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The Inseparables CHARLIE TRENERRY 11.08.2025
Charlie’s Literature Club has made a triumphant return.
A novella written in 1954 by the woman much ahead of her time, but only recently published posthumously.
MIICA BALINT 04.06.2025
Three explorations of conservation. The first, a vulnerable encounter with Australia’s largest butterfly.
The unsettling feeling of screeching to a halt. And unanswered emails.
rolling column
art + culture archive
A graphic designer encourages you to play.
NATALIE WOODS,
PHOTOGRAPHY NINA CLAIRE, UMA CHAGHAGHI,
HAYLEY SMITH,SHARI ANNABELL MARKS,
ANTHONY ONG, SINEAD LEIGH. 01.12.2024
PHOTOGRAPHY NINA CLAIRE, UMA CHAGHAGHI,
HAYLEY SMITH,SHARI ANNABELL MARKS,
ANTHONY ONG, SINEAD LEIGH. 01.12.2024
HOTMESS. A little bit surrealistic,
a little bit raunch, and a whole lot
of incredible costumes.
a little bit raunch, and a whole lot
of incredible costumes.
In Conversation with
Karlee Mackie
KATE MIDDELEER 20.04.2024
The home studio of one of the best.
Aliens, mould, exhibitions, surf, vaginas.
With added joyful insight from Karlee’s
son Koda.
ecology archive
Wukalina WalkMIICA BALINT, PHOTOGRAPHY ALEC BAKER 22.04.2025
What the Palawa people have done with land rights in Wukalina to Larapuna returned, marks how custodianship, guided by reciprocity, respect and relationality, is the way to heal.
Ancestral memory, the ocean, and the encroaching reality of climate change.
MIICA BALINT, PHOTOGRAPHY MONTANA COOPER 27.10.2024
A regenerative farming tangent and an exploration of belonging, learning and experimenting. With Cass Hynes.
music archive
Watch birds, volunteer your time, go to
therapy. Andrew Fraser of Pasiflorez
and Bodalla.
therapy. Andrew Fraser of Pasiflorez
and Bodalla.
Nic Munnelly.MIICA BALINT, PHOTOGRAPHY JILL BONTEMPO 24.05.2024
I did. I also ate two boiled eggs and was on my second coffee, black, by the time I met Jill and Nic at ten am.
KATE MIDDELEER 15.02.2024
Did Francois Hardy sing bossa nova
at the Bangalow Bowlo?
at the Bangalow Bowlo?
Northern Rivers Independent Press operates on the unceded lands of the Bundjalung Arakwal people, the Minjungbal people and the Widjabul Wia-bal people. We acknowledge these custodians, and the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respect, and recognise the continuing connection to lands, waters, skies, communities and stories.
The Inseparables
CHARLIE TRENERRY 21.07.2025
Charlie’s Literature Club has made a triumphant return. A novella written in 1954 by the woman much ahead of her time, but only recently published posthumously.
Jean-Paul Sartre’s NauseaCHARLIE TRENERRY 06.01.2024
Instagram would have definitely given Jean-Paul Sartre motion sickness.
CHARLIE TRENERRY 09.09.2024
An unapologetic look into the gruesome and beautiful guilt of female desire.
CHARLIE TRENERRY 08.08.2024
Charlie replaces food money for books this
week. Alan Bennett.
week. Alan Bennett.
CHARLIE TRENERRY 06.06.2024
Each word and letter and line of illustration
belongs where it lays on the page. And they will absolutely break your heart because of it. Leonard Cohen.
CHARLIE TRENERRY 05.05.2024
I begin my second column by promising you, dear reader, that they won’t all be on obscure little pieces by well-known authors of other things.
Virginia Woolf.
CHARLIE TRENERRY 12.02.2024
One of those little books that may change your life. Rainer Maria Rilke.
Quiet observers and mischief partakers. When big things happen, Sou turns to the plants to teach him something. In turn he helps us better understand them, too.
DANIEL SOUZA 06.01.2024
Symbiotic balance, a reflection on the state
of our relationship with our planet, a consideration for understanding the whole picture.
DANIEL SOUZA 09.09.2024
This ode begins with a gift. Which I must say, to this day, I still don’t know if it was truly meant for me.
DANIEL SOUZA 07.07.2024
Paperbark trees and beauty in subtleties.
DANIEL SOUZA 05.05.2024
Let this be an ode to the incredibly special nature of Australian flora. The first; the turpentine tree.
A photo series with Muckware
It’s a warm autumn afternoon. The sun filters gentle light through Grace’s little clay world and I, finding myself surrounded by an atmosphere of quiet creativity, capture moments on my old film camera, the one that just keeps on giving. The passion for her craft is palpable as I watch her effortlessly mold mud into pieces of functional art.
Grace has always been creating in some capacity, the daughter of two sole trader creatives and a child born in our shire—taking a corporate path was never a consideration. Grace’s dad, James, plays in a local rock and roll band called The Detectives—iconic.
Oil bottles, incense holders, candles, dog bowls, butter dishes, vases, mugs, and plates. A lighting range is also in various stages of design and production. Watch this space.
The sun’s much lower now, the breeze cool, nature loud. Millie, Grace’s beloved pooch, impatiently waits for us out the front, while Grace wraps up her work day.
On The Road Again
28.03.2025 Charlie Allen of Grub Mugs
Featured artists: Dada Disco, Chook Scratch, Grub Mugs, Claire Roadley, Josh, Eleganz, Eli Hurley, Gorgan, Oblica, Karlee Mackie, Luen’s Flowers, RCC Studios, Scarlett Rogers, Stinkbug Industries, Rat Salad.
Music: Ksea Mudge, Sophie Dallaire & Friends, Lubenca, Marisha Shanti Kelly
As the event’s curator, I believe collaboration is at the heart of the artistic experience. My favourite thing about being an artist is working with others, and I hope 'On The Road Again' reflects that sense of community and creative connection.
After time spent living on the road and moving myself, the theme of the exhibition holds special significance. I'm excited to see how the other artists have interpreted this through their own work.
'On The Road Again' is more than just an exhibition – it's also an opportunity to give back. Kristen, the owner of Stew, is organising a fundraiser raffle for The Returning, an indigenous women-led charity on Bundjalung land. Through this initiative, everyone involved aims to show their respect and gratitude for the land on which the exhibition is taking place, as well as highlight the importance of community, collaboration, and social responsibility.
Tickets are ten dollars via Everybrite. Food by Burnt Croissants and Supper Club, drinks are bring-your-own.
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MARLEY ALVAREZ 11.03.2025
A collection of works inspired by the past year—moments spent surfing, swimming, and watching sunsets with good company.
SABASTIAN FARDELL 11.03.2025
Northern Rivers Community Photo Club’s Pilot exhibition on the 22nd of March.
EMMA HARDY 11.03.2025
Mixed media exhibition featuring resin photography, paint, and poetry.
Folk songwriters return to childhood home region
23.06.2025 words by Anousha Victoire and Emmy Ryan
Musicians Anousha (left) and Emmy (right)
Join Anousha Victoire and Emmy Ryan at the Citadel in Murwillumbah and Pearces Creek Hall for an intimate songwriters-in-the-round show. Fresh off shows at the National Folk Festival, Anousha and Emmy will share two sets and a thousand stories.
Both Anousha and Emmy lived in the Northern Rivers in their youth, and Anousha is now based in Newcastle while Emmy is a travelling musician based most recently in Alice Springs. They met through a shared love of authentic folk storytelling and regular meet-ups at festivals, most recently performing together on a shared line up at Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Anousha is an ABC music award-winning contemporary folk singer-songwriter, stitching together folk and world-influenced melodies with bell-over-water clarity of vocal tone. A weaver of everyday dreams, she blends delicate ideas with a heart-aching immediacy, with her trademark fingerpicking folk guitar style paired with haunting vocal melodies in both French and English.
A semi-finalist in the celebrated International Songwriting Awards 2024, Emmy’s music carries the weight of solitude and the warmth of solidarity. With her soul-stirring vocals, intricate guitar and mandolin playing, and lyrics that land straight in the heart, Emmy's songs feel like desert winds–gentle one moment, powerful the next. Emmy’s songwriting has drawn comparisons to Paul Kelly and Sarah Blasko, but her sound is uniquely her own.
Anousha actually attended Pearces Creek Public School for a little time so her last performance at this hall was as a local school student at the end of year concert, back when school swimming lessons were held in the local creek. Emmy is looking forward to performing in her old stomping ground before continuing on her east coast tour southward to promote her recent release I Ain’t So Blue.
Entry: $25
Doors 7pm, music 7:30-9:30pm
contact@thecitadel.com.au
Entry: $25 full price/$20 concession and
12-18 years, kids under 12 free
Doors 3pm, music 3:30-5:30pm
info@pearcescreekhall.com.au
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SABASTIAN FARDELL 11.03.2025
Flavour Revolution;
The Inspiration Behind Byron’s Supper Club
24.06.2025 words by Ellie Ashley
I arrived in Rabarbergården (the Rhubarb Farm) in early summer; a farm-to-table restaurant and home located ninety minutes outside of Copenhagen, Denmark in a coastal summer town. I was a long way from Australia–thirty hours from gate to gate–yet I felt a sense of connection, with this place that would become my home for the next several months.
Long, green, grasses of wheat framed the farm, the main dwelling a traditional Danish home with thatched roofs made of straw, white paint, and brown timber. The glass orangery housed pot plants and dining tables for guests. My room was located above the restaurant, in the attic.
In the first week of work, Thomas, the chef, requested gooseberries to make compote. I returned with a half bucket and a red-stained mouth. He joked that I stuffed more into my mouth than I collected–I don’t think he was wrong. A couple weeks later the cherries began to ripen and I put my hand up to volunteer. With a bigger bucket I foraged all around the neighbourhood, eyes focused on finding the juiciest ones, usually a darker red, stretched skin, hanging a little higher than the rest. These were the best cherries I can recall eating, bursting with sweetness and flavour. As the months carried from summer to autumn I thoroughly enjoyed the new fruits that came with each season. Gooseberries, cherries, apricots, apples, blackberries…
It dawned on me that this was the most flavourful fruit I had tasted. And it made me wonder: why was the fruit I picked here so juicy, sweet, and flavourful? Why don’t the supermarkets back home have produce like this?
After a couple months of working in the field, I was keen to see other sides of the operation, so I helped prep in the kitchen and serve in the restaurant. I was surprised by how many hours of labor went into each meal, from growing in the garden to plating at the table. The gooseberry seed is planted in a bed that has been cleared, composted, mulched, and weeded by the farmer, until ready for harvest–and then the picking process takes ages for those tiny suckers. After its stems are removed, it’s cooked slowly for a compote (or whatever its final destination), and then finally brought to your plate to be devoured in a second.
Observing this process, I saw the circle: the many points of connection, labor, and intention that made up this small, delectable bowl of organic yogurt, granola, and gooseberry compote. It was the first time I really thought about where each ingredient came from and how it got there. I appreciated this bowl of food for more than just its flavour, and I realized how disconnected I have been from where my food came from.
With these insights and questions, along with inspiring conversations with the workers at the Rhubarb Farm, I was eager to find some answers into why I felt disconnected, where the flavour had gone, and how I could share this experience with people back home. It is a multifaceted issue of course, as to what happened to our food system, but I will attempt to brush the surface.
After World War II, our food system underwent major changes with the rise of supermarkets, democratic societies, and an economy geared towards consumer driven growth. Big companies that supplied chemicals in the war repurposed their operations and focused on consumer goods and agriculture; promoting the use of synthetic nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium - the key to the rise of industrial farming - which also required heavy machinery, chemical inputs and synthetic pesticides. This was a devastating, systemic change in how we grew, produced, and consumed food, which has since had detrimental effects in the environment, health and flavour of our food.
A study quoted by the British Food Journal compared fruits and vegetables grown in the 1930’s to those in 1980’s, citing a nineteen percent decline in calcium, a twenty-two percent decline in iron, and a fourteen percent decline in potassium. Scientists have coined this finding the ‘dilution effect’ representing a strong correlation between the rise in supermarkets and the decline in nutrition in our food.
With this information, it was clear to me that our daily choices are the strongest tool we have to stand up for a better future for our food system. A quote from Franco Fubini in The Search of the Perfect Peach particularly stuck with me: “What we decide to eat, the demand we foster, has a direct impact on the development of what food is grown and how it moves from farm to plate. We can influence, one farm at a time, the individuals who look after our soils and protect the valuable ecosystem”.
With this newfound wisdom, I came home and felt the best way to share this knowledge and understanding was to feed people with organic, local produce. And thus the Supper Club was born. It is still in its early days, built on the concept of bringing people together over nutritious, flavourful food. I want to help remind us of the joy of eating seasonally, locally, and with each other. I want there to be a shift in power away from a consumer-driven market--as Franco Fubini calls it, a “flavour-driven revolution”.
So please, join us at the table, as we sit down with each other, and appreciate the flavours the season has brought.
There is an upcoming evening with Supper Club on Saturday, 5th July in Mullumbimby. A night of delicious food, acoustic music, and great company. Read more and purchase tickets here.
References:
Fubini, F. (2024) In search of the perfect peach why flavour holds the answer to fixing our food system. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Mayer, A. (1997) ‘Historical changes in the mineral content of fruits and vegetables’, British Food Journal, 99(6), pp. 207–211. doi:10.1108/00070709710181540.
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To Love The Empty Cup; An interview with Aafia Ali Shah21.04.2025 THOMAS HANNAH
SABASTIAN FARDELL 11.03.2025
Bloom
11.08.25 Megan Dominey Enright
Exhibition on Saturday, 16th of August,
The Station in Fortitude Valley, from 5 pm.
The Station in Fortitude Valley, from 5 pm.
Photographs by Jemma Enright
Bloom Art Exhibition, presented by Poem Avenue, will feature twelve local East Coast artists from different disciplines of expression. Each individual will share a unique story about how identity and nature connect to the processes of life. They will translate their feelings and observations into creative work, exploring topics such as death, rebirth, and the messy in-between. This exhibition will serve as a reminder that endings can be beautiful, the process can be demanding, and beginnings are just around the corner. Much like a flower, a sunset, a long winter, or a full circle rainbow; they come to an end, but they will always bloom again.
Creatives exhibiting include photographers Jemma Enright and Ciara Jones; Scarlett Rogers and Amelia Faye will be showcasing poetry; Gorgan Clothing is a designer; Anna Neil and Ella Senbruns are painters; alongside interdisciplinary artists Lili Batton, Chook Stratch, Summers, Isszy, Dada D1sco, and Moriah Overall.
Bloom will be held at The Station in Brisbane on the 16th of August, an iconic venue for the creative community. Frank James and Lune to the Moon, musicians local to the Northern Rivers, will be performing, alongside live poetry and a short film feature.
Tickets are available here.
The Station is at 16 School Street, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006. It’s a byo event.
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SABASTIAN FARDELL 11.03.2025
A teens creative fire and a program for emerging performers
23.06.2025 Amy Curl and photography Manning Chia
Murwillumbah singer-songwriter Angel White is quickly becoming one of the Northern Rivers’ most exciting young voices, blending soulful vocals, genre-bending grooves and an artist’s heart shaped by family, country, and community.
“I guess you’d say my music has a soul feel — maybe R&B — but it doesn’t really fit in a box,” says the seventeen year-old performer. “One of my biggest inspirations has probably been my dad, Steve Spacek. He’s a musician, singer, producer and DJ, so I think I was just subconsciously influenced growing up around that.”
Originally from Bondi, Angel moved to Murwillumbah in 2021, trading city skylines for the creative calm of the Northern Rivers. But music was always a part of the journey. “I always wanted to be a singer,” she says, “and then in year seven, Dad gave me a guitar — that was the moment I started to see music as a possible future.”
As an Indigenous artist, one of Angel’s first public performances was at NAIDOC Week (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee), as well as school assemblies, and heading to open mic nights when she returned to Sydney to visit friends.
Her friend and fellow young musician Emmagen Rain introduced her to the Talent Development Project (TDP)-- a selective mentoring program for emerging performers across the state. With encouragement from her mum, Angel submitted her video for audition.
“TDP really pushed me — in a good way. The creative tasks helped me rethink how I write lyrics and approach different musical styles. It made me step out of my comfort zone, but that’s how you grow.”
Outside the program, Angel is carving out her place in the region’s vibrant music scene. “I love performing at M|Arts in Murwillumbah. I’m hoping to busk more around the Northern Rivers too — there’s such a good vibe here for live music.”
When asked if she’d recommend TDP to other young artists, Angel doesn’t hesitate. “It’s great for people who are already comfortable performing and want to take the next step creatively and professionally. It really helps you level up.”
So, what’s next for Angel White?
“I’ve just released a song Saturn with my brother $TA — like, Friday! You can hear it on all streaming platforms or find it through my Instagram @angelmariawhite” she laughs. “There’s more to come — I’m just getting started.”
The Talent Development Project is currently accepting applications for its 2026 intake. It’s free to access, supported by the Department of Education, ClubsNSW, and the ICC Sydney, provides travel subsidies for regional students, and has helped launch the careers of alumni like Julia Stone, A.GIRL, (Goori) Knox, Max Jackson, and many more.
Applications close on Friday 4 July. Visit their website for more information.
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A Limitless ThreadANDREW FRASER 28.03.2025
info@northernrip.com