🎻 Swamp ladies get groovy

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• FRI. 19/06 - SUN. 12/07 | The Great Alpine Scarecrow Competition

• FRI. 19/06 - SUN. 20/06 | Mallacoota Winter Solstice Exhibition

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Bruthen Medieval Winter Fire Festival

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | LitterArty

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Echo Bend Camping Park Lantern Making

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Yallourn Madrigal Singers

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Leah Senior

• SAT. 20/06 & SUN. 21/06 | Walhalla train rides

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | The Ultimate Truffle Hunt

• FRI. 19/06 - SUN. 19/07 | East Gippsland Winter Festival

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Inverloch Rural Farmers Market

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Drouin Craft and Produce Market

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Warragul Farmers Market

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Gormandale Craft and Produce Market

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Prom Country Farmers Market

• SATURDAY, 20/06/26 | Sale Producers Market

• SUNDAY, 21/06/26 | Coronet Bay Market

• SUNDAY, 21/06/26 | Kongwak Market

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🥁 Musical about Gippsland's mysterious Ladies of the Swamp sells out in Tarwin Lower

The story of Margaret and Jeannie Clement, Gippsland’s so-called "Ladies Of The Swamp",  has fascinated locals for generations.

But maybe none more so than Tarwin Lower resident Patricia Freeman, who along with her five sisters has been touring a Lady of the Swamp Musical since 2018.

A quick recap - who were the Clement sisters?

Margaret and Jeannie Clement bought Tullaree, a 1,016-acre property in Buffalo (33 kilometres south of Leongatha) in 1907.

• Due to a large family inheritance, the sisters lived in style and travelled the world often, according to newspaper articles at the time.

• But over the years they were swindled, robbed, and taken advantage of by various employees and by the 1920s, debts had piled up and they were forced to mortgage the property.

With no money to pay employees, the swamp slowly reclaimed the Tullaree estate.

Tough life: According to one newspaper report, the women lived without running water, electricity or sewerage. There was no wood to light a fire, and they lived on cold, tinned baked beans and bread.

• Jeannie Clement, 72, died at the Tullaree homestead in 1950 of natural causes. It was the middle of a freezing winter and eight men were tasked with retrieving her body.

• In 1952 Margaret vanished. The day after her disappearance at least 100 people were searching for her. It was feared that she had fallen and drowned while wading through the swampy marshes, but the searchers failed to find any trace of her.

“For weeks police and neighbours searched the swamps round the homestead in search of her body. It was never found,” reads a newspaper report in the Argus.

Read why Patricia Freeman chose the Clement sisters as the subject for a musical here.

🌊 South Gippsland Council releases flood maps showing heightened risk for 900 properties

New flood maps released by South Gippsland Council have identified roughly 900 properties and 180 dwellings that will likely be impacted by an increased risk of floods and water inundation.

What happened: The 10 new maps, developed by council and the West Gippsland Catchment Authority (WGCMA), were compiled using historical flood information, on-site research and computer modelling.

• The maps attempt to identify how towns, rivers and catchments throughout South Gippsland will be impacted by the increased risk of floods and water inundation as severe weather events become more frequent and more intense.

Where it’s at: The majority of properties impacted by potential flooding are located in Foster, Hedley, Kongwak, Welshpool, Venus Bay, Sandy Point, Waratah Bay, Port Franklin, Toora, Agnes, Welshpool and the Tarwin River catchment along South Gippsland's coast.

Read the full story here.

⛷️ How an El Niño event will impact Gippsland’s winter ski season

Over the long weekend, ski season kicked off around Australia’s East Coast with snow guns billowing out soft white powder over the mountains and slopes in preparation for eager snowboarders and skiers.

But research from the CSIRO and Monash University is warning that Australian ski seasons are getting shorter.

Avid skier and professor of atmosphere and environment at Monash University, Dr Andrew Watkins, told the Monitor when he was young he wouldn’t get out of bed for less than a metre of snow.

“I've observed changes throughout my lifetime. My daughter gets excited about a lot less snow than I used to at her age.”

• Watkins was the head of BoM’s long-range forecast team between 2012 and 2022.

What happened: With an El Niño season looking likely to be confirmed in the coming weeks, snow season in Gippsland could be impacted by a combination of warming temperatures and drier conditions through winter and spring.

Trudi Reiter and husband Craig operate Mount Baw Baw Ski Hire.

“Mount Baw Baw has always, without a doubt, suffered if there is a slightly warmer or slightly drier winter more than any other resort, because it's lower,” Trudi, who grew up on the mountain, told the Monitor.

“If it's a lower altitude and if it's just a shade warmer than the year before you don't get snow, you get rain, or if it's drier then you don't get snow, you get nothing.”

She added that the flip side was snow making technology had improved greatly over the years.

Read the full story here or watch a video about it below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

Have you ever thought about purchasing a get rich quick course?

My colleague Archie Milligan from the National Account spoke to reporter Alice Angeloni from Triple J's Hack program about how the "escape the 9 to 5" course industry has cost young men thousands of dollars.

Take a look at the video interview below.