Today is Early Childhood Educators’ Day — a national celebration recognising the vital role early childhood educators play in the learning, development, and wellbeing of our children.

This year’s theme, “Together We All Shine,” celebrates the power of teamwork and the meaningful connections educators build with children and their families.

Council is proud to support early childhood centres by offering learning opportunities throughout the year. It’s always a joy to share our spaces and resources — like the Library and outdoor areas — with the children, as shown in these lovely photos.

Victoria Lea, Director of The Lookout Early Childhood Centre in Mosman, shared: 'I am so proud of our highly qualified team, who nurture every child with exceptional care and a commitment to learning, fostering growth, safety, and inclusion within a collaborative, thoughtful community deeply connected to nature.'

This National Meals on Wheels Day, we're celebrating the difference Mosman Meals makes in our community. Over the past year, our wonderful volunteers helped deliver more than 20,000 nutritious, homestyle cooked meals—along with the all-important wellness checks that bring peace of mind to family and friends.

The impact goes beyond food: 100% of our clients reported feeling less isolated thanks to this service.

One of our long-time volunteers, Jeannie, shares: “My name is Jeannie and I have been volunteering for Mosman Council for 14 years. Whilst volunteering, I have met many lovely people over the years and have enjoyed hearing their life stories. The Volunteer Coordinators are friendly, helpful and the work they do is a huge help to the community. If you enjoy helping people, making friends and want to be more involved in your community, I can highly recommend becoming a volunteer.”  

For delivery information go to meals.mosman.nsw.gov.au or call 9978 4130. Find out more about volunteering here. 

Projects fostering inclusion, creativity, and wellbeing that contribute to the vitality of Mosman and enhance a sense of belonging have received funding through Council’s 2025/26 Community Grants Program. 

Recipients attended a presentation at the Civic Centre and shared insights into how the funding will assist their work to support people throughout Mosman. 

Each year Council provides financial support to groups with projects and initiatives that support the community. This year Council endorsed 22 grants of up to $4,000 each, totalling $70,051.   

Projects funded in 2025/26 range from those that aim to increase the inclusion and visibility of people with a disability to others that provide an avenue for young people to act and voice concerns around sustainability. Other projects and programs funded included those designed to develop environmental knowledge and skills in early childhood education, enable access to creative arts and music programs and increase capacity in domestic and family violence support programs. 

Mayor Ann Marie Kimber acknowledged the incredible work of community groups, organisations, networks and volunteers, whose commitment and dedication strengthened Mosman and touched lives in ways that were practical, meaningful and creating lasting impacts. 

Visit our Community Grants page to find out more about the program. 

2025/26 grant recipients:

• 1st Clifton Garden Sea Scouts
• Balmoral Triathlon Club
• Be The Future
• Dance for Parkinson's
• Empowering Parents in Crisis- EPIC
• Fighting Chance
• Kayak Fitness Inc
• KYUP! Project
• Mary's House Services
• Middle Harbour Public School
• Mosman Art Walk
• Mosman Community Gardeners Pty Ltd
• Mosman Music Club
• Mosman Musical Society Inc
• Mosman Orchestra Inc
• Mosman Village Church
• Raise Foundation
• Read and Share Ltd
• Rotary Club of Mosman
• The Probus Club of Mosman Combined Inc
• The Spit Swimming Club Inc
• Zero Emissions Solutions Inc

Mark Maurangi Carrol has won the 2025 Mosman Art Prize for his work Blue boat (crowd on the island of Mangaia). 

The winning artist said the painting reimagines a 1900 photograph taken by Frederick W. Sears on the island of Mangaia, where a crowd observes the government vessel Tutanaekai.  

“In this work, I extract the setting’s conceptual residue but remove the crowd entirely, inserting instead a solitary, contemporary figure (my brother),” Carrol said. 

As a national acquisitive prize of $70,000, funded by Mosman Council, the Mosman Art Prize celebrates painting’s unique ability to tell stories, capture moments of change, and reflect the complexities of contemporary life. 

Also awarded: 

• Margaret Olley Commendation Award ($10,000) - Tim Price for Life’s on Tim
• Allan Gamble Award ($5,000) - Celia Gullett for Variations series V
• Guy Warren Emerging Artist Award ($3,000) - Emily Galicek for Sampler (design for a ceiling 
• Viewers’ Choice Award ($1,000) - awarded in the final week of the exhibition. 
• Inaugural Installers’ Choice Award - Jumaadi for Dalam Gerimis [In the mist 

The judge of this year’s Mosman Art Prize is Justin Paton, Head Curator of International Art at AGNSW and acclaimed art writer. 

The exhibition runs at Mosman Art Gallery until Sunday 2 November 2025. 

Mosman Art Gallery and The Balnaves Foundation have announced the launch of The Neil Balnaves Fellowship in honour of the late Neil Balnaves AO; a major initiative providing $80,000 biennially to support the development of a significant piece of research or creative endeavour over a one-year period. Offered in 2025 and again in 2027, each winning project must engage with Mosman’s artistic heritage and/or The Balnaves Gift to be selected and will go on to be included in the Mosman Art Gallery program.

Applications open for six weeks from Monday 18 August, with the first Fellowship to be awarded late 2025. The second Fellowship will be awarded in 2027 with application dates to be announced. Open to artists, curators, historians and writers, the Fellowship encourages a range of projects to be submitted including artwork, exhibition, research project or text. 

The Neil Balnaves Fellowship offers a unique and critical opportunity for creative practitioners to work closely alongside Mosman Art Gallery. Designed to deepen understanding of Mosman’s cultural legacy and contemporary discourse in the visual arts, the Fellowship supports works that are ambitious, thoughtful and resonate with locals. 

Honouring the legacy of Neil Balnaves AO and his longstanding commitment to Mosman’s place in Australian art history, The Neil Balnaves Fellowship continues the fruitful partnership between the Gallery, the Balnaves family and The Balnaves Foundation. Together they have fostered a rich legacy of collections, commissions, research, education and public engagement. 

To apply and learn more visit mosmanartgallery.org.au 

Some extra sparkle has been added to the popular waterfront promenade at Balmoral with new lights enhancing public enjoyment of the area and creating energy efficiency savings. 

The new luminaries were installed as part of a lighting upgrade project. Ausgrid part-funded new light poles, while Council also took the opportunity to install under-seat lighting. 

The state-of-the-art LED lights are about 40 per cent more energy efficient than previous technology. 

With positive feedback from residents and the broader community around improved safety and amenity, the lighting has enhanced people’s evening enjoyment of the space. 

A history of Scottish heritage and culture was celebrated through the 37th annual Inspection of the Cairn at Rawson Park as part of Scottish Week, which celebrates the long history of Scottish heritage and culture in Australia. 

The cairn stone pile in Rawson Park was a 1988 Bicentennial gift to Australia from Scotland, built by Council in conjunction with the Scottish Australian Heritage Council. It now stands as a testimony of goodwill between the people of Scotland and Australia. 

The cairn's stones were gathered by ministers of church parishes from all over Scotland, including the Very Reverend Dr George Russell Barr, whose son Bob Barr now coincidentally is Manager Community Services at Mosman Council. 

As part of the 2025 ceremony,  Mosman Mayor Ann Marie Kimber was inducted as the Principal Warden of the Scotland-Australia Cairn, which passed its 37th inspection, being deemed in excellent condition. 

Most men aren’t typically as proactive as women at getting together and socialising, according to a few Mosman locals, but a growing group of ‘Blokes of 2088’ are looking to change that. 

From walking groups to coffee chats and now a friendly expo to promote movement and mateship, the community is getting behind initiatives to support men’s health and wellbeing. 

On 10 June, a new Men’s Health Expo, aka 'Blokes of 2088’, is coming to Mosman Village Green. Kicking off at 9am with a neighbourhood walk, the event will also feature a physio-led session on the Green, pickleball, bocce and a barbecue connecting blokes with local community and sporting groups. Local independent bookstore, Three Sparrows, will also host a men's-focused bookstall to coincide with festivities. 

The expo, hosted by Council’s Community Services team in partnership with local organisations, follows the success of a Tuesday Men’s Walking group, which is fast growing but always looking for new members.  

Andrew Ramsay is among the volunteers working with Council who have helped the walking group grow. 

“Men are not typically as good as women at getting together and socialising,” he said. 

“So, I think it’s sort of a very low key, informal group that people feel fairly comfortable to join.” 

The group started with three participants less than a year ago and now has more than 30 walkers. 

“There’s no obligation to turn up any particular week, there’s no cost to do it. Just a bit of exercise and friendly discussion between a group of blokes,” Mr Ramsay said. 

• Men’s Health Expo Day 2025, 9am-1.30pm, Tuesday 10 June, Mosman Village Green 
• Men’s Walking Group, every Tuesday, 9-11am, meet outside Mosman Civic Centre in Mosman Square 

Visit Events Mosman for more information, email community.care@mosman.nsw.gov.au or call 9978 4128. 

_{Caption: Andrew Ramsay}

As part of its annual weed control program Council will be undertaking broad scale spraying of selective herbicides on its Parks and Reserves to control broad leaf weeds in turf areas during the following periods: 

• 21 July 2025 to 1 August 2025 

And if required a follow up application:

• 18 August 2025 to 22 August 2025 

Council's Pesticide Use Notification Plan requires Council advertise broad scale spraying of herbicide to allow members of the public the opportunity to avoid contact with herbicide application. Council will ensure the herbicides are applied to public places in a safe, responsible manner, minimising harm to the community and the environment. Council will also ensure that all legislative requirements are met and followed. Council will have relevant safety data sheets on hand to respond to enquiries. 

For more information contact Council on 9978 4000 or view the Pesticide Use Notification Plan.