HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🪤 Meet boguls, the small native bush rat returning to the North Shore

Turramurra’s newest residents are round, furry and fond of mushrooms.

Bogul (pronounced bah-gool) is the Dharug name for what many know as the Australian bush rat, a small native rodent central to a local rewilding project that kicked off this Tuesday.

What is rewilding? Rewilding refers to a process in which native flora and fauna are reintroduced to areas where they have historically had populations.

The Sydney Rewilding Initiative is a project currently focusing on the reintroduction of boguls to the North Shore region.

While found all along Australia’s eastern and southern coastline, the bogul disappeared from the North Shore around the early 20th century.

Rat hunters: Professor Peter Banks, who has spent much of his life researching the rodents, theorised an epidemic of bubonic plague between 1900 and 1910 led Sydneysiders to hunt rats — native and invasive alike — en masse, even going so far as to place bounties on them.

On the ground: Mareshell Wauchope, a conservation ecologist at Sydney University, is a lead researcher in this latest rewilding initiative.

Finishing up with a day of releasing rodents into the Ku-ring-gai bushland, she told the Lorikeet that boguls can be identified by their round face, short tail and “a real pudding shape to their body”.

According to her, unlike black rats, the bogul’s head makes up for about a third of its size.

Read the full story below.

☕️ The North Shore cafe making waves across the globe

You might have heard lately about the Only Coffee Project in Crows Nest. They’ve recently been declared the 4th best cafe in the world. So what makes them so special?

We asked. Watch below.

⛈️ Flood disaster funds open for the north, but only if you earn 40k or under

Following intense storms, flooding and landslides, parts of Sydney’s north have been declared eligible for government disaster funding to help repair homes, roads and businesses in the area.

What happened: In January, severe thunderstorms and heavy rain pummelled the NSW coast, with Narrabeen residents evacuated and a landslide at Great Mackerel Beach damaging three homes.

Today, the events of January — specifically, between the 14th and 19th — have been declared a natural disaster, with funding for affected areas made available.

Getting support: Locals with damaged homes or lost household items will be able to access this funding, but only if they meet strict income requirements.

Read the full story below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

🐰 Money for the bunny…

In other news, this week we caught Archie talking about something that isn’t politics. Well, sort of. Taxation is involved.

Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny performed to nearly 90,000 people over the weekend at Sydney’s Olympic Park, but how much money did he make? The National Account did some back-of-the-envelope maths to try and work it out.