INSPIRE NEWSCAST

When I met Carol Pettersen OAM at Barmup, or Strawberry Hill Farm, I couldn’t help but notice her spirit of hopefulness. In January, Carol was awarded the prestigious Annette Knight Community Citizen of the Year Award by the City of Albany. The award recognised her outstanding volunteer leadership since 1975 and her enduring work empowering Aboriginal communities through policy, education, justice and employment.

Carol isn’t afraid to speak about the history of Aboriginal people over the past 200 years, but neither is she afraid to speak hopefully about the future. Albany’s bicentenary, she said, is an opportunity to commemorate the strength, resilience and the adapation strategies that Aboriginal people have adopted as they sought to find their place in non-Aboriginal society. It was also a time to celebrate their achievements and to look forward to the future.

I trust you’ll enjoy this video and gain strength from hearing from a woman who has led her own people with resilience and hope.

This year, 2026 is the bicentenary of Albany, Western Australia. We got in just before WA celebrates its bicentenary because Albany was the first town established in the state. It’s an important event and a huge number of activities are planned for the year.

I took the time to meet with Albany Mayor Greg Stocks to get his slant on the year and to hear his story. It was great to hear about some of the events that are planned early in the year, but also to hear how the bicentenary has been a focus of his role as Mayor of the City of Albany.

There are some great events coming up in March and I’ll give you the tip, I’ve got some stunning videos coming up that link with these events.

Watch the video, and please remember to subscribe to this site and to my YouTube channel.

I’ve started 2026 slowly in terms of posting videos because I have been spending time following a unique community project. When Helen Bolton benefitted from her father’s estate and decided to find a pop-up piano for Albany, she started a process that has incorporated the whole community.

I have followed the steps of restoring the piano, starting at Albany Men’s Shed, where the piano was stripped down and sanded. It was here that I met the original donor of the piano, which was more than 100 years old and destined for the scrap heap. Peter Bailey took the piano home and repaired it in preparation for its restoration.

I loved following the piano to the Kadadjiny Aboriginal Corporation, where a team of young artists, under the direction of talented Denmark artist, Sara Coyne, designed and painted their musical canvas. They carefully designed each panel, reflecting the places where the piano would eventually visit: The Gap, Albany’s Historic Whaling Station, and the Town Square. Later in the year it will also appear at the National Anzac Memorial and at Middleton Beach.

Once the artwork was completed, Kinjarling Keys was transported to the Gap in Torndirrup National Park, where local artist Adam Cook made it sing. Then it was on to Albany’s Historic Whaling Station, where another local musician, Adrian Kenyon, entertained onlookers. Finally, it moved to Albany’s town square which will be its home for Albany’s Bicentennial Year, 2026.

It was a privilege to follow this journey and to be a part of a truly interactive project, that will make an ongoing contribution to the Albany community.