Community surrounding this natural wonder never want to see another death
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News.com.au
18 hours ago
- News.com.au
Seven hikers saved in Kosciuszko alpine rescue
A massive six-hour rescue operation has saved a group of hikers who were stranded in heavy snow in NSW's Snowy Mountains. The group of seven hikers activated a personal locator beacon (PLB) around 1.15pm on Saturday along a trek in the Kosciuszko National Park. Police, SES and NSW ambulance were part of the rescue team. The group, who were aged from 21 to 48, was found at about 7pm. They had reportedly become disoriented after a sudden change in weather on their hike. They were all assessed by paramedics at the scene and treated for exposure to the cold. The group were then taken to Thredbo Village using a specialised Snowcat vehicle. Monaro Police District Commander Detective Acting Superintendent Keith Price urged hikers to look for weather alerts before embarking on any treks. 'Activating the PLB meant rescuers had a precise location as well as information about the stranded group, enabling the appropriate resources to be deployed more quickly,' he said. 'Even experienced hikers with the right gear can be impacted by sudden weather changes and our advice to all hikers in the Alpine area is to always check for weather alerts, plan your route carefully, and take a PLB.' The Dead Horse Gap hike is considered one of the more accessible treks in the Thredbo region. It is a mostly downhill 10km circuit that takes hikers from the top of the Kosciuszko Chairlift to Dead Horse Gap.
ABC News
19 hours ago
- ABC News
Tourism hopes for town of Penola as Netflix films My Brilliant Career
In the small town of Freeling, half an hour north of Adelaide, locals are used to rubbing shoulders with tourists excitedly photographing their pub and truck stop. For more than 20 years, day trippers have made the pilgrimage to "McLeod's Country" to see the real-life setting from TV show McLeod's Daughters, an Australian drama series that ran from 2001 to 2009. Freeling, named Gungellan in the series, shot to fame thanks to the show. "It's as popular today as it was while we were filming there," creator and producer Posie Graeme-Evans said. "People just love having their photo at the 'Gungellan Pub', truck stop, town hall and amid the streetscapes they are so familiar with," she said. "In turn, the town of Freeling has embraced these visitors as a benefit to its tourism. "Small operators have even sprung up offering tours to filming locations. It's been wonderful for the region." It has been 16 years since McLeod's Daughters wrapped up filming in South Australia, but its legacy lives on. Now, the town of Penola, in the south-east corner of the state, hopes the same effect will transpire in the wake of global streaming giant Netflix setting up at a historical homestead in the area in June. Backed by the state government and South Australian Film Corporation's Screen Production Fund, a drama series adaptation of Miles Franklin's classic Australian novel My Brilliant Career is now in production at Yallum Park, an 1878 heritage-listed homestead. Netflix said the story, first published in 1901, had resonated with a rising generation of young Australian women who longed for the freedom to shape their own destinies. The series, which is expected to premiere in late 2026 or early 2027, will result in various locations across the state being transformed for the period production, including across Adelaide, the Southern Barossa region and the south-east. On a wintry day in Penola, local retailers were hopeful about what the production would mean for the town. "It's certainly exciting to be chosen to feature in the series," said Diane Williams, who runs a giftware shop in town and also has accommodation units. "It will put another feather in Penola's cap. "The town has obviously had a lot of accommodation bookings from cast and crew while they're filming here, but I think the real tourism benefits are yet to come. Down the street, chef and cafe owner Ian Perry agrees. "We've had a lot of crew members come in and that's been a boost to trade during winter, when things can be quiet," he said. "They're lovely people and they have all really enjoyed being here in Penola, a part of the country they might otherwise not get to see." SA Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said the production was expected to inject $17 million into the state's economy — the highest spend of any TV series made in the state. Five years after a bypass opened around Penola, Ms Williams is hopeful film tourism will become part of the town's future. "The bypass has had an impact on the town, but there have been plenty of benefits too," she said. "We're looking forward to seeing what might be on the way for Penola now it can add 'film set' to its long list of attractions."
ABC News
20 hours ago
- ABC News
Drought relief truck convoy brings fodder to farms in time-honoured tradition
Australia's vast distances are perhaps the reason the idea of the cross-country trek — in the form of a convoy, a cavalcade or a relief column — has imprinted its tracks so deeply into the nation's collective consciousness. The inland mission of Burke and Wills met with disaster, but when the doomed duo left Melbourne months earlier in August 1860, the stately tread of their travelling party's horses and camels was accompanied by the cheers of a 15,000-strong crowd. The men were in search of pastures green — a sight that has, of late, been a little hard to come by across swathes of southern Australia. For months, drought has been ravaging the continent's temperate zone, leaving many South Australian farmers without water and fodder, and there is a prevailing sense of a final straw. But, in time-honoured tradition, help has been on the way — and it has been coming from way out west. Along the Eyre Highway and across the Nullarbor Plain, a veritable "hay fever" of sorts has broken out. For the past two days, a convoy that would stretch an estimated 3 kilometres if all its trucks were lined up bumper-to-bumper has been bringing thousands of bales of fodder from Western to South Australia. "This is logistically the biggest hay run ever and it is a massive machine," convoy participant Karen Smith said. The enterprise has been not so much a "bailout" as a "bales on" — on, that is, to the backs of the approximately 85 trucks that are now destined for 400 farming businesses across Eyre Peninsula, the Adelaide Hills and other South Australian regions that have been battling the impact of the drought. When Ms Smith — who runs a transport business in Esperance — got wind of what was brewing, she knew she had to be involved. "We were on a holiday in the Kimberleys up north and we cut it short to do this trip because it's very important to us," she said. "This is our third hay run … [and] once you get involved, that's it — it's kind of like a lifetime membership. "It's addictive in that you just love the fact that Aussies are helping Aussies, and I guess in this case it's farmers helping farmers, but you've also got the transport industry, which is obviously what helps get it there." The convoy is the brainchild of two charities, Farmers Across Borders and Need for Feed, and support has also been provided by the South Australian government. Transport costs have been covered by $2 million from the state's drought relief fund. Anyone overlooking the trucks before they set off from Norseman in WA on Friday might have been struck by their resemblance to a giant cattle drive or muster — the vehicles and their cargo of provender were packed together like sheep in a pen. But when they hit the road, they quickly metamorphosed into a narrow column. As that column arrived to a warm welcome in Ceduna on SA's west coast on Saturday afternoon, it presented the kind of spectacle that might have sparked the imagination of Henry Lawson, had the bush poet been born into the age of the B-double and the dual carriageway. "We've got truckies here from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia," said Need for Feed chair Graham Cockerell as he refuelled his truck in Ceduna. "Ceduna is probably the first of the real welcoming committee but there's been a few farmers come out onto the road, which is a bit emotional for us. "We're blown away by that — by the level of support right from the top downwards." Among the army of drivers is Shepparton truckie and hay run veteran Andrew Linehan, who left for WA nine days ago in order to participate in the operation. For him, the chief appeal of the enterprise is the camaraderie afforded by the open road. "It's always been a bit of fun — you get to catch up with some like-minded people as well, and you get the added bonus of helping somebody out who's struggling a little bit," he said. Progress was painstaking — rain meant the drivers had to take extra care on the road. While some noted the irony of delivering drought relief amid downpours, Adelaide truckie David Aylett was delighted that the convoy had coincided with the wintry weather. "It's bringing the rain, which we need in South Australia," he said. "The farmers — they do it tough at times, and it's just good to do a bit for the country. But some of that spirit was very much on show along roadsides, where smiling, waving and cheering wellwishers gathered to salute the convoy. "You just see people out there who've got so much joy on their faces," Mr Aylett said. "It tingles down your spine, basically." Among those greeting the group was Ceduna resident of 14 years Karen Toft. Standing on the edge of the Eyre Highway, she was draped in an Australian flag, which she eagerly held aloft with the passing of each hay truck. "I think it's a big moment," she said with both local and national pride. "This is just really amazing — an amazing logistical exercise to get all these trucks through a small town, in Ceduna. "This is an extraordinary thing, this is what people do, Australians do, in times of need — everyone steps up, and this is part of it." On the farmers' side of the fence, there is a strong sense of appreciation, but it is being tempered by caution. Amid heavy rain on Friday, grain growers told the ABC that it was far too soon to be talking about recovery. "One rain doesn't break a drought," one said. "We'll still need follow-up, and we'll need a very kind spring to make a season of it." It's a message the state government understands. "The rains have come very, very late, which means that a lot of people either sowed crops which then got blown away or didn't grow or have had to re-sow, or both," Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said. "What this rain means is I think some hope for our farmers, who have been doing it so, so tough, but it means still that there is a long way to go. "We've been very, very grateful for the partnership with the charities." SA Dairyfarmers' Association president Robert Brokenshire said the deliveries of donated hay would make a difference at a difficult time for many. "If the state government didn't have a freight subsidy package — and if we weren't getting Need for Feed and others bringing in this fodder, frankly — sadly, some banks would be knocking on the doors, I'd suggest, of some farmers, because it's that tight," he said. "Many dairy farmers would have had to dry their cows off or indeed sell cows, and we probably would have had quite a shortage of milk to supply South Australia. "It's really been exhausting financially and mentally, so the government being behind us and the volunteer organisations … are an absolute saviour." The convoy has now reached its final destination in the township of Wudinna, on Eyre Peninsula's wheatbelt, but the job is hardly over. In fact, the most important stage has not yet begun. "We've brought just over 6,400 bales," Need for Feed chair Graham Cockerell said. "We've actually had to rejig some of our deliveries because it's too wet to get in on the farms." From Wudinna, the vehicles will go their separate ways, taking their fodder in all directions. "It'll get distributed throughout different parts of South Australia," driver Andrew Linehan said. "We could end up down the other side into the Adelaide Hills or into the outback areas." Towards the fateful end of their journey, Burke and Wills were famously confronted by the word "DIG" on a tree along the Cooper Creek — a message pointing them in the direction of buried supplies. It was not enough to save them. But digging deep in times of crisis is something that rural communities pride themselves on — a point made by many involved in this weekend's hay convoy. "It means everything," Karen Smith said.
