Simon McCarthy

Writer and photographer, working in regional New South Wales, Australia.

My best photos available as fine art prints, framed or rolled in standard sizes.

My favourite stories from over 10 years working in regional journalism in NSW.

Topics columns, daily news, and other pieces from my work with the Newcastle Herald.

Hi, I’m Simon,

I am a writer, newspaper reporter and photographer working in regional Australia.

I have more than 10 years of experience working in media, specialising in digital storytelling, narrative journalism and documentary style photojournalism.

I live and work primarily in Newcastle and the Hunter region of New South Wales.

Find me on Instagram

Fish. Shoey. That is all. The exceptional, the outstanding, the glorious Ian Johnson for Mulletfest in Kurri Kurri. February 22, 2025. Taken on assignment for the Newcastle Herald.
Rylan Henderson for Mulletfest in Kurri Kurri, NSW. On assignment for the Newcastle Herald. Saturday, February 22, 2025.
Blake Small is only 12, but he has the kind of natural charm that late-night talk show guests could only hope for. He can be disarming and quick, like when he offers his age as "52 minus 40" or flips his sunglasses upside down and mugs for
Olav Adamsroed from Norway had been in the country for only a week and was due to leave again the first Monday after Mulletfest in February, but the trip had been years in the making. He had learned about Mulletfest in 2020, and started growing his m
My first experience of Mulletfest was in 2021. It was the last big hurrah at the back of the Chelmsford Hotel before the event's founder, Laura Johnson, was taking the show on the road for the first national tour. Mulletfest had grown out of the back
When Mulletfest began, it was a loose, dusty, and big-hearted celebration of an iconic Australian hairstyle. Over the years, it has turned into something bigger: a tribute to cheerful defiance and happy non-conformity. The mullets are a breed of the
For the uninitiated, the mullet might appear as anything - a gimmick, a joke that celebrates good-natured poor taste, or a brotherly embrace of the awkward and the grubby, but to those who wear them it has become a symbol of their rebellion - a cultu
The mullet - the often-derided national hairstyle - sparked a renegade renaissance in Kurri Kurri when the first Mulletfest was staged on little more than a dare in 2018. It resists categorisation as if resistance was baked into every follicle. To
For seven years, Mulletfest - which grew out of the back of the Chelmsford like so many curling locks - has annually gathered the mullets in a pilgrimage to the Hunter to celebrate their offbeat ethos. For every joke candidate, slyly cheeky line that

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