Every piece has a story May 9 - 26 Timbermill Gallery
We live in a world largely disconnected from our natural resources. This exhibition of local woodworkers will reconnect you to the stories behind the makings and the makers.
Opening Night Friday May 9 6pm - 8pm
Food, drinks and live music by Taylor Davis and Jess Reiss. Come celebrate and appreciate the amazing world of wood!
Meet the Makers
Friday May 16
6pm - 8pm
Nibbles and drinks
Stuart Montague Illawarra Woodwork School
Brett Davis Woodstories
Timbermill Gallery 2/6 Molloy St. Bulli
See grevilleas in bloom
Visit the Illawarra Grevillea Park Botanic Gardens
This Mother’s Day weekend, visit Bulli’s Illawarra Grevillea Park Botanic Gardens to see banksias and beautiful grevilleas in flower. The park is only open a few weekends a year, including this Saturday and Sunday, from 10am-4pm. Enjoy expansive native display gardens; a rainforest walk; picnic
areas; and a sensory trail. The volunteers always have an extensive range of plants for sale, including hard to find grafted grevilleas. Prices will range from $5 for tubestock, through to $120 for large grafted standards.
Dogs on leash welcome and Eftpos is available.
Wood Stories
Head to Timbermill Studios for Friday’s opening night
Every piece has a story. We live in a world largely disconnected from our natural resources. This exhibition of local woodworkers will reconnect you to the stories behind the makings and the makers. Coledale woodturner Brett Davis of Woodstories will have his beautiful wooden bowls on show, plus see works by Illawarra
Woodwork School’s Stuart Montague, a third generation furniture maker (pictured).
Opening Night: Friday May 9 from 6-8pm. Food, drinks and live music by Taylor Davis and Jess Reiss. Come celebrate and appreciate the amazing world of wood!
Meet the Makers: Friday May 16 6-8pm: Nibbles and drinks.
Street art provides backdrop for local life
By Tyneesha Williams
Street artist Jack Miller Hendry is bringing colour to suburbia with a string of murals forming the backdrop to local life, from his new mural on the Thirroul Telstra building to one of his earlier works at Bulli PCYC that formed the backdrop to a Village Church fundraising bake stall on election day last Saturday.
The newest Thirroul mural is Jack’s biggest yet and it combines graffiti with traditional Renaissance paintings.
The Bulli-based street artist also
takes inspiration from popular culture and his murals’ locations.
For example, at Bulli PCYC he painted a sport-inspired mural.
“I just kind of want people’s eyes to widen when they see my art. I always want to make something to look at – not something that’s going to blend in,” he says.
“It’s like making a landmark. If someone’s giving directions, they could say ‘oh, there’s the big mural of this obscure thing there.”
Jack Miller Hendry on Instagram
Fashion parade a highlight
By Amanda De George
“It’s quite meditative to watch but I’m sure takes a real knack to learn”
– Amanda De George
The Wollongong Handweavers and Spinners Group
Crocheted bunting and mandalas hung from the sprawling branches of trees and adorned benches and the entry to the community centre in Fairy Meadow. Before even making it inside the annual exhibition from the Wollongong Handweavers and Spinners Group, I knew I’d found my people.
I’m shy at the best of times and so tried to sneak in to see the displays without too much of a fuss. There was a line snaking its way out towards the door so I jumped on the end, quietly waiting my turn. Thankfully one of the lovely members spotted me and pulled me out, directing me inside and away from the line-up of models I’d accidentally joined who were just about to enter the fashion parade!
Disaster averted, I’m so glad I got to see the parade as it was one of the highlights of the day. While the pieces – which ranged from felted hats, handwoven wraps and bags to vests and beanies knitted from wool spun by the members themselves – looked incredible set up on the displays, seeing them in motion, was something else. Some of the items were made from wool spun by very new members and woven by people just finding their way around the loom. Seriously impressive stuff.
The parade, and the whole event, was really hands on, with people stopping the models, many of whom had been roped in by friends and family to sashay around the hall, to peek inside the bags they were wearing, to feel the material that had been woven and to try on the hats.
I had a chance to sit with Deirdre Bowman as she was demonstrating the art of spinning fleece. And it is an art –it’s quite meditative to watch but I’m sure takes a real knack to learn. While Deirdre and Jenny were using large wooden wheels, which is the thing that comes to mind when I think of spinning, others were using small electric spinners, running off little battery packs! A modern twist on a traditional craft. Deidre told me about dying the wool and showed me the gorgeous yellow hue she had created by using turmeric. My mind began to whir.
I came away with a gorgeous hank of squishy yarn, which is currently begging me to wind it so it’s ready to use. But more than that, I came away brimming with inspiration and with that little whisper inside telling me it might be time to learn another fibre craft.
If you’re interested in learning to spin or use a loom, email the group via wollongongspinnersandweavers @gmail.com
Meet Jessie Tu at South Coast Readers & Writers Festival
By Elizabeth Heffernan of the South Coast Writers Centre
“I work at Women’s Agenda in the mornings, as a staff writer and journalist, and then in the afternoons, I work on my novels and book reviews.”
– Jessie Tu
TheSouth Coast Readers & Writers Festival returns to Thirroul over the weekend of July 5 and 6 with a vibrant lineup of literary talent. The full festival program is now live, featuring local voices, return guests, and internationally bestselling authors. Join us at the festival for gripping and challenging conversations, tales ancient and new, poetry readings, current affairs, and insights into the business of publishing.
I sat down with one of the festival’s headlining authors Jessie Tu (The Honeyeater).
What is your latest project?
My next novel, which is about three female filmmakers who meet at AFTRS in 2000. It’s about the challenges of being a female director at that time, and follows their lives for the next 20 years. It was really just an excuse for me to watch all my favourite movies, under the guise of ‘research’!
What are you reading?
TICKETS
Katie Kitamura’s latest novel, Audition, which I enjoyed. I am obsessed with her previous two novels, A Separation and Intimacies Audition is the third instalment in her series of novels about interpretation. It’s about a female actor, and her married life.
What book made you want to be a writer?
I don’t think I can pinpoint just one book. But I know that in my most formative years, I really took to Melina Marchetta’s books.
More recently, I found Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow to be absolutely inspiring. I finished it and felt an incredible and immense sense that I wanted to create something. It was a powerful feeling.
What does your writing space look like?
Very minimalist and standard. A room, with bookshelves, a writing table and a chair. That’s it. I haven’t yet put up any art or paintings. That will come, eventually!
What is your writing routine?
I’m very relaxed about writing. People are always telling me I’m disciplined but I don’t think I am! I work at Women’s Agenda in the mornings, as a staff writer and journalist, and then in the afternoons, I work on my novels and book reviews. It’s a good balance.
I’m not a morning person. I wish I was. I wish I woke at 5am and worked on my novels, but I’m just not that sort of individual!
Fruiting now in streets and forests: all sorts of Lilly Pilly
By Emma Rooksby of Growing Illawarra Natives
Above: The small, fleshy, juicy and crunchy fruit of Brush Cherry (photo: Byron CawthorneMcGregor).
Right: the purplishblue fruit of Blue Lilly Pilly (photo: Tony Todd)
We’re
into the European month of May and well into the season of autumn, although it’s still very warm compared with the long-term average for this time of year. In the Dharawal calendar, the indications are that we are in marrai’gang, when it’s wet and getting cooler, and the Lilly Pilly is in fruit.
It’s a pretty spectacular year for the local Lilly Pillies, with masses of pink, red, purple and white fruits visible on local street trees and in bushland.
We have four local Lilly Pilly species, each with its own distinct appearance and preferences.
The yummiest and perhaps most visible of the local Lilly Pillies is commonly known as Brush Cherry (Syzygium australe). Growing widely in rainforest around the region, this small tree is also much planted and can easily be seen at places such as the University of Wollongong grounds. There’s also a grand specimen at Sublime Point, just before the path that descends to Austinmer.
Brush Cherry (Syzygium australe) is widely planted around Wollongong. You can see plants on the University of Wollongong’s main campus, and planted as a street tree. Brush Cherry’s fleshy bright pinkish- or purplish-red fruit are shaped like small Delicious apples, up to
around 2cm tall and wider at the top than the base. They are gently crisp and crunchy with a pleasant though not terribly strong flavour. Eaten straight off the tree, they’re refreshing and enjoyable. Jam-making is also a common use for the fruit.
More common but less tasty in the fruit department is the Lilly Pilly proper, known in science as Syzygium smithii, though it was previously Acmena smithii (and you’ll still see many plants labelled as the latter). It’s a tall forest tree with dark reddish-orange bark and fleshy fruit that range from white to pale pink. Leave them for the birds.
There are also two uncommon species, both much smaller trees: Blue Lilly Pilly (Syzygium oleosum), which has distinctive purplish-blue fruit and Magenta Cherry (Syzygium paniculatum). Have a nibble of the fruit if you see it, but don’t expect too much. Caution is needed when looking at and identifying Lilly Pillies. There are many many cultivars used in gardens and landscaping, grown for particular features such as size or bushiness.
We also have extensive use of non-local species as street trees, such as Riberry (Syzygium luehmannii), which has clusters of bright pale pink fruit, and this tree is also in fruit at the moment.
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Police reveal crackdown underway on lifejackets
By Jeremy Lasek
NSWPolice has confirmed it is now fining people fishing on rocks in the Wollongong local government area (LGA) if they’re not wearing lifejackets.
After a 12-month moratorium, in December 2023 Wollongong City Council announced it was mandatory for people who are rock fishing in the Wollongong LGA to wear lifejackets, or risk receiving an on-the-spot fine.
This followed a spate of six drownings between January 2021 and January 2024, and the NSW Government’s approval to include the Wollongong region as a declared area under the NSW Rock Fishing Safety Act 2016.
As such, it is now compulsory to wear an appropriate lifejacket and “this includes children and and anyone helping you fish”, Council said when the new rules were introduced.
Lord Mayor at the time, Gordon Bradbery said: “Rock fishing is one of the
riskiest sports in Australia. The ocean is extremely dangerous and unpredictable. Council’s decision to opt in to the NSW Government declared areas in 2022 was one way we could enforce the wearing of lifejackets.”
Police are now issuing fines
Police allowed a 12-month period where warnings were given for those who flouted the new law, but that ended 16 months ago when Council installed new signage at known trouble spots, including the rocks at Port Kembla’s Hill 60 where a number of drownings have occurred. A spokesperson for NSW Police has confirmed $100 on-the-spot fines are now being issued for people who flout the law.
“Twenty-seven infringement notices have been issued for ‘Fish at High Risk Rock Fishing Location Not Wear Appropriate Life Jacket’ in Wollongong
Healthy Cities rallies for all-electric new homes
By Genevieve Swart
Onthe eve of World Asthma Day, about 50 people rallied outside Wollongong City Council’s Burelli Street offices. Their goal: to urge council to make new developments all-electric, with research showing gas stove use is estimated to cause 12% of childhood asthma in Australia.
Councillors Jess Whittaker, Kit Docker, Deidre Stuart and Andrew Anthony attended the May 5 gathering, which featured speeches, signs calling for “No New Gas in the Gong” and to “Electrify Illawarra”, and a rousing pro-electrification reboot of Gloria Gaynor’s classic I Will Survive by Margi Curtis, of the Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed (IKNAG).
Local GP Professor Rowena Ivers,
from Doctors for the Environment, told the crowd about a Tasmanian study that followed 3000 people over 10 years. “If you were exposed to gas in your house, from a heater or from the stove, you have got … 2.6 times the risk of having asthma symptoms.”
The fossil fuel has also been linked to heart disease and bronchiolitis, Prof Ivers said.
Health concerns drive change People are worried about gas and they’re changing their homes as a result, new data shared with The Illawarra Flame this week reveals.
“Two-thirds of 600 applicants for the Electrify 2515 Community Pilot have listed ‘health’ as a reason they
“Gas is definitely the new smoking. The research shows about 12.3% of the childhood asthma burden can be traced to exposure to indoor gas stoves”
– Alexander Brown, Healthy Cities Australia
want to move away from gas in the household, so it’s clearly very important for people,” pilot operations manager John Buchelin said.
Electrification for health reasons was also in focus at last Sunday’s Sustainable Homes Day, organised by non-profit group Renew.
In Flinders, Mary and Graham – who used to work in the gas industry –opened their home to visitors, sharing how they quit heating and cooking with gas once they learned of its health hazards.
The couple now prefer reverse-cycle air con (no smell, no water vapour condensing on windows, cheap and quiet to run) and love their induction stove. Visitors swapped stories about how induction cooktops are quicker, easier to clean, less risky as there’s no open flame, and more efficient with no residual heat.
One enthusiastic convert said, “You can boil three litres of water in two minutes.”
“They’re quite a bit faster than gas, contrary to some belief,” said Renew Illawarra’s Greg Knight, who led a sustainable home tour in Tarrawanna.
Mr Knight’s own home has a gas stove but he’s found a cheap fix for that. “I just bought a little Bunnings induction one, $20 non-stick pot, $20 frying pan –laughing.”
Barriers to quitting gas
Still, change is never simple, especially if big business is involved.
“Gas is definitely the new smoking,”
said Monday’s rally organiser, Alexander Brown, a health promotion officer at Healthy Cities Australia.
Scientists have known for decades that carbon monoxide and the nitrogen dioxide created when burning gas indoors is harmful.
“That evidence around asthma, but also other respiratory symptoms … it’s actually from the early 1990s,” Mr Brown said. “The research shows about 12.3% of the childhood asthma burden can be traced to exposure to indoor gas stoves.”
Asthma is the third most common long-term health condition in the Illawarra, affecting more than 27,000 people, according to the 2021 Census.
Mr Brown – whose daughter has asthma – has a fully electric home and joined Healthy Cities last year to work on its Breathe Better program, run in partnership with Asthma Australia.
“One of the first things I learned about asthma when I took on this job is it affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 1.6 times more than the rest of the population. So it’s a very important issue for health equity in closing the gap as well.”
Mr Brown said changes to Wollongong’s Development Control Plan (DCP) to mandate all-electric new builds weren’t expected overnight, as Monday’s council meeting dealt only with an introductory chapter. “It’s an ongoing process,” he said. “We’ll just keep on asking for it until we get it.”
opportunity to revamp and broaden the tree walk.”
Curator at the JCH, Patsy Nagle, is credited with bringing together a team with the right expertise to set about identifying which trees deserved to be among the top 50. That task has just been completed after the selection panel reached a consensus, basing their deliberations on a number of criteria.
Lots of debates in the process “We’ve had so many debates about which tree species we should include. In the end we selected specific, significant trees in the right locations and in the best possible health,” Patsy said.
The walk will also document the importance of these trees as a habitat for native fauna, something which also became an important consideration for the final tree selection.
The process included consultation with Associate Professor Dr Anthony McKnight at UOW’s Woolyungah Indigenous Centre to factor in connection to Country, bush tucker, Dharawal language, cultural uses, ecology and ceremony into the interpretive material.
“We want to keep Country at the centre of the interpretive focus with wording to encourage people to stop and dwell, and take the time to look, listen and see the connection to Country,” Patsy said.
With the all-important tree selection process now complete, work is underway on preparing signage, which will include
a QR code linking to a Campus Tree Walk website that will contain a wealth of information, including links to ‘friends’ of UOW such as the Growing Illawarra Natives network and other local environmental initiatives.
Valuable education resource
“We see this as a valuable new educational resource for students and a showcase of our on-campus ecology. It will also be a promotion of the important work undertaken by the Janet Cosh Herbarium,” Alison said.
New tree plantings are expected to be incorporated into the launch of the Campus Tree Walk, more than just symbolic, but ensuring the landscape legacy created half a century ago lives on for the next 50 years.
UOW’s reputation as a wonderfully leafy campus, where the mature trees make it a joy to be a part of, stretches far and wide.
“A lot of international students choose this campus because it is so green and beautiful,” Patsy said. Alison said the Janet Cosh Herbarium will do everything it can to ensure UOW’s next 50 years continue to preserve, nurture, celebrate and promote local plant and tree life.
The aim is to have the Campus Tree Walk officially launched in spring, with special guided walks planned. For those wanting to take a self-guided stroll connecting the 50 special trees, this could take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on how long you linger.
“We see this as a valuable new educational resource for students and a showcase of our on-campus ecology. It will also be a promotion of the important work undertaken by the Janet Cosh Herbarium”
– UOW’s Dr Alison Haynes
Alison Haynes (left) and Patsy Nagle with a spotted gum, part of the Campus Tree Walk
‘A positive plan for the future’
By Genevieve Swart
“We’ve got three fabulous women across the Illawarra that care about their communities, that care about people, and care about regional jobs as well.”
–
Alison Byrnes
The day after the Labor landslide that led the party to a historic victory at the polls – and the Coalition to its worst ever result – the newly re-elected Member for Cunningham, Alison Byrnes, was back at work.
“Today I am just on the phones calling our volunteers to thank them and doing some thank you letters, talking to some of my colleagues and looking at my post-election ‘if reelected’ folder,” Ms Byrnes said on Sunday morning. “So getting straight back to work.
“I am incredibly honoured to be reelected as the member for Cunningham and certainly the trust that people have put in me for another term I’m really, really grateful for.
Alison Byrnes and supporters at Bulli PCYC on polling day
“Over the past three years, I’ve been really pleased to secure almost a billion dollars in funding [for the Illawarra] and I really am looking forward to building on that and working across three levels of Labor government… to really progress some great things for our city and our region.”
3 women to lead the Illawarra It’s another triumph for Labor in all three Illawarra electorates, with Fiona Phillips beating Liberal Andrew Constance in Gilmore, and Carol Berry securing the seat of Whitlam, where she replaces retiring MP Stephen Jones.
“I am so excited that we’ve got Fiona Phillips back in Gilmore and we’ve got
Carol Berry as the new member for Whitlam,” Ms Byrnes said today.
“We’ve got three fabulous women across the Illawarra that care about their communities, that care about people, and care about regional jobs as well. So, we’re also in a really good position where we’ve got a state Labor government, we’ve got our city’s first female Lord Mayor as well in Tania Brown.
“I’m really looking forward to progressing lots of ideas, lots of projects across the three levels of Labor governments.”
On her immediate to-do list are:
“Progressing the Southern Suburbs Community Centre and Library in Warrawong, which I secured a $10 million commitment for; the $5 million for the regional multicultural centre for the Illawarra; and also progressing some of the things I want to do around aged care; working with the new minister for the NDIS on making sure that that gets back to being fit for purpose. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still a long way to go.
“And also looking at opportunities for future jobs in the Illawarra as well.”
Voters chose renewables
It’s now possible that some of these future jobs will be in renewables, with the Illawarra’s offshore wind zone tipped to create 1740 jobs during construction and 870 ongoing jobs.
Former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had promised to cancel the zone if elected and the project has been on pause in 2025.
“There was one licence application for a feasibility licence,” Ms Byrnes said. “That was from BlueFloat, they asked the minister to pause that while the election was on, pending the outcome.”
Candidates running on a “no offshore wind” platform were routed across the region and the project’s future now awaits appointments in the second-term Albanese Government.
“We’ll be obviously going through the process of the new ministry appointments and then progressing that when that’s decided,” Ms Byrnes said.
What triggered Labor landslide
Up to about 400 volunteers were involved in Labor’s five-week campaign for Cunningham, delivering a 2.75 percent swing and a second term for Ms Byrnes.
Across the country, Labor currently holds 82 seats, more than double the Liberal National Coalition’s 38, with media headlines the day after the election ranging from the ABC’s “Labor landslide” to The Sunday Telegraph’s “It’s so Alban-easy”.
Asked what triggered the national triumph, Ms Byrnes said, “I think people were pleased to see a positive plan for the future.
“We spoke a lot about the reinvestment in Medicare, reinvestment in TAFE, committing to projects for our region, also addressing cost of living. We’ve got $43 billion on the table for housing and I think that’s what people wanted to see.
“What we saw from the Liberals was a lot of negativity and trying to engage culture wars, which I think people have said no to, which is a really good thing for our community.”
More help for women
At a candidates forum in Port Kembla on April 29, Ms Byrnes spoke about how the Labor Government has helped local women, including recently providing $4.6m in funding for Supported Accommodation & Homelessness Services Shoalhaven Illawarra (SAHSSI).
“I think we need to do a lot more around housing,” she said today, “and one of the things that I’ve done since we finally got the Housing Australia Future Fund through the Senate … so what we did then was I organised a forum with the RDA Illawarra for all of our local organisations to get a briefing. So moving forward, what we will be doing is looking at future rounds of that and making sure we get more of that social and affordable housing, more places for women to go if they are fleeing family and domestic violence.
“So that’s certainly a strong focus for me moving forward.”
want to be taken for granted any longer by the Labor government.”
Ms Ivaneza – an HR manager at Peabody Energy and former volunteer with Responsible Future Illawarra Chapter – said she initially hoped to run for Wollongong City Council in 2024’s local government elections but had to put that plan on hold after the NSW Liberal Party failed to file its nominations on time.
“I did initially wanted to do council, unfortunately with the blunder that happened with the Liberal Party, it pushed me into federal a little bit quicker than what I thought. That was a bit of a 10-year plan … but I’m here for the feds now. I’ve actually really enjoyed it.”
Ms Ivaneza said she would run again. “Absolutely. I’ll be back – I won’t stop until we turn it blue.”
Greens candidate returns to Councillor role
The Greens candidate for Cunningham, Jess Whittaker, was heading straight back to her day jobs as a paramedic and a Ward 1 councillor, with a Wollongong City Council meeting scheduled for Monday night.
In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Ms Whittaker said that Peter Dutton’s unpopularity, driven by Trump-style hate
and divisiveness, “destroyed his party nationally and was the main factor leading to Labor winning a majority”.
“The result in Cunningham as well as Whitlam and Gilmore should be seen as a referendum on renewable energy, particularly offshore wind farms,” Ms Whittaker said.
“This is a clear indication that the Illawarra supports renewable energy, Labor has a mandate to speed up the transition and continue pushing towards a renewable energy future. Pursuing a renewable energy future is integral to combating climate change – as is stopping new coal and gas projects.”
Thanking her “tremendous” volunteers and supporters, Ms Whittaker said the Greens movement will continue to grow in the Illawarra.
“We have a strong voice on council in myself, Kit Docker and Deirdre Stuart, and we will continue advocating for a more ecologically sustainable and socially just city.”
The Greens have been heartened by swings towards the party at Wollongong Public School’s booth, Cringila and Berkeley.
“We could still end up with the most votes in Cunningham since Michael Organ and the Greens won the seat in 2002.”
“Absolutely. I’ll be back – I won’t stop until we turn it blue.”
– Amanda Ivaneza on running again in the next election
