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The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Progress or preservation: the bitter fight over plans to redevelop historic Berrima Gaol
Nearly two centuries of New South Wales prison history is at the heart of a tug-of-war in the historic town of Berrima. From a small shop in the main street of Berrima, resident Eric Savage is trying to raise awareness about the plans for the adaptive reuse of the historic Berrima Gaol and the need to protect this local treasure. Savage, who has received the Citizen of the Year award for his community advocacy, would prefer the jail remain a community and cultural asset, utilising the space to sustain its history while opening it for shops and a museum, offering tourists a glimpse into Australia's criminal justice system. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter The walls of his shop are thick with documents detailing plans for a property developer's proposal for the Berrima Quarter, including photographs and information about the history of the site – which operated as a correctional centre between 1839 and 2020 with some breaks, including use an internment camp for German prisoners of war in the first world war. From here, Savage he has spoken with hundreds of residents and visitors about his preferred plans for the site and its cultural value. Four years ago, the Berrima Residents Association Inc – of which Savage is president – along with the Southern Highlands Chamber of Commerce and the Berrima House Vault, submitted an expression of interest for the purchase of the jail for $3m. 'Once the jail was closed, there was an extraordinary opportunity to develop that in a way that really enhanced Berrima and the history of the property itself and Berrima's heritage,' Savage says. 'It would be a major focus for heritage tourism in the highlands. We see that it's an emblematic development that really places tourism and jobs and heritage at the centre of the future of the shire.' The site was instead sold to the Blue Sox Group, a family-owned property developer. They plan to transform the jail into a hospitality and entertainment precinct, with up to 60 hotel suites, making it one of the largest accommodation venues in the southern highlands. Project architect Dan Szwaj says there is a 'strong demand' for hospitality venues in the southern highlands. Szwaj is a director at Turner Studio, the design firm working on the proposed redevelopment, alongside national heritage consultant Urbis, Primary Comms Group, and JMD Landscape Consultants. 'We're going through a very lengthy design process and engagement process, and that's both with key stakeholders at local and government level but just as important or more important the community as well,' Szwaj says. 'We need to listen and look at how we can integrate those stories and the feedback into our design … It's a balancing act.' Community engagement sessions were held throughout February and March. Major concerns raised include the interventions into the fortress-like walls of the jail, a three-storey car park and the accommodation buildings on the escarpment due to its proximity to riparian areas (transition areas between land and water) along the Wingecarribbee River. Szwaj says the design will include connecting with country and considering the views of Indigenous Australians, adding 'There is a lot of storytelling, there is a lot that our team is doing … in terms of consultations, but jails within Australia haven't had a good history in terms of our First Nations people.' The community bid led by Savage was based on the Old Beechworth Gaol model, in which a consortium of 19 local families and philanthropic organisations raised $2.6m to buy back the historic site. Matt Pfahlert led that campaign. Pfahlert, through the Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship, now helps support communities to unlock the power of social and local entrepreneurship. 'We're very deliberate about taking an entrepreneurial approach to things, which ultimately has a business model and a sustainable enterprise,' he says. 'The jail is really about creating that demonstration site and action learning centre for Australia around community asset buyback,' Pfahlert said. 'The business model for the future orientation of this place is all around cultural tourism.' Sign up to The Rural Network Subscribe to Calla Wahlquist's fortnightly update on Australian rural and regional affairs after newsletter promotion This model goes back to Yackandandah, Victoria in 2002 when several community members established the Yackandandah Community Development Company Ltd in response to the closure of the only petrol station in town. Through capital raised and government contributions the new service station was opened in 2003. It's a growing movement: the small north-western Victorian town of Nandaly bought back their only pub; and in the coastal Gippsland town of Mallacoota a community-led wilderness collective has bought a building for coworking and collaboration. There are few resources to support the community buyback of redundant buildings, Pfahlert says, leading to locals being locked out of their future economies. They are also disadvantaged by underinvestment in rural areas, or politicians favouring short-term employment bumps over more enduring community benefits. In contrast, countries such as Canada, Scotland and the United Kingdom are 'trying to encourage community-led rejuvenation of their local economies', he says. 'When communities own and operate their own asset and become entrepreneurial at a social level they can then start solving other issues that they face as well … and where its solved at a local level it's usually way more sustainable and way more beneficial to local community members.' For Berrima residents, memories of the jail extend beyond its use as a prison. 'In the 80s and 90s, when I was a little kid, most of the houses on the side street were owned by correctional officers,' local Adam Dickson tells Guardian Australia. 'A lot of prisoners were allowed to come out, mow the lawns and pick up rubbish. My parents used to breed horses, and they used to come pick up the manure and use it for the market gardens.' Irish migrant and stonemason Mick Ritchie worked alongside inmates who filled labouring positions. 'When I came out here, the jail was full of paedophiles, politicians and police officers,' he says. But unlike some others in town, Ritchie is keen for a reasonable change. 'I believe the development should go ahead; it will be better for the community,' he says. Clare McCabe is a journalist in Crookwell, NSW Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
The Guardian
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Lab coats, red boards and oiled bodies: inside the world of junior pig showing
Two young competitors enter the ring wearing matching white coats and serious expressions. They're holding red plastic boards. Braced between the boards is a black-and-white Hampshire pig named Ann. The handlers, wearing oversized white lab coats and hats too big for them, are seven-year-old Asher Blenkiron and eight-year-old Zarlei Mears. They guide Ann around an obstacle course on fake green turf in front of a stand full of spectators at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. First, they usher her through a gated fence, then around a set of barrels, then through another fence before walking under an archway and back into the pen. The crowd erupts into applause. Junior pig handling is a serious event, and Asher has just won first prize in the under-13 division. Zarlei comes second. Pig handling is in Asher's blood. Her family breed Hampshire pigs in South Australia's Barossa Valley. They're regulars on the royal show circuit and longtime competitors at Adelaide royal show. This is their fourth year at the Sydney show. The long trip was worth while: in addition to Asher's first prize ribbon, the stud took out the top award of best pig in show. Asher's mother, Amy Blenkiron, says she is happy with her daughter's success. 'I'm really proud because it shows how we've passed our pig parading on to her,' Blenkiron says. 'We have done amazing this year; we got 'pig of show' and we've been awarded lots of ribbons as well.' Unlike others competing at the show, the Blenkirons do not raise or train their showing animals differently to other livestock. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter 'We don't actually have specific show pigs; we take them out of the shelters we use so what you see here today is what you'll get from paddock to plate,' she says. Pig handling received an unlikely boost in international attention in the past year, thanks to a viral video of California teenager Karis Dawson's icy stare on the hog showmanship circuit in the United States. Convention states competitors must maintain eye contact with the judge as they ''tap' or guide their pig. The rules are a bit more relaxed in Australia, Blenkiron says. 'In the US, pig handling is an actual sport where as here it is still quite low key so we don't have to tap them as we walk – we can literally just parade them how they are, with their personalities,' she says. That makes it a friendly event for those new to livestock showing, says ring steward and announcer Kristen Temessl. Controlling a pig with boards is easier and less stressful than using a stick, and is based on the conventional wisdom that 'if a pig can see through it, they will go through it'. 'I like the boards, especially for our junior handlers who are smaller, younger and not quite as strong as some of our adult handlers,' she says. Temessl, who works as a schoolteacher in Parkes in central western New South Wales, says pig handling is a good opportunity to bring visiting school students into the ring. 'It brings in students from all of the schools that participate – we even sometimes grab students from out of the crowd and they have to parade a pig around the course we have set out for them,' she says. '[The judges] are looking for things like: can they work together, are they able to control the pig, do they actually know how to use the boards. All of those scores combined will give us a winner at the end of the competition.' The presentation of the pig is also important. Temessl says competitors will choose pigs months in advance based on their genetics and type, and give them a special feed ration to make sure they're in show condition. 'Come show time, we wash them, we shampoo them, and for the white pigs, we powder them and for the coloured pigs we oil them to present them perfectly.' Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
The Guardian
04-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘It just leaves us without anything': why was Wodonga left reeling by sudden primary school closure?
The Dickinsons have been sending their children to Bandiana primary school on the outskirts of Wodonga for more than eight years. But at the end of 2023, the community suddenly received notice the school would be closing when the lease for the site expires at the end of 2025. Students will be enrolled at a new primary school being built at Leneva, another suburb south of Wodonga, set to open in 2026. 'There was really no communication,' Daniel Dickinson says. 'We found it out through the school and the media.' The new school at the heart of a growing subdivision would be a 20-minute drive from their house, in the opposite direction to their workplaces. There is no dedicated bus route. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Dickinson says he would have 'loved' to have moved his children to the new school, where their friends and teachers are going, if it was closer to their suburb of Killara. But the distance and lack of communication from the department means they instead decided to move to Wodonga primary school at the start of this year, to minimise disruption. Wodonga primary school has 900 students, Bandiana just 300. The new school at Leneva will be built for 525 students including 50 places for students with disabilities. The Dickinsons have one child with dyslexia and another with learning disabilities. 'I do understand why they've chosen [to build] near a bigger growth area,' says Dickinson. 'But there's also other schools around there that people could go to. It just leaves us without anything.' The Victorian education department annually reviews the need for new schools using demographic modelling based on residential growth and enrolment trends. The 2024-2025 state budget included $1.3bn for building, expanding, and acquiring land for schools, and a government spokesperson said Victoria had the largest school building program in the country, spending $16.9bn over the past 10 years. It's on track to open 121 new schools between 2017 and 2026. But Dickinson and other affected parents say communication with the school community is lacking. 'We didn't know when it was happening. We didn't know how it was happening. We didn't know anything about the bus [routes],' he says. 'We were literally told this on the last day of school, like: here you go, mic drop, and now we've got this question mark over our heads.' Eight years ago, when Jennifer Broadbent's eldest son started at Delacombe primary school, it had just over 300 students. By the time her third and youngest child started prep in term one this year, the school had grown to the largest in Ballarat, with 640 students and climbing. Broadbent is concerned the school is so big now that her youngest, who has ADHD, may be left behind. Delacombe and neighbouring Winter Valley are the fastest-growing areas of Ballarat, projected to grow from a population of 28,834 in 2023 to 48,500 people by 2036. 'We desperately need a new school,' Broadbent says. 'Winter Valley is growing so quickly and still growing and it's unfair on children when schools get too big. They get lost in the crowd and there's decreased teacher-child engagement.' Delacombe primary school principal, Scott Phillips, says the school is managing the high growth 'at the moment', but current enrolment trends put the school at 800 students within the next two years. The Victorian government says the school currently has capacity for 725 students – but Phillips says he has been told their capacity is 675, accounting for the planned removal of a demountable classroom. The student population is also undergoing a shift, with 7% now speaking English as an additional language and a growing number requiring in-classroom support. 'You have to find an office space for that person and it's great to have that extra support for students, but where do you place that person?' Phillips says. 'The template for our school is not keeping up with that.' Sign up to The Rural Network Subscribe to Calla Wahlquist's fortnightly update on Australian rural and regional affairs after newsletter promotion It's already stacked with demountable classrooms, including a new double-storey demountable installed this year. Two new public schools – one primary and one secondary – were approved by the state government as part of a 2012 structure plan for the Ballarat west growth area prescient, which includes Delacombe and Winter Valley, in 2012. The City of Ballarat lists the next steps for the project as 'ongoing advocacy'. The Victorian government says there are no immediate plans to fund the construction of a new school in this area. A new Catholic school in Winter Valley was announced in 2023 and is expected to open in 2028. The delay in opening new schools has prompted some parents like Emma Edwards to turn to non-government schools. Edwards' daughter was initially enrolled to start prep at Delacombe primary school this year, before they decided it was too big. She instead started at a smaller Catholic school outside their zone. '[Our school] has about 265 students in total and there are only two foundation classes,' Edwards says. 'The preps need more individual focus to help guide them in all directions.' A 2024 report commissioned by the Australian Education Union says the number of public school students in Australia grew by 160,000 in the seven years to 2022 and is expected to grow by a further 160,000 by 2029, with the outer western suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney and established regional cities like Ballarat, Geelong, and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland the areas of greatest need. Dr Emma Rowe, an associate professor in education at Deakin University says 'band-aid temporary solutions' like adding demountable to increase the capacity of public schools, sent a message that public education was 'undervalued'. 'If we really cared, we would build a school for students and ensure it had high quality facilities. Parents are obviously still wanting to choose the public school, but the government is not responding appropriately,' Prof Rowe says. Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
BSE, tariffs and ‘wonderful people': what you need to know about US-Australia beef relations
Donald Trump did not impose any special penalties on Australia beyond a baseline 10% tariff on goods exported to the US. But Trump did single out the Australian beef industry in his speech preceding his tariffs announcement. 'Australia bans – and they're wonderful people – but they ban American beef,' the US president said. The US, Trump said, imported $3bn of Australian beef 'last year alone'. He then took aim at Australia's biosecurity rules restricting import of US beef. 'They won't take any of our beef. They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don't blame them, but we're doing the same thing right now, starting at midnight tonight.' Here's what you need to know about Australian rules governing beef imports. Australia introduced a ban on US beef imports in 2003, in response to an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. It was technically lifted in 2019, subject to an ongoing biosecurity review that in practice means no imports of fresh beef. The sticking point is the US's reliance on live cattle imports from Canada and Mexico to bolster its national herd. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, have both said they will not compromise on biosecurity to allow the US access to the Australian market. Any country seeking market access to import fresh beef products – which means chilled or frozen meat, not processed beef products – must undergo a BSE risk assessment, conducted by Food Standards Australia New Zealand. A risk assessment of the US published in 2015 granted it category 1 status, concluding that the US had 'comprehensive and well-established controls' to prevent BSE outbreaks in cattle and any contamination into the human food chain. Category 1 countries are able to import fresh and processed beef into Australia so long as they comply with other conditions. In 2017, Australia released the beef review, which assessed applications for market access from countries that had passed the BSE risk assessment, including the US. That review should have been the final step in allowing access to the Australian market – except it specified that the animal from which the beef was derived must have been 'continuously resident' in the approved country since birth. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter In January 2020, US officials clarified that their request included beef sourced from bovines legally imported into the US from Mexico and Canada. The US imported an average of 700,000 cattle, buffalo or bison from Canada each year between 2019 and 2023 and 1.2 million per year from Mexico over the same period. Australia responded that that amounted to a change of scope and would require a science-based assessment to ensure the biosecurity risk was no greater than for cattle born and wholly raised in the US. A draft report was released for public comment last year and the final report is yet to be released. Australian industry stakeholders raised concerns about the traceability of cattle born outside the US and argued that all beef imported to Australia should be subject to the same rigorous end-to-end traceability requirements as Australian producers. The US does have a national traceability system but it is widely agreed to be not as rigorous as the electronic traceability system in Australia. The Cattle Australia president, Dr Chris Parker, said the US effectively had access to the Australian market provided it can demonstrate its beef comes from cattle that have lived continuously in the US. 'These are the same conditions that the US imposes on Australian exporters – reciprocal arrangements are already in place,' he said in a statement on Wednesday. 'The US industry has not been able to meet these standards and now wish to include beef from cattle born in Mexico and Canada.' Parker, who is in Washington this week to lobby for Australian cattle interests, said US farmers were unable to meet the domestic demand and Australian farmers were filling the shortfall. 'Imposing tariffs on Australian beef disregards the mutually beneficial role of each country's supply chain, and the effects will be most acutely felt by American consumers and industry,' he said. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry told industry press Beef Central that import conditions into Australia were 'currently available for beef products sourced from cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the United States' but the US has not started trade under those terms. Sign up to The Rural Network Subscribe to Calla Wahlquist's fortnightly update on Australian rural and regional affairs after newsletter promotion In short, no. Australia produced 2.5m tonnes of beef last year, of which just over one-fifth was consumed onshore. Angus Gidley-Baird, a senior animal proteins analyst at Rabobank, said it is highly unlikely that US imports would ever constitute anything other than a very small, very specialised market. 'We are a very efficient producer here … We have got plenty of beef in Australia to satisfy the domestic market,' he said. Gidley-Baird said the beef exported to the US from Australia was 'largely complementary' to its domestic product: the US produces higher-fat, grain-fed beef and the vast cattle herds of northern Australia are lean, grass-fed beef. Those two products are mixed in US ground beef and hamburgers. 'It's not like we are displacing US product in that respect; it's that they are not producing it on their own,' he said. It is too early to say what the impact will be. Gidley-Baird said the blanket application of a 10% tariff means that Australia's competitive position remains unchanged. Brazil, the largest beef exporter to the US ahead of Australia, will also be subject to a 10% tariff. 'The question is which part of the supply chain will wear the costs,' Gidley-Baird said. 'With very strong demand and limited supply in the US for beef at the moment, you could argue that it will land on the consumer end.' The US cattle herd is at a 74-year low due to prolonged drought conditions. In 2024 the US imported 525,980 tonnes of Australian beef to fill the gap. Tariffs may bring opportunities for some sections of the industry, Gidley-Baird said. Australia competes against US beef producers in the high-end wagyu markets in China and Japan. Trump announced a 34% tariff on goods from China on top of an existing 20% levy and a 24% tariff on Japan, which may mean they look more towards Australian suppliers. The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) and Cattle Australia said they would look for diversification opportunities, particularly the resumption of talks over the EU fair trade agreement. The trade minister, Don Farrell, said he had a meeting scheduled with EU partners on Monday. The NFF president, David Jochinke, said the tariff announcement was a 'disappointing step backward for our nations and for the global economy'. Albanese told reporters in Melbourne that he spoke to the NFF and beef producers on Wednesday morning to offer support in a 'really difficult period for them', but added that 'in terms of the competitive position, it is maintained'. Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
We moved to the country to give our rescued working dogs a better life
The week we moved from Brisbane to the New South Wales New England region seven years ago, my husband, Richard, asked the bloke at a local hardware shop if he stocked dog doors. The response was, 'No, why would you need one?' I groaned internally. Being regional returners with two rescued border collies, we were acutely aware of grazier concerns about rogue pets and didn't want to create more worries. Rescues have been our go-to for decades, mainly working breeds. These active, intelligent animals are selected to herd livestock across vast rural landscapes, yet they routinely end up in city back yards. On-leash walks rarely satiate their physical and mental stamina, and while off-leash dog parks are starting to meet the need, they're never really enough for high-energy hounds. On occasion, their work ethic is misinterpreted. The worst I ever witnessed was a man with a walking stick passing my tethered border collie. Her quivering crouch and wide-open eyes signalled that she thought he was about to throw his cane for her to fetch. Instead, she got clobbered by it when he assumed she was threatening. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Richard and I are sensitive to those who don't delight in encountering dogs, but life with four-legged companions in the suburbs had gotten to the stage that it didn't matter if we had ours on-leash, off-leash or sitting obediently at our feet – someone usually had a problem. Talk to dog owners and you'll find plenty of stories about off-leash park disasters and fears of dog-baiting. In some ways, by taking on rescued working breeds, we were always headed back to the country. I just didn't know it until I became so frustrated at the latest round of anti-dog sentiment in the suburbs that I wailed at Richard, 'Where do working dogs belong?' On farms, is the answer. So we went bush. Rural Australia loves its pets, with 74% of us making space for them in our homes (higher than the national average of 69%), according to a survey by Animal Medicines Australia. We're besotted with programs like Muster Dogs and admire working dogs for their prowess at trials. The value of a working dog to a farm operation is estimated at about $40,000 in the animal's lifetime, yet not all are so treasured. Approximately 44,000 surrendered or abandoned dogs of all breeds are euthanased annually in a vicious cycle made worse by puppy farming and back yard breeding. There are also hidden dangers. While house hunting out here, I checked wild-dog baiting websites to avoid regions with aerial 1080 baiting programs. The risk of poisoning is ever-present in the bush; not just from domestic dogs picking up baits, but the chance of them snaffling the carrion of other creatures killed by the pellets. Tragedy can result when visitors unknowingly bring dogs into baiting regions where signage may be inadequate, although rural working dogs often fall victim too. Vigilance is essential, as is keeping lines of communication open with neighbours about the reach and timing of their baiting programs. Ironically, we've found these risks more manageable than the random, faceless terror of metro dog-baiting. 'Off-leash' should never mean 'completely beyond verbal control', so when setting out each morning to walk our three rescues, we're prepared for encounters with livestock, wildlife, pests, horses and other humans. Sign up to The Rural Network Subscribe to Calla Wahlquist's fortnightly update on Australian rural and regional affairs after newsletter promotion As soon as we open our home yard gate, the dogs pelt across our acre. They check for livestock beyond the fence and invariably 'lift' any flock or herd on the other side, then sniff at the rabbit warren beneath a long-closed railway embankment. We continue along our kilometre of driveway, a scrubby easement between fenced fields. On occasion, we head on to the 'long paddock', the network of old mustering routes now known as the travelling stock reserve (TSR). This is not a national park (where dogs are banned) or a canine-friendly state forest. The central and eastern divisions of this crown land reserve are a shared zone for livestock grazing, First Nations culture, fishing, apiary, biodiversity and recreation. The emphasis here is on sharing space. Our closest TSR is a former common with the remnants of brickworks, a seasonal creek, abundant birdlife and regular campers. What we mainly see are marsupials, and we've trained our pack to look but never chase. We collect rubbish that blows in from the road or gets carelessly dumped, and kick down the weeds. Richard and I are farmers' sons who do not farm, with rescued working dogs who – apart from being excellent security – do not work. We walk the long paddock through the remnants of a rural landscape that the state government now recognises as a public asset with evolving uses; a place where, in the droving days, dogs like ours would play a very different role. Balance and space have allowed our dogs a greater sense of belonging than we ever experienced in the suburbs, and things are changing. Last time I checked there were dog doors available at the shop that once didn't know why they might be needed, and thanks to the opportunity for long off-leash walks, our pack leads something much more akin to a working dogs' life. Michael Burge is a writer and author based at Deepwater, NSW Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
