As the weather turns wild and wet, the Wollongong library provides a safe haven for citizens to read and learn from thousands of voices from the past. But after 40 years of underinvestment for public libraries, library officials across the state have called on the state government to increase funding and support for the community service. The Renew Our Libraries petition was a state-wide run petitioned that lobbied the state government to increase funding and support for public libraries. In 2018, it was successful in attaining $60 million of increased funding, but the campaign has doubled their goal to further…
Author: Zoe Bradbury
The Illawarra’s only burlesque school is set to hold its first student showcase this Saturday at the Heritage Hotel in Bulli. More than 15 students from the Muse School of Burlesque will take to the stage to perform solo and group performances in a celebration of all things positivity, acceptance and burlesque. For student Beth Cunningham, the showcase is an opportunity to raise awareness for an under-supported art form. “Unless you’re in the dance community and you are aware of it, there’s just no exposure or support for things like this,” she said. “Burlesque is such a body-positivity focused dance…
Candidate and incumbent Member for Cunningham Sharon Bird has a long history as a member of the Australian Labor Party and a longer connection to Wollongong – her family has called the Illawarra home for five generations. “My own family has worked in the Illawarra mining industry since the early 1900s. The unshakeable belief in the need to support each other through good times and bad which was forged in a dangerous and difficult industry has left a strong legacy of communal responsibility in me, my family and, indeed, the whole community in which we live”, Ms Bird said in…
A UOW Molecular Horizons research project has been granted $1.5 million dollars in funding to further understand how superbug bacteria becomes resistance to antibiotics. Over a five year period, researchers will examine bacteria at a cellular level to understand how bacteria copies and repairs its DNA to make it resistant against antibiotics, which can result in disease and illness. Granted funding from the United States National Institutes of Health, the study is part of a multidisciplinary collaboration with researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the University of South Carolina working with the UOW Molecular Horizons team. The study will…
The Coledale Waves have become the first Illawarra team to move through to the fifth round of this year’s FFA Cup. In a nail-bitting match at Ian McClennan Park in Wollongong last night, the Waves snared victory with a 1–0 win over favourites Manly Allambie United FC. Coledale is the only Illawarra team to win two matches in the knockout competition, and are now one of the few remaining amateur clubs left in the competition. Club Captain Declan McMullen said it was a tight game, with both teams defending and attacking well. “It was a see-sawing tight affair in the…
A campaign to establish a domestic violence trauma recovery centre in the Illawarra has started, and the centre would be the first of its kind in Australia. Despite the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research revealing domestic violence is decreasing across the Illawarra, Illawarra Women’s Health Centre General Manager Sally Stevenson said the region is still in desperate need of a long-term support for those suffering from trauma. “Although the trends are decreasing, we have to look at the number of women over the previous years who have experienced this kind of violence,” Ms Stevenson said. “You could argue…