Stories and events of the Kaurareg homeland of Kaiwalagal, the Torres Strait homeland and
Thursday, 12 December 2024 Cape York homelands of the Anggamuthi, Atambaya, Wuthathi, Yadhaykenu and Gudang Peoples. EDITORIAL l M: 0419 656 277 l E: christine@torres.news
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An ‘outstanding’ year of success for OLSH Our Lady of the Sacred Heart “The end of the school year was School (OLSH) has wrapped marked by significant milestones, up another outstanding year, including the graduation of our reinforcing its reputation as a Year 6 students,” he said. leading educational choice in the Story continues + more pics region, Principal David Graham PAGES 14 & 15 N says.
Pic courtesy of OLSH.
Youth jump in on NPA water woes BY CARLI WILLIS AS SEEN ON NITV
Young people in the Northern Peninsula Area and Waiben have sprung into action in support of households that were without potable water for almost 24 hours in recent rolling water outages due to pump breakdowns. They have combined efforts try to raise funds for camp showers and get much-needed bottled water to families.
Young people in Seisia teamed up on a social media chat group to start fundraising for camp showers. Talei Elu said the showers offered a way of washing hands and bodies while keeping water usage to a minimum. “It just makes it a lot easier for Elders or households, especially with young kids, to just have a good bath without massive wastage of the bucket-overthe-head kind of situation,”
she said. She said they raised more than $2200 – enough for more than 20 camp showers. On Waiben, Tari Sagigi rallied community members to contribute towards sending bottled water to the community of Seisia. She said she saw other young people posting on their social media about what was happening in the NPA and reached out to help. “As a mother of six, I
started panicking for them and I thought, ‘Well, what can I do?’” she said. “Just knowing there are elders and young babies – my baby is taking a bottle, so we need that fresh water – knowing that our families just across that waterway were in need and we can help – why not?” During the outage, some shops in the region closed, citing health and safety concerns, while Bamaga’s main IBIS store remained
open, as did the Northern Peninsula Area State College (NPASC). “Three campuses of the Northern Peninsula Area State College experienced water supply issues,” a Department of Education spokesperson said.
“Students continued their learning during this period with bottled water provided.” Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (NPARC) confirmed the pumps were
fixed last Friday after communities suffered a week of rolling outages as they worked with operators to replace the failed water pumps. “Even though we repaired the pumps and the water flow is back to normal, I still urge residents to practice saving water, especially in the hot, dry season,” Mayor Robert Poi Poi said. Story continued PAGE 2 N
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