International singing star Isaiah Firebrace played a free concert at the Ti Tree oval on 15 October, organised and supported by staff from Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC).

 The young indigenous man was raised in Victoria; his mother is Gunditjmara and his father is Yorta Yorta.  He won Australian X-Factor in 2016 and represented Australia at Eurovision in 2017, coming ninth.

 Families from Ti Tree, Pmara Jutunta (6 Mile) and Nturiya (Ti-Tree Station) came to the concert, with around 60 people enjoying the live music. Ti-Tree preschool sold cold drinks and snacks to raise money for equipment for the school. After the music, everyone had a chance to meet Isaiah, chat and take photos together.

 “Everyone was really excited and had a fantastic time!” said Grace Barry, CDRC Youth Sport and Recreation team leader in Ti Tree.

The men from Laramba Community Development Program (CDP) have cultivated a market garden, making planter boxes out of old fridges and washing machine drums. They weed each of the planter boxes and the surrounding ground by hand, prune the tomatoes, water and fertilise the vegetables and fruit trees.

Laramba CDP is harvesting rain water and they have two tanks for drinking water. One tank holds 22,500 litres and the second holds 4,500 litres. Both these were almost full in October.

Francis Madonko, CDP Activity Coordinator, came out for a routine visit to Laramba to see how they are going with the market garden.

“This project is greatly benefiting the job seekers to have a skill that will also boost their nutritional health,” he said. “To have fresh leafy greens and rain water is an excellent result for the community.”