Nick  Gleeson was a truly inspiring ambassador, with a gift for imparting his own personal story and his joy in being a proud Australian to all ages in the audience.

How moving was the instrumental version of Advance Australia Fair at the conclusion of the ceremony!

However we were very disappointed that the proceedings did not commence with  “Welcome to Country”.

The fact that it was Australia Day made the omission of what has become protocol at official functions even more obvious.

Congratulations, Jenny Lewis – well deserved!

Happy Australia Day, Dungog.

I write in support of the letter by Brian Farmer et al in last week’s edition of the Dungog Chronicle.

All that was contained in that letter was simple fact, not just opinion.

Also, I support Tom Boorer’s letter.

I am, as it is known, a critic of the so called ‘stand alone’ option as our Council is so far behind in one area that I think most residents agree on. That is – roads.

Even with a merger into a larger entity it will take many years to fix them, unless the state government offers many millions as a bonus.

This is an unlikely scenario.

I thought things were bad living in Alison. Now that I am again living in town (and entering and leaving mostly on Clarence Town Road) I see the full horror of the streets in Dungog.

The commencement of Clarence Town Road, the top particularly of Lord Street and most of Dowling Street are each pathetic.

Welcome to Dungog.

While all road surfaces in the town require extensive maintenance, these highest-trafficked streets must be fixed as soon as possible.

Apart from the disturbance to those living here, tourism – like it or not – is important to Dungog. Yet I believe we don’t do enough to encourage it.

A recent ‘stand aloner’ blamed Bob Carr for the roads. Get real – that’s approaching a generation ago and the current state government is about to enter its seventh year in office.

As I see it, ‘stand alone’ would be an option with a massive bail-out by the NSW or the Turnbull Government.

If anyone thinks that that’s likely then, in the immortal words of the character Darryl Kerrigan, “tell ‘im ‘e’s dreamin”.

We had one. Hubby let them ramble on for a good few minutes.

They finally threatened that they would be sending the police around to force us to comply with their request.

Hubby just calmly responded and said: “That's OK” and that the call was being traced by Telstra. They quickly hung up.

Great news for NSW Health - she jumped, just before she was pushed.

Now we MAY get a decent minister who perhaps knows what they are talking about. 

Skinner not only didn't know about the health needs of our Hospital system, she never even gave any impression that she cared for hard-working hospital staff around NSW.

NSW nurses and midwives are dancing in the streets.