🌄 No Bluff News #41

G'day {{first_name | Friend}}! We're back with edition 41 of No Bluff News – your weekly wrap of positive local news, weekend plans, and all the community highlights you actually care about.

What's coming your way today:

Time to jump in!

Charles Darwin spent eight days in Albany in 1836 and called Strawberry Hill the only ground under cultivation for miles. WA's first farm is shut for restoration, and the walls have come back a bold pink.

Barmup was a Menang camp long before that, and it was Mokare's country. Same Mokare as the statue on York Street.

Elders are painting a map for the site, and bush tucker is going back into the ground. It reopens in September, and Mapping Menang launches there on 19 September to tell that older story properly.

Kojonup's Memorial Hall turned 100 on Saturday. The town marked it by adding 14 names that should have gone up a century ago, most of them men who never came home.

Arnold Bilney is 99, near enough the same age as the hall. "I knew all those that went away," he says.

Local historian Robert Sexton tracked the missing names down. Shire president Roger Bilney calls it "almost like a homecoming", because for men without a grave this is where they get remembered.

Ancient peat runs under the south coast from Albany west, and nobody's properly mapped it. $1.4 million has gone into changing that, and PEAT Southwest wants landholders who might have some to come forward.

The Albany Pitcher Plant grows in it, eating insects because peat's too poor to feed it otherwise. The Sunset Frog lives in it near Walpole and nowhere else on earth.

There's a session at Parryville Hall, between Denmark and Walpole, on Wednesday 2 September. If you've got a boggy patch you've never done much with, that might be why.

Pilots and their families lived in the quarters at Albany's Pilot Station from 1853 to 1936. Work's started on an $8.3 million job to bring the buildings back, with a playground going in alongside.

Albany's own Smith Constructions has the build. It opens late 2027, and you can see what's going in.

Southern Aboriginal Corporation took the Caring for Country and Culture Award at the National NAIDOC Awards in Alice Springs.

The Noongar-led group runs the Walitj Mia Mia and Nowanup camps near Borden, where young people learn cultural practice and land management. They say caring for Country and caring for people can't be separated.

Denmark's Wear, Share, Repeat pop-up shifted hundreds of pre-loved items in a day.

What didn't sell went to Homeless Project Denmark's market for a second go. Another local filled a box with clothes and shoes and paid the excess luggage to fly it to South Africa.

The Wellstead Historical and Heritage Committee has been recording locals telling the district's story, and every account goes into the Wellstead District Historical Archive for good.

The results, including a 30-minute documentary premiere, fill the Vancouver Arts Centre's main gallery from 8 to 21 September. It's free.

The Simpsons turned up at Peaceful Bay, Bob's Burgers in Denmark, and Pinky and the Brain out at Nornalup. The rest are scattered around the country.

Worth a detour if you're going past. The payphone finder will show you where your nearest box is.

Her Community: Free sundowner for women with speakers on health, menopause and wellbeing, plus door prizes, 6–8pm | Katanning Country Club | Friday, 28 Aug

Albany Farmers Market: Produce, baked goods and breakfast straight from the growers, 8am–12pm | Collie Street, Albany | Saturday, 29 Aug

Body Serenity Studio Open Day: Free ice bath challenge or sauna trial, door prizes and coffee, 11am–2pm | Body Serenity Studio | Saturday, 29 Aug

Albany Boatshed Markets: Local produce, gourmet food, Great Southern wines and live music, 9am–1pm | Princess Royal Drive | Sunday, 30 Aug

Children's Book Week Story Time and Dress Up: Come as your favourite book character for stories, games and instruments, 10–11am. Free | Mt Barker CRC | Friday, 28 Aug

We Live Here: Circus and storytelling built from the experiences of Hummingbird House families, 6:30–7:30pm | Albany Town Hall | Monday, 31 Aug

15th Anniversary Beer Dinner: Four courses, limited-release beers, live music, from 4pm | Boston Brewing Co | Saturday, 29 Aug

Comedy Gold: Anthony Lamond, Dave O'Neil and Sian Choyce on tour, 6:30–8pm | Denmark Civic Centre | Sunday, 30 Aug

Open Mic Night: Music, poetry or comedy, performers get a free drink, PA provided, 5–8pm. Free | Wilson's Brewery | Friday, 28 Aug

EXP: Full moon night with guest vocalist Jonelle, 8pm | Walpole Hotel Motel | Friday, 28 Aug

Rainbow Coast Big Band Swing Dance Ball: 17-piece big band and guest vocalists, dance however you like, 6:30pm, $20–$40 | Albany Town Hall | Saturday, 29 Aug

Ultimate Unicorn: Unicorn headlining with Arthur Stewart and Simon London supporting, 8:30–11pm. Free | Six Degrees | Saturday, 29 Aug

Dave Rastrick: Trumpet, vocals, guitar and e-Cajón looped live, reggae through to originals, 1–4pm | Karribank | Sunday, 30 Aug

RnB Soul Train: Mata and Jess play original acoustic soul, 4–7pm Sunday at Due South | Sunday, 30 Aug

Paperbark Book Club: Anthea Hodgson on her novel The Palace of Lost Virtue, 6–7pm | Six Degrees | Wednesday, 26 Aug

Behind the Pages: Dianne Wolfer on the research behind her picture books and war stories, 5–6:30pm. Free | Albany Public Library | Thursday, 27 Aug

The Battle of the Harbours: Mike Lefroy and Malcolm Traill on how Fremantle overtook Albany as WA's port, 5:30pm | Albany | Thursday, 27 Aug

Early Albany Book Launch: John Dowson launches the bicentenary history, 6:30–8:30pm Friday | Albany Town Hall | Friday, 28 Aug

Authors Talk: Josh Kemp: Gothic and crime writing, 15 spots only, bookings essential, 2pm, $5 | Pen and Possibility | Saturday, 29 Aug

Graphite Drawing Workshop: Erin Coates on observation, shading and tone, take home a 12-piece pencil set, 16+, 10am–12pm, $95 | Historic Whaling Station | Sunday, 30 Aug

FIFO: Drama about fly-in fly-out life, inspired by true events, funny and brutal by turns, 7:30–9pm, from $25 | Denmark | Tuesday, 1 Sep

GSFL Finals – Week 1: Railways v Albany and Royals v Denmark Walpole, first bounce 2:30pm | Full fixtures and venues | Saturday, 29 and Sunday, 30 Aug

Albany Roller Derby v Perth Roller Derby: Full contact, fast jams, loud crowd, 6pm | Albany | Saturday, 29 Aug

Great Southern Women's Luncheon: August networking lunch, buy your own on the day, 12:30–2pm | The Lake House | Thursday, 27 Aug

Lead With Impact: Business workshop on leadership, registration online, 6–8pm | Katanning | Thursday, 27 Aug

Shire of Denmark Ordinary Meeting: Council business, open to the public, 4–6pm | Denmark | Tuesday, 25 Aug

City of Albany Ordinary Council Meeting: Council business, open to the public, 6–8pm | Albany | Tuesday, 25 Aug

Albany's bicentenary finishes with fireworks over the foreshore on New Year's Eve, and there are fourteen headline events between here and there. The Great Southern Noongar Festival, The Song Catchers, Carrying the Fire on Saturday 7 November and the Christmas Pageant are all in it. Plenty of it books out, so it's worth a look now rather than in November. Browse the full program.

Mount Barker fills Wilson Park with fairy doors and art installations made by Plantagenet artists, young and old, and you walk the trail hunting for them. It opens with a free family fun day on the Shire lawn on Saturday 26 September and runs through to Sunday 18 October. Free the whole way. Find it here.

Former Lord of the Dance and Riverdance cast members bring their show to the Albany Entertainment Centre, all of it sung and danced live with no backing tracks. One night only, Tuesday 29 September. Tickets run $64.90 to $89.90 depending on where you sit, with concession and child prices in between. Book here.

A guide walks you out to Uredale Point through the wildflowers, telling Menang stories about the country under your feet, and a picnic box of local produce comes with it. Two hours on foot, back by 2pm, with views across King George Sound and Princess Royal Harbour. $169 a head across seven dates between Tuesday 29 September and Thursday 8 October, and places are limited. Book now.

RugbyWA brings its biggest junior tournament of the year to Albany, with age groups from under-8s through to under-15s and girls' divisions across the weekend. It's post-season, so teams travel down for it. Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October. Details here.

Albany's gas is going, and there's $21M to help you switch: About $1,600 a household toward LPG or electric appliances, zone by zone from 2027. Check your zone.

There's $100 sitting there if you hold a WA driver's licence: Learners and provisionals included, claimed through the ServiceWA app. Claim yours.

Dazzle Denmark's back with $1,250 in prizes: Recycled outdoor trees from businesses, schools and families, judged plus People's Choice. Register by 30 October.

Fleers Electrical is the country's best small electrical business: Took Small Business of the Year at the national Australian Trades awards. See the win.

Once Upon A Taco has a new home: Now inside The Short End at Denmark Riverside Club, Tuesday to Saturday. Check the hours.

Spudshed's Tony Galati dropped into Jo-Joe's for a pizza: The shop posted its thanks the same day. See the photo.

Ranger, casual: community ranger work across the shire, $44.22–$48.14/hr, closes 11 September | Shire of Denmark | Denmark

Stevedoring supervisor, casual: supervise wharf operations at the port | CBH Group | Albany

46 Earl Street, Albany: 3-bed, 1-bath on 591m². 1925 cottage, timber floors, high ceilings, harbour and city views, R30 development potential | Offers over $849,000

17A Cahill Court, Gledhow: 3-bed, 2-bath on 411m². New 2026 build, double garage | Offers above $750,000

Billy McRae signs with the Brisbane Bullets: The Albany Raiders junior has joined the Bullets as an NBL27 development player after strong form for Warwick Senators and Australia at the FIBA U17 Oceania Cup.

Pavlovich kicks five in his 200th as Mount Barker win by 130: Lee Pavlovich and Sam Lehmann brought up 200 and 300 games in the same match, a 28.18 (186) to 8.8 (56) win over North Albany at Sounness Park, with captain Camball McMahon top-scoring on six.

And that's a wrap!

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See you next Tuesday!