Dubbo Photo News & Dubbo Weekender

People

Lorna Brennan. Photo: Wendy Merrick

Lorna Brennan: In profile

I’m the local facilitator of the Buninyong School as Community Centre. I’ve been here for the last 13 years. Before that I did lots of supported playgroups around the region. I was based at Nyngan for a few years and travelled out as far as Byrock and Cobar, and down…
Ray Winslow’s many years supporting Legacy has been recognised in the national Pride of Australia awards. Photo: Dubbo weekender/file

Ray reflects on time well served

After 55 years of service to Legacy, Dubbo’s Ray Winslow was humbled to receive the Pride of Australia Editor’s Award which honours outstanding community service. Ray’s decision to become involved in Legacy stemmed from his time as an RAAF pilot in World War II stationed in England from 1944 to…
Joe Williams says he’s spent years researching brain injuries. Photo: Dubbo Photo News

Joey’s struggle and message of hope

Joe Williams has had voices in his head telling him to commit suicide every day since the age of 11 and he’s proud his new book details those daily struggles in vivid and compelling detail, because he wants his experiences of managing bi-polar and depression to help others battling the…
Ben and Yuki Palmer photographed during a recent visit to Japan to introduce Leon to his Japanese family for the first time. PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED.

Welcome Leon, Dubbo’s first Sister City baby!

It’s a love story that’s made for the big screens, where two people from different backgrounds fall head over heels for each other despite all odds. Ben and Yuki Palmer first met in 2005 while Ben was on the Minokamo Dubbo Sister City Student exchange program in Japan and although…
Ausmumpreneur finalist, Cherie Thompson. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS/WENDY MERRICK

Learning the secret to success

The secret is out about a local company making a scene with its range of natural products and traditional artworks. Cherie and Phil Thompson launched their business Native Secrets after having their first child three years ago. Since then, they have gone national, with both a new opportunity on the…
Fletcher International Exports training officer Tina McNeilly. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS

Tina’s found her feet at Fletchers

Tina McNeilly has worked at Fletcher International Export (Fletchers) just shy of 13 years but she never envisioned she’d be forging an enjoyable and rewarding career with the company when she first knocked on the door, she just needed some cash to tide her over. “I’d been on the land…
Members of Dubbo ORISCON (Orana Residents of Indian Sub-Continental Heritage). Photo: Supplied.

Passage from India

In the past five years, 1.3 million people have migrated to Australia from 180 other countries. Of those, 163,000 (or 12.5 per cent) hail from India, with some of them now proudly calling Dubbo home.* Dubbo ORISCON (Orana Residents of Indian Sub-Continental Heritage) secretary Hemant Jadhav estimates that there are…
Dubbo Men’s Shed members with Dubbo Regional Council’s retiring Community Services Director David Dwyer (front row centre, wearing tie). PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS

David’s on the move but leaves his legacy

It’s a changing of the guards at the Dubbo Regional Council with David Dwyer retiring from the role of Community Services Director. While he has spent part of his 41-year career helping to establish some large scale projects in the city, it’s moments like this one pictured, showing David being…
Leigh Croft with her children Phoenix Olencewicz, 8, and Isabella Croft, 2. Leigh is doing what she can to make more people aware of what it’s like to live with epilepsy, a condition which affects as many as 1 in 50 Australians. Photo: Yvette Aubusson-Foley

Shining a light on epilepsy

Leigh Croft and her two children all have epilepsy. In the lead-up to International Epilepsy Awareness Day, this courageous Dubbo mum is driving a new support group and raising money and awareness, NATALIE HOLMES writes.
Former St John’s College student Zae Wilson is a NSW state finalist in the Miss Universe contest. Photo: Clancy Job

Miss Universe contender taken by surprise

Out of the blue, Dubbo teenager Zae Wilson was encouraged to register for the Miss Universe contest. Now she’s a state finalist. “I’m not a model at all,” the bubbly student laughed. “I have never done anything like that at all.” Approached by the competition’s organisers on social media app…
Norm Organ is one local bloke who’s been fortunate to follow his passion. Photo: Dubbo Weekender

Metal man

Conventional wisdom from careers advisors these days is to follow your passion, but it’s often a tough ask in a world where career stability used to define much of who people were. It’s also tough when so many people start up small businesses in an environment where most fail, talking…

The story of Chateau Cadillac

In the 1860s and 70s, the founder of Dubbo, Bordeaux-native, Jean Emile Serisier, planted 70,000 vines on the outskirts of Dubbo. Several generations later his descendant, Richard Serisier has taken the family tradition full circle, returning to France where he is busy creating his own award winning wines. Dubbo Weekender…