Community

The Migrant Women’s Art Group creates not only art but also community. It's a free art group for women who have migrated to Australia and live in the Gungahlin region.   The group’s first project was on belonging, and artists brought an object from their culture for the class to draw. “We would get to know more about that object, and...

With it's slate-grey body and bright red head, Canberra is the only city in Australia the gang-gang cockatoo chooses to call home. But there are concerns its numbers elsewhere are dwindling. The population of the native bird has been relatively stable in the ACT region for the past 30 years, but the rest of southeast Australia has seen a 69...

"Spring is in the air" is really just another way of saying "hay fever" is in the air. Canberra's bumper pollen season is about to get worse as the ACT Government rips the dust covers off the lawnmower fleet and revs them into action for a bumper grass season. ACT Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said even...

When a package goes missing, it's a pain. When a package with sentimental value goes missing, it's painful. Palmerston woman Tanya Wright knows this feeling well. Since July – before the ACT was in COVID-19 lockdown – she has been expecting a package from her mother-in-law who lives in Hervey Bay, Queensland. In the package is a handmade cardigan, a red beanie,...

The Canberra community has again shown its calibre when it comes to helping neighbours in need, with businesses and local leaders banding together to supply $15,000 of fresh produce and meat to large multicultural families in quarantine. Deputy Opposition Leader Giulia Jones put in the call to Andrew Dale from the G-Spot in Gungahlin, asking for help and support. Not...

They've been immortalised in earrings, cartoons and mugs, but it's most likely the first time a Canberra bus stop has been recreated in cardboard. It was the combination of an unprecedented amount of spare time and inordinate amounts of cardboard that led Palmerson's Kirrily Burnett on what would turn out to be a bit of an adventure. After unsuccessfully trying...

As you nod off to dreamland every night, you should count yourself lucky. Canberra has just been rated as the best city in the world to catch a good night's sleep in – despite the loud bangs that seem to plague much of the inner north, inner south, Belconnen, Gungahlin, Queanbeyan, Woden and Tuggeranong. You'd think these loud noises would impair us...

Lockdown is a great opportunity to break from routine, says nature play expert Nicole Sadlier, and make time for family fun. “Although it's an uncertain and stressful time for many, it's also a time when families can create fond memories," Ms Sadlier says. "If we're lucky, our kids will look back and say, ‘remember that time when I didn't go to...

Facemasks could see magpies swoop more Canberrans than ever before this spring breeding season, an expert warns. While facemasks help prevent the spread of COVID-19, an unintended side-effect is they may provoke more magpies to swoop you. The iconic birds recognise people by their facial features and if our faces are obscured, they can't tell friend from foe. Griffith University...

There's a lot of barking going about on how to train dogs. Make them sit when they'd rather run. Not leave smelly things underfoot. Stop greeting each other in that very doggy way. But on this, International Dog Day 2021, we've asked some of the best dogs we know - who may well be training Region Media staff and sleeping...

How do you hold a gigantic cake decorating competition, auction and raffle in the midst of a pandemic lockdown? And how do you do it with just 48 hours' notice? Canberra's magical, slightly mad annual Cake-off, in support of the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre, has become a tradition. After being cancelled last year, the Cake-off team weren't willing to give up...

"Ken Behrens" may have started as a mistranslation, but it's fast become a shining example of Canberra's indomitable spirit and humour as lockdowns wear on. The ACT has been in lockdown since Thursday (August 12) after a local COVID-19 case was identified. "I want to thank all Canberrans for doing the right thing," ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said in...

For the most part, Canberra households seem to have been spared the feared ‘mouse wave’ that was predicted to overwhelm us a little while ago, helped no doubt by the onset of the winter cold. We’ve also been helped by some mouse hunters I’ve seen along the roadsides, hovering overhead or sitting on the wires, watching for movement in the...