You’re in for a treat with this September edition of the Banksia Bulletin. There are sports reports galore, another great two page spread from the Shire, updates from local groups, party invites and more. Sure there’s a couple of regular contributors missing, but their absence will just make your heart grow fonder for them next month!
 
Next Friday evening we’re hosting another Art Class with Charlie Colbung here at the Quairading CRC. I highly recommend booking a spot and coming along and I promise you don’t need to bring any artistic skills with you, probably just a smidge of interest and Charlie’s step-by-step guidance will do the rest! Pro top: if you’re really rubbish at it, Charlie will likely step in and “help” you out so much that you pretty well end up with a Charlie Colbung original to take home. This was my “strategy” at a pottery workshop earlier this year. Was it intentional? No. Did it work? Yes. Let us know if you’d like to come along—details on page 13.
 
Nominations for our local Shire Council open and close in the next couple of weeks. With four vacancies, some new nominations are needed! Believe me, I’d love to do it—but my time outside of work at the Quairading CRC is already pretty well allocated to a bunch of ripper local clubs. So I’m going to be that person who says “someone else should do it”, which absolutely isn’t a helpful attitude. So go on, be a better community member than me and stick your hand up for a spot on Council!
 
Did that work?
 
If you happen to find yourself with some spare time in the coming weeks:
 
Go watch some sport
Many of our winter sports teams are excelling on the field this finals season. Don your red and white and get along to show your support to the hockey gals and footy boys. Spectating is wildly nerve-wracking, but screaming your positive support at the top of your lungs is wildly soothing—and might be just what the Bulls and Bullettes need to get over the line!
 
Go see the wildflowers
Those above average rainfall events over the past few months have given life to flowers and plants not seen in many years, apparently. The Nature Reserve, particularly around Nookaminnie Rock, Toapin Weir and the Golf Course are all fabulous places for a stroll and an explore. Be sure to minimise the impact of your foot steps where possible and take only photos home with you.
 
Go camping or picnicking
September strikes that perfect balance of it *generally* not being wet, and still being campfire season. If you don’t happen to have a friend with some property, make use of the great fire/camping areas at Toapin Weir or Kwolyin Campsite!
 
Go spring cleaning
Pass!
 
Happy Spring!
 
Jill Hayes
Editor | Banksia Bulletin
Coordinator | Quairading CRC
 
1 Parker Street
Quairading WA 6383
PHONE: 9645 0096
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEBSITE: www.quairading.crc.net.au
FB: www.facebook.com/QuairadingCRC
 

Brought together through a membership for support services with the Wheatbelt Business Network, our Wheatbelt network includes York CRC, Narembeen CRC, Corrigin CRC, Mukinbudin CRC, Dalwallinu CRC, Nungarin CRC, Southern Cross CRC, Toodyay CRC, Koorda CRC, Wyalkatchem CRC, Bencubbin CRC, Westonia CRC and Katanning Hub CRC. We connect through occasional face-to-face workshops and more regular online Zoom video calls. The opportunity for networking, best practice sharing and talking through common issues to find successful solutions had been incredibly valuable.
 
As a group we’ve been on the lookout for collaborative projects to put our combined expertise towards, three of which are on the go at the moment:
 
Mental Health First Aid Training
Sparked by a well-received Mental Health First Aid info session held by the Quairading CRC and delivered by Phillippa Henderson of The Sharing Shed in late 2020 to gauge community interest, it became incredibly evident that all regional communities would benefit from the training of key community members in Mental Health First Aid training.
 
By then collaborating with the wider network, Wheatbelt Business Network submitted a funding application to FRRR and we’ve been able to secure funding to make the delivery of the full two day course possible and affordable to the community of Quairading – plus four other communities in our network.
 
Google Expert Training
With the Wheatbelt Business Network’s assistance, the Quairading CRC applied for funding through DPIRD’s (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development) Technology and Innovation Grant for our group of CRCs to undertake training to become accredited Google Experts in digital marketing, data and technology. There are currently no Google Experts in regional WA, so any businesses needing assistance must travel to the metro area (or pay travel for an expert to come to them).
 
The funding will help cover the time staff members will spend in training and will help us professionally package and market the new service we will each be able to offer to local and regional businesses.
 
Town Team Movement’s civic place-making conference, the ‘Dowerin Do-Over’
As a way to practice place making activities, learn through collaborating with new people and communities and showcase the work CRCs can do in their communities to external stakeholders – we were invited to both attend and help with some aspects of Town Team Movements (TTM) civic recovery program’s first regional event, the Dowerin Do-Over.
 
The community of Dowerin was selected as the location for this inaugural regional conference following previous “main street audit” work they’d undertaken with the Wheatbelt Business Network. The idea of improving the aesthetic and vibe of a regional main street / down town is not unique to Dowerin and is something many communities are looking for inspiration and assistance on – Quairading included. We’re looking forward to bringing some of our new skills and insight gained from working with TTM to projects in Quairading.

Ignoring the odd high thirty-something degree day; how nice is the cool change in the air! The cooler feeling means it must almost be the Easter long weekend, and school holidays, and the start of winter sports season, and time for dry gardens to bounce back, and time for endless days and weeks of spraying out thriving weeds in the paddocks, and, bonfire season!!
 
March was full of excellent activities here at the Quairading CRC. Read all about our Clay Mug Workshop and our Creative & Meditative Afternoon on pages 29 and 30, respectively. While each of these activities appealed to only a small niche, that small niche supported them hard and had an absolute ball—which means we had an absolute ball too!
 
We also held a Welcome to Town Sundowner (the first in many years) on Thursday 11th March. With nearly 30 people joining us for a drink and a nibble, it was so dang heart-warming to hear all the fabulous reasons as to why newbies and locals alike choose to live here, and it was so great to put new names to new faces. Welcome to you all! If you missed it, pop into the Quairading CRC sometime to collect a Welcome Pack.
 
We’ve also had the team from Wheatbelt Aboriginal Health Service in the building each Tuesday for the last month, providing the HEAL (Healthy Eating Activity and Lifestyle) program to our local community. These sessions include an hour of gentle exercise (conveniently utilising the Quairading Community Gym) and an hour of lifestyle education. Judging by giggles and huge smiles that emerge at the end of each session, I think it’s safe to say this program is a huge hit!
For more info or to get involved, contact Danika via 9690 2888.
 
We’re super excited for our upcoming School Holiday Mini Science Fair on Friday 16th April! Working collaboratively with the school, a visit from Scitech was identified as a pretty great thing to spend some grant money on—and with a successful application to WA Youth Week funding, we did just that! And more! Check out the flyer on page 15 and be sure to book your spot ASAP (the morning session is just about sold out!).
 
Lastly, flip your calendar a few pages and save Friday 12th November for an afternoon out with Lou Kelman’s Big Purple Undies—we’ll share more info in like, six months.
 
Adios.
 
Jill Hayes
Editor | Banksia Bulletin
Coordinator | Quairading CRC

Thank you so much to all those who emailed, wrote or called to generously offer their thanks, encouragement, stories and feedback in response to the personal opinions I shared last month regarding January 26. Some short comments on a huge and complex issue have sparked many a conversation within our community. However, in the glorious benefit of hindsight, I understand that I selected the wrong forum to share opinions that were my own, and not necessarily that of the Banksia Bulletin or the Quairading CRC Management Committee—and for that I do apologise.
 
Moving on forward; we’ve got a huge month ahead - right after we kick it off with a cheeky long weekend!
 
We’re hosting a clay mug building workshop with visiting artist Kaitlyn Elsegood on Sunday 7th March - if you fancy yourself a DIYer, or just want to get your hands dirty, get in touch to book your spot! All details on page 13.
 
Later that week (on Thursday 11th), we’re throwing a “Welcome to Town Sundowner” here at the CRC to help anyone who might be new-ish to our community to connect with others and with local info. Anyone newly living, working, playing, etc,  whatever, in the area is very welcome to come along - as are all you friendly and knowledgeable long time locals. Plus, if you’re feeling like you already need some down time, our ‘Creative & Meditative’ afternoon with Janet Robertson from Nourishabley on Saturday 20th might be right up your alley!
 
Shoutout to the new signage and window decals at the Quairading
Co-op, I can see lovely fresh capsicums all the way across the street and I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I’m excited also to see the new road layouts with changes currently  in progress all the way down Heal St - there’s some handy info and an update from the Shire on that project on page 29.
 
Also! Big thanks for all the responses to the quick survey that you may have seen last week if you read the Banksia Bulletin online. Sometimes it can feel like we’re just typing out into the big void when we’re publishing the Passion Sheet  and Banksia Bulletin week and month in, week and month out. We’re very happy to see lists of great ideas for content we can start creating and lots of “keep doing what you’re doings”, so that we shall!
 
Bring on March.
Jill.
 
Jill Hayes
Editor | Banksia Bulletin
Coordinator | Quairading CRC

Ready or not—we’re back, baby! Sure we’re not quite operating at full capacity yet (more days off than on have been absolutely superb through January!) but as of Monday 1st February, we’ll be back on deck and raring to go from 9am—4:30pm, Monday to Friday.
 
Some thoughts I’ve had in the lead up to January 26th:
I made a very conscious decision this year to not celebrate the 26th January, a date I have ashamedly thoroughly enjoyed celebrating in the past. Last year I, like many, took action to better educate myself on Australian history, racism, privilege and the ongoing negative impacts colonisation has had on our country’s First Nations people. I’ve been lucky to spend many wonderful hours with many wonderful members of our local Noongar community over the years, but particularly this last year, and I just can’t think of anything worse than “celebrating” the anniversary of a week that was the beginning of so much pain and destruction caused to their ancestors and their culture.
 
I love Australia and am so appreciative of all the privileges and freedoms I enjoy on a daily basis—and I absolutely do regularly celebrate those—but I have to acknowledge that many of my privileges and freedoms have been made possible because I live on unceded land. My personal aim, and an aim which I would like to think I can encourage others (maybe you) to work towards; is to continue to learn more about our history and how it influences our present and our future, to challenge and unlearn the bias I have learnt from our society, to use my position of privilege to give others a hand up and ultimately be a part of a generation that sees an Australia that accepts a more truthful version of its history—a country that takes meaningful steps toward reconciliation (not one that thinks changing one word in an anthem is enough).
 
I believe I can work toward all of this while still being proud of my own heritage, of my own ancestors who left Ireland and settled in Australia and of the generations of Hayes’ before me who have worked hard in the agricultural industry and who were respected members of their communities. I’m grateful to friends and family who have been willing to have conversations on these topics in recent weeks and to you for reading my thoughts. I hope I’ve struck some chords.
 
To February!
 
Jill Hayes
Editor | Banksia Bulletin
Coordinator | Quairading CRC