A prescribed burn is planned at Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, on the Yorke Peninsula, on Sunday 24 March 2024, weather conditions permitting.

• The burn will start at 10am and is likely to be completed by 6pm on Monday 25 March.
• The area to be burnt is 66 hectares within the park.
• It is a landscape protection burn to reduce the likelihood of the whole park burning in a single bushfire event.
• The Inneston to Pondalowie Bay section of the “Walk the Yorke” walking trail will be closed for the duration of the burn.
• Smoke could remain in the area for some time, potentially affecting Pondalowie Bay Road.
• Speed restrictions will be in place on Pondalowie Bay Road and drivers should be aware of emergency vehicles and personnel on the road.
• National Parks and Wildlife Service crews will remain on site until safe.

National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia conducts a statewide program of prescribed burns to reduce the spread and intensity of bushfires, protect communities and enhance biodiversity. Prescribed burning is just one tool used to reduce fuel loads across strategic areas of public and private land.

Prescribed burns will only be carried out when it is deemed safe to do so and may be cancelled at short notice.

For the most up-to-date information and to find a list of planned prescribed burns, visit the DEW website.

The next round of Country Arts SA Project Grants will open 5 February 2024

Project grants fund high-quality projects benefitting regional or remote artists, arts workers, audiences and communities. Focus of the project can include any area of creative practice, multiple artforms or cross-disciplinary practice.

• Project Grant funds may be spent on:
• Artist Fees
• Travel costs (including international)
• Materials
• Venue Hire
• Equipment Hire
• Insurance
• Project administration costs
• Disability access costs

Please check with a Country Arts SA Grants officer for eligibility of other expenditure not listed here.

Project Grant money cannot be spent on:

• Touring projects from major cities such as tours of performances and exhibitions
• Curriculum based activities including for primary, secondary or tertiary courses
• Competitions, prizes or awards
• Ongoing activities of collecting institutions
• A project principally benefitting a major city or metropolitan location
• A funded activity that will commence before funding is approved

Upcoming Information Sessions

If you’re looking to apply for a grant join an upcoming information sessions to better prepare you for the application process.

Eligibility, project details and brief intro to Smarty Grants | Tuesday 6 Feb: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Addressing the selection criteria | Thursday 8 Feb: 10:30am – 11:30am
Budgets | Monday 19 Feb: 10:30am – 11:30am
Support material & Acquittals | Thursday 22 Feb: 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Find out more here: https://www.countryarts.org.au/for-artists/grants/

You can also book a one-on-one online session to discuss your specific project in detail.

You can book your one-on-one session using the following links:

Thursday 8^th Feb: Book time with Kayla Perry: Project Grant One-On-One Meeting – Block 1

Monday 12^th Feb: Book time with Kayla Perry: Project Grant One-On-One Meeting – Block 2

Monday 19^th Feb: Book time with Kayla Perry: Project Grant One-On-One Meeting – Block 3

Monday 26^th Feb – Thursday 29^th Feb: Book time with Kayla Perry: Project Grant One-On-One Meeting – Block 4

Monday 4^th March – Tuesday 5^th March: Book time with Kayla Perry: Project Grant One-On-One Meeting – Block 5

Tuesday 12^th March: Book time with Kayla Perry: Project Grant One-On-One Meeting – Block 6

For more information and to apply visit https://www.countryarts.org.au/available-grants/project-grants-round-two/

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) is beginning work to develop the first ever South Australian Recreational Boating Safety Strategy.

The strategy will guide the decisions and actions of Government over the next five years to create improved marine safety for recreational boaters, ensuring all users can share and enjoy our waterways safely.

Why we need a South Australian Recreational Boating Safety Strategy

 In South Australia there is approximately 5,000 km of coastline waters and 700 km of the River Murray plus a range of other rivers, lakes and reservoirs that recreational boaters and other water users enjoy daily including fishing, cruising, paddling and water skiing.

There are over 300,000 boat licence holders and more than 55,000 registered vessels in South Australia. There is also an increasing number of vessels using our waterways that do not require registration such as canoes, kayaks, surf skis, kite boards and paddleboards.

Statistics show there have been 69 people that have lost their lives in drowning related incidents involving boats and watercraft over the last 20 years with 13 of these deaths occurring in the last five years.

Your input is important

Gathering feedback from the community, waterway users and marine stakeholders is critical to the development of an effective and robust strategy.

DIT invites feedback about recreational boating safety in South Australia via the online survey found HERE.

This initial consultation closes on 5 January, 2024.

Marking 12 years campaigning in the prevention of asbestos-related diseases 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of National Asbestos Awareness Month.

This year also marks 12 years of Australia’s longest-running, multi-award winning annual asbestos education campaign warning homeowners, renovators and tradies of the dangers of asbestos and directs them to Australia’s most comprehensive source of asbestos information and resources at asbstosawareness.com.au where they can learn how to manage asbestos safely.

Since launching in 2011 for Asbestos Awareness Week, the campaign has grown into National Asbestos Awareness Month winning multiple peer-reviewed awards both nationally and internationally and has been acknowledged in parliaments across Australia and global medical journals as a leading initiative in the prevention of asbestos-related diseases.

In December 2022 Advocacy Australia was recognized with two Golden Target Awards for the 2021 campaign.

The importance of continuing the National Asbestos Awareness Month campaign and the asbestosawareness.com.au website in the prevention of asbestos-related diseases cannot be overstated.

With funding for the campaign ceasing in 2018 and funding to keep the website live concluding in January 2019, to help save lives the campaign is being conducted in a pro-bono capacity.

To continue the campaign and keep the website live beyond 2023, funding is desperately needed.

ASBESTOSAWARENESS.COM.AU

asbestosawareness.com.au is Australia’s leading, most comprehensive trusted source of asbestos information dedicated to educating the community about the dangers of asbestos with a specific focus on homeowners, renovators, tradies, commercial property managers and the owners and managers of regional properties where naturally occurring asbestos can be found.

Since launching on Monday 21 November 2011, the asbestosawareness.com.au website has had:

• Over 2.5 million pageviews
• Over 1.1 million sessions
• Over 815,000 unique users
• Asbestos information resources accessed from the website:
  • Over 1500 resources are available to the public to download. 107 are flyers, fact sheets, posters and templates with the remaining being images, graphics, presentations and videos.
  • These resources have been accessed over 600,000 times

Visit asbestosawareness.com.au for information and useful, practical resources including:

• Asbestos in Your Home – The Ultimate Renovators Guide (Easy to follow video hosted and produced by Australia’s Renovation Queen™ and Asbestos Awareness Ambassador, Cherie Barber)
• Asbestos Awareness Residential Property Checklist – A Homeowner’s Guide to Identifying Asbestos-Containing Materials (User-friendly step-by-step guide to identifying asbestos in the home)
• Asbestos Awareness – 20 Point Safety Check (Asbestos risks and how to manage asbestos safely)
• Fact Sheets for Homeowners (When, why and how to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Asbestos Awareness Toolbox Talks (10 Toolbox Talks to help employers better inform workers of asbestos risks )
• Asbestos Awareness for Young Workers (Education resource developed with SafeWork NSW )
• Asbestos Awareness – 20 Point Safety Check (Asbestos risks and how to manage asbestos safely)
• Residential Checklist for Tradies – A Tradespersons Guide to Asbestos (Identify the product types and locations)
• Trade Specific Checklist for Tradies – A Tradespersons Guide to Asbestos (Tailored to 23 specific trades)
• Fact Sheets for Tradies (When, why and how to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Asbestos Product Database (Australia’s first comprehensive online asbestos product database)
• Asbestos Management for Commercial and Non-Residential Properties (Australia’s only online resource)

Dozens of small cultural burns were conducted across Guuranda (Yorke Peninsula) last week, reinvigorating cultural practice on Nharangga Banggara (Narungga Country).

It is just the second time in recent history that cultural burning has been performed on Yorke Peninsula, signalling a growing movement to unlock this important Narungga land management technique.

During five days in mid-June, Narungga men and women ignited patches of native grasses and similar understorey species across 4 locations in Ardrossan, Point Pearce and Minlaton as part of a Yorke Peninsula Council project funded through the Australian Government’s Preparing Australian Communities – Local Stream.

They were led by renowned fire practitioner Victor Steffensen from Firesticks Alliance, who has now worked with Narungga people on three occasions in the past 18 months.

Northern and Yorke Landscape Board Ranger and Narungga man Farrin Miller was part of the week-long exercise.

“Returning traditional land management ways to Narungga Country is a step forward in restoring this beautiful place to one with thriving native plants and animals for future generations to enjoy,” he said.

The first cultural burn for the week, between 19 and 23 June, was held at Ardrossan Grasslands by Narungga lead fire practitioners Peter Turner and Clem Newchurch, who shared the importance of fire for Country and how the parklands have regenerated since the first burn conducted there in May 2022.

The Ardrossan site is ecologically significant, with at least 89 native plant species in the 6.8 hectare area.

Last year’s burn has helped to reduce thatch, giving the native species space to germinate.
The other burns were held at Wadgedin Scrub at Point Pearce, on private property at Minlaton and at Minlagawi Gum Flat Reserve.

Whilst the rain prevented burns at other locations, Victor explained the importance of storm burns due to Yorke Peninsula’s stony land and plant species, with the need for cold temperatures and soaking rains to ensure burns are slow-moving and controllable.

Participants learned how Yorke Peninsula’s native grasses cure mid to late winter, and burning at this time is crucial to protecting the health of the soil.
The project aims to build cultural burning knowledge, experience and capacity amongst Narungga people and also raise awareness in the broader community about the importance of the practice, its role in reducing wildfire risk and keeping Country healthy through burning in the right way.

These messages will be shared through a series of short films to be produced by Yorke Peninsula Council and premiered at upcoming community workshops.

Council invites the community to come together to reflect, respect and celebrate Australia Day in 2023.

The event will be held at the Maitland Town Hall from 2pm starting with a Citizenship Ceremony followed by the presentation of the Australia Day awards.