Town and Country Farmer magazine

Truffle, also known as the ultimate mushroom, is the fruit of a fungus that grows under the ground as a result of a cooperative relationship with the roots of particular trees – generally oaks and hazelnuts that have been inoculated with the spore. Although truffle growing is an old European industry, it is a relatively new industry in Australia with enormous export potential and some … Read more

Gippsland Country Life magazine

David and Merryle Johnson who are a creative and endearing couple, have a small picturesque farm in the little village of Nayook with a garden so beautiful it could easily be described in a great English novel.

Their pronounced love of gardening, garden design, the arts and gourmet food has led David and Merryle to the enjoyment of travelling the world to share their passion, their … Read more

The Australian Dairy Farmer magazine

Dairy farmer Aubrey Pellett, from Hill End in Victoria, was recently awarded a 2014 Nuffield Scholarship at the organisation’s national conference dinner in Perth. The scholarship, supported by the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation, will allow Aubrey to study the future of productivity gain for dairy farming.

For seven weeks during June and July 2014, Mr Pellett will travel with a group of fellow Nuffield scholars … Read more

The Age

The gap is slowly closing for disadvantaged Koorie students with a larger number of enrolments from three and four-year-old kindergarten through to secondary level, a record proportion of Year 12 completers continuing to university, and a year seven to 10 school retention of almost 100 per cent. There is, however, still room for further improvement particularly in Gippsland.  Absenteeism among indigenous students in Gippsland has improved in recent … Read more

Gippsland Country Life magazine

Television scriptwriter, Ysabelle Dean started her career as a story liner for Grundy Productions popular soap ‘Prisoner’ in 1984. She is now writing scripts for the second series of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Melbourne’s own, extremely popular 13-part television series that was first aired in February 2012 on ABC1.

The series is based on Australian author Kerry Greenwood’s novels, the first written in 1989 about the … Read more

The Age

Small rural schools in West Gippsland are thriving in a well-resourced cooperative system and claim to now offer an alternative model of state primary education.

Small schools once served rural communities but as farms became larger, the communities became smaller and many of the schools were closed. However, with an extensive history of rural community support, the schools that have remained open in West Gippsland are well resourced … Read more

For many people the word psychopath conjures up images of crazed killers and mass murderers. The fear it evokes is alleviated by believing they mostly exist in books, movies and high security prisons, but psychopathy is a personality disorder and more prevalent in our communities than most people realise.

Unfortunately, the myths and fears that surround the subject of psychopathy cause us to ignore this reality and yet it is … Read more

The Age

Gone are the days when education simply meant sending the children to the nearest public school, or if the family could afford it, to a private school. Parents today can choose an education model that suits their family arrangements and their children’s needs, and follow directed or self-guided curriculums. Options include religious, Montessori, Steiner, Reggio Emilia and Home Schooling.

Thousands of Victorian children have been schooled at home, … Read more

The Gippslander newspaper

Joe Traynor and his partner Michelle Websdale are the parents of seven-year-old Sarah Traynor who died recently due to a tragic accident that involved a swing and a skipping rope while she was playing in the back yard of her Bairnsdale home.

The loss of their only child has left the couple shocked and distraught and it has shattered their close-knit community. They hope other parents never … Read more

The Lifestyle magazine

Alongside the big blue, concrete, wave on the Phillip Island Road in Newhaven is Islantis Surfboards, an extensive retail outlet that provides everything for anyone interested in surfing. The business is owned and operated by Scott Jackson who has been a zealous surfer since childhood with an avid interest in surfing history.

A particularly interesting part of the enterprise is a Vintage Surf Expo that contains a … Read more