Alana Calvert
Verified- Regional SA Digital Content Producer and Reporter, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Adelaide, Orange
ABC regional SA/Broken Hill reporter and producer. Via @PA’s Oz bureau and other places.
Alana Calvert’s Journalist Portfolio
View as a gridAboriginal community vows to fight Mount Canobolas bike trail proposal
Central Western Daily
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There were few empty seats in Orange City Bowling Club's Skylight Room on Saturday when the Gannha-bula Action Group held its first community meeting. The group led by Wiradjuri elders is opposing Orange City Council's mountain bike trail proposal for Mount Canobolas (Gunnha-bula).
Wiradjuri elders form action group against Mt Canobolas bike trail
Central Western Daily
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Wiradjuri elder Uncle Neil Ingram Senior doesn't normally like speaking to the media, but when he read that Orange City Council had been working closely with "all members of the Aboriginal community" to install a mountain bike trail on Mt Canobolas, he said he needed to speak up.
Proposed bike trail will 'desecrate' Mt Canobolas, scientists say
Central Western Daily
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The Canobolas Conservation Alliance (CCA) - a community group of scientists, bushwalkers, environmentalists and concerned individuals - say the planned network of more than 100 kilometres of bike trail would "inflict irreversible damage" on ecological as well as heritage values.
How Tahls the painter is proving that a woman's place is on the worksite
Central Western Daily
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For Tahlia Williams, 31, painting and decorating was always the career she had her heart set on but it was a surprise to encounter some blokes less than happy to have her on the worksite.
'Alarming' rates of depression among pandemic's frontline workers
Central Western Daily
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A new Charles Sturt University study on the impact of COVID-19 on frontline workers has revealed "alarming" rates of anxiety, depression and burnout. The study's Orange-based lead-researcher, professor Russell Roberts said that while he had expected the strain on workers' mental health to be significant during the pandemic, the actual figures were "much worse".
Young mum with bowel cancer had to 'fight' to get pain taken seriously
Central Western Daily
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In the months leading up to her diagnosis in late May, the young mum-of-three had been suffering from severe abdominal pain, yet each time she went to Orange Hospital's Emergency Department for help, staff told her it was menstrual cramping or indigestion.
What rare 'revenge porn' conviction teaches us about image-based abuse
Central Western Daily
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A man who was convicted for charges relating to 'revenge porn' is understood to be one of the few to face the criminal justice system in Orange since harsher penalties were introduced in 2018. Despite it being an offence to distribute or threaten to distribute intimate images without the consent of the person depicted in the photo or video, Orange police has never charged anyone.
'Eerie feeling': Fairbridge 'kid' returns to notorious farm orphanage after 40 years
Central Western Daily
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Like so many other English child migrants, Mr Barron had been born into poverty before he was stuck on a ship and sent to the other side of the world to the notorious orphanage. After that, he got a job on the railways before his life followed the path of many Fairbridge Farm survivors when he was conscripted into the army in 1968 for two years.
Monument to towering strength of 95 'Fairbridge kids' who served
Central Western Daily
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Nearly 10 percent of the child migrants who wound up in the orphanage near Molong went on to serve in the armed forces. On Saturday, former "Fairbridge kids" made the trek back to the dilapidated site situated near the Fairbridge Children's Park to witness the unveiling of a Military Monument for the 94 men and one woman who served.
'I was nearly homeless': People battling financial stress urged to reach out
Central Western Daily
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This time last year, unbeknownst to many of the people who knew her, Amber* came close to losing a secret and "shameful" battle she had been fighting for some years. The mother-of-three had been in a bad long-term relationship and she was in danger of losing the house that had been left to her, "unencumbered", by her late father in 2008.
The Orange local who did time for a serial killer's crime
Central Western Daily
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The Stan true-crime series After the Night focuses on Australian serial killer - Eric Edgar Cooke, who terrorised Perth during the 1960s, murdering at least eight people including John Button's 17-year-old girlfriend Rosemary Anderson. On the night of Mr Button's 19 th birthday in 1963, the young couple got in an argument and she had stormed off.
From Bankstown to the bush: Youth worker still fighting for young people
Central Western Daily
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Glenroi Youth Hub's new leader Sarkis Achmar has seen a lot in his 25 years on the frontline. But regardless of whether it's in the city or the bush, kids of all backgrounds need the same thing.
'People around Australia' touched by story of sad, blind dog
Central Western Daily
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When it was announced that Hugo - the sad, old and blind bulldog who broke hearts when his photo went viral - needed to have his eyes removed, Central West Animal Rescue had little trouble raising the money for his surgery.
Hugo's not 'scary' or 'bitey' just sad and misunderstood
Central Western Daily
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Far from being 'scary', 'bitey' or aggressive, Hugo is friendly, sociable and good with both other dogs and children; He's even spent time with chooks. The image was accompanied by a plea: "(Please know) how sweet this boy actually is. This photo does not do him justice. He's not scary, aggressive or 'bitey'.
Pioneer who stopped traffic: Force's first female cop turns 100
Central Western Daily
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Born in Orange in 1920, Mrs Tupman celebrated her 100 th birthday on October 3. The world as well as the police force were very different beasts in 1945. The one duty the women were allowed to perform -- directing traffic -- sparked great controversy because it was thought the female officers would distract motorists and cause accidents.
McDonald's taken to court for 'cruel, inhumane working conditions'
Yahoo News Australia
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One of Australia's largest McDonald's franchise operators is facing Federal Court proceedings for allegedly threatening to restrict workers from going to the toilet or drink water outside of break times. The Queensland-based franchisee, Tantex Holdings Pty Ltd (Tantex) which runs at least six branches in the state is being sued by the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RFFWU) for subjecting young employees to "cruel and inhumane working conditions".
'My world fell apart': The dark and hidden toll of losing 'just' a pet
Yahoo News Australia
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Vicky Nonas felt like she was losing her mind. She had been crying for weeks but when she told people why she was so distraught they "looked at me like I had two heads". Ms Nonas had just lost the dog who had been by her side for nearly two decades and her grief felt bottomless.
McDonald's staff claim they were ordered to keep working despite emergency bushfire texts
Yahoo News Australia
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A McDonald's restaurant on the NSW Mid North Coast is under investigation by SafeWork NSW following reports that staff were ordered to keep working despite being told by fire authorities to "seek shelter". Sources told Yahoo News Australia that on Friday, November 8, when multiple suburbs in Port Macquarie came under threat, McDonald's workers at the highway branch were instructed to keep working.
'Bleeding at my desk': The workplace fight for leave after miscarriage
Yahoo News Australia
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It was the worst day of Anna Kratovil's life. After weeks of bleeding and hospital visits, she learnt her baby son, Alfie, was dying inside her. Then as she arrived home, she learnt she had lost her job.
'He died in shame': Mum's confronting message to 'dirtbag' drivers like her son
Yahoo News Australia
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"I would give anything that night to have just hit a tree and not left this horrendous legacy. Those kids didn't deserve what happened to them. In truth, I guess I did." This is part of Jordan Hayes-McGuinness' 'confession' which is read aloud by his mother to rooms full of stunned, usually weeping high school students.
'Taken so violently': Sister of 9/11 victim speaks of family's never-ending grief
Yahoo News Australia
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The day before the world changed forever, 39-year-old Sean Canavan began working in the South Tower of the World Trade Centre. Along with his brother, Sean was a carpenter with a New York firm that had just been contracted to refurbish the offices on the 91st floor.
'Yes, those are needles': Tragic story behind photo of baby in squalid bedroom
Yahoo News Australia
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It's hard to see her at first but among the rubbish, junk food and children's toys on the dirty, brown mattress is a tiny baby. "This is me at 18 months," Brynlee, who did not wish to share her surname, explains in her first public telling of the traumatic conditions of her childhood which she almost didn't survive.
The deadly danger lurking in this filthy alleyway that has dog owners terrified
Yahoo News Australia
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A filthy inner-city alleyway that looks like any other entwining the central district of a major city is the place where a grief-stricken dog owner believes his support dog contracted a rare and deadly virus which killed her.