinks? I’ve heard they’re particularly effective for afternoon fatigue.” This seemingly helpful suggestion could actually be a product placement, delivered without any indication that it’s sponsored content.

Such subtle nudges represent a new frontier in advertising that blurs the line between a helpful AI assistant and a corporate salesperson.

Unlike overt ads, recommendations mentioned in conversation carry the weight of trusted advice. And that advice would come from what many users will increasingly view as a digital “friend”.

A history of not prioritising safety

Meta has demonstrated a willingness to prioritise growth over safety when releasing new technology features. Recent reports reveal internal concerns at Meta, where staff members warned that the company’s rush to popularise its chatbot had “crossed ethical lines” by allowing Meta AI to engage in explicit romantic role-play, even with test users who claimed to be underage.

Such decisions reveal a reckless corporate culture, seemingly still driven by the original motto of moving fast and breaking things.

Now, imagine those same values applied to an AI that knows your deepest insecurities, health concerns and personal challenges – all while having the ability to subtly influence your decisions through conversational manipulation.

The potential for harm extends beyond individual consumers. While there’s no evidence that Meta AI is being used for manipulation, it has such capacity.

For example, the chatbot could become a tool for pushing political content or shaping public discourse through the algorithmic amplification of certain viewpoints. Meta has played a role in propagating misinformation in the past, and recently made the decision to discontinue fact-checking across its platforms.

The risk of chatbot-driven manipulation is also increased now that AI safety regulations are being scaled back in the United States.

Lack of privacy is a choice

AI assistants are not inherently harmful. Other companies protect user privacy by choosing to generate revenue primarily through subscriptions rather than data harvesting. Responsible AI can and does exist without compromising user welfare for corporate profit.

As AI becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives, the choices companies make about business models and data practices will have profound implications.

Meta’s decision to offer a free AI chatbot while reportedly lowering safety guardrails sets a low ethical standard. By embracing its advertising-based business model for something as intimate as an AI companion, Meta has created not just a product, but a surveillance system that can extract unprecedented levels of personal information.

Before inviting Meta AI to become your digital confidant, consider the true cost of this “free” service. In an era where data has become the most valuable commodity, the price you pay might be far higher than you realise.

As the old adage goes, if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product – and Meta’s new chatbot might be the most sophisticated product harvester yet created.

When Meta AI says it is “built to get to know you”, we should take it at its word and proceed with appropriate caution.The Conversation

Uri Gal, Professor in Business Information Systems, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider turned lead into gold – by accident

Sunny Young / Unsplash
Ulrik Egede, Monash University

Medieval alchemists dreamed of transmuting lead into gold. Today, we know that lead and gold are different elements, and no amount of chemistry can turn one into the other.

But our modern knowledge tells us the basic difference between an atom of lead and an atom of gold: the lead atom contains exactly three more protons. So can we create a gold atom by simply pulling three protons out of a lead atom?

As it turns out, we can. But it’s not easy.

While smashing lead atoms into each other at extremely high speeds in an effort to mimic the state of the universe just after the Big Bang, physicists working on the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland incidentally produced small amounts of gold. Extremely small amounts, in fact: a total of some 29 trillionths of a gram.

How to steal a proton

Protons are found in the nucleus of an atom. How can they be pulled out?

Well, protons have an electric charge, which means an electric field can pull or push them around. Placing an atomic nucleus in an electric field could do it.

However, nuclei are held together by a very strong force with a very short range, imaginatively known as the strong nuclear force. This means an extremely powerful electric field is required to pull out protons – about a million times stronger than the electric fields that create lightning bolts in the atmosphere.

The way the scientists created this field was to fire beams of lead nuclei at each other at incredibly high speeds – almost the speed of light.

The magic of a near-miss

When the lead nuclei have a head-on collision, the strong nuclear force comes into play and they end up getting completely destroyed. But more commonly the nuclei have a near miss, and only affect each other via the electromagnetic force.

The strength of an electric field drops off very quickly as you move away from an object with an electric charge (such as a proton). But at very short distances, even a tiny charge can create a very strong field.

So when one lead nucleus just grazes past another, the electric field between them is huge. The rapidly changing field between the nuclei makes them vibrate and occasionally spit out some protons. If one of them spits out exactly three protons, the lead nucleus has turned into gold.

Counting protons

So if you have turned a lead atom into gold, how do you know? In the ALICE experiment, they use special detectors called zero-degree calorimeters to count the protons stripped out of the lead nuclei.

They can’t observe the gold nuclei themselves, so they only know about them indirectly.

The ALICE scientists calculate that, while they are colliding beams of lead nuclei, they produce about 89,000 gold nuclei per second. They also observed the production of other elements: thallium, which is what you get when you take one proton from lead, as well as mercury (two protons).

An alchemical nuisance

Once a lead nucleus has transformed by losing protons, it is no longer on the perfect orbit that keeps it circulating inside the vacuum beam pipe of the Large Hadron Collider. In a matter of microseconds it will collide with the walls.

This effect makes the beam less intense over time. So for scientists, the production of gold at the collider is in fact more of a nuisance than a blessing.

However, understanding this accidental alchemy is essential for making sense of experiments – and for designing the even bigger experiments of the future.The Conversation

Ulrik Egede, Professor of Physics, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Comet, rocket, space junk or meteor? Here’s how to tell your fireballs apart

A blaze of light streaks across the sky, but what is it? Wendy Miller/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND
Michael J. I. Brown, Monash University

There’s a blaze of light across the sky! A fireball is seen by thousands, and mobile phone and dashcam footage soon appears on social media.

But what have people just seen? A mix of social media hashtags suggests confusion about what has streaked overhead. Was it a Soviet Venus probe? Was it one of Elon Musk’s satellites or rockets? Was it a meteor? Was it a comet?

While these objects have some similarities, there are crucial differences that can help us work out what just passed over our heads.

Shooting stars, meteors and comets

Shooting stars can often be seen on dark, clear nights in the countryside as brief flashes of light travelling across the sky. Usually, they are gone in just a second or two.

A bright shooting star with the Milky Way in the background
To capture a shooting star with this level of detail, your camera settings need to be just right, because they are very brief flashes of light. Andrew Xu/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Shooting “stars” are not stars, of course. They are produced by dust and pebbles burning up high in the atmosphere, typically above 50km in altitude. Comets are often a source of this dust, and regular showers of shooting stars happen when Earth travels through comets’ orbits.

Sometimes shooting stars burn with colours that reflect their composition – including iron, magnesium and calcium.

Meteors and shooting stars are actually the same thing. But when people talk about meteors, they often mean bigger and brighter events – bolides. Bolides result from rocks and boulders plunging into Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in bright flashes of light that can outshine all the stars and planets in the night sky.

Bolides can reach the lower atmosphere and sometimes produce audible sonic booms. Occasionally pieces of the bolide – meteorites – even make it to Earth’s surface.

The Chelyabinsk fireball was a bolide.

While bolides can survive longer than shooting stars, they also don’t last for long. As they are initially travelling at tens of kilometres per second, they don’t take long to traverse the atmosphere.

The Chelyabinsk meteor, the largest bolide known to impact Earth in over a century, shone brightly for only 20 seconds or so.

If you see something blaze across the sky, it almost certainly isn’t a comet. Comets are so far away from us that their vast speeds are imperceptible to the human eye. Furthermore, while comets are sometimes depicted as fiery, their glow is more subtle.

Space junk

Maybe the bright flash you just saw was space junk? Perhaps. The number of orbital rocket launches and satellites has increased rapidly in recent years, and this has resulted in some spectacular reentries, which are often discarded rocket stages.

Like meteors, space junk travels at vast speeds as it travels through the atmosphere and it begins burning up spectacularly. Also like meteors, you can see colours indicative of the materials burning up, such as steel and aluminium. However, there are a few things that distinguish space junk from meteors.

When rockets and satellites are launched into orbit, they typically travel along paths that roughly follow Earth’s curvature. So when space junk begins to enter the atmosphere, it’s often travelling almost horizontally.

Space junk also travels at slower speeds than shooting stars and meteorites, entering Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 8km/s rather than tens of kilometres per second.

Because of these factors, space junk can take minutes to enter the atmosphere and travels hundreds of kilometres in the process. Over this time, the space junk will slow down and break up into pieces, and the more solidly constructed parts might make it down to Earth.

The slower pace of space junk fireballs gives people time to grab phones, take footage and post on social media, perhaps with a little colourful commentary added for good measure.

A Russian rocket reenters the atmosphere over south eastern Australia.

Rockets

While space junk can produce a light show, rockets can also put on amazing displays. If you happen to be near Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg Space Force Base in the United States, or Wairoa in Aotearoa New Zealand, then it’s not unexpected to see a rocket launch. You get smoke, flames and thundering noise.

But in other parts of the world you may get a different view of rockets.

Rockets that bring satellites into our orbit accelerate to 8km/s. As they do, they travel many hundreds of kilometres at over 100km altitude. American satellite launches often travel near the coast, passing major cities including Los Angeles.

As rockets approach orbit, they are more subtle than the flames and noise of liftoff. Rockets produce plumes of exhaust gases that rapidly and silently expand in the vacuum of space.

While these plumes are typically seen near launch sites, they can be visible elsewhere, too.

Sometimes rocket engines are ignited after reaching an initial orbit to boost satellites to higher orbits, send probes into the Solar System or slow rockets down for reentry. Rockets may also vent excess fuel into space, again producing plumes or spirals of gases. While not necessarily a common occurrence, these have been seen all over the world.

A deorbit burn over Western Europe.

Do look up

There’s a lot to see in the night sky – the familiar Moon, stars and planets. But there’s the unexpected, too – something blazing across the sky in minutes or even mere seconds. While fireballs may be puzzling at first, they are often recognisable and we can figure out what we’ve just witnessed.

Have you had the good fortune to see a fireball for yourself? If not, pop outside on a clear dark night. Perhaps you will see something unexpected.The Conversation

Michael J. I. Brown, Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Forest home of ‘polar dinosaurs’ 120 million years ago in southern Australia recreated in detail for the first time

Artwork © Bob Nicholls 2024
Vera Korasidis, The University of Melbourne

Roughly 140 million to 100 million years ago, the piece of land that is modern day Australia was located much further south on Earth. In fact, what is now Victoria was once within the polar circle, up to 80 degrees south of the equator and shrouded in darkness for months at a time.

Despite these harsh conditions, dinosaurs thrived here, leaving behind evidence of their existence at various palaeontological sites.

For decades, scientists have come to these sites to study the rocks containing the bones of these ancient creatures in order to better understand them.

My new research with palynologist Barbara Wagstaff, published in Alcheringa, builds on existing knowledge by using plant fossils from bone-bearing sites in the region to explain how the forests these dinosaurs lived in evolved – and, for the first time, illustrating them in detail.

One of the warmest periods on Earth

The Early Cretaceous epoch – between roughly 140 million and 100 million years ago – represents one of the warmest periods in the last half a billion years of Earth’s history. The sustained warmth was a result of increased volcanic activity, which released large quantities of carbon dioxide levels into the atmosphere.

The sustained warmth resulted in no polar ice caps, high sea levels and flooded continents.

The geographic distribution of land masses was also very different back then. The supercontinent Gondwana, in which most of the southern continents we know today were clumped into a single landmass, had only just started to break apart. At the time, southernmost Australia was in the polar circle.

The dinosaurs that lived in this region are known as “polar dinosaurs”. They included small ornithopods (plant-eaters with beaks and cheeks full of teeth) and therapods (carnivorous and predatory dinosaurs).

A map of Earth with the continents clustered together.
A map of Earth during the Early Cretaceous period 120 million years ago, with Australia seen in the polar region. Scotese, Christopher R; Vérard, Christian; Burgener, Landon; Elling, Reece P.; Kocsis, Ádám T/Wikipedia

Building a picture of ancient plants

For decades, palaeontologists have been studying rocks from Victorian sites. To establish the age of the recovered dinosaur bones, we’ve needed the expertise of palynologists – palaeontologists who study microscopic fossil spores and pollen produced by plants.

Palynologists identified key species that they dissolved out of rocks. They deduced the dinosaur bones ranged in age from 130 to 100 million years old.

At the same time they were carefully recording all the microscopic spores and pollen they saw in the slides to build a picture of the plants through the Early Cretaceous period.

A planet-altering transition

The transition from a world without flowers to one with flowers has fascinated scientists for centuries, most famously Charles Darwin who labelled them “an abominable mystery”. More importantly, it also forever changed our planet.

Shortly after their first appearance approximately 132 million years ago, albeit in the southern portion of the supercontinent Laurasia, we see an explosive radiation of flowering plants not only in our new record from Victoria, but also globally.

What fuelled the evolution and rapid global expansion of flowering plants that dominate the Australian landscape today?

Our new research suggests warmer conditions helped flowering plants migrate across the globe and colonise understorey habitats shortly after evolving. Increased competition also contributed to the turnover in understorey flora, with flowering plants outcompeting lycophytes in rapidly colonising braided river channels after flooding events.

The appearance of flowering plants in the landscape resulted in the extinction of numerous understorey plants (in particular ferns) with a long fossil record.

As a result, by 100 million years ago, the forests of Victoria included an open conifer-dominated forest canopy. The subcanopy beneath was made up of seed ferns and ferns. Flowering plants and ferns featured in the understorey, alongside liverworts, hornworts, lycophytes and sphagnum-like mosses.

Illustration of a forest full of ferns.
By 100 million years ago, the canopy of forests of Victoria was dominated by conifers. Artwork © Bob Nicholls 2024

Diversifying in a warming world

High carbon dioxide levels in the past made the planet warmer. This is consistent with what’s happening today. As a result of these warmer conditions cool-temperate forests thrived in the polar circle.

For flowering plants, the warmer conditions provided an opportunity to diversify in an increasingly warm world. However, not all plants adapted to the warming world, with many understorey floras, including ferns, becoming extinct.

The fossil record provides crucial insights into how life will respond to predicted future climate conditions because these have occurred before in Earth’s history.

Knowing this history is crucial to our response to the current climate change challenge.

Some exciting places to visit to see fossils in Australia include Eric the Red West dig site in the Otway Ranges, Inverloch’s Dinosaur Dreaming dig site in Victoria, the Dinosaur Trail along the Queensland towns of Hughenden, Richmond and Winton, and sauropod footprints in Western Australia at Gantheaume Point.The Conversation

Vera Korasidis, Lecturer in Environmental Geoscience, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The world at your finger tips: Online

With current advice to stay at home and self-isolate, when you come in out of the garden, have had your fill of watching movies and want to explore something new, there's a whole world of books you can download, films you can watch and art galleries you can stroll through - all from at home and via the internet. This week a few suggestions of some of the resources available for you to explore and enjoy. For those who have a passion for Art - this month's Artist of the Month is the Online Australian Art Galleries and State Libraries where you can see great works of art from all over the world  and here - both older works and contemporary works.

Also remember the Project Gutenberg Australia - link here- has heaps of great books, not just focused on Australian subjects but fiction works by popular authors as well. Well worth a look at.

Short Stories for Teenagers you can read for free online

StoryStar is an online resource where you can access and read short stories for teenagers

About

Storystar is a totally FREE short stories site featuring some of the best short stories online, written by/for kids, teens, and adults of all ages around the world, where short story writers are the stars, and everyone is free to shine! Storystar is dedicated to providing a free place where everyone can share their stories. Stories can entertain us, enlighten us, and change us. Our lives are full of stories; stories of joy and sorrow, triumph and tragedy, success and failure. The stories of our lives matter. Share them. Sharing stories with each other can bring us closer together and help us get to know one another better. Please invite your friends and family to visit Storystar to read, rate and share all the short stories that have been published here, and to tell their stories too.

StoryStar headquarters are located on the central Oregon coast.

NFSA - National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

The doors may be temporarily closed but when it comes to the NFSA, we are always open online. We have content for Kids, Animal Lovers, Music fans, Film buffs & lots more.

You can explore what’s available online at the NFSA, see more in the link below.

https://bit.ly/2U8ORjH


NLA Ebooks - Free To Download

The National Library of Australia provides access to thousands of ebooks through its website, catalogue and eResources service. These include our own publications and digitised historical books from our collections as well as subscriptions to collections such as Chinese eResources, Early English Books Online and Ebsco ebooks.

What are ebooks?
Ebooks are books published in an electronic format. They can be read by using a personal computer or an ebook reader.

This guide will help you find and view different types of ebooks in the National Library collections.

Peruse the NLA's online ebooks, ready to download - HERE

The Internet Archive and Digital Library

The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge." It provides free public access to collections of digitised materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies, videos, moving images, and millions of public-domain books. There's lots of Australian materials amongst the millions of works on offer.

Visit:  https://archive.org/


Avalon Youth Hub: More Meditation Spots

Due to popular demand our meditation evenings have EXPANDED. Two sessions will now be run every Wednesday evening at the Hub. Both sessions will be facilitated by Merryn at Soul Safaris.

6-7pm - 12 - 15 year olds welcome
7-8pm - 16 - 25 year olds welcome

No experience needed. Learn and develop your mindfulness and practice meditation in a group setting.

For all enquires, message us via facebook or email help@avalonyouthhub.org.au

BIG THANKS The Burdekin Association for funding these sessions!

Green Team Beach Cleans 

Hosted by The Green Team
It has been estimated that we will have more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050...These beach cleans are aimed at reducing the vast amounts of plastic from entering our oceans before they harm marine life. 

Anyone and everyone is welcome! If you would like to come along, please bring a bucket, gloves and hat. Kids of all ages are also welcome! 

We will meet in front of the surf club. 
Hope to see you there!

The Green Team is a Youth-run, volunteer-based environment initiative from Avalon, Sydney. Keeping our area green and clean.

 The Project Gutenberg Library of Australiana

Australian writers, works about Australia and works which may be of interest to Australians.This Australiana page boasts many ebooks by Australian writers, or books about Australia. There is a diverse range; from the journals of the land and sea explorers; to the early accounts of white settlement in Australia; to the fiction of 'Banjo' Paterson, Henry Lawson and many other Australian writers.

The list of titles form part of the huge collection of ebooks freely downloadable from Project Gutenberg Australia. Follow the links to read more about the authors and titles and to read and/or download the ebooks. 

Profile: Ingleside Riders Group

Ingleside Riders Group Inc. (IRG) is a not for profit incorporated association and is run solely by volunteers. It was formed in 2003 and provides a facility known as “Ingleside Equestrian Park” which is approximately 9 acres of land between Wattle St and McLean St, Ingleside. IRG has a licence agreement with the Minister of Education to use this land. This facility is very valuable as it is the only designated area solely for equestrian use in the Pittwater District.  IRG promotes equal rights and the respect of one another and our list of rules that all members must sign reflect this.

Cyberbullying

Research shows that one in five Australian children aged 8 to 17 has been the target of cyberbullying in the past year. The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner can help you make a complaint, find someone to talk to and provide advice and strategies for dealing with these issues.

Make a Complaint 

The Enhancing Online Safety for Children Act 2015 gives the power to provide assistance in relation to serious cyberbullying material. That is, material that is directed at a particular child with the intention to seriously embarrass, harass, threaten or humiliate.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION 

Before you make a complaint you need to have:

  • copies of the cyberbullying material to upload (eg screenshots or photos)
  • reported the material to the social media service (if possible) at least 48 hours ago
  • at hand as much information as possible about where the material is located
  • 15-20 minutes to complete the form

Visit: esafety.gov.au/complaints-and-reporting/cyberbullying

Our mission

The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner is Australia's leader in online safety. The Office is committed to helping young people have safe, positive experiences online and encouraging behavioural change, where a generation of Australian children act responsibly online—just as they would offline.

We provide online safety education for Australian children and young people, a complaints service for young Australians who experience serious cyberbullying, and address illegal online content through the Online Content Scheme.

Our goal is to empower all Australians to explore the online world—safely.

Visit: esafety.gov.au/about-the-office 

The Green Team

Profile
This Youth-run, volunteer-based environment initiative has been attracting high praise from the founders of Living Ocean as much as other local environment groups recently. 
Creating Beach Cleans events, starting their own, sustainability days - ‘action speaks louder than words’ ethos is at the core of this group. 

National Training Complaints Hotline – 13 38 73

The National Training Complaints Hotline is accessible on 13 38 73 (Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm nationally) or via email at skilling@education.gov.au.

Sync Your Breathing with this - to help you Relax

Send In Your Stuff

Pittwater Online News is not only For and About you, it is also BY you.  
We will not publish swearing or the gossip about others. BUT: If you have a poem, story or something you want to see addressed, let us know or send to: pittwateronlinenews@live.com.au

All Are Welcome, All Belong!

Youth Source: Northern Sydney Region

A directory of services and resources relevant to young people and those who work, play and live alongside them.

The YouthSource directory has listings from the following types of service providers: Aboriginal, Accommodation, Alcohol & Other Drugs, Community Service, Counselling, Disability, Education & Training, Emergency Information, Employment, Financial, Gambling,  General Health & Wellbeing, Government Agency, Hospital & GP, Legal & Justice, Library, Mental Health, Multicultural, Nutrition & Eating Disorders, Parenting, Relationships, Sexual Health, University, Youth Centre

Driver Knowledge Test (DKT) Practice run Online

Did you know you can do a practice run of the DKT online on the RMS site? - check out the base of this page, and the rest on the webpage, it's loaded with information for you!

The DKT Practice test is designed to help you become familiar with the test, and decide if you’re ready to attempt the test for real.  Experienced drivers can also take the practice test to check their knowledge of the road rules. Unlike the real test, the practice DKT allows you to finish all 45 questions, regardless of how many you get wrong. At the end of the practice test, you’ll be advised whether you passed or failed.

Fined Out: Practical guide for people having problems with fines

Legal Aid NSW has just published an updated version of its 'Fined Out' booklet, produced in collaboration with Inner City Legal Centre and Redfern Legal Centre.

Fined Out is a practical guide to the NSW fines system. It provides information about how to deal with fines and contact information for services that can help people with their fines.

A fine is a financial penalty for breaking the law. The Fines Act 1996 (NSW) and Regulations sets out the rules about fines.

The 5th edition of 'Fined Out' includes information on the different types of fines and chapters on the various options to deal with fines at different stages of the fine lifecycle, including court options and pathways to seek a review, a 50% reduction, a write-off, plan, or a Work and Development Order (WDO).

The resource features links to self-help legal tools for people with NSW fines, traffic offence fines and court attendance notices (CANs) and also explains the role of Revenue NSW in administering and enforcing fines.

Other sections of the booklet include information specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, young people and driving offences, as well as a series of template letters to assist people to self-advocate.

Hard copies will soon be available to be ordered online through the Publications tab on the Legal Aid NSW website.

Hard copies will also be made available in all public and prison libraries throughout NSW.

Read the resource online, or download the PDF.

Apprenticeships and traineeships info

Are you going to leave school this year?
Looking for an apprenticeship or traineeship to get you started?
This website, Training Services NSW, has stacks of info for you;

It lists the group training organisations (GTOs) that are currently registered in NSW under the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 2001. These GTOs have been audited by independent auditors and are compliant with the National Standards for Group Training Organisations.

If you are interested in using the services of a registered GTO, please contact any of the organisations listed here: https://www.training.nsw.gov.au/gto/contacts.html

There are also some great websites, like 1300apprentice, which list what kind of apprenticeships and traineeships they can guide you to securing as well as listing work available right now.

Profile Bayview Yacht Racing Association (BYRA)
1842 Pittwater Rd, Bayview
Website: www.byra.org.au

BYRA has a passion for sharing the great waters of Pittwater and a love of sailing with everyone aged 8 to 80 or over!

 headspace Brookvale

headspace Brookvale provides services to young people aged 12-25. If you are a young person looking for health advice, support and/or information,headspace Brookvale can help you with:

• Mental health • Physical/sexual health • Alcohol and other drug services • Education and employment services

If you ever feel that you are:

• Alone and confused • Down, depressed or anxious • Worried about your use of alcohol and/or other drugs • Not coping at home, school or work • Being bullied, hurt or harassed • Wanting to hurt yourself • Concerned about your sexual health • Struggling with housing or accommodation • Having relationship problems • Finding it hard to get a job

Or if you just need someone to talk to… headspace Brookvale can help! The best part is our service is free, confidential and youth friendly.

headspace Brookvale is open from Monday to Friday 9:00am-5:30pm so if you want to talk or make an appointment give us a call on (02) 9937 6500. If you're not feeling up to contacting us yourself, feel free to ask your family, friend, teacher, doctor or someone close to you to make a referral on your behalf.

When you first come to headspace Brookvale you will be greeted by one of our friendly staff. You will then talk with a member of our headspace Brookvale Youth Access Team. The headspace Brookvale Youth Access Team consists of three workers, who will work with you around whatever problems you are facing. Depending on what's happening for you, you may meet with your Youth Access Worker a number of times or you may be referred on to a more appropriate service provider.

A number of service providers are operating out of headspace Brookvale including Psychologists, Drug & Alcohol Workers, Sexual Health Workers, Employment Services and more! If we can't find a service operating withinheadspace Brookvale that best suits you, the Youth Access Team can also refer you to other services in the Sydney area.

eheadspace provides online and telephone support for young people aged 12-25. It is a confidential, free, secure space where you can chat, email or talk on the phone to qualified youth mental health professionals.

Click here to go to eheadspace

For urgent mental health assistance or if you are in a crisis please call the Northern Sydney 24 hour Mental Health Access Line on 1800 011 511

Need Help Right NOW??

kids help line: 1800 55 1800 - www.kidshelpline.com.au

lifeline australia - 13 11 14 - www.lifeline.org.au

headspace Brookvale is located at Level 2 Brookvale House, 1A Cross Street Brookvale NSW 2100 (Old Medical Centre at Warringah Mall). We are nearby Brookvale Westfield's bus stop on Pittwater road, and have plenty of parking under the building opposite Bunnings. More at: www.headspace.org.au/headspace-centres/headspace-brookvale

Profile: Avalon Soccer Club
Avalon Soccer Club is an amateur club situated at the northern end of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. As a club we pride ourselves on our friendly, family club environment. The club is comprised of over a thousand players aged from 5 to 70 who enjoy playing the beautiful game at a variety of levels and is entirely run by a group of dedicated volunteers. 
Profile: Pittwater Baseball Club

Their Mission: Share a community spirit through the joy of our children engaging in baseball.

Year 13

Year13 is an online resource for post school options that specialises in providing information and services on Apprenticeships, Gap Year Programs, Job Vacancies, Studying, Money Advice, Internships and the fun of life after school. Partnering with leading companies across Australia Year13 helps facilitate positive choices for young Australians when finishing school.

NCYLC is a community legal centre dedicated to providing advice to children and young people. NCYLC has developed a Cyber Project called Lawmail, which allows young people to easily access free legal advice from anywhere in Australia, at any time.

NCYLC was set up to ensure children’s rights are not marginalised or ignored. NCYLC helps children across Australia with their problems, including abuse and neglect. The AGD, UNSW, KWM, Telstra and ASIC collaborate by providing financial, in-kind and/or pro bono volunteer resources to NCYLC to operate Lawmail and/or Lawstuff.

Kids Helpline

If you’re aged 5-25 the Kids Helpline provides free and confidential online and phone counselling 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 1800 55 1800. You can chat with us about anything… What’s going on at home, stuff with friends. Something at school or feeling sad, angry or worried. You don’t have to tell us your name if you don’t want to.

You can Webchat, email or phone. Always remember - Everyone deserves to be safe and happy. You’re important and we are here to help you. Visit: https://kidshelpline.com.au/kids/