Community

Who is Laura Dale?: I am the head chef and operator of The G Spot food van in Gungahlin. Best recent dining experience: RAKU, hands down! That place never fails to impress me. Favourite cuisine: I'd say Asian cuisine would definitely be my favourite, particularly Japanese food. I have visited Japan multiple times, too! Most embarrassing pantry item: Mi Goreng. It's legit the...

Mid-autumn and the weather is cooling. La Niña is persisting and will continue to influence our climate into late Autumn. Soil temperatures, however, are still quite warm so you can continue to plant the vegetables that will keep you going over winter. Carrot, parsnip, turnip and swede seeds can all be planted now, directly where you mean to grow them....

Najeebullah (Najeeb) Rafee was only a few days shy of his 25th birthday when he fell from a raft at the Cotter Dam in October 2020. The ANU student, previously recognised for his community service by the ACT Government, was taken to hospital in a critical condition. The day the life support was turned off would have been his birthday....

If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise - especially if you eat something you shouldn't. Our bush is full of marvels but there are just as many dangers lurking about, so it's best to listen to the experts: if you don't know what it is, be it animal, vegetable or fungi, leave it...

Before you even bite into one of their luscious poffertjes, a traditional Dutch dessert, you can feel the joy radiating from Sylvie & Bruno's coffee bean-shaped food van. This is a vibrant, new family-run business, and they are all just happy to be working alongside each other. "I was a teacher working in disability and early intervention for 10 years...

Canberrans are urged to nominate emergency services personnel who go above and beyond the call of duty as the Rotary Clubs of ACT Emergency Services Community Awards (RESCA) open for 2022. Now in its fifth year in the ACT, the Awards aim to publicly thank our emergency services personnel for their outstanding community service. Judges assess three key criteria during...

Casey residents want their park to have better spaces to play, meet with friends, have picnics and enjoy a barbecue, according to results of a recent survey. The survey organised by local member for Yerrabi, Suzanne Orr, asked about 500 residents what Casey Community Recreation Park was lacking and what they would like added. The results will help inform the...

Most people wouldn't describe themselves as being "very relieved" after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, but local politician Suzanne Orr was because, until that she got that call from her doctor, she thought she had cancer. Ms Orr was diagnosed with Immune Thrombocytopenia in 2010.  The rare disease is understood to affect three in 100,000 adults in Australia every year...

Gavin Smith spends his days tracking down something that most of us are keen to stay away from - Eastern brown snakes. An Associate Professor of Social Science at the Australian National University, Gavin also owns and operates ACT Snake Removals. Since 2021, he has been watching, finding and tracking the Eastern browns in a number of Canberra nature park...

Just talking to Salvatore Costanzo makes you hungry. He's passionate about pasta. Salvatore – known as `Sal' – has previously run cafes across Canberra. But his decision to start making pasta more than six years ago has taken that to a new level. “I used to have the coffee shop and stuff, but pasta for me is something I want...

On 2 March one of Canberra’s favourite birds, and our territory emblem, received recognition. But for all the wrong reasons. Based on the recommendations of an eminent scientific committee, the glorious gang-gang cockatoo has shockingly been declared `Endangered' at a national level. Its listing under ACT legislation will automatically follow. This means it's “facing a very high risk of extinction...

Mohammed Ali says Canberra is better when it comes together to help one another. And he would know, given the number of charitable causes he puts his time and energy towards. The founder and president of HelpingACT - an organisation he started in 2018 after his retirement to provide food security to those Canberrans struggling to get by - was...

Getting a foot on the first rung of the property ladder might seem impossible in the current market, but there's one Canberra real estate agency that's giving middle-income earners a much-needed leg-up. HomeGround Real Estate matches generous landlords with reliable tenants who are working towards buying their home but may be struggling to save a deposit because they are completing...