Get creating these school holidays with free take home Activity Packs from Orange City Library, Orange Regional Gallery and Orange Regional Museum. The Library pack features a Cardboard City Project where children can have fun constructing and decorating buildings, cars, trees and more from provided material.  Children are also invited to build some of the Central West’s most iconic buildings for the Lego Club Holiday Challenge.  Activity Packs will be ready to collect from Monday 6 July. Book your Activity Pack via eventbrite.

**Please note we have had an overwhelming response to our School Holiday Activity Packs. If you missed out on a pack, please download your own printables here.

Causes worth fighting for

Save me from this nightmare

The people have voted and the results are in…. Congratulations to Tyla for “the Weight of the Word on my Shoulder” acrylic on canvas painting that took out the People’s No 1 Choice in the Youth Week Art Display held at Orange City Library. Well done to Krittiyanee from Orange High for her artwork “Save me from this nightmare” gaining 2^nd place in the People’s Choice and Lucy, also from Orange High,  for her artwork with the opening line “Sometime the causes most worth fighting for are the ones you don’t think you can win”. Congrats to all involved.

Check out all the books nominated for this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards at http://cbca.org.au/ShortList-2014.htm including local Freya Blackwood’s illustrations for Banjo and Ruby Red nominated for Early Childhood Book of the Year.  Historical and indigenous themes are prominent in both the non-fiction and  fiction shortlists recently announced with war stories reflecting interest in  the anniversaries of the two world wars. Congratulations to all the nominees.

The Plan of Wellwood Estate was gifted to Orange City Council by Charles Sturt University in 2009 and is on show for the next three weeks in the foyer of Orange Regional Gallery (next door to the Library in Byng Street). Recently the map has undergone extensive conservation works from the generous support of the Orange Regional Arts Foundation.

The map is of immense importance to the history of settlement of Fredericks Valley (just east of Orange along the Mitchell Highway) and a vital artefact in the colonial history of our district.

Sydney Surveyor A W Meikle produced this detailed hand painted map for Andrew Kerr Esquire in 1842. Kerr built a homestead and leased the Southwest corner of his land for a small settlement which provided services both to travellers along the highway and to adjoining properties. He was onto something there!

Discover a fascinating piece of our local history, see the map up close (pictured) and portraits of Andrew and his wife Eliza (pictured)at the Gallery. And you can purchase your own A3 size colour copy of the Wellwood Plan from Orange City Library for $20. Makes a great gift!

You've seen the old tvs, microwaves and assortment of waste on the streets of Orange waiting for the bulky goods collection, now you can see what some bright sparks have created from the stuff other people throw out. Be inspired by the arty pictures, the mobile aeroplanes (made from pegs and corks), the giant quilt, fabulous metal flowers, the mini Sydney Harbour Bridge, detailed tiny motorbikes and the most amazing TV Robot!!!! The exhibition is a NetWaste initiative and proudly sponsored by SIMS Metal. WASTE 2 ART is a community exhibition and competition that shows creative works made from reused and recycled waste materials. The purpose of the project is to encourage the concept of REDUCE REUSE and RECYCLE while changing attitudes about 'rubbish' and what waste we all create on a daily basis. Check it out for your yourself at Orange City Library this week!