2025 Year In Review: The top news moments from around the Great Southern that shaped the year that was

The Albany Advertiser looks back on the biggest stories in the Great Southern this year.

From Labor losing the Albany State seat for the first time in over 20 years, to the long-awaited opening of the artificial surf reef, to being named the home of the country’s best pie, these are the moments that made 2025.

January

- A proposal to build a desalination plant in Frenchman Bay attracted ire from residents, with protesters from the Save Our Sound group lining up outside the Albany Shellfish Hatchery to ask former Fisheries Minister Don Punch to help their case. Later that month, Premier Roger Cook confirmed to the community that the plans earmarked for the King George Sound would be scrapped.

- Yachtsman Maurice Saunderson went missing off the Albany coast after he set off for a multi-day sail from Emu Point Marina but failed to appear in Busselton. The search was suspended two weeks after he disappeared.

- Seashells Hospitality Group scrapped plans for a $5 million luxury resort at Frenchman Bay because of conditions the company would have to return the land to pre-development conditions for free in the event of coastal erosion.

- Young father Ricky Harris died while rescuing two children, one of them his own son, from a rip current at Native Dog Beach in Bremer Bay.

February

- Albany shoppers welcomed extended trading hours at large chain stores, including Coles, Kmart and Aldi, with the weeknight closing time pushed to 9pm and stores opening on Sundays for the first time.

- Walpole litter hero Michael Filby received the individual community champion award at the inaugural Clean Up Australia Awards. The 79-year-old was honoured for more than two decades of tireless work maintaining a stretch of South Western Highway.

- Two passers-by rescued a man at Little Beach in the Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, pulling the unresponsive man from the water and performing CPR until paramedics arrived on scene and rushed the man to hospital. The man survived.

- WA Labor promised a $60m expansion of Albany Health Campus as part of a funding blitz preceding the March 8 State election, with the modular ward to accommodate an extra 30 beds and 60 staff.

March

- The Nationals WA took the seat of Albany after 24 years of Labor representation, with Scott Leary winning the seat after a tight race between the Nationals and Liberals. Rebecca Stephens bowed out gracefully on election night.

- Albany received a record-breaking rainfall, with a storm sending down 126mm, the highest single day of rainfall in the city’s history. Flash floods, power outages and washed-out roads closed facilities around the city for days, and the SES received 129 calls for help in one night across the region.

- Permanent residents of Acclaim Rose Gardens Beachside Holiday Park raised the alarm after the park was sold to RAC, with permanent residents fearing they could soon be homeless in a volatile and competitive housing market.

- The Katanning Residential College was demolished as former students, families and survivors of abuse by former hostel warden Dennis McKenna in the 1970s and 1980s watched on with tears, hugs and shouts of celebration.

April

- The Easter holiday period got off to a tragic start as a crash in Jerramungup killed two people when their car, towing a caravan, and a truck collided. It prompted the Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby to issue a plea for everyone to drive safely.

- Rescue services were stretched to the limit over the Easter long weekend. They responded to five incidents in two days, including a hiker who fell down a ravine on the Stony Hill trail, a paraglider who hit the water at Shelley Beach, and three separate incidents on Bluff Knoll.

- Fijian national Moni Karakaua died after he was swept off a rock while fishing at Salmon Holes in the Torndirrup National Park. The tragedy left his family, who had only moved to Australia seven months prior, devastated.

May

- Liberal incumbent Rick Wilson won a fifth term in the seat of O’Connor at the Federal election.

- A pod of seven false killer whales beached themselves on House Beach, near Bremer Bay, and despite continued efforts from rescue teams, five of the animals perished.

- The name of the former Beryl Grant Community Centre was officially changed to Juniper Albany Community Centre after forced adoption survivors petitioned to remove reference to Beryl Grant, who spent 21 years as matron of Ngala Mothercraft and Training Centre during the peak of the forced adoption era from the 1940s to 1980s.

- Chop Chop Enterprises, the owner of the well-known Cloud 9 smoke shop, was fined more than $500,000 for failing to remove signage from its Albany store 281 days after it was directed to by the local government.

- Albany mourned the loss of businessman, composer and Orana Cinemas owner Ron Siemiginowski, with family and friends remembering a talented man full of passion for his community.

- An archaeological dig at Strawberry Hill at Barmup unearthed more than 400 artefacts including porcelain, slate and teeth. The primary goal of the dig was to unearth the flagstones of the old stables, which were built almost 200 years ago.

June

- Hilton Garden Inn Albany’s Steve Millhouse won the inaugural excellence by a tourism professional award at the WA Tourism Awards.

- A freak tornado in Frankland River tore through farmland, catching one farmer unaware while he was out fencing, and throwing him 30m into a fence after it picked up his ute.

- Three members of the Great Southern community were named on the King’s Birthday Honours list, with Albany marine biologist and golf club patron Raymond George, Shire of Plantagenet deputy president and Woodanilling council veteran Russel Thomson.

- The State Government rolled out two new high-tech speed cameras for the Great Southern, the first of their kind to be used in regional WA, in a bid to further enforce road safety rules.

July

- Two Albany residents had a lucky escape when a stolen car ploughed into the front of their home off Middleton Road.

- Nurse and mother Bronwyn Clark was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Spencer Park, with her heartbroken family bidding farewell to a woman who was “loved deeply by her family and community”.

- The Southern Ocean Surf Reef officially opened at Middleton Beach, the first of its kind in the region and the product of more than 30 years of campaigning by local surfers.

- Beloved Albany mother-of-three Cailee Mansell was killed when the car she and her family were in and a CBH grain train collided at a level crossing in Redmond.

- Iconic Albany winery Wignalls closed its doors after more than four decades, with owner Rob Wignall calling the moment a “bittersweet” end to an era for his family.

August

- The Denmark-Walpole Football Club hosted an icy fundraiser to combat Parkinson’s disease, with a brave crew of locals donning costumes and taking the plunge into an icy dunk tank. The club more than doubled its fundraising goal of $5000, raising more than $10,000 by the end of the day.

- Denmark residents campaigned hard for a pool, with the project the hot topic of a special meeting of the council, but the Shire of Denmark council voted against progressing the development after a discussion that lasted multiple hours.

- The Western Australian Meat Marketing Co-Operative was fined more than $700,000 after it admitted to failing to keep its employees safe after the death of a worker at its Katanning abattoir in 2022. A 27-year-old man was killed working in the rendering shed of the Katanning meatworks on December 10, 2022, after he became trapped in a piece of machinery.

- Two courageous bystanders were honoured with certificates of appreciation by WA Police for intervening to help a woman being allegedly chased by an armed man through a Centennial Park home and gym. BodyCare trainer Mark Cavanough and Centennial Park resident Marlon Edwards were presented with their certificates by WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch.

- Denmark resident David Stockdale was awarded a gold medallion from Surf Life Saving WA for his bravery in attempting to rescue a man who was drowning in the popular Green’s Pool. Despite Mr Stockdale’s heroic efforts, the man tragically could not be saved.

September

- Denmark chef Silas Masih travelled to the World Expo in Osaka, representing WA in a week-long expo designed to bring Australian produce and flavours to the world, alongside some of the country’s top culinary talents.

October

- Mt Barker Country Bakery’s beef bourguignon pie was named the best in the country at the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition, with its roasted cauliflower with black truffle provo cheese sauce taking out the vegetarian-vegan section and coming second overall.

- The Shire of Denmark council approved a new shopping centre, the town’s first indoor shopping complex, which will include an IGA, six specialty shops and a liquor store, the culmination of a plan in the works for more than two decades.

- Albany’s first All-Abilities Ball took over Retravision Stadium for a night of fun and dancing, with tickets for the highly anticipated event selling out weeks in advance.

- The City of Albany elected four representatives in the local government elections, with political pair Rebecca Stephens and Tom Brough winning seats alongside respected councillor Robert Sutton and former police superintendent Ian Clarke.

- US-based aviation company Air T bought flailing regional airline Rex, after the company went into administration in 2024, with Albany leaders saying they welcomed a buyer who would take on the task of keeping WA regions connected.

- Three drug runners who capsized a boat off the Albany coast in 2023, in a botched attempt to smuggle more than $100m worth of cocaine, were handed lengthy prison sentences. Mate Stipinovich, 52, Aristides Avlonitis, 39, and Karl Whitburn, 47, were all sentenced to more than seven years jail.

November

- Albany recorded the highest annual home value growth in regional WA, and the second highest in the country with a 22.2 per cent value increase from 2024, according to data from analysis group Cotality.

- Wild West Bowling won the best themed venue category at the Australian Hotels Association WA and Coca-Cola Hospitality Awards for Excellence.

- St John WA in Albany moved to its new sub-centre on Sanford Road after 29 years in its tiny former home on the corner of Campbell Road and Middleton Road.

- Former North Albany Senior High School student Taleah Ugle was named the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander STEM student of the year, with the University of Western Australia science graduate ready to tackle her upcoming medicine studies.

- The Shire of Denmark approved official dual naming of 15 significant sites around the shire, with the name changes now in the hands of Landgate for final approval.

- The Ocean Beach precinct, which includes the Denmark Surf Life Saving Club’s brand new clubroom, opened just in time for the start of summer after the popular spot was closed for months for upgrades.

December

- The Great Southern tragically lost two much-loved community members in bushfires, with Shire of Ravensthorpe deputy president Mark Mudie and Borden farmer and volunteer firefighter Jaxon Peakall dying bravely fighting out-of-control blazes.

- Woogenellup farmer Mark Adams was tragically lost at sea, with a large-scale land, sea and air search initiated after his boat was found adrift off Michaelmas Island. A body believed to be that of the 62-year-old was found more than a week later.

- Albany lifesavers paused on the shoreline at Middleton Beach in solidarity with all those impacted by the mass shooting at Bondi Beach, joining clubs around the country taking a moment to reflect.