The sixth annual Mary’s House Walk is expected to draw its biggest crowd yet this Sunday, 25 October, with residents, businesses, schools and community groups taking part. The event aims to raise awareness of domestic and family violence and money for victim-survivors. The 8.8-kilometre route starts at St Leonards Park in North Sydney, passes Lavender Bay and Balls Head Reserve, and ends at North Sydney Oval. Dogs are welcome, and the day includes live music from the NSW Police Band and a free community barbecue hosted by Rotary.
Firmus Technologies says one of its three planned AI data centres in Tasmania's north is not yet funded. The company abandoned its plan to list on the Australian stock exchange earlier this month but is continuing with its Tasmanian projects. Firmus general energy manager Paul Grzinic told a parliamentary committee that the Launceston and Wesley Vale stage one sites are fully funded. He said the other sites still need development approval, which he described as a key step towards securing funding.
The Cenotaph in St Leonards Park, North Sydney's main war memorial, turns 100 this year. Frank Thorp, a young student architect, won the design competition, with a design inspired by Edwin Lutyens' Whitehall memorial in London. The memorial was dedicated in 1926 and bears 568 names, about 14 per cent of the estimated 4,000 local men who served. Recent research has identified another 196 men with strong local links who died in the war. A Commonwealth Saluting Their Service grant will allow those names to be added during the centenary year.
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North Sydney Council has endorsed the re-establishment of North Sydney Swimming Club, which will provide a representative pathway for swimmers from the Olympic Pool. Council has also expressed serious concern over the potential withdrawal of $9.3 million in committed funding for Hume Street Park Stage 2 in Crows Nest, and will write to Premier Chris Minns seeking assurance. Public exhibition of two Ilbery Reserve Playground concept designs runs from 26 October to 22 November 2026. Council also backed keeping defence land, including land at HMAS Penguin, in public hands.
Kyle Ford left a career in the Air Force to start Finders, a craft distillery, after a two-year trip overseas with his wife Georgia. The couple opened the business in a modest warehouse at Herbert Street, St Leonards, in March 2020, just before Australia's first COVID-19 lockdown. Finders now makes several gins, a vodka, limoncello and an agave spirit. Its flagship Australian Dry Gin won a gold medal at the 2026 Sydney Royal Distilled Spirits Show, and its vodka earned gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
AI data centre company Firmus has abandoned its planned $44 billion listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, citing market conditions. The company had aimed for the largest ASX float in 30 years but withdrew after investors questioned its valuation. Firmus will now seek private market capital and explore other options. The company's co-founders include Australian billionaire Oliver Curtis and his father Nick Curtis.
North Sydney's new park booking system is live, balancing commercial use and large gatherings with free casual access. The system aims to manage limited open space as demand grows, particularly in Crows Nest and St Leonards, where open space per person is projected to fall. From 2027, commercial operators and large groups will pay fees, with revenue funding maintenance. Casual use remains free, and the system launched on 6 October 2026.
Lane Cove Council has adopted new rules requiring developers to tidy demolished sites they do not build on. The move targets vacant lots in St Leonards, including the former Green Gourmet site on the Pacific Highway, which has sat fenced off for more than a year. Mayor Merri Southwood said the sites should be turfed and planted with a few bushes. The policy will also require developers to show how they will manage stormwater runoff from vacant sites. It will not apply retrospectively to the two St Leonards sites named.
