Local news for local people
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No 122 - July 30, 2026
A flower. Pretty.
July is "Begging
for Money" month
Help keep Oberon Matters free.
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Me a Coffee.
The Burraga Sheep Show is happening on August 29.
It is not to be missed.
 | Science comes to Oberon Are you interested in science? If not, you should be. National Science Week runs from August 15 to 23 and this year part of it is happening in Oberon. The Oberon Citizen Science Network will be celebrating at the Malachi Gilmore Hall on Saturday, August 15. |
Another week. Another scam. The creativity (or perhaps dishonesty) of scammers is remarkable. They never tire of finding new ways to steal money from unsuspecting targets. Here's a statement from the Oberon Men's Shed about one going around town right now. The Shed has received an enquiry stating that a "Jeff" from the Men's Shed had done some odd jobs at a home for a lady in town. She had overpaid him and was requesting the return of the overpayment. The Oberon Men's Shed doesn't perform odd jobs for members of the community as our insurance doesn't cover this type of work. Nor do we intrude on the type of work local handymen undertake. Additionally, the Shed has never had a member called "Jeff." Please be aware that if "Jeff" or anyone else approaches you claiming to be from the Men's Shed looking to do handyman's work around your home, we reiterate that we don't perform this sort of work for the community as we don't have the required insurance. |
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Your Federal Member's Community Update Your community update from the Federal Member for Calare, Andrew Gee MP, can be seen here. |
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 | July 2026 Oberon Council Meeting May Oberon Council Ordinary and Extraordinary meetings. |
Community Services Expo The 2026 Community Services Expo will be held at the Oberon Community Centre from 4 to 6pm on Thursday, August 6. The expo highlights the services that make the town such a nice place to live. Oberon Matters will be there with a stand, so drop by for a chat. |  |
 | Book review: "Surrounded by Idiots" by Thomas Erikson The subtitle of this book is "The four types of human behaviour and how top effectively communicate with each in business (and in life)". A very bold claim, and based on its own idiocy that people can be partitioned into fixed and inflexible categories. |
Oberon Council Mayor's Column This fortnight's column from Oberon Mayor Andrew McKibbin can be seen here. |  |
 | Men's Shed Raffle If you ever walk past IGA on a Friday you can't miss the representatives of the Oberon Men's Shed selling raffle tickets. The purpose is to raise money to build a permanent home for the Shed rather than the cramped quarters they now occupy at the showground. The Oberon Matters office is in a small flat and the landlord is not at all enthusiastic about heating the place with a wood fire in a fire pit in the middle of the lounge room so when these are the prizes there is extra "encouragement" from the Shed people to buy tickets which are treated as a donation. When the prizes are groceries and petrol vouchers there is more buyer enthusiasm because, you know, food and driving. Whatever the prizes, however, the money from the tickets goes to a good cause. The Shed's latest raffle has closed, and winners drawn.
Megan from Hair Flair Hairdressers was the barrel girl this time around. Congratulations to all winners and sincere thanks to all who purchased tickets. A new raffle has started. You'll find the volunteers in the main street again every Friday. |
I like schoolin' and I'm not foolin' The educating (and sporting) keeps going on at the schools around Oberon. |  |
 | The sporting continues All the sports. All the time. |
$10 for trips anywhere in Oberon during August.
Ring
to book your ride.
Community Event: Suicide Prevention, Depression and Anxiety Suicide is a very worrying thing, and Oberon Men's Shed in conjunction with the Australian Men's Shed Association and the charity Talk to Me, Bro will be hosting a community meeting in November to consider and reflect on the issue. |  |
 | New owners for Oberon's taxi When Ashdeep Nash brought a taxi service to Oberon last year it was very welcome. Ashdeep is moving interstate and NSW laws require that taxi owners live in this state so there was a possibility that Oberon would lose this valuable resource. But the taxi has new owners and will be staying in town. |
Thanks for the donations
July 23, 2026 in Community
The Oberon Garden club have announced two donations to local recipients. $10,000 goes to the Oberon Hospital Auxiliary and $1,000 to Oberon Museum. The money was raised from entry fees at the Club's Autumn Open Garden Festival.
Thanks and congratulations.
Time catches up with St Dymphna's Church in Burraga Not just time but a reducing population and smaller congregations have led to the closure of St Dymphna's Catholic church in Burraga. Unfortunately this sort of thing seems inevitable for small towns and villages where the cost of upkeep means that some things just can't be justified any more. The final Mass was conducted on Saturday, July 18, by Bishop Michael McKenna. |  |
There are a lot of cattle around Oberon
July 23, 2026 in General News
Thanks to Scott Hilburn at the Argyle Sweater
| Oberon Council Mayor's Column This fortnight's column from Oberon Mayor Andrew McKibbin can be seen here. |
School Daze Schools were still closed for the holidays last week, but a book review I wrote reminded me of this article I wrote some time ago for Australasian Science magazine about a perennial and dangerous teaching practice which keeps arriving uninvited into schools. |  |
 | School life gradually returns It's a slow start to the term but there are things going on behind the curtain. |
Chasing things around paddocks Nothing but winners this week, in soccer, league and golf. |  |
 | Two good to be true? It has just been announced that the NSW Rally Championship will be returning to Oberon in November, based at the Sports Complex and using Hampton and Jenolan forests. As the Australian Motor Sport Action Group (AMSAG) have a round of their series scheduled for Black Springs two weeks earlier we are facing a likely plethora of forest action. The two series attract different fields of competitors so all we have to do is hope that neither event is cancelled because of weather or some other manifestation of force majeur. |
National Science Week is coming to the Malachi Gilmore Hall
on August 15. See What's On for details
Winter Seasonal Markets at Edith It was definitely wintery at Edith for the Winter Seasonal Markets but that didn't stop a good crowd turning up to sample some local products and produce. Oberon Matters put on the winter woolies and wandered around pointing the camera at things. |  |
 | How to stop fraudsters tricking disabled people out of their NDIS funding There is a temptation to blame welfare recipients for fraud and wastage in government programs. There are almost certainly people claiming benefits to which they are not entitled, but almost all the fraud in the NDIS is being conducted by those people pretending to be the ones doing the helping. This report from The Conversation provides some details of the fraud involved. |
Black Springs Community Association The Black Springs Community Association AGM results are in with the new elected committee being:
Congratulations to all new committee members. We would like to extend a big thank you to the outgoing committee members for all their work and effort put in over the past year. Here's to another great year. |
Book review: "The Fibre Factor" by Dr Joanna McMillan One of the most profitable niches in book publishing is the "Fad Diet", where someone writes at length about the dangers of a food component or the benefit of another. Into this milieu comes this book extolling the advantages of fibre in our diets, but the red flags start waving before you even open the book. |  |
 | Left Behind: Transitioning to Work Getting Tougher Research carried out for the Smith Family points to a disappointing employment future for students who leave high school before Year 12. This is possibly a bigger problem for students in regional areas who might have an even narrower range of job possibilities than students living in more highly populated cities. |
A little bit of sport goes a long way Weather cold enough to freeze the balls off a golf green but that didn't stop Oberon's sportspeople from getting out there and having a go. |  |
Helping people cope with mental health issues.
See What's On for dates or contact Lincoln on
.
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We would like to acknowledge the Wiradjuri, Gundungurra and Dharug nations as the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work and we pay our respect to Elders past, present and future
Site last updated on July 29, 2026
