GALAH (2025)

24/09/2025

The 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize is being projected every night until 9 November onto the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and Library's forecourt wall.

Head to the gallery every evening after dark, and take in this collection of outstanding images made by 37 regional photographers from across Australia - from the Pilbara in WA to Armidale NSW, and as far south as Willalooka in SA.

We created the prize to celebrate the incredible talent that exists beyond metropolitan art hubs, and we are so pleased to see the work of these talented regional photographers showcased at this wonderful regional gallery.

Congratulations once again to our finalists.

20 September - 9 November Bathurst Regional Art Gallery - Forecourt Projector
Image - The Last Swim, Natalie Grono

https://bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions-events/galah-2025-regional-photography-prize

22/09/2025

Here’s one of the top stories from the latest Galah Weekly news round-up.

When a farm isn’t a farm

A third-generation NSW winemaker whose 243 hectare farm supports cattle, sheep and free-range pigs as well as grapes has found he is no longer considered a primary producer and therefore faces a $150,000 land tax bill.

Jacob Stein’s family property at Mudgee, which also has a cellar door, has been exempt from land tax for the past 50 years, like most property used for primary production in NSW.

The tax in NSW is generally applied to properties that aren’t the owner’s primary residence.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ruled that the exemption normally applied to primary producers does not apply when wine sales are worth more than grape revenue. It means the primary purpose of properties like Stein’s is then considered to be manufacturing, which is not exempt from the tax.

NSW Wine says the definition runs counter to government policy and state Small Business Minister Janelle Saffin said she would look into the issue.

To read our newsletters in full, please head to the link in our profile.

Image: Summer storm, 1992 by Emily Kam Kngwarray, Anmatyerr people, which will feature in the reopening of the Newcastle Art Gallery in February. Newcastle Art Gallery, Australia, gift of Colin Laverty OAM and Elizabeth Laverty through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 2000. © the artist’s estate

21/09/2025

There are some 120 alpine huts scattered throughout Kosciusko and Namadgi National Parks. Some are ruins. Some are burnt. Some take days to hike into.

And while it may be spring, the Snowy Mountains are still snowy, so let’s visit one of these huts via ’ words and photos from a story in Issue 3.

“On Ngarigo country, we hiked. Along mountain ridgelines, dodging streams disguised by fresh snow, over rolling grounds 2000m above altitude with views across to Victoria, through skeletal snow gum forests, alpine shrubland and herbfields, and eventually down into the Munyang Corridor. We arrived at our hut, high on alpine air and with frozen socks, to camp under tin and wood for the night, deep in the Snowy Mountains.”

Photos by Lean Timms

18/09/2025

In tomorrow morning's Yes, Chef, we meet Jo Barrett, whose bio is ridiculously impressive (awards, accolades, chef of the year titles, pastry olympics, chefs hats...) and who these days is based in Beechworth as a co-founder at Wildpie.

The idea behind this venture is to take the issue of Australian wild game and invasive species and use this organic and free-range protein to make handcrafted wild pies. So clever. So good.

Subscribe via the link below for all the good things Jo cooks for comfort, joy and on her rare days off. Plus, she shares a recipe for venison rump with tomato and caraway yoghurt, garden leaves (also rare).

Thank you, Jo. And thanks to all our wonderful newsletter subscribers, we hope you enjoy this one. It will land in your inboxes at 6.30am Friday, 19 September.

https://digital.galahpress.com/membership/

18/09/2025

In tomorrow morning’s Yes, Chef!, we meet , whose bio is ridiculously impressive (awards, accolades, chef of the year titles, pastry olympics, chefs hats...) and who these days is based in Beechworth as a co-founder at .pie.

The idea behind this venture is to take the issue of Australian wild game and invasive species and use this organic and free-range protein to make handcrafted wild pies. So clever. So good.

Subscribe via the link in our bio for all the good things Jo cooks for comfort, joy and on her rare days off. Plus she shares a recipe for venison rump with tomato and caraway yoghurt, garden leaves (also rare).

Thank you, Jo. And thanks to all our wonderful newsletter subscribers, we hope you enjoy this one. It will land in your inboxes at 6.30am Friday 19 September.

Photo by .gibson.photo

17/09/2025

What’s on and coming up this week?

By Our Side
This solo exhibition produced by painter from her farm studio at Ilford ponders the quiet moments in life that are shaped and softened by the presence of four-legged companions. At Cellar Door and Gallery, Mudgee, NSW until 29 September.

Klytie Pate Ceramics Award
This exhibition, featuring ceramic artists and designers across Australia and New Zealand, is from the biennial award open to professional artists who have produced works within the past two years. At , Vic, 20 September-6 October.

Gift From The Sea
works from her home studio in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges. This solo exhibition, named after a favourite book, features works developed during a residency on Tasmania’s East Coast. At , Launceston, 1-18 October.

The Fabulous Flower Show
Thirteen artists from around the Goulburn Valley region have combined for this spring exhibition with an obvious focus on blooms. At , Shepparton, Vic, until 20 September.

Every Sunday in our Galah Weekly newsletter, we share (among other things) a roundup of current and upcoming events. This is the latest instalment.

Head to the link in our bio to read in full, and if you know of something we need to share in a future Galah Weekly, please comment or send us a DM, and we’ll make sure it lands on editor Dean Southwell’s desk.

Image: Oysters, Kombucha and Paper Daisies by Victorian artist Elizabeth Barnett in Gift From The Sea.

15/09/2025

Here’s the lead story from the latest Galah Weekly news round-up. To read our newsletters in full, please head to the link in our profile.

The hunt for the sex-switch ferals

Forget about cannibal cane-toad tadpoles, Australia’s latest biosecurity threat is a super-sized sex-switching invasive oyster.

Biosecurity Queensland is asking residents to report sightings of the Suminoe or Chinese river oyster, which was first detected in Queensland waters two years ago.

Suminoe oysters are widely farmed in China, Japan and India and are believed to have arrived in Australian waters latched onto ship hulls.

At 24cm, they dwarf a Sydney rock oyster and start life as males before switching to female.
They can reach sexual maturity in just a few months and are seen as potential disease carriers able to foul aquatic infrastructure as well as outcompeting native shellfish.

In South Australia, another pest has moved in, with the first detection of varroa mite in Riverland beehives last week.

Image - Trying to Blend In, by Mudgee artist , in By Our Side.

14/09/2025

There are some 120 alpine huts scattered throughout Kosciusko and Namadgi National Parks. Some are ruins. Some are burnt. Some take days to hike into.

And while it may be spring, the Snowy Mountains are still snowy, so let’s visit one of these huts via Lean Timm’s words and photos from a story in Issue 3.

“On Ngarigo country, we hiked. Along mountain ridgelines, dodging streams disguised by fresh snow, over rolling grounds 2000m above altitude with views across to Victoria, through skeletal snow gum forests, alpine shrubland and herbfields, and eventually down into the Munyang Corridor. We arrived at our hut, high on alpine air and with frozen socks, to camp under tin and wood for the night, deep in the Snowy Mountains.”

Photos by Lean Timms.

11/09/2025

Gardener’s dismorphia. Do you have it? Tomorrow morning, for his latest In the Weeds column, Jeremy Valentine explains this condition, a desire for perfection, though limited to his own garden.

“I have clear, often unobtainable standards. If there are flaws, they must be at least romantic ones. I want blight-free growth. Gravel must be finessed so it’s neither overly manicured nor untidy. Weeds are eliminated, unless I've decided that they look charming. And atmospheric beauty must be heady and authentic.”

Plus Jeremy's August garden notes, which include unexpected peahen deliveries, rustic wooden furniture finds on marketplace and the spring workload.

If not signed up already, please head to the link below and receive Jeremy’s monthly column straight to your inbox.

https://digital.galahpress.com/membership/

Images by Jeremy Valentine

11/09/2025

As part of this spring's Bathurst Regional Art Gallery's OUT THERE program, the 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize will be projected every evening after dark onto the Bathurst Gallery and Library’s forecourt wall, from 20 September to 9 November.

The 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize exhibition is a collection of outstanding images made by 37 regional photographers from across Australia – from the Pilbara in WA to Armidale NSW, and as far south as Willalooka in SA. We created the prize to celebrate the incredible talent that exists beyond metropolitan art hubs and we are so pleased to see the work of these talented regional photographers shared at the wonderful regional gallery.

Congratulations once again to our finalists. Click here for more information;
https://bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions-events/galah-2025-regional-photography-prize/

10/09/2025

What’s on and coming up this week:

Every Sunday in our Galah Weekly newsletter, we share (among other things) a roundup of current and upcoming events. Here’s the latest instalment.

Head to the link in our bio to read in full, and if you know of something we need to share in a future Galah Weekly, please comment or send us a DM, and we’ll make sure it lands on editor Dean Southwell’s desk.

Dubbo Art Fair
More than 40 emerging regional artists will exhibit their work across two days with a chance to acquire paintings, photography, drawing, ceramics and sculpture. At , Dubbo, NSW, 13-14 September.

Material Memory
Murwillumbah artist deconstructs and rearranges salvaged materials to evoke emotion and memory in this solo exhibition. At , NSW, until 30 November.

Swell Sculpture Festival
Northern Rivers artist ’s beach ball spider will be one of more than 80 contemporary works at Queensland’s largest outdoor sculpture festival. The event also includes guided twilight walks, live music and artist workshops. At Currumbin, Qld, 12-21 September.

Sydney Contemporary
More than 100 galleries and the works of 500 artists will feature across four days Australia’s largest and most diverse gathering of leading contemporary art galleries. At Carriageworks, Sydney, 11-14 September.

Image is by from a story in Issue 12 on artist

07/09/2025

Here’s the lead story from the latest Galah Weekly news round-up. To read our newsletters in full, please head to the link in our profile.

Cultural capital
A Victorian mayor has defended a $50 million redevelopment of his rural town’s art gallery from critics who say it only caters to “elites”.

South Grampians Shire Council endorsed plans for the new Hamilton art gallery last month. It sees the gallery as the centre of a major community hub and a way of diversifying and drought-proofing the economy in a region historically built around agriculture.

Mayor Dennis Heslin told Galah this week that while the council’s commitment will be capped at $10 million, the rest is expected from state and federal grants and philanthropic investment.
Yet critics say money would be better spent on roads, health and education and that the new gallery would only appeal to the “hoity-toitys”.

Heslin said he didn’t consider himself an art person, but had no trouble selling the benefits of the new gallery to the broader community and the potential for the redevelopment to make the town a destination.

Heslin cited the thousands of children at events at the existing gallery as just one example of its broader impact. He also pointed to a major exhibition in Hamilton last year that boosted visitor spending by $1 million a month to highlight the economic potential.

Debate over cultural spending is obviously not new and a $45 million redevelopment of the Bendigo Art Gallery has also faced community criticism but there are plenty of people who make the case for galleries and museums.

In July, as her Armidale gallery faced funding cuts, director Rachael Parsons said regional galleries were vital to the health of their towns: “We’re not just about artworks on a wall. We’re places people come to meet, socialise and connect. We deliver social inclusion and so much more.”

Image : The Ascent, by Victorian , who won the Australian professional travel photographer of the year at the Iris Awards.

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