Individuals

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.

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, …

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 …

  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 …

  When you first meet Sherlie McMillan you’re instantly bowled over by her disarming warmth, infectious laughter and wicked sense of humour.   During the last Covid restrictions, when only 10 were allowed into the Rotary meeting room at the Blackheath Golf and Community Club, Sherlie’s laughter rang out from ‘the naughty table’ that met outside in the dining room. …

  In March this year, Japanese journalist Harumi Hayakawa wrote a piece for the Japanese publication Asahi Weekly in which she explained why the terrifying Australian fires of December 2019 actually made her like the Blue Mountains even more.     In her article she described the many ways the community came together during and after the fires and how, …

You can download this month’s Local News here: June Local News 2021

Annabel Pettit shares her inspiring conversation with Barbara Armitage, former Mayor of Waverley, about her passionate dedication to family, community and creativity.

  In May 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, I spent time with Bob Burnett in his home at Mount Victoria. He and Peter Buckwell, his neighbour, were nightly companions and supporting each other through the Lockdown. As we’ve seen over the last few years, life has a way of up-ending everyone’s plans. As it turned out, by …

  Annabel Pettit interviews Blackheathen/Bathurstian Vaughan Jones at the Headspace Garden in Katoomba (Photo: Annabel Pettit, Vaughan Jones, Alex Young)   Vaughan Jones is a young local Blackheathen, very much born and raised. We caught up in the permaculture garden behind Headspace Katoomba, which he played an integral role in designing and planting. Sitting down on the wooden stumps that …