User Profile

Genevieve Swart

Genevieve Swart is a journalist who has spent 30 years at newspapers, magazines and websites in London, Cape Town and Sydney. For the past decade, she has run a community news business, which rebranded in 2022 to become The Illawarra Flame, a name inspired by a tree. Genevieve is a co-director of True Story festival and a founding member of the Local & Independent News Association. On days off, she goes kayaking.

Arts & culture

South Coast Writers Centre celebrates ‘extraordinarily successful’ festival in Thirroul

The South Coast Writers Centre hosted its most popular festival at Thirroul Community Centre last weekend, with well over 1000 tickets sold and up to 150 book lovers present at any given time. “It’s been extraordinarily successful,” said SCWC...

Genevieve Swart

July 2025

News

Lightbulb moment: How the Illawarra Urban REZ is leading a quiet revolution

“The huge advantage of operating a system like that is – if done right – it could democratise equitable access to locally generated, low-cost renewable energy,” Ty Christopher says.

Genevieve Swart

July 2025

Arts & culture

Kooky fun with a Kiwi twist as Mr Red Light stops at IPAC

Set in a pie shop, Mr Red Light is set to serve up kooky humour “with a Kiwi twist” at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre tonight. Think a touch of absurdism with “Buster Keaton-esque clowning”, says the show’s co-director, Ben Crowder.

Genevieve Swart

July 2025

News

Wollongong council to use ‘bin springs’ to stop clever cockies from raiding rubbish

More than a decade after Stanwell Park cockatoos were exposed as bin raiders – using their beaks, claws and teamwork to lift lids and rip into refuse – Wollongong City Council has a plan to stop the heists.

Genevieve Swart

June 2025

Arts & culture

Barracks Art Studios open for Thirroul Seaside Festival weekend

The exceptional visual artists at Barracks Art Studios Thirroul will open their work spaces to the public on Saturday, 31 May and Sunday, 1 June from 10am-4pm as part of the Seaside Festival. Located in an old brick building near the railway line at...

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

How Marine Rescue NSW volunteers help boaters in distress

Whether it’s plucking crews from sinking ships, finding missing kayakers or saving folks who’ve run out of petrol 20km offshore, helping boaters is all in a day’s work for Marine Rescue NSW Illawarra Inspector Stuart Massey. But as a paid...

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

‘We can definitely do better’: iBUG sees bright future for Ride Wollongong with broader appeal

Ride Wollongong Festival of Cycling has huge potential as an annual event with riders and businesses eager to celebrate the Gong’s status as Australia’s first Bike City. This year’s event – held last Sunday at Lang Park – featured a new...

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

Lost burials, babies and ‘one lonely grave that everyone parks on’: Why Helensburgh cemetery needs signage

Picture an old miner last century, one shivery night at the pub, saying, ‘Oh, it’s like someone just walked over my grave.’ Well, if his future lay at Helensburgh General Cemetery, he might have been right. But it wouldn’t only be people walking over his grave – it could be horses trotting over it or vehicles parking on top of it.

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

Mt Ousley residents campaign to Save Our Trees

Shocked by the enormity of land clearing for the $390 million Mt Ousley interchange upgrade, residents have banded together in a group called Save Our Trees.

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

Meet the new Member for Whitlam, Carol Berry

Carol Berry is excited about the opportunity to represent Whitlam. “I spoke to the prime minister last night, and we’re just so thrilled that that vision and that program of work – which is about fairness and equal opportunity – has got such strong buy-in from the Australian public,” she told The Illawarra Flame after Labor’s landslide victory at the polls.

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

Wollongong’s Lord Mayor welcomes more women in the top tier of politics

Last year Labor’s Tania Brown made history as the first woman to be elected as Lord Mayor of Wollongong. Now, with her party securing over 90 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, the Lord Mayor is celebrating a win for Labor women in the top tier of government.

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

What's On

Ride4Rotary this Sunday and raise funds for vulnerable young people

For the first time in the event’s 10-year history, the Ride4Rotary is moving from Unanderra’s velodrome to Marine Drive, joining the Ride Wollongong festival of cycling in the city this Sunday. “There’s a 10k option, a 20k option, a 29k...

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

News

What’s next for offshore wind? Scientists plot best path for people and planet

Associate Professor Michelle Voyer, one of the leaders of the Blue Energy Futures Lab at the University of Wollongong (UOW), is a co-author of the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s roadmap, titled Improving decision-making in relation to...

Genevieve Swart

May 2025

Arts & culture

Scenes From The Climate Era opens on Wednesday at IPAC

Scenes from the Climate Era opens tomorrow at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC), with nibbles on everything from zombie mice to a post-aeroplane planet. Of the 50 scenes in David Finnigan’s play, actor Nic English is most looking forward to sharing the story of Smiley the frog.

Genevieve Swart

May 2025