Julie Paterson and Manda Kaye’s home in Blackheath was designed with bushfire in mind and they are now preparing for the bushfire season. They’ve also moved to renewables and Julie is working on collaborative community art projects that embody the philosophy of re-using and re-making.
Read More »Individuals
Water Management, Optimism and Preparation to Reduce Disaster Risk
The 2013 fires damaged much of Andy Stevenson's property on the Darling Causeway in Mount Victoria. Andy was determined to survive the next fire, while also creating a beautiful haven for family, guests and wildlife. Read his story here.
Read More »Learning as Resilience: Chris Tobin on History, Country and the Power of Different Perspectives
Hamish Dunlop attends a talk by Dharug man Chris Tobin. Chris’ talk highlights how learning about other people’s cultures and ways of seeing can increase the resilience of individuals and communities.
Read More »Food is Love: Perspectives on Life from an Afghan Refugee
Afghan refugee Esmat Noori cooks for members of the Blue Mountains community at a fundraising lunch in Blackheath. The event was organised to support a group of young women in Afghanistan studying to be nurses under the Taliban regime.
Read More »Rooves, Tanks & Rain Gardens: Things We Can Do at Home to Save Water and Help the Environment
Planetary Health Initiative writer Hamish Dunlop talks to Amy St Lawrence from Blue Mountains City Council’s Healthy Waterways Team. Amy explains what she’s doing at her home to collect and use water. She also talks about how her rain garden reduces run-off during and after rainfall.
Read More »Govetts Leap Catchment Group: Collaborating to Protect our Wilderness from Weeds
Keith Brister is on a mission. He and his fellow Bushcare volunteers spent years “achieving the impossible”, protecting Blackheath’s stunning natural bushland, only to see the weeds return when COVID restrictions limited Bushcare. But Keith did not despair. Instead, he asked what else could be done, and set about doing it.
Read More »The Misty Valley: Fire, Flood, Covid & Serenity
Hamish Dunlop interviews Deborah Wells in the Blackheath Campbell Rhododendron Gardens. She shares how a group of passionate and dedicated volunteers have created a community space that is a haven for all species, and how they've helped it recover from drought, fire, flood and pandemic.
Read More »Blackheath Rotary President provides a glimpse of the future
John Campbell with his Tesla Charger and LG Chem Battery “Alexa, play ‘Golden Brown’ by The Stranglers.” I’m visiting John Campbell, the President of the Rotary Club of Blackheath, and it’s my first time experiencing what’s described as a ‘smart home’. From the music John asks Alexa to play on demand, to the changing coloured lights in the lounge room, …
Read More »Tom O’Halloran to climb for Australia in the Tokyo Olympics
Photo: Kamil Sustiak Rock climber Tom O’Halloran came to Blackheath to climb. He discovered here a sense of freedom and inner calm which has propelled him to the top of international Sport Climbing and to selection in the Australian team for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Tom and Oceana Mackenzie will represent Australia when the sport makes its debut in …
Read More »Jacinta Tobin, The Preatures and Yanada
To celebrate #NAIDOCWeek2021, and with nostalgia for a pre-Covid time, we’re reprinting this fabulous article by young Blackheathen Annabel Pettit, advocating for us all to be speaking, hearing and acknowledging Indigenous languages as a part of our collective Australian history. “Tell me how it was in the beginning of our land, We’re like in the Dreamtime, shedding our …
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