The Express Newspaper 23rd November 2022

Beating heart of council retires

BY RHYS THOMAS

AFTER close to half a century working as the beating heart of Mareeba Shire Coun cil’s “nerve centre”, stalwart Tony Alston has decided to hang up his boots, retire and spend more time with his family.

Born in Mount Molloy, Tony moved to Mareeba when he was 15 years old and worked a variety of jobs at mechanical and tyre shops like Firestone Tyres, before he got called up to the army, but he didn’t end up going away to serve.

Soon after Tony learned that Firestone was going to close their shops in Queens land, he decided to apply for a job at Ma reeba Shire Council as a storeman, was suc cessful and has remained there for the past 48 years.

When he started working in the council’s stores, Tony’s office was just a tin shed be fore he moved into a wooden shed and then the current depot building which was built on the site of the tin shed.

“I started as storeman then they promot ed me to clerk after about eight years, that’s when I became the stores clerk and we start ed getting extra staff and building the stores up,” Tony said.

Tony has been working in the council’s nerve centre, taking on big challenges such as Remembrance Day, Anzac Day, The Great Wheelbarrow race and more.

“We arrange everything that moves,” he said.

“I didn’t expect to stay here this long but I’ve enjoyed it here and I am blessed with

good staff.”

When the Mareeba Shire was amalga mated with the Atherton, Eacham and Her berton Shires in 2008, Tony helped run the stores across the southern Tablelands as well as Mareeba.

Alongside Trevor Brown, Tony also set up several bush camps at stations across the shire including Wrotham Park, Gamboola, Highbury and more.

Over his 48 years of working for Ma reeba Shire Council, Tony says he is most proud of improving the Mareeba depot, clearing more space and building sheds to house more equipment and vehicles.

Originally Tony was meant to retire at 65, however when he got to 65 he pushed

it back another year, then another and an other until he turned 70 on 30 October and decided to finally retire.

Now with his retirement locked in, Tony has plans to spend more time with his wife, Carol, children and grandchildren, do some gardening and finish some renovations to his home.

“I’ll mainly be doing some gardening and watching the kids play netball and foot ball, just spending time with my family,” he said.

As an avid fisher, Tony is also hop ing to make some time for fishing trips in Laura, Weipa and other good spots in North Queensland. Tony will officially hang up his boots on 23 December.

Mareeba Shire Council’s Tony Alston has decided to hang up his boots and retire after nearly 50 years in the job.

Taskforce tackles key town issues

BY RHYS THOMAS

ROADS, health, housing, workers and a safer town were all key points talked about the first annual meeting of the Mareeba Taskforce after it was estab lished last year.

The meeting brought together pas sionate community members, industry professionals and local councillors as they discussed the five key areas that were identified as priority outcomes in 2021.

Mareeba Shire Council and Ma reeba Chamber of Commerce joined hands to establish the taskforce fo rum to address how the shire can get improved health services, attract and retain a skilled workforce, improved transport connectivity, affordable housing and improved community safety.

The recent meeting was held to provide stakeholders and interested community members with progress updates on these issues and answer any questions in relation to them.

People in attendance included new Tablelands Patrol Group Inspector Jason Smith, Cathy Duck from the Queensland Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Af fairs, Mareeba Community Family Health Care chairman Ross Cardillo and Mareeba Hospital director of medical services Dr Brian Treanor just to name a few.

Dr Treanor discussed the current GP crisis, gave a multitude of reasons for its cause, some potential ways to rectify it and revealed the current waiting list for the hospital’s bulk bill GP clinic is in excess of six weeks.

“Recruiting and retaining doctors to work in rural areas is a huge diffi culty,” he said.

“Ten years ago, 50 per cent of doc tors would choose their specialty to be general practice, now it is 15 per cent of those doctors who are choosing general practice.

“Younger doctors in the next gen eration don’t want to work full-time, it is about the work-life balance – trying to find doctors in their 30s who want to work full-time is very difficult.

“We have less doctors choosing GP and those doctors tend not to work full-time and that is all contributing to the shortage we have.”

Dr Treanor has been trying to make Mareeba the best place for doctors to want to come and work and to this end, doctors working at the Mareeba Hospital now get 10 per cent of their time to catch up on results, write re ports and keep up with their training which is identified under the award.

Last time Dr Treanor advertised three full-time positions, he received 11 applications – proof that Mareeba is an attractive place for doctors to work and live.

In an attempt to draw more doctors to the region, Dr Treanor wants to pig gyback off the Rural Doctors Associa tion of Queensland conference due to be held in Cairns next year and invite some young doctors up to Mareeba to showcase the hospital and the local region.

“It is the main recruiting drive for picking junior doctors and what I am hoping to do with your support to run a free trip for any doctors that want to come up and have a look around Ma

reeba,” he said.

“We can put a bus on, have a nice lunch, go to all the GP surgeries in town, go to the hospital, meet some of the locals and find out about the com munity and hopefully attract them to come work here.”

Mareeba Communities Fam ily Health Care has also been hard at work trying to get more doctors to come and work in Mareeba.

The organisation has now secured several new doctors including one al ready practicing and a few more on the way.

Group chairman Ross Cardillo said it did not matter who in Mareeba em ployed the new doctors because the main aim was that the community benefitted.

“Mareeba Communities Family Health Care is the main body and we felt that through the structure of a notfor-profit, we were in a better position to negotiate with the government for grants and assistance wherever possi ble,” he said.

“The clinic is just one part of what we are trying to do and through it we are trying to improve and add ser vices to what is already provided but the most important thing is attracting more doctors.

“With more doctors we can service more people and it does not matter whether they are at Mulungu, Ama roo, Mareeba Medical Clinic or the hospital – we need more doctors and that is the bottom line.”

There will be an official progress report released early next year detail ing the actions taken by the different organisations on the taskforce.

Laurie joins the 100+ club

MAREEBA local and centenar ian Laurie Alchin was officially wel comed into Queensland prestigious 100+ club at the recent annual lunch celebration in Brisbane last week.

There are 110 centenaries in the exclusive 100+ club and each year they meet in Brisbane for a special lunch with the Queensland Premier, talk, bond and share stories of their lives.

Mr Alchin turned 100 this year and officially joined the club at the recent lunch which he attended with his granddaughter, Melissa McNab.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed the return of Queensland centenarians to State Parliament, af ter a three-year hiatus due to Covid.

“The 100+ Club is a celebration of ageing well and enjoying life to the fullest,” she said.

“Queensland’s centenarians are a living connection to our state’s in credible history.

“Of the more than 880,000 seniors in our state, they have experienced the most significant changes over the last century – across politics, educa tion, science, medicine and technol ogy.

“This year, another 28 members were welcomed into the exclusive 100+ Club.

“We were pleased to welcome many of them to State Parliament, hear their stories and to honour their outstanding – and longstanding –contribution to our state.”

Before heading back up home to Far North Queensland Mr Alchin paid a visit to his 106-year-old broth er in Newcastle.

Mareeba centenarian Laurie Alchin with his granddaughter Melissa McNab at the recent 100+ club celebration in Brisbane

New era of connectivity

BY RHYS THOMAS

LOCALS will no longer have to suffer with internet that makes them feel like they are stuck in the 90s with locally born company technol ogy, AirBridge Networks, bringing the revolutionary Starlink system right to the region’s doorstep.

After noticing a shortfall of effective and affordable internet ser vice providers, Tablelands local Douglas Stephens founded AirBridge in 2016, setting out to bring meaningful connection to people who needed it most.

With previous experience in the tech and connectivity space as a Telstra network architect and comms consultant, chief information officer for local government and at a web design marketing firm in the United States – Mr Stephens knows a thing or two about keeping people connected.

“Like all good businesses we started from a humble beginning in our garage,” Mr Stephens said.

AirBridge recently announced a platinum partnership with lead ing Australian telecommunications giant Vocus – a competitor to both Telstra and Optus – which has installed the ground stations and provides the internet backhaul for SpaceX’s revolutionary Starlink system in Australia and is now able to distribute the low earth orbit (LEO) solution across the country.

AirBridge boasts a large customer and employee base on the Ta blelands including local coffee plantation Jaques Coffee Plantation which recently got Starlink installed, providing a new, more powerful engine to their existing WI-FI network which was also installed by AirBridge.

Because Starlink is a low Earth orbit satellite solution, Mr Ste phens said the level of connectivity speed and reliability clients gain in regional areas like the Tablelands is unmatched.

“There are plenty of places where there is poor mobile reception and, in some cases, no actual connectivity, it’s painful, you are wait ing and waiting and it still feels like old technology,” he said.

“There will be one, maybe two megabytes (MB) available through existing technologies, however with new LEO connections you will be provided with instant, 250MB download speeds – so it is not a small change it, is a significant one.

“Traditional satellite solutions take a really long time to transmit data to and from the satellite therefor you experience around 600 mil liseconds of latency – the time it takes for that data packet to com mence its journey from its origin to the sky and then back down again.

“That translates to a really poor experience when you are browsing the internet, downloading files, and running business applications, but because Starlink sits in Low Earth Orbit, it’s latency is really low, 20 to 40 milliseconds in fact.”

AirBridge looks after 26 councils across Australia and over the years have provided solutions for mining and agricultural companies

and even the defence force, it mainly focuses on two separate veins of connectivity, telephony and carrier services.

It provides carrier services, point-to-point networks, routing switching, WI-FI, CCTV and more

“We look after many Indigenous communities, remote stations and regional Queensland businesses so connectivity has always been a drama,” Mr Stephens said.

“Our whole mantra is ‘Connectivity. Everywhere’, it is our tagline, our motto.

“With that in mind we have had to develop solutions to try and give meaningful connectivity to places where it previously didn’t ex ist.”

However, faster internet speeds are not all what AirBridge is about, they are the one-stop-shop for connectivity and are able to sup ply, install, and manage their products and services, end-to-end.

“The company started with its golden offering as a point-to-point solution. In loose terms, if you run a blue network/data cable, it has a useable length of up to 100 metres,” Mr Stephens said.

After that, you then have to switch to fibre, which involves drilling through the ground, digging up garden beds, streets, pits and pipes and that sort of stuff which can be horribly expensive.

“With an AirBridge point-to-point solution, we can do up to 40 kilometres wirelessly and have it finished in a day.”

The applications for having AirBridge installed on an agricultural property can be hugely beneficial, having WI-FI in the shed enables the farmer to look up serial numbers of equipment to find the right parts, then and there.

Farmers can check their pump sheds through a camera instead of having to go back and forward on a bike to see if the pump is going to go underwater, they can see it in real time.

“This is the sort of enablement that we are talking about,” Mr Ste phens said.

Jaques Coffee Plantation outside of Mareeba is run by third gen eration owners Robert and Jason, who have had a working relation ship with AirBridge for the past five years.

AirBridge has helped Jaques connect all its infrastructure together to one unified network, Jason can manage and control just about any facet of the business from water irrigation, solar monitoring and café bookings all from one platform, even when he is away from the plan tation.

The installation of Starlink two weeks ago has provided a massive boost to the business compared to the previous fixed wireless NBN system.

“We used to get around 5-10MB of internet with the fixed wire less, sometimes slower,” Jason said.

“On Starlink we are getting up to 150-200MG download speed with a 30MB upload, whereas before we could not even get four or five.

“Now we can offer our customers higher speed, free WI-FI and because many are tourists, they come visit our café and they are on TripAdvisor, Facebook, posting pictures and things like that.”

Jason said without fast and efficient internet, the plantation would not exist.

“We run a massive online business from here as well, we would not survive without decent internet,” he said.

“Running with no mobile phone reception out here, internet is life for us.

“We have struggled for years but AirBridge has made life much more connected.”

AirBridge Networks founder and managing director Douglas Stephens with Jaques Coffee Plantation owner Jason Jaques after installing the new Starlink system.

TABLELANDS Regional Council will undergo a massive organisational change with the introduction of new managers and new officers for its in frastructure planning and development areas after a new structure was adopt ed at a special meeting.

The structural changes were im plemented to address the planning and delivery of projects, approval process for development applications and cus tomer experience, planning for and de livery of infrastructure to support cur rent and future growth and provide the most appropriate reporting relation ship for the senior advisor emergency management.

Council will now change the Pro ject Management Office (PMO) to be a Directive PMO, the previous was a controlling PMO, and add five full-

time project management officers.

The new PMO position will “take over” the projects by providing the project management experience and resources to manage the project.

“As organisations undertake pro jects, professional project managers from the PMO are assigned to the pro jects,” the report stated.

“This injects a great deal of profes sionalism into the projects, and, since each of the project managers origi nates and reports back to the direc tive PMO, it guarantees a high level of consistency of practice across all projects.”

Council will also create the role of executive manager development ser vices who will report to the CEO and be responsible for the existing plan ning, building and plumbing functions.

The organisation’s changes also in clude moving the role of senior advi sor emergency management to report to the CEO, retitle the planning and environment section to environment and natural resources and change the manager planning and environment ti tle to manager environment and natu ral resources.

The infrastructure and planning department will now be renamed the infrastructure and environment depart ment, with the manager’s title will also change to reflect this.

“The respective manager or gener al manager remains the project spon sor and has accountability for ensuring that projects are correctly designed and scoped and for accepting and commissioning the completed asset,” the report stated.

THE CHANGES INCLUDE:

• Change the Project Management Office (PMO) to be a Directive PMO

• Five new full-time fixed-term project management officers in the PMO

• New role of Executive Manager (EM) Development Services reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

• Align the existing planning, building and plumbing functions to the EM Development Services

• Move the role of Senior Advisor Emergency Management to report to the CEO

• Retitle the Planning and Environment section to Environment and Natural Resources

• Retitle the Manager Planning and Environment to Manager Environment and Natural Resources

• Retitle the Infrastructure and Planning Department to Infrastructure and Environment Department

• Retitle the General Manager Infrastructure and Planning to General Manager Infrastructure and Environment.

4.2m croc removed from Biboohra

WILDLIFE officers removed a 4.2m estuarine crocodile from the wild at Biboohra on the Atherton Tablelands following a report from a member of the public.

A member of the public used the QWildlife app and reported seeing what they believed to be a large crocodile in a waterbody at Biboohra.

Roadworks wrap up

TABLELANDERS can now look forward to a stop free trip from Mareeba to Atherton with the $37.5 million safety upgrade for the Kennedy Highway now complete.

Works begun on the Kennedy Highway be tween Mareeba and Atherton in late 2020 and only wrapped up recently, and included the installation of wide centre line treatment, audio tactile linemarking, shoulder widening and safety barriers.

Key intersections along the highway were also upgraded to improve traffic flow with new turning and bike lanes ready for use along with improved lighting and line-marking.

Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Trans port Carol Brown said road users would now have improved safety when travelling the road between the two Tableland towns.

“With the completion of wide centre line treat ment and key intersection upgrades, road users will now experience improved safety and network efficiency on this key transport corridor between Mareeba and Atherton,” she said.

“The project was delivered in a staged ap proach and was estimated to support 121 direct jobs over the life of the project, which has helped stimulate economic growth in the region.”

Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minis ter Mark Bailey thanked locals for their patience while the works were ongoing.

“I would like to thank the community and driv ers for their ongoing patience while this important project was carried out,” he said.

> LOCALS NOT HAPPY WITH WORKS PAGE 36.

Wildlife officers confirmed the presence of the animal and set a baited trap, capturing it on 14 November 2022.

Members of the public are encouraged to report crocodile sightings as soon as possible through the QWildlife app or by calling 1300 130 372.

Students take stand against violence

White Ribbon Day brings awareness to gendered vio lence and aims to put an end to the ongoing epidemic.

School based youth health nurse Samantha Hales said the school’s main goal is prevention and speaking up on the topic.

“It’s great that we can work with our school community and the young people in our school to make them aware of the ways we can prevent and put a stop to violence,” she said.

“It’s wonderful to have local services here to let out young people know there is support if they need it.”

Students took pledges to never commit, accept or stay silent about assault, spoke with a variety of services across the community who can support assault victims and spoke on topics such as consent and respect.

$40,000 helps RFDS fly high

THE Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Near and Far Auxiliary has gone above and beyond to raise $40,000 for the flying doctors, handing over the super cheque in a special dona tion presentation recently.

The funding is the result of numerous activities and events ranging from field days and raf fles through to a monster cent sale that raised $11,000 on its own.

The RFDS could not miss the opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of the Auxiliary, and one committee member in par ticular, Denise McGucken.

For more than a decade Den ise has led the charge on many fundraising initiatives and is credited with keeping the Near and Far Auxiliary operational.

To acknowledge these tre mendous efforts, Cairns RFDS base manager Samuel Okposin and former base manager Mike Lacey both joined in the dona tion presentation.

“Donations such as the in credible $40,000 received today are critical for our local opera tions,” Mr Okposin said.

“The time, effort and dedi cation to our service across the

Cairns region and beyond is ap preciated, and for that we thank the Auxiliary, and Denise espe cially.”

President of the RFDS Near and Far Voluntary Auxiliary Brenda Agius was pleased to see Denise receive the muchdeserved praise.

“Our Auxiliary is passionate about ensuring that all of us who live and work in regional, rural, and remote parts of Far North Queensland have access to the vital healthcare services provid ed by the RFDS,” she said.

“Even while balancing her own personal challenges, Den ise has continued to dedicate so much time and energy into our mission and for that she will al ways remain a great legacy.

“We must also thank mem bers of the public who have made our fundraising efforts possible by supporting our cent sales, street stalls and raffles –their generosity is heart-warm ing.”

The RFDS relies heavily on the support of the local com munity through fundraising in order to provide a wide range of health services to regional, rural and remote Queensland.

RFDS Near & Far Auxiliary president Brenda Agius alongside secretary Lorna Lavaring and joint treasurers Marsey Shand and Denise McGucken, presenting the $40,000 cheque to RFDS Cairns Base Manager Samuel Okposin.

MAREEBA State High School students took time out of their Friday lunch hour last week to honour domestic vio lence victims for White Ribbon Day.

(Back from left) School-based youth health nurse Samantha Hales, Raquel France, Junior Head of Department Brad Weaver, (front from left) Bella Ford, Leksi Mukadi and Douglas Holden tak ing part in White Ribbon Day at MSHS.

Hospitals in Amber status

A FOURTH wave of Covid has been predicted in the Far North, with local hospitals masking up as they enter Code Amber just weeks before the holiday season begins.

Last week there were nine Covid hospitalisations in the region, with one being in the Mareeba Hospital but cases are rising every day.

The exact number of cases in the Mareeba and Atherton region is unknown according to Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Services (CHHS) due to the lack of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) being recorded.

But within the last week, Queensland Health confirmed almost six thousand new cases state-wide.

CHHS executive director for Medical Services Doctor Don Mackie said now was the time to be wary, mask up and get vac cinated.

“We know people are RAT testing and not reporting so the figures are probably quite an underestimate of the amount of Covid circulating in the com munity, but it is moving up,” he said.

“We are in the early stages of a fourth wave here and the concern for health services of

course is the ability of our hos pitals to cope and manage any major increase of demand.

“To minimise the increase in circulation of Covid, we have gone to Code Amber, which means mask wearing (within the hospital).

“That also means wearing your mask indoors, public trans port, around people who are per haps old or certainly when you are around people who are more vulnerable.”

At this stage, the severity of this incoming wave is unknown, but Dr Mackie is assuring locals they are prepared for the worse.

He encourages anyone who is feeling unwell to wear a mask, stay home, take a test and record any positive results to Queens land Health.

“We don’t know (if this surge will be worse then the previous three) but we do know that we have a reasonably well vaccinat ed population and measures like masking do mitigate the wave,” Dr Mackie said.

Recent data has shown 91.6 per cent of Queenslanders are fully vaccinated. As of recent, Paxlovid and Lagevrio oral treatments for Covid are also now available from pharmacies to stop the spread.

New leader for Mareeba tourism

THE Mareeba Shire is pushing to get its fair share of the revived tourism indus try with Mareeba Shire Council endors ing the newly established Mareeba Shire Tourism.

For many years the Mareeba Shire has been sharing a local tourism organisation with Tablelands Regional Council and many of the shire’s tourism businesses felt it was too focused on the southern Tablelands.

It was decided that a dedicated local tourism organisation was needed for the Mareeba Shire and thus, Mareeba Shire Tourism was born.

Chaired by Councillor Lenore Wyatt, the interim committee currently contains representatives from the Kuranda Traders Association, Mareeba Heritage Centre and the Mareeba Chamber of Commerce with room for more groups as the com mittee grows.

The committee will solely focus on promoting the Mareeba Shire from the tropical rainforests in the east to the sa vannah areas in the west, including all its natural attractions and social events such as the Multicultural Festival, Savannah in the Round and more.

Cr Wyatt said as a local tourism organ isation under the regional group, Tropi cal Tourism North Queensland (TTNQ), Mareeba Shire Tourism can secure better funding.

“We have these massive events which are unique to our shire such as The Great Wheelbarrow Race, the Multicultural Festival, Savannah in the Round,” she said.

“It is about looking at how we can lev erage these events while they are happen ing and making people stay around.

“We will ensure that we are still talk ing to other parts of the shire, we have opportunities to bring on board places like Mount Molloy, Irvinebank, Chilla goe, but that is down the track.”

Cr Wyatt is also looking at ways for the Mareeba Shire to “get our share” of the Olympic Games to be held in Bris bane in 2032.

The next physical step of the organisa

tion is to have an official launch in Febru ary 2023, followed by developing a stra tegic direction – outlining an action plan for the committee going forward with tourism..

No more canvassers on election days

LOCALS could no longer be swamped by voting canvassers, individual howto-vote cards and other election material on local government election days with Mareeba Shire Council proposing the electoral commission eliminate them at polling locations.

During the 2020 local government elections, people were unable to hand out how to vote cards at polling places

and early voting options were extended due to Covid.

Voters were no longer bombarded when attempting to cast their vote for their preferred candidate which can sometimes make the process chaotic and confrontational.

Council will now propose the “elimi nation” of vote canvassers, individual how to vote cards and other election

material at polling locations to the Elec toral Commission of Queensland.

Mayor Angela Toppin said the feed back received during the last election was that many of the shire’s residents preferred not being bothered by can vassers when trying to vote.

“I think a lot of our constituents ap preciated the fact that they were not bombarded when they arrived and if

Help keep temple history alive

A HISTORICAL Atherton museum that contains priceless artefacts of an early Chinese settlement is in danger of clos ing for good due to a debilitating lack of volunteers.

The Hou Wang Chinese Temple and Museum was built on the grounds the Cedar Camp Chinese settlement, estab lished by Palmer River gold miners.

A 110-year-old temple is the only remaining original building from the settlement and it houses many of the museum’s priceless artefacts.

In the early 2000s, National Trust Queensland took over the temple and decided to build a museum dedicated to the original settlement and open it up to tours.

With only four volunteers working at the museum, its hours have been cut and the temple no longer opens on Satur days – taking away vital weekend trade.

The centre needs approximately dou ble the number of volunteers it has now to operate properly.

“We had a lot of families come through on the weekend so it is a shame but we are stretched very thin,” site co ordinator Chris Neibling said.

“If we are not able to get volunteers we would just have to close.

“We just need people who are happy

to show other people through the temple and through the grounds and have a bit of an interest in local history.”

Many of the current volunteers are working double shifts to keep the mu seum open and give visitors a great ex perience when visiting the temple.

Mr Neibling would like to give his hard-working volunteers a break and is asking for anyone interested to attend to their upcoming volunteer open day and sign up.

“We have got a couple of volunteers here that have been here since the very beginning, over 20 years and some are pulling double shifts at the moment,” he said.

“They have put a tremendous amount of effort in some are at the temple three times a week volunteering and I would like to give them a break.”

The volunteer open day is this Fri day, 25 November and people are in vited to come along for a free tour of the museum, enjoy some light refresh ments and learn about volunteering at the temple.

If you would like to sign up on the day, there will be sheet provided to fill in, otherwise you can contact the temple on 4091 6945 or send an email to hou wang@nationaltrustqld.org

they wanted to have a look at who was running, there was a board there with all the information,” she said.

Councillor Locky Benstead said dur ing the meeting that many voters were already well educated in who they were voting for before election day.

“It’s not to say that candidates can not be at polling booths themselves,” he said.

“The biggest problem is congestion at a polling location, most people are ed ucated – if you don’t know how to vote, you can go in and ask the electoral com mission and they will explain it to you.

“Most people’s decisions are made prior to even getting to a polling booth – having been part of a number of elec tions both as a volunteer and as a can didate so I think this is a great motion.”

Hou Wang Chinese Temple and Museum volunteers Neil Davis and Luci Bultman and site coordinator Chris Neibling are appealing to the community for more volunteers to keep the temple open.

Rebirth of well known franchise

BY RHYS THOMAS

FRESH ideas, a revitalised model and an Australian first innova tion in franchising are what’s behind James Home Services’ recent announcement as the Innovation Excellence award winner for the 2022 JCU Business Excellence Awards.

The James Home Services’ franchise is a commonplace name and sight across the Tablelands and other regions of Australia with people using the name and providing services from house cleaning to car cleaning, to pet cleaning.

However, in the last 5-10 years the franchising business has taken a hit with people more reluctant to start their own business with a franchise.

Regional franchisor Sonya Kelly said market faith in franchising has lessened over the past decade, partly due to unfortunate choices of some franchisors but the actions of one or two, do not represent that of the entire industry.

“The industry across the board has actually found it quite chal lenging with Covid and virtually zero unemployment,” she said.

“What we found was our market and our society has changed and we are conditioned to not own things outright and not pay up front for things.

“We don’t even have to pay for clothes up front, we don’t pur chase our music up front like we used to, we subscribe to Netflix, to Disney so we are really moving towards this subscription men tality.”

Speewah bridge renamed in honour of Bob Madden

THE Groves Creek Bridge on the entry to Speewah has been renamed after one of the town’s most respected and wellknown residents, Bob Madden.

Mr Madden was highly involved in just about every aspect of the Speewah community from the local fire brigade to the Kuranda Paper to his most notable position, chairman of the Speewah Dis trict Residents Association (SDRA).

Residents of Speewah wrote to Ma reeba Shire Council asking it to rename the bridge after Mr Madden and honour his contribution to the town, the decision to rename the bridge was passed at the meeting last Wednesday.

SDRA chairman Annie Austin said Mr Madden had a genuine desire to help his local community and as part of this, actively lobbied for improvements to the bridge that is now named after him.

“The SDRA submitted the renaming of the bridge to council in account of Bob’s extraordinary work in telecommu nications in Speewah,” she said.

“The group would like to commemo rate Bob’s contribution to the community into the future and demonstrate respect and appreciation for his personal ap proach to volunteerism.”

Mayor Angela Toppin first met Mr Madden when he was chair of the SDRA.

“Bob was very invested in the com munity, he improved telecommunication, and he did a whole range of things – a relentless worker,” she said.

“The residents really respected him and a lot of time for him and have asked for the renaming to happen.

“Bob’s legacy lives on in many areas of Kuranda and Speewah, and the nam ing of the bridge in his honour will be a visible representation of his legacy.” New signs are due to be manufactured in the near future and an official renam ing of the bridge will take place in early 2023.

In 2022, James, with the help of new CEO Rhiannon Simcocks, launched a new business model which has been dubbed the “Netflix of franchising”.

The new model gives people the option to subscribe to James and use the franchise instead of paying outright, however that op tion still remains.

People under the subscription model have access to everything that any other franchisee does including the brand, business system, marketing and business coaching – they just pay a weekly subscrip tion.

After months of research and workshopping the new model was launched in July of this year and saw the business win the 2022 JCU Business Excellence Awards Innovation Excellence award.

“It was a case of, ‘what do we have to lose, let’s do this and see how it rolls’,” Mrs Kelly said.

“We have four months of data now and it has been fabulous, we have had more new franchisees start in the last four months than we had in the previous two years – most of them under the new subscription model.”

“We are really excited and proud of our company and what we have done in the past two years.”

James Home Services came under the new management of Atherton local Justin Kelly and Cairns businessman Darren Halpin two years ago and since then, the business has set about changing the way people pay for the franchise.

James Home Services director Justin Kelly and CEO Rhiannon Simcocks receiving the 2022 JCU Business Excellence Awards Innovation Excellence award from Cairns deputy mayor Terry James.

Connecting families with culture at maternity ward

BY RHYS THOMAS

TO create a more welcoming space for expecting Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander moth ers at the Mareeba Hospital, 16 beautiful photos will be dis played showcasing culture and the connection fostered between mothers and their midwives.

Christine Buckland and Tah nee Rapson from Mareeba Con nected Beginnings sat down with mothers who had recently given birth or were about to give birth and asked them about their experiences in the Mareeba Hospital maternity ward.

While they spoke volumes about the value of service and the professionalism of the staff, many mothers felt the ward was not as welcoming as it could have been.

Taking this on board Con nected Beginnings got to work on their new project, to make the Mareeba Hospital a more welcoming space for Indig enous and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“A common theme was that mothers had really good rela tionships with the midwives but there was a deficit in cultural influence within maternity,” Ms Buckland said.

“They were feeling isolated from culture, they were feeling lonely when they were in that space.

“Out of all that, pops out the photoshoot.”

Connected Beginning then

engaged with Brisbane based photographer Trent White and took a series of photos at Davies Creek, Emerald Creek and the Walsh River which focused on culture and the connection be tween mothers and their mid wives.

Out of the hundreds of pho tos taken, 18 images were hand picked containing 16 communi ty members and five midwives.

People used their traditional colours, attire and painting pat terns of their tribes from across the Far North, the midwives were also invited out on coun try for the photo shoot and were fully involved in the shoot.

“The photoshoot was a shar ing of connection, culture and the relationship that was built between the midwives and the families during the maternal pe riod,” Ms Rapson said.

The photos will be put up not just in the maternity ward, but across the hospital for people to enjoy.

Each photo also contains a biography of the parents, their culture and tribes history.

A video was made docu menting the process of tak ing the photos which has been shared all across the world and been seen by people in Canada, America and England

The finished canvas print photos were handed over the Mareeba maternity ward last week and were put out on full display for the families, staff and locals to see, they will now

be put up across the hospital.

Due to the success of the project, Ms Buckland and Ms Rapson showcased what they

achieved at a national gathering in Brisbane last week in front of hundreds of people across Aus tralia.

Cleaning up for 100 years

JULATTEN State School is turning 100 next year and to pre pare for the big event, the Julatten Men’s Shed is helping the school get into tip top shape.

The Julatten/Bushy Creek/Euluma Creek State School’s 100-year event was announced in 2020, with the school in viting staff and students – past and present – back on school grounds for a reunion.

The school’s P&C called upon the men’s shed to help freshen up the school before the three-day event kicks off on 25 August 2023.

An area of priority for the men’s shed is the basketball and tennis courts with the team planning to put a fresh coat of paint on the backboards.

A new back board has been purchased and repainted to be weatherproof for the next generations of students coming through.

To get involved with the centenary celebrations, contact Julatten State School or follow their Facebook group “2023

Centenary of Julatten/Bushy Creek/Euluma Creek State School's”.

Mareeba Hospital Maternity unit manager Michelle Bombardieri and Connected Beginnings’ Tahnee Rapson with one of the 16 photos that will be hung up around the hospital.

Judges go wild for Wondecla rum

BY SALLY TURLEY

THE Tablelands now has its first premium pro ducer of Australian rum, following the results of the 2022 Australian Rum Awards held in Brisbane recently.

Amy and Wes Marks’ Wild River Mountain Distillery received a gold medal and an equal top score of 91 points in the “Aged Rum 2-4 years” category, identifying their craft distillery as a pro ducer of “exceptional spirits that set the standard in their category.”

“To say we were super excited to win a gold medal in this competition is an understatement,” Ms Marks said.

“This award is the highest national recognition of this spirit and means our business is accepted in the industry as a premium producer of Austral ian rum.

“When we release a new product we are al ways nervous to see what our customers think. This medal gives us great confidence that we are on the right track with our vision in producing amazing craft spirits.”

The awards night was held over a three-course

dinner at the swanky Tattersall’s Club in Brisbane.

It was designed to be a celebration of the culture that surrounds rum and to shine a spotlight on the “very best of the best” in the spirit category.

“The elite judging panel were described as some of the most respected and experienced rum experts in the world, adding a level of prestige and sophistication never before seen in this coun try’s rum sphere and our product was competing against the best rum producers in Australia,” Mrs Marks said

“The judges blind taste every rum entered into each class, looking for drinks that set the stand ard for other producers to meet, to reach the gold medal status.

“First they assess the quality of a spirit with re spect to its category, then consider its nose, palate, finish and balance.”

Mr Marks said they hadn’t received their of ficial tasting notes from the judges yet, but they had received rave reviews from their customers for their core range of rum.

When asked the secret of their success, Mr Marks believed it was the process.

“We don't rush anything, from the fermentation

and distillation stages right through to the ageing process,” he said.

“We use a unique yeast in our brewing which adds character from the start. Also our moun tainous climate and the seasonal changes in our weather shape how the rum ages in the barrel and the flavour profile of the finished product.

“Our rum has been a passion we have been pur suing for many years. We developed the recipe for this rum over 10 years ago and we entered this competition because we really wanted to see how we compared and measured up against other Aus sie rum producers.”

Wild River Mountain Distillery has been op erational since 2017 after a family tree-change to Wondecla and this latest gold medal completes their set, giving them an award for every spirit they produce, including their single malt whisky.

“We are passionate about producing ‘craft’ spirits and want to maintain that focus as our busi ness matures. Our staff are integral to the growth of our company and we are passionate about work ing with other local businesses,” Mr Marks said.

“2023 will see a larger distribution of our gin range with a national retailer and further expan sion of our production and facilities.”

Fur friends welcome to explore the caves

BRINGING your fur-babies to local attractions has grown in popularity as of recent, with the Crystal Caves welcoming friendly canines to feathered friends, the odd reptile and even a hand reared wallaby through their doors.

Pets of all shapes and sizes have been wel comed through the doors of the Crystal Caves which according to sales and marketing manager, Ghis Gallo, sets a relaxed vibe at the award-win ning attraction.

“From the time the caves were built in the late eighties we’ve always had a resident dog,” she said.

“For the first 10 years black cocker spaniel Percy and later, Asher, were the resident dogs and part of the geode-furniture so to speak.

“Welcoming pets is very much in keeping with the spirit of this family owned and operated busi ness. We open our hearts and doors to pretty much everyone.”

Ms Gallo also reminds visitors to the Crystal Caves that it is not just small dogs who are free to explore the giant crystals and geodes with their owners, it is also a range of pets from colourful parrots to slithery children’s pythons and marsu pials.

Commonwealth Bank has supported corporate agribusiness in Australia for more than 100 years and is excited to welcome its newest member to the local corporate agribusiness team: Drew Alexion, Director of Specialised Agribusiness Solutions.

Drew will work with local agribusinesses in the North Queensland area, helping them to grow, expand and capitalise on opportunities ag presents.

Meet Drew

Drew grew up in the North Queensland region, having previously been based in Cloncurry and the Burdekin, and is now basing himself in Townsville to support his North Queensland customers. Drew has supported the ag industry in North Queensland for many years, both in senior government roles focused on development in the region and also as an agribusiness banker covering the cane, cattle and small-crop sectors.

Drew says his localised agri finance and economic development experience combined means he understands the local market and the rural-regional economies that sit behind it.

“As a local who understands the NQ ag landscape, I’m excited to support our larger corporate agribusiness customers with the insights, advice and products that CommBank’s Specialised Agribusiness Solutions can offer to help them succeed,” Drew says.

“There is a lot of opportunity in the region at the moment, thanks to good commodity prices and strong investment in the local area, meaning there is a lot of capacity to grow the ag industry here and for our local agribusinesses to look at where they can expand, and I’m excited to be a part of that and help support our customers.”

CommBank is investing in the regions and putting more boots on the ground to support our corporate ag customers be more productive and offer solutions wherever you are on your business journey.

We can help you with:

• business lending merchant solutions

• ecommerce solutions

• asset/equipment finance

• trade finance property finance

• sustainability finance

• foreign exchange

commbank.com.au/agribusiness

“As

Solutions can offer to help them succeed.”

A sleepy pup found a hidey hole to sleep in at the Crystal Caves.

The Wild River Mountain Distillery crew, Wes and Amy Marks, Kalyca Hendren and Emma Cifuentes are thrilled with the gold medal they received for their spirit at the Australian Rum Awards recently.

Stay connected in your senior years

Offering independent living and the safety and security of a caring environment, Oak Tree specialises in building smaller more private communities, complete with purpose-built recreational facilities.

Oak Tree is passionate about providing an environment in which our residents can form new friendships and be part of a close-knit community whilst continuing to live independently. Enrich your retirement doing more of the things you love.

grasswren

THE BirdLife Northern Queens land branch is inviting all inter ested people to a fascinating free talk about the Carpentarian Grasswren this Thursday at Ma landa.

Grasswrens are small, uniquely Australian birds that mostly live in hot inland parts of Australia in association with Spinifex, Lignam or Canegrass, often in rocky outcrop areas or desert sand dunes. They are poorly known and many are threatened with extinction.

With the assistance of the Graham Harrington Student Research Scholarship provided by the branch, Henry Stoetzel is undertaking a PhD thesis on this species.

Working with graziers and volunteers in western Queens land, the work is already add ing to our knowledge of these remarkable little birds.

Across much of its ranges lo cal populations are in decline or in some cases have disappeared and a combination of research ers, the Southern Gulf NRM body, local graziers and citizen scientists organised by BirdLife NQ are working together to try and save this species.

The Research and Recovery of Endangered Species group of the University of Queensland has been working on the Car pentarian Grasswren since 2019 and Henry will be presenting the first stage results at his free talk at the Malanda Hotel on Thurs day from 7.30 pm.

For more information contact the Tableland Area Coordinators Sam and Martin Willis on 4096 6581 or 0412 642 141.

Come and find out more about this elusive and fascinat ing bird of the spinifex.

Focus On Soil Health

Soil health is the focus of a field day on the Atherton Tablelands on Sunday 4 December, including a farm visit and presenters.

Farmers from across all industries are encouraged to come to the event, which will focus on low-cost establishment of perennial pastures, cover-cropping in broadacre systems and worm farms, and will also include plenty of time for sharing experiences and ideas.

The day is being organised by farmer-led soil health group Wet Tropics Soilcare (WETS) with support from Terrain NRM.

WETs’ Michelle Milicevic said the group welcomed newcomers. “We range from orchardists to graziers and large-scale commercial farmers to smaller producers.

One thing that we all have in common is soil health. And events like this, with guest speakers and visits to farms, are also about people sharing their soil health challenges with others, and changes they’ve made or are thinking of making to improve soil health.”

Sunday’s event begins at the Evans family farm in Kairi where perennial legume trials are underway to explore cost-effective pasture enhancement to improve soil condition and plant diversity.

Cattle are being used as the mechanisms to sow perennial legume seeds on the farm, at a site where 10 different combinations of compost, Agfert, Ozcal, hay and seed are being trialled.

“After seeing a decline in health in an

annual cover crop planted within a perennial pasture, a demonstration site was co-created to find ways to improve soil fertility and establish perennial diversity in an established grazing pasture system,’’ Terrain agronomist Sally Fields said.

“This trial is introducing multi-species pastures into a grazing paddock to improve the pasture. It’s also trialling a low-cost and low-mechanised system to seed the pasture, in place of machinery and seeders.”

Kellie Evans will be talking to participants about the ways she has been working to improve pasture diversity for her cattle.

The next stop is the Kairi Hotel where guest speakers are Nutrigold’s Glenn Oliver and Terrain’s Sally Fields.

Glenn has a wealth of knowledge on worm farming and will be talking about the benefits of worm castings or “worm juice” for soil, as well as his experiences setting up a commercial worm farm on the Tablelands.

Sally will talk about cover-cropping in broadacre systems, examples of safe to fail trials close to home and technologies and tools that can help producers diversify from traditional mono-cropping.

The event includes lunch at the Kairi Hotel, followed by the Wet Tropics Soilcare group’s annual general meeting. “We’d love people to be part of the AGM as well,’’ Michelle said.

For more information visit: www. eventbrite.com.au/e/463466840797 or email: wetsoilcare@gmail.com.

Hail new school bus driver Peter

AFTER moving from the big smokes of Gympie to the “one street western town” of Raven shoe, 65-year-old Peter Knibbs found gaining employment tricky but now he is living the dream as a bus driver for the lo cal school.

Originally, he hoped to gain employment at the local wind farm but Mr Knibbs’s age as well as a back and knee condi tion meant he wouldn’t be able to effectively work there.

After looking around for a new job in a new industry, he was able to secure employment as a bus driver for Altitude Bus Company with the help of APM – an employment agency that helps those facing hardships.

“There has never been a dull day since starting,” Mr Knibbs

said.

“I knew someone who worked for (APM) when I was a volunteer at the landcare group in Gympie and when I moved to Ravenshoe, they put this job forward.

“They have really looked after me and have even given

me a knee brace to make the job easier.

“A lot of people said not to do it but obviously I didn’t listen to them, and I love my job and have the best bosses ever.”

Mr Knibbs’ goal is to learn and remember the names of eve ry student who catches his bus.

Soroptimists go pink for a good cause

A HIGH tea was held recently by Soroptimist Club member Madonna Laurence to raise funds for breast cancer research.

Decking out her back yard in every shade of pink, Ms Lau rence and the group managed to raise $250 altogether.

The group pulled together to cater for the event themselves.

Janine Conolly and Madonna Lawrence enjoying a cup of tea whilst donning the pink for a good cause.

65-year-old Peter Knibbs found gaining employment tricky when he moved to Ravenshoe, but now is living the dream as a bus driver at the local school.

ATHERTON RACE DAY

School wins big garden competition

MOUNT Molloy State School students will get a special visit from Kitchen Garden Foundation found er Stephanie Alexander this Friday after they won an anniversary video com petition highlighting their school’s involvement in the program.

The Kitchen Garden Foundation was established with the aim of helping children develop a lifelong appreciation for fresh, sea sonal food.

Mount Molloy State School has been involved with the program for 10 years and was given the chance to participate in the foundation’s 20th anniver sary video competition.

The local school was chosen as the winner and will now get a visit from the foundation founder this Friday.

School principal ZarahRae Budgen is eagerly an ticipating Ms Alexander’s visit.

“Our entire school com munity is looking forward to Stephanie's visit very much,” she said.

“We were over the moon when we heard that we had won the prize and our team has been on a high ever since.

“It is a wonderful oppor tunity to celebrate all that our school has achieved through this program and gain her expert advice in planning for future success.

“It also ties in perfectly with our 10th year anni versary celebration – we can’t wait to celebrate this amazing achievement with Stephanie and our school community.”

The 90 second video the school sent in highlighted students working hard in the garden, harvesting veg gies to be made into fresh, seasonal, delicious food.

It showcased how the program has been incor porated into other core subjects, students learn maths and science through measuring plant growth and weighing their har vest, while language and communication skills are nurtured by descriptive prompts aimed at expand ing their flavour vocabu lary.

The school’s onsite café provides hospitality experi ence, while students learn marketing skills selling jam and preserves at a lo cal market and financial lit eracy running a DIY pizza stall.

Kindy Program

Kindy Program – Enrol now.

2023

Kindy Program 2023

Kindy Program – Enrol now.

QT's Early Learning Centre has limited vacancies for our kindy program, we have weekly excursions to the library and fortnightly Hit 40 fitness program sessions for the children to enjoy.

QT's Early Learning Centre has limited vacancies for our kindy program, we have weekly excursions to the library and fortnightly Hit 40 fitness program sessions for the children to enjoy. Open afternoon on the 9th of January, 2023 for a Kindy Introduction from 5pm to 6.30pm

Open afternoon on the 9th of January, 2023 for a Kindy Introduction from 5pm to 6.30pm

Please pop in for a visit and a chat with our friendly staff.

To Enrol please phone: 07 4092 7200

Please pop in for a visit and a chat with our friendly staff.

To Enrol please phone: 07 4092 7200

41b Anzac Avenue, MAREEBA, QLD 4880 Email: qtsearlylearning@qite.com Open: 6:30 AM Close: 6:00 PM www.qtsearlylearning.com

41b Anzac Avenue, MAREEBA, QLD 4880

Email: qtsearlylearning@qite.com

Open: 6:30 AM Close: 6:00 PM www.qtsearlylearning.com

Susan Black and Manda Royan.

Race one winner Musical Girl, jockey Lacey Morrison.

Graeme and Christine Twidale.

Paul and Sue Crockett.

W D WI CHALUMBIN

Students awarded at presentation night

ATHERTON State High School students were recently recognised for their dedica tion to their academic and sporting com mitments in 2022.

This year, it was Marni Dennis who came out as the top student, winning the Student of The Year award, sponsored and presented by Tablelands Regional Council Mayor Rod Marti.

Marni has shown great dedication to her studies and has taken out some of the highest marks in her subjects, whilst be ing a good role model to other students.

The Junior Dux for 2022 was Jordon

Cox, for his dedication to going above and beyond in all of his subjects.

The James Cook Rising Star award goes to a grade 12 student who demon strates high levels of academic achieve ments and champions the school’s ethos.

This year’s well deserving recipient was Chelsea Perry, who has also received $10,000 paid directly to her instalments over three years.

The ADF Long Tan Leadership award was awarded to Jean Pluschke and Chloe Robertson, who displayed strong values and “mateship” that are displayed within

the defence force.

Taking home gold on the fields, Sport sperson of the Year went to Lucas Kat tenberg and Kira Dalgety.

These students often represent the school on a district and peninsula level and go above and beyond in any in school sports carnival.

Natasha Isabella was the worthy re cipient of the Outstanding School Based Trainee of the Year for her dedication to her in school traineeship.

All students were commended for their efforts.

Community Composters spread message to council

A YOUNG Mareeba State School student gave an impres sive presentation to Mareeba Shire Councillors after their recent meeting last Wednesday, detailing the school’s active role in composting.

Grade five student Braith Beatie is part of a school group called Community Composters, which aims to get students and teachers to not waste valuable food scraps and use them for compost instead.

The group learned about composting through the Gifted Global Green program, and the United Nations sustainable development goals which they aligned their group’s goals to.

Braith along with peer Nicole Owens and other members of the Community Composters, are planning to use the compost they have been collecting for

their new trees in the school’s garden.

“We noticed that there were many compostable items in the schools bin, in fact one quarter of the items in eating area bins were compostable,” Braith said during his presentation.

“Originally, we were going to get the whole school to take this up but it only ended up be ing taken up by the grade fives – we just got compost buckets to the year four classes.”

Braith designed an info graphic to go on the buckets to let people know what can and cannot go in compost.

As the project is still in the early stages, the students have not been able to collect enough food scraps to begin putting compost in their garden but they are not far off.

Mareeba State School student Braith Beatie giving his presentation on composting to Mareeba Shire Council.

Outstanding school based trainee winner Natasha Isabella (left).

James Cook Rising Star Award recipient Chelsea Perry (right).

Student of the Year Marni Dennis with TRC Mayor Rod Marti.

Junior Dux Jordon Cox.

ADF Long Tan leadership award winners Jean Pluschke and Chloe Robertson.

Sportsperson of the year Lucas Kattenberg and Kira Dalgety with Mr Simpson.

In2dancers

counting

until they see

“Dance Frequency” has two fantastic shows on Saturday December 3rd – matinee at 1.30pm & evening show at 6.30pm at Atherton High Hall. Tickets are now online at https://www.trybooking.com/

Our young in2dancers are so excited! They are learning

performance skills, stagecraft & teamwork, while having fun with their friends & advancing themselves to higher levels of achievement and confidence.

If you haven’t been to an in2dance show before – you’ve been missing out. The music, lighting, costumes, sets, storyline & dancers all join to create an amazing show.

Many audience members come every year, long after their children or grandchildren

have grown up and left the area. It’s great entertainment!

Our dancers started learning & developing these routines in September. So, what do we do the rest of the year? Some students enjoy learning dance as a hobby with their friends. Some challenge themselves by entering for exams, gaining world-class results.

Our grades 10-11-12 dancers have their exams credited to their QCE school points.

Some dancers share their love of dance by competing at local competitions.

The elite have been successful at both State & National Scholarships. Past students have gone on to Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas & Professional careers after finishing school or used their skills they have learnt at dance in other pursuits.

From recreational to elite, in2dancers enjoy fun, fitness, friendships & even future dreams through in2dance’s quality training systems.

This allows them to steadily progress and blossom into the best they can be. Jump on our website & submit an enquiry at www.in2dance.com.au

Come along & see our Dance Frequency show & allow your child the chance to dream of being part of something Spectacular in 2023!

Malanda State High School

Cohen Carmelo and Jade Pengelly.

Ashleigh Langley and Jack Hart. Luke Skews and Kate Hinrichsen.

Aiden Brown, Lilykay Oliver, Hallie Meares and Hayden Hapgood.

Niall Hickey and Georgia Millar.

Simone Anderson.

Angus Hamilton and Georgia Porter.

Arlo Lockwood and Adara Brown.

Tenealle Thege and Holly Lynch.

Ethan Norman, Maddisen Pitman and Sam Houston.

Skye Blakesley and James Hunter.

Chance Riggs and Hannah Shore.

Alexandria Kuhn and Freya Clarkson.

Nikita Koelman and Ben Harding (Acting Principal).

Kynan Wakeford.

Terese Daley.

Malanda State High School

Aiden Carson and Alexis Evans.

Ben Claydon and Noah Grace.

Emily Cronin and Felicity Harrison.

Zakira Lee and Karsten Vis.

Hannah Youngjohns and Tait Coghlan.

Mallory Hansford and Kshama Moon. Will Godfrey and Dallas Williams.

Ayden Mathews and Mitchell Colins.

Harry Holland.

Jackson Cuda.

Cassandra Easton.

Lachlan Johnston.

Lily Stein.

Rhys O’Shea-Jensen.

Patrick English and Cooper Solinas.

Garrett Cupitt and Ella Stevenson.

Addam Hawkins and Ben Harding (Acting Principal).

Atherton State High School

Harrison Willims, Braith Marshall, Colt Gowan and Alex Vollert.

Billie Cummings, Emmi Gould, Lucy Edsen, Bonnie Irvine and Marnie Dennis.

Irini Nestoriadis and Indi Drysdale. Kailen Collett-Green.

Tyler Hobbs, Marianna Trnka and Ethan Miller.

Rhylee Wilkinson.

Jack and Darcy Gatacare.

Jordan Relph.

Brandon Angus-Johnson, Natasha Isabella and David Kilpatrick.

Dara Hill, Ruby McGrath, Chloe and Ella Ogilvie.

Beau Blackford.

Sascha Micola Von Furstenrecht, Jacy Evans and Lauren Cocoran.

Tamatoa Lyons, Jacob Emerson and Jack Reid.

Atherton State High School

Jiselle Cuda.

Kaeley Scott.

Georgia Barbagallo. Isabel Condon. Hannah Ross.

Lauren Hepple.

Ryleigh Sheahan.

Emily Seawright.

Holly Kattenberg.

Bianca Brolese.

Sarah Entsch.

Jordan Ashlety.

Jemma Denigan.

Larry Vonarx.

Laim Madin.

Atherton State High School

Brodie Barber.

Layne Offner.

Emily Hill. Annabelle Goetz. Joel Cairns.

Lindsay McFarlane.

Lauren Wells.

Liam Degnian.

Jayden Fox. Chrlie Barton.

Sarah Walker.

Ethan Burnett.

Carter Stacey.

Mackenzie Cooper.

Jhidan Dikes.

Atherton State High School

Elizabeth Byrnes-Smith and Emily Perrott.

Toby Wode and Hannah Smith. Hamish Geddes and Cooper Mickan. Stevie Ford and Olivia O’Connor. Zaimen Gilbert.

Malikah Barton and Zamika Seymour. Ben Azzopardi and Maison Stanford. Sianne Jone-Anning and Denise Goltz. Sarah Grandcourt and Orlando Cuda. Travis Wadley.

Hayley, Imogen Cook, Grace McLarty and Bry dee Cummings.

Koby Clarke and Dillan Frazer.

Shamaya Booker, Tyrah Walker and Faith Stasse.

Sarah Tarca, Jesiah Lees, Jemima Polkinghorne, Ashlee Reid and Cate Greenwood.

Local photos on display at exhibition

Maybe you try to understand how the artist made the works and what the meaning is be hind them,” she said.

Curate Create is the ex hibition outcome of a men torship of five young and emerging artists, who have been mentored by a Cairns based professional artist over 6 months.

The Atherton resident learned her skills through a National Geographic course, where she learned the ins and outs of capturing the wonders of wildlife.

Kylie’s part of the exhibi tion named “Queensland in Colour” is currently displayed at Tank 4 and she hopes all visitors will enjoy admiring the moments she has captured in time as much as she does.

“As you walk around the gallery, you stop, ponder and admire the creative works.

“Overall, you feel a sense of wonder and awe. You might even take photos of your favourite pieces.

“Similarly, when I'm in na ture I see every forest, lake, waterfall, river, creek, beach, garden or landscape as beautifully orchestrated and curated galleries.

“I take my time to stop and ponder and admire all the magnificent creative works. I look for my favourite pieces and photograph those to keep a memory of the most beautiful.

“I'm always awestruck after spending time meditat ing on the meticulous way each creative work has been made.”

The exhibition will be open until 5 December at Tank 4, Tanks Art Centre from 9am to 4.30pm.

Raising Movember support

TO help raise money for men’s health issues and support those growing a mo for Movember, lo cal disability service provider, Flexichoice is hosting a special sausage sizzle and raffle at their premises at 130 Mason Street, Mareeba.

Running from 10am till 12pm on Friday 25 November, Flex ichoice is inviting locals along to raise money and awareness for men’s health.

It is $10 for each ticket in the raffle which could see you win a coffee works hamper, Beef Joint meat tray, Wholelife Pharmacy hamper and more.

The sausage sizzle will be $3 each and drinks are provided by Flexichoice.

For more information on the event contact Flexichoice on 4092 2332 or by sending an email to office@flexichoice.org.au

LOCAL photographer Kylie Cadioli is one of five North Queensland photographers selected to exhibit her work at the Tanks Art Centre’s “Cu rate Create – Emerging Artist Mentors” exhibition.

A portrait photograph by local photographer Kylie Cadioli, who is showcasing her work at Tanks Art Centre this month.

ON LANDthe

Instant Nitrogen analysis now possible for crops

BY SALLY TURLEY

NORTH Queensland horticulturalists have a new tool available to help them comply with reef regulations, while optimising results from fertiliser appli cation in an increasing range of broad acre, fruit and vegetable crops.

Haifa Australia has released a new smartphone app, Croptune, that gives growers instant and accurate analysis of their crops’ nitrogen levels, as well as fertiliser recommendations to address any deficiencies.

Israel’s Product Manager for Haifa, agronomist, Eldad Sokolowski, was at the South Johnstone DAF Experimental Station recently to launch their latest development in digital agri-technology.

“It is usually too late for a crop, by the time a problem is visible. There have been several systems developed to measure leaf chlorophyll, but unfortu nately they all rely on the lengthy wait involved in sending samples to labora tories,” Mr Sokolowski said.

“Croptune gives growers a Nitrogen analysis of their crops in real time. So far it has been calibrated to work with 18 field crop, vegetable and orchard species. including bananas, corn, cotton, potatoes, mandarins and avocadoes and will be available to sugar cane farmers early in 2023. It costs $20/yr per 50ha of orchard or per 100 ha of crop.”

A lot of time and money has been invested in the calibration of each crop. Multiple photos are taken throughout the growing season of each species.

These are then sent to our technical people for analysis and cross checked against corresponding lab results to confirm their accuracy.

A simple point and shoot will give the operator instant information on nu trient deficiencies and immediate nutri ent recommendations to an 85 – 90 per cent accuracy level at each stage of crop growth.

For the grower, the system is quite straightforward. They enter a field name, a plant date, an emergence date, and a sowing rate into their phone to calculate the age of the plant and the number of plants per area to calculate N uptake.

Once the crop is established, it is then just a matter of taking 3-5 photos of each crop area, between 10am and 3pm and uploading them to the cloud. The app will respond immediately with a simple colour-coded light system.

A green light means N is adequate and should be maintained at current lev els, extreme green means a slight reduc tion in application rate would be good, a yellow light indicates N is slightly below recommended levels and a red result indicates a deficiency that should have growers checking for problems in their system.

The app recognises the user’s phone number and all their data will be record ed on the Croptune website and can be exported to Excel. The system becomes more accurate and informative as more data is collected. It can track each plot’s history and whether N levels are in

creasing or declining.

Mr Sokolowski said while this “de cision support system wouldn't replace an agronomist in the field, it would help farmers to see if they are getting the re sults they were aiming for. If the N read ing comes back at over 3.5 (above reef regulations), then they would know to delay further fertiliser applications.

“We have actually saved money for a lot of our clients around the world using Croptune. New Zealand potato growers supplying PepsiCo were able to reduce their fertiliser costs by almost 30 per cent for the same yield, Indian wheat growers reduced their N use by 35kg/ ha and carrot growers in Israel reduced their carbon emissions by 50kg/ha.”

Haifa, the leading supplier of water soluble fertilisers to the Australian mar ket, is currently in the process of getting the app recognised as a “lab” in Israel, the first time anyone has tried to vali date a non-chemical laboratory. Once achieved, this validation will transfer to Australia.

While the app is not suited to work ing with cattle pastures containing mixed swards, it would work with mon oculture crops like oats and can be used with aerial photos taken from a drone or a plane.

In this period of excessive fertiliser costs, it has been described as a good tool for getting farmers back to using fertiliser, enabling them to see the dam age being suffered by crops that haven’t been fertilised for six months or more.

Feral Pig Costs & Controls In the Barron River Catchment

Over the last three years, Barron Catchment Care has gathered information on new and ex citing technologies in the fight against Feral Pigs. Darren Marshall, eminent feral pig research er, says “have no doubt about it, this is a war (against feral pigs)”. Darren emphasises that best results have come from a coordinated ap proach through shared knowledge from farm ers, landholders, and others.

Barron Catchment Care, through its contractors, GPS Trapping, has trialled drones for recording crop losses; tagged feral pigs with Ceres Tag GPS trackers; mapped feral pig movement and surveyed local landholders on their use of the new feral pig poison, Hoggone. Project partners are keen to understand what losses to crops, infrastructure and the environ ment have been incurred by landholders and the farming community.

said, “In this project we have an emphasis on testing humane con trol methods - to find which ones work best.

The results of data we’ve captured and trials we’ve been part of have been interesting. We’ll be describing control methods and presenting results at a Shed Meeting on November 28 at Halloran’s Hill Lookout in Atherton”.

Barron Catchment Care encourages landhold ers to come to the meeting and share their own experiences of feral pig control and hear the latest on new technologies like drones, Boar Buster traps and Hoggone poison.

This program is part of a Community Engage ment project funded through the Department of Agriculture’s National Landcare Program (Smart Farms Small Grants - Round 3).

Graham Schoorl, of GPS Trapping (Contractor for Barron Catchment Care)

Mena Creek banana farmer David Rolfe, Mac Keenan of Frank Lowe and Sons and Innisfail and Boogan banana, cane and cattle producer Michael Russo were interested to see what the new app could do for their operations.

Croptune Product Manager Eldad Sokolowski, Haifa Australia Northern Sales Agronomist Peter Anderson, Lindsay Rural’s Mareeba Aaron Myrteza and Helen Bensilum Farm Manager at Kureen Farming, check out the new app with their Shephard and Hass avocado plantations.

ON LANDthe

FNQ's best beef decided

BY SALLY TURLEY

IN a surprise result, Saturday night’s ‘Rocky Creek Abattoir’s Best Beef Awards,’ was won by a stand-out pen of “British White/Brahman” cross steers, identifying their owners, Peter and Jacki Reeves and their preferred retailer, Glenn Plath of Yungaburra Butchery, as the suppliers of the best quality beef in Far North Queensland.

The pen of three relatively rare steers won both the heavier Class 3 category of the competition and the Champion Pen Overall, to achieve an average Pen score of 80.72 points, a Lean Meat Yield of 56.42 per cent, an MSA Index of 59.29 and an average weight of 330.7kg.

Mr and Mrs Reeves were “still on a bit of a high” with their win and the performance of their cattle, but said they only entered the competition to show that the Tableland’s smaller op erators, could produce good cattle.

The contest invited all butcher shops from Ingham to Cairns and

across the Tablelands, who were cus tomers of the abattoir, to put their best producers’ cattle forward in this battle to see which business was supplying the finest quality meat to their custom ers.

Putting their meat where their money is, Atherton producers and owners of Cross Custom Meats, Doug and Katelyn Cross ran a close second in the heavy class, with their pen of Black Brangus steers, averaging an overall score of 79.22 points, a Lean Meat Yield of 55.98 per cent, an MSA Index of 58.23 and averaged 343.5kg.

The hotly contested event had a to tal of 69 carcasses entered by 20 local producers for sale through six different butcher shops. Cattle breeds submitted across the three weight ranges includ ed Red and Black Brangus, Senepol/ Droughtmaster cross, Charbray, Brah man, British White/Brahman cross, Belmont Red/Simmental cross and Ultrablack.

Competitors were asked to submit pens of cattle in three dressed weight

categories - Class 1 - 240.1 - 280kg, Class 2 - 280.1 - 320kg and Class 3 - 320.1 - 360kg. Meat Standards Aus tralia (MSA) grader, Laura Garland travelled from Armidale to assess the carcasses.

Greg and Di Binnie’s pen of three Charbray heifers were victorious in the Class 1 category, achieving a score of 80.57 points, an excellent Yield of 59.7 per cent and weighing 259.3kg, just ahead of a pen of soft, Brahman steers submitted by Tolga’s Ian Shaw, which scored 79.19 pen points.

Tumoulin farmers, Mitch and Jodie Jonsson won the Class 2 division with their pen of Ultrablack steers that av eraged 78.5 points, 289.6kg, yielded 57.44 per cent and scored 56.05 on the MSA index, to edge out Bernie Eng lish's Brangus/Limousin cross heifers bred by Dave Andersen that scored 77.56 points.

Malanda producer and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) Extension Officer, Bernie English, said the contest produced “the best

TABLELAND MILL CRUSHING STATISTICS

WEEK ENDING 13/11/2022

2022 Crop Estimate: 560,000 Tonnes

Total For Week: 25,767 Tonnes

Total Cane Crushed To Date: 513,624 Tonnes

Percentage Crushed: 90.10%

CCS For Week: 13.10

CCS Average To Date: 13.80

MOSSMAN MILL CRUSHING STATISTICS

WEEK ENDING 13/11/2022

2022 Crop Estimate: 762,696 Tonnes

Total For Week: 34,650 Tonnes

Total Cane Crushed To Date: 591,840 Tonnes CCS For Week: 11.94

CCS Average To Date: 12.40

line-up of cattle in the carcase com petition ever, and having an MSA grader present meant their results were benchmarked against cattle across Australia.”

MSA's Laura Garland confirmed she had seen “some really good car casses,” with one animal scoring in the top one per cent of the state, and another making it into the top 10 per cent, and almost three quarters of the carcasses grading into the top 50 per cent of Queensland’s beef herd.

The Class 1 entries averaged 263kg dressed weight and 59 per cent yield; the Class 2 cattle averaged 300kg and 56 per cent and the Class 3 group dressed 358kg and yielded 55 per cent, displaying the decline in yield that usually accompanies an increase in weight.

Mr English said the far northern beef industry had some “very good cattle, coming off some very good country” and that “organisers wel comed new blood into next year’s competition.”

Feedback sought on cattle branding

THE Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is seeking feedback on proposed changes to earmarking and branding legislation.

The legislation will either see branding be come mandatory or voluntary, with Minister for DAF and Rural Communities Mark Furner wanting to take a more modern approach to the procedure.

The proposed options for brands is retain ing the current legislative requirements for branding (the status quo) with the addition of a renewal fee or providing choice about brand ing under a streamlined system with a renewal fee under two sub-options.

These sub options are giving owners the op tion of an exemption from mandatory branding of cattle or pigs (choice to opt-out) or giving owners the option of voluntary branding of cattle or pigs (choice to opt-in).

“None of the proposals involve removing the ability to brand, rather, livestock owners would be given the freedom to decide what’s in their own best interest,” Mr Furner said.

“Brands have traditionally been used to show livestock ownership but no longer serve the significant biosecurity function they once did.

“If you are considering entering next year however, you need to start now. You need to be selecting those few superior 250-300kg weaners as they come off mum and keep good quality pasture in front of them to keep them going continuously forward,” he said.

“If you are serious about doing well in this competition, everything needs to be right about your cattle - a well managed weaning process, quiet temperament, good weight for age/ average daily weight gain figures and minimum hump height.”

Mr English said the awards com mittee were deeply indebted to Bec Clapperton of DAF, Townsville and Doug Cross of Atherton for the “huge amount they contributed.”

“Bec was chief judge, point scorer and results collator while Doug was everywhere, helping with the drafting and all the way through the process,” Mr English said.

> RIGHT PHOTOS FORM THE AWARDS PRESENTATION

“With advances in technology, there are now far more effective ways of tracing live stock in the event of a disease outbreak.

“Not all cattle owners want to brand. How ever, for those who see value in using a brand to identify stock, branding would still be avail able under both of these proposals.

“Queensland’s Brands Act 1915 is more than 100 years old and has not been signifi cantly changed in decades.

“That’s why Queensland needs a modern approach to brands and earmarks that is more efficient for livestock owners and gives them a choice.”

The proposed changes and a feedback ques tionnaire are now available at daf.engagemen thub.com.au/brands-consultation

Doug and Katelyn Cross competed strongly in the heavy weight section to take second prize with their 343.5kg Ultrablack steers.

Di and Greg Binnie receive their blue ribbon for their first place Charbray heifers.

Mitch Jonsson (right) of Tumoulin received first prize after his Ultrablacks won the Category 2 weight section.

Chalumbin Wind Farm, proposed to be located within two cattle grazing properties 15 km south west of Ravenshoe, will be assessed by the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water through a Public Environment Report (PER).

The draft PER is now on public exhibition until Friday, 16 December 2022. It includes full details of the ecological assessment work and findings, and the proposed impact mitigation measures, offset strategies and plans. Hard copies of the draft PER and supporting documents are on display at:

• Tablelands Regional Council, front reception, 45 Mabel St, Atherton.

• Ravenshoe Library, public reading area, 24 Moore St, Ravenshoe.

• The Chalumbin Wind Farm Information Hub, 55 Grigg St, Ravenshoe. The draft PER and supporting documents are also available on the project website and can be found in the Invitation for comment EPBC Act Public Environment Report post under the ‘News’ tab.

VOCAL LOCAL

This week we asked locals to voice their thoughts on the recently completed safety upgrades to the Kennedy Highway between Mareeba and Atherton. The project stretched over two years and cost close to $40 million...

A waste of money, the road needed overtaking lanes, not widening. The road is no safer than what it was before the ‘upgrade’ – Jenny Kattenberg

Remember now, your in the forgotten North, if only you could see what goes on in SEQ and the amount of money spent, not just on major projects, but the money wasted on unnecessary projects. You have to be a slicker to do any good – Kevin Davis

The road is rough. Water still doesn't drain off the road in several places. God help us all in the wet season – Irene Child

Massive waste of time and money. Overtaking lanes required– Max Nulley

The money should have been spent on the Tarzali to Millaa road and on the Palmerston range road – Gregory Noel Ferris

No overtaking lanes so some people can go at 110kmh, then slow down to 80 for the single lanes – Peter Brown

Great job! Bit rough near rocky Creek – Stephen Tidemann

Rough for the amount of time spent on it – Noel Adams

Don’t need overtaking lanes, when we are doing 100kph drivers still overtake. They are then breaking the speed limit! Slow down and enjoy life – Neil Sandall-Vear

Will comment after the wet – Noel Ingles

Complete waste of time and money, plus very frustrating for the many people commuting from Tolga to Mareeba/Mareeba to Tolga for work each day. It went on for far too long and for what? – Carmel McFarlane

All that money and not a passing lane to be seen. And the “upgrade” coming into Mareeba from Cairns is the same – Ben Bowles

Roads still horrible could’ve done a better job. Road is rough a guts, water lays in the low spots where it has been joined already pot holes starting to happen. Stones all over the edge of the road could’ve used a street sweeper to remove some – Jarod Squair

During the draft PER’s exhibition period community information sessions will be held at the project’s information hub in Ravenshoe.

During the information sessions the project team will present an overview of the draft PER and be available to discuss its contents and answer questions.

Open times for the information hub in Ravenshoe have been extended to Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, as well as by appointment. For any questions or the latest information on the project please visit the information hub or contact the project team via the details below. C

55 Grigg St, Ravenshoe Open Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and by appointment. Tel: 1800 731 296

Email: info@chalumbinwindfarm.com.au Website: chalumbinwindfarm.com.au or scan the QR code right on your mobile

Lions get into the Christmas spirit

BIG News, the Mareeba Lions Christmas raffle is bigger than ever with so many great prizes. For $2.00 you could win a won derful prize that would make your Christmas extra special. Lions’ volunteers are out selling tickets, regrettably not at Coles this year, you will find them at Priceline Pharmacy and IGA. If you can’t find a ticket seller pop into the Court House and ask Mick.

It is not too late for your club to make money from the Lions raffle. You sell tickets and keep half the sales, easy. Email the club at lionsmba@gmail.com for more information. This is a great way for other clubs to raise funds without having to organ ise a raffle themselves.

Sausages are sizzling at the Mareeba Coles car park, every second Saturday from 7am. $350.00 from the last sizzling Saturday was donated to the Mareeba Historical Society. Several thousand dollars has been donated to local causes from the money raised at the sausage sizzle.

Cakes, cakes, and more cakes

with pudding as well. All are available, but will be sold out at Christmas. Bendigo Bank, Mareeba News, Court House all have cakes waiting for you.

Santa is calling, asking for children to write to him. Yes

the Mareeba Lions Club talks to Santa and will help him by bundling up all of the children’s letters and sending them to him, but they will have to be received by the 9 December, if Santa is going to be able to read them all.

Any children wanting to write to him could do so by sending

a letter to “Santa C/- P.O. Box 501, Mareeba, 4880.”

The Lions Club will make sure every child who writes to Santa will receive a reply. Santa does ask though that the child write a letter or send a drawing or the like via the mail. Where the child may be too young to write another person might be able to help but Santa does ask that a letter be sent.

Check us out on Facebook or on the web at www.mareeba. qld.lions.org.au

A photomontage showing what the Chalumbin Wind Farm would look like from the Kennedy Highway.

BEAUTIFULLY modern and completely move in ready, this lovely home is looking for a new owner. Could that be you?

Situated in a great area of Atherton, the spectacular features of this home will ap peal to anyone looking for a modern & low maintenance residence.

The kitchen is spacious with stunning finishes and plenty of storage plus bench space. Expansive open plan

living extends from the kitch en allowing the flow of con versation while cooking.

Tiled throughout allows for easy cleaning makes this home the ultimate low main tenance dream.

There are a total of 4 bed rooms plus a study nook and the master showcases a nice sized ensuite with double vanity, large walk in shower & walk in robe.

Invite the outdoors in with the enclosed patio, allowing

you to relax no matter the time of year.

Set on a generous 1,079m2 allotment, there is more than enough room for the kids to play or even es tablish some gardens.

For more information con tact exclusive agent at Ray White Atherton. Call Suzey Whitby on 0438 090 306 and visit www.ray whiteruralatherton.com.au/ L20954764

A CHARMING home that was once “Silvermist Cheese Glen Allyn Homestead”, originally built in the 1900’s, has been loved and restored.

High ceilings, casement windows and beautiful stained glass are some of charming features of the home.

There are three spacious bedrooms, the master with stunning chandelier and a walk in robe. The sunroom at the front is currently utilised as an office space with daybed.

The

The bathroom has been completely updated with stun ning timber vanity. There is an outdoor covered entertain ment and firepit area. For car accommodation there is a sin gle bay carport.

Big allotment plus three sheds, plus great location

SOMMERSET Realty is ex cited to present this low main tenance 3 bedroom home, positioned on a very gener ous 1,012m2 allotment with 3 large sheds.

Whether you have been looking for an opportunity to get a start in the Atherton Property Market, or for an ex tra addition to your property portfolio? Well now is the time and here is the place.

This gem holds loads of potential for the astute buyer. Ready for you to secure and start adding your personal touches to make it "Just Right".

Features Include;

• 3 bedrooms, master bed room with a built-in robe and air-conditioning

• 2 bathrooms, 1 bathroom recently renovated

• Open plan living with airconditioning

• Modern kitchen with am ple bench space, electric ap pliances, rangehood and a dishwasher

• Sunken lounge room

• Ceiling fans & security screens throughout home

• Internal laundry with a linen cupboard

• Entertainment patio wraps around 3 sides of home

• 3 sheds all with lights, power, and concrete flooring

• Shed 1: High clearance shed with plenty of room for a boat or caravan (8m x 8m x 4.5m)

• Shed 2: 2 bay lockup shed (8m x 8m)

• Shed 3: 1 bay open shed (3m x 8m)

• Large 1,012m2 allotment with a fenced backyard

• Vehicle side access

• Established & well main tained gardens

• Currently tenanted until end of November 2022

Located in a quiet street within walking distance to the Atherton Golf Course, Parks & Atherton Town Centre.

This home is currently ten anted please allow sufficient notice for inspections.

For further information or to arrange an inspection, call exclusive marketing agent Raquel at Sommerset Realty on 0408 983 879.

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There are 3 bedrooms, all have built-in wardrobes, and the main bedroom has an ensuite with an easy access shower.

For outdoor living there is private entertaining area with an easy care tiled floor.

The double lock up garage is also tiled and has vehicle access to the back yard.

For your peace of mind, the home is security screened.

The 800sqm allotment is fenced and there is a lawn locker for the extras. Located walking distance to school and council parks.

Peaceful hideaway with untapped potential

ENRICH your lifestyle by ac quiring this peaceful hideaway property on over ½ an acre and benefit from the multitude of options it offers. Whether you’re looking at housing the extended family or guests, need a teenagers retreat or would like the income bonus of a B & B this property deliv ers and also offers the ability to cut off a block if you decide you’d like to downsize your maintenance later on.

Attributes include:

• 2 bedroom plus office steel frame main residencewheel chair & pet friendly

• Air-conditioned open plan living area

• Stylish & sizeable kitch en overlooking the gardens with stone bench tops, soft close drawers, corner pantry, 900mm gas cooktop, servery

window to the patio, plumbedin fridge space and dishwash er

• Generous air-conditioned bedrooms with mirrored builtin robes

• Bathroom with glass free shower

• Office with built-in shelv ing & desk

• Laundry & 2nd toilet off the patio

• Large tiled rear patio di rectly off the living area over looking the gardens

• Sliding door interconnect ed access to the unit/granny flat

• Adjacent 1 bedroom steel frame self-contained unit/ granny flat – wheel chair & pet friendly plus air-conditioned with combined kitchen/dining/ bedroom as well as it’s own patio/sitting deck with ramp

access to the gardens

• Garden gazebo/sitting area out front

• 13.2kw solar power sys tem plus solar hot water

• Multiple power/usb points throughout both the house & unit plus crimsafe security screens on front doors & LED lighting throughout

• 7m x 11m, high clear ance, 2-3 vehicle carport with lockable storage room

• Unit currently achieving $100 per night

• Ability to cut off a block on the right-hand side as an

added bonus

• 2,806m2 allotment with rear double gated access, dog pen, chook/bird aviary, 3m x 3m garden shed, a va riety of fruit trees plus the pri vacy of no rear neighbours This is a truly unique prop erty with unlimited possibili ties. Inspection is highly rec ommended.

For further information or to arrange a private inspection please call exclusive agent Joe Torrisi on 0417 700 468.

Something for the whole family

HAVE you got a big family? Need more space? Does dad need a great shed and a man-cave? Looking for a quality investment property that will appeal to many ten ants? Then look no further as we have all of that and more, right here! Welcome to 50 Doyle Street, Mareeba. Situated on almost half an acre, 1704m2 to be exact, is this super spacious family home and large shed pack age that will accommodate even the largest of families. With 5 bedrooms, an office, two bathrooms, a large open plan living area and heaps of space outside, there is something for everyone in the family.

The first thing you notice when you step inside the front gate is that you have entered your own private oa sis. You could be a thousand miles away, but you are just a few hundred meters from the school, sporting clubs, the swimming pool and gym club just to name a few.

Just over 5 years new, the home is custom designed

and built by a quality local Mareeba builder, the five bedrooms are all a good size, have built-in wardrobes and air-conditioning, and the master bedroom is even more spacious, with the added bonus of an en-suite bathroom. There is also a dedicated office, so if you work from home, you don't have to sacrifice a bedroom for that either.

The open plan living area incorporates a modern kitch en and large dining and living space, there's plenty of room for the whole family. Whether you like to entertain, or you just love creating meals for the family, this kitchen is fit for a chef. Double oven and dishwasher to match. There is a huge island bench and more cupboard space than you can poke a stick at.

Stepping outside the rest of the property matches the home, with a private patio that overlooks the super spacious back yard, heaps of room for the kids to play or the pets to run around. The 8x10m (approx.) Colorbond

shed is built to match, with an additional room built in side as a man-cave, gaming room or similar, and a mez zanine floor allowing heaps of storage.

• 5 large bedrooms plus office, 2 Modern bathrooms

• All bedrooms have builtins & air-conditioning

• Master suite with air conditioning, large built-ins & en-suite

• Large open plan living, dining & kitchen

• Modern kitchen with plenty of bench & storage space

• Security screens & split-system air-conditioning throughout

• Large, private patio with ceiling fans

• 8x10m Shed with power, fans & 2x roller doors

• Granny flat in progress, kitchenette & air-condition ing

• 13.32kW Solar Power System with 2 5kW Invert

ers, Solar Hot Water

• Established gardens allaround, wifi enabled pop-up irrigation

• Wifi repeaters through out the home and CCTV system

• Fully fenced 1,704m2 allotment, Colorbond privacy fence at front

• Close to High School, Sporting clubs, Parks and the CBD

• Option to buy the neigh bouring block - 7 Adams St,

875m2 for extra space and rear access

There is simply too much to mention here, the only way to appreciate this prop erty and all it has to offer is to book your own private in spection.

For more information call Exclusive agent Remo Es posito on 0401 969 473 or drop into the Central Re alty Mareeba office today.

take a break...

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elixir eloquence ephemeral epiphany eternity ethereal eudaemonia euphoria felicity gossamer

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SEARCH CROSSWORD

to a set of rules, to score points against an opponent (7)

19 a building or part of a building where goods or services are sold (4)

20 of poor quality and little value (8)

22 persons cited in a divorce case (2-11)

Down

1 the second letter of the Greek alphabet (4)

2 a rounded dome forming or adorning a roof or ceiling (6)

3 impressive delicacy and skill (7)

4 hyperactive or unusually energetic (5)

Across

5 the skin or fur of the coypu (6)

6 a person who operates a printing press (8)

11 a person or organization that is a source of easy profit (5,3)

13 herbaceous plant with bright showy flowers, widely cultivated as a garden ornamenta (7)

15 a burrowing rodent with fur-lined pouches on the outside of the cheeks, found in North and Central America (6)

incandescent incendiary ineffable inure labyrinth languor lassitude lithe love lullaby

mellifluous miraculous nadir nemesis opulence paradox petrichor plethora propinquity quintessential

raconteur renaissance sanguine scintilla sequoia serendipity solitude sumptuous

(7)

12 covered with palms (5)

14 to place or arrange (things) in a straight line (5)

16 the sport of fighting with swords, according

17 a long-bladed hand tool with a bevelled cutting edge and a handle (6)

18 someone or something that moved closely and slowly along the ground (5)

21 feel intense dislike for (4)

WEEKLY HOROSCOPES

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

This week, you could be making practical changes. Keep your mind & eyes open. An opportunity could show itself, use your wisdom and experience and let the universe show you the way. If you’re making travel arrangements, ask & you will receive.

Cancer J UN 21 - JUL 22

This week, you’re find joy in the mundane. Maximise your joy in every moment, tune into your senses & pay attention. The little things really do matter. Embrace some healthy choices, personal wellness could be the focus, especially if you’ve been off lately.

Libra

Taurus apr 20 - may 20

This week, your biggest obstacle is you. You & your partner are feeling very intune with one another. It’s a great time to put your heads together & tackle any important projects or make any big plans for the upcoming months.

Leo JUL 23 - AUG 22

This week, help is there if you need it. Family is so precious to you, you have their unwavering support this week. There could be circumstances that remind you that family is a team and it really is a thing of beauty when you all work together.

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

This week, you gain new friends & deep insight. Your career is being supported strongly with luck, timing & the right people. It’s going to be a big week, but you’ll have the right people in your corner backing you. Speak up if you need some help.

Virgo

Aug 23 -Sep 22

This week, you’ll know what to say when. You’re feeling extremenly persuasive right now, it’s a great time to sell something or voice an idea that requires support from others. Your words are golden like honey, make sure they’re also as sweet.

sep 23 - oct 22

This week, focus on the journey. Your abilities match your ambitions, the energy is excellent to increase your income. Your desire for more also could mean more spending than usual. Check your needs vs wants, you don’t want to leave yourself short.

Capricorn Dec 22 - Jan 19

This week, you’re in touch with your spirituality. Friendships will be the focus, growth energy will bring in new people from all walks of life. New doesn’t mean better though, feel how your energy fluctuates as you interract with people. It’s giving you the key.

Scorpio oct 23 - nov 21

This week, lean into your negotiation skills. Your confidence is high & it’s evident to others. Pick & choose what you want from what is offered. The world is your oyster. The energy is stacked in your favour this week. Chase that dream.

Aquarius Jan 20 - Feb 18

This week, you’re upgrading. The energy this week is excellent for ask & you shal receive. Strike while the iron is hot, this energy won’t stay long. Money is incoming, stay open to opportunities or ideas that pop into your head.

Sagittarius

nov 22 - dec 21

This week, planning gets you where you want to go. This is an excellent time to review the past twelve months. During this time it could be difficult to start something new, until you’ve cleared the old. Old mindsets, habits, even old “stuff” needs to go.

Pisces

Feb 19 - Mar 20

This week, your thoughts create your reality. You’ll be absorbing knowledge like a sponge so it’s an excellent time to learn something new or you might take some herbal supplements to support your brain. It’s all about the brain & learning.

Presbyterians meet in Mareeba for Worship each Sunday 10am, QCWA Hall, Wilkes Street (behind Meals on Wheels). All welcome!

Sunday 27 November: Saint Andrew’s Day Observance

“Andrew first found his own brother Simon, and said to him. ‘We have found the Messiah.”

(John 1:40 - 41)

Dorothea May L’ESTRANGE

Late of Atherton. Passed away peacefully on Thursday the 10th of November. Aged 84 years.

Beloved Wife of Allan. Devoted Mother to Noel and Bruce. Loving Grandmother to Rebekah and James.

Dorothea will be sadly missed by all who knew her.

Family and friends are warmly invited to attend a Funeral Service to be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Atherton on Tuesday the 22nd of November at 9:30am At the conclusion of the service, the cortege will then proceed to the Atherton Lawn Cemetery for interment.

FUNERAL NOTICE

COZENS, Helen June

Late of Atherton. Helen passed away peacefully on the 12th of November, 2022. Aged 82 years.

Beloved Wife of Allan (Dec.). Much loved Mother and Mother-in-Law of Lynette & Noel and Aileen & Brian. Loving Grandmother, Great Grandmother and Friend.

Forever in our hearts.

JUE-SUE, Pauline 1924 ~ 2022

Late of Atherton. Passed away peacefully on the 16th of November, 2022. Aged 98 years.

SCHOLL, Franz Josef

Late of Atherton. Passed away peacefully at Carinya with his beautiful and caring wife by his side on the 11th of November, 2022. Aged 90 years.

Beloved Husband of Eva. Cherished Father of Christopher (Dec.), Phillip (Dec.) and David (Dec.). Loved Grandfather of Ashleigh, Benjamin and Caillin.

I will miss you.

Eva would like to invite the staff of Carinya, Atherton Hospital and Dr Webb to thank them for all the love and care of Franz.

Family and friends of Franz are respectfully invited to attend his funeral service which is to be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Mabel Street, Atherton on Tuesday 29th November, 2022 commencing at 10:00am.

In lieu of flowers, Eva has requested donations to Carinya Home for the Aged.

Guilfoyle Funeral Services

Chapels, Crematorium & Memorial Gardens

Atherton: 4091 2147 Mareeba: 4092 1013

11/08/1945 ~ 17/11/2020

Those we love don’t go away, They walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard but always near, Still loved, still missed, and very dear. Forever in our hearts, Robert, Roslyn, Brett & Emma.

28th November, 2022 commencing at 10.00am.

Relatives and friends of Helen are respectfully invited to attend her Memorial Service which will be held at Mountain View Chapel, Guilfoyle’s Crematorium, 3 Nasser Road, Atherton on Monday 28th November, 2022 commencing at 10.00am.

Guilfoyle Funeral Services

Chapels, Crematorium & Memorial Gardens Atherton: 4091 2147 Mareeba: 4092 1013

Local Family Owned & “Entrusted for over 70 years” www.guilfoylefunerals.com.au

MORGAN, Maree Thelma

Late of Atherton. Passed away peacefully at Carinya on the 16th of November, 2022. Aged 86 years.

Much loved Daughter of John & Thelma (both Dec.). Loving Sister, Aunty, Great Aunty and Friend. Maree will be sadly missed by family and friends.

Relatives and friends of Maree are respectfully invited to attend the funeral service for Maree which will be held at Mountain View Chapel, 3 Nasser Road, Atherton on Friday 25th November, 2022 commencing at 11.00am.

Following the service, interment will take place at the Atherton New Cemetery.

Guilfoyle

As per Pauline’s wishes, there will be a private family service.

Guilfoyle

Funeral Services

Chapels, Crematorium & Memorial Gardens

Atherton: 4091 2147 Mareeba: 4092 1013

Local Family Owned & “Entrusted for over 70 years” www.guilfoylefunerals.com.au

Bruce William JOHNSTON (Solicitor)

Passed away peacefully at the Mareeba Hospital on Sunday 20th November, 2022 after a long illness. Aged 74 years. Beloved Husband of Alison and cherished by all of his extended families.

A private cremation was held as per Bruce’s wishes.

“Peacefully Resting.”

Tait Welding

A-frame alloy

suspension, I-pilot Min Koda 55 electric motor

remote, dual batteries with changeover isolate switch, extra 15L plastic fuel tank in the nose with

changeover tap by driver, fore & aft Lowrance sounders, tailormade rod holders, marine carpet covered with vinyl lift up cover, all marine safety gear with Epirb & handheld marine radio, 12 month old belt style gas inflated life jackets, 2 Fender inflatable protectors, professionally made full boat & trailer protective cover, universal waterproof boat cover as well as cotton dust cover, comes with crab pots and heaps of fishing gear, looks like & drives like new.

$22,750 • P: 0428 194 505

Funeral Services

Chapels, Crematorium & Memorial Gardens Atherton: 4091 2147 Mareeba: 4092 1013

Local Family Owned & “Entrusted for over 70 years” www.guilfoylefunerals.com.au

SPRINGMOUNT WASTE MANAGEMENTY FACILITY

WORKSHOP MANAGER

Your next opportunity now awaits you! We are seeking a skilled Workshop Manager (Qualified Mechanic) to join the REMONDIS team at the Springmount Waste Management Facility.

Be part of a growing and stable company. Apply today!

Contact Kevin Davies 0400 490 493.

Written applications, including resume, 2 referees should be submitted by close of business, Friday 25 November, 2022.

ADDRESSED TO: The Manager, SWMF PO Box 1320, Walkamin Q. 4872

Or Email: springmount@remondis.com.au

KILLALOE TRANSFER STATION, MOSSMAN

MULTIPLE JOBS ON OFFER

Your next opportunity is now available! We are seeking self-motivated individuals to join the REMONDIS team at the Killaloe Transfer Station, Mossman. Now on offer!

TRANSFER STATION OPERATOR LEADING HAND

If you have solid operating experience on heavy plant including, Excavator and Loader and a hold a HR driving license? Or are you ready to guide a close-knit team? Go ahead and Apply today!

Contact Kevin Davies 0400 490 493.

Written applications, including resume, 2 referees should be submitted by close of business, Friday 25 November, 2022.

ADDRESSED TO: The Manager, SWMF PO Box 1320, Walkamin Q. 4872

Or Email: springmount@remondis.com.au

RANGELANDS PROJECT OFFICER

Full Time (75 Hours / Fortnight) Fixed Term to June 2024

Location Options: Georgetown Preferred INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE PROJECTS OFFICER

Full Time (75 Hours / Fortnight) or Part Time (60 Hours / Fortnight) Fixed term to June 2023

With possibility of extension Located in Mareeba We are also accepting Expressions of Interest for other upcoming positions via our website.

For more information and to apply, go to: gulfsavannahnrm.org/employment Applications Close: 9am, Monday 28 November, 2022.

C & L Nastasi & Sons requires Mango Pickers & Packers

For the upcoming harvest.

Please call 07 4093 2750 for more detail and interview times.

SHEETMETAL TRADESMAN

Sheetmetal tradesman required for busy fabrication workshop.

Responsibilities include managing and operating 8 Metre Slitter Folder, Pan Press, Brake Press and Guillotines fabricating flashings, Control Coil and Sheet stock, and the maintenance & servicing of machines.

OFFICE RECEPTION ADMINISTRATION

ABOUT US:

Our accounting firm, Millar Teitzel, helps people with their taxes, business and financial decisions. You will build a network of contacts who will appreciate your assistance. Ours is a busy environment and no two days are the same. You will need to multi-task and direct the flow of people, queries and information. We have an experienced team to help you learn.

TASK & RESPONSIBILITIES:

You will be the first point of contact for our friendly accounting practice, liaising between our clients and staff.

Daily office procedures include reception, phone calls, mail, receipting, banking, filing, office supplies, accessing various software for saving reports.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE: Must be computer literate. Training on the job is provided for various office applications relevant to a progressive accounting firm. Good written and oral communication skills are essential.

BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH US: Opportunity for career development; work in a busy and friendly environment; build your knowledge and confidence in dealing with clients, businesses, financial advisors, banks and solicitors.

CONTACT US: Email - admin@millarteitzel.com.au Phone - 4092 8066

Trainee Positions Available

Trainee in Childcare - Apply now!

• Must be willing to study a Cert III in Childcare

• Must be eligible for a Blue Card

• Must be reliable

• Must be willing to learn

• Must be flexible with hours

To apply please email your application to: careers@qite.com

By 1st December, 2022 www.qtsearlylearning.com

NURSERYHAND

Hardworking energetic persons required for a busy Production Nursery in Mareeba. We are offering a PPT Position, 34 - 38 hours per week. This position requires a physically fit person to collect orders. Heavy lifting, bending, weeding, pruning and other repetitive work tasks. Must be able to follow instructions and be prepared to work outside. Experience is preferred but not essential. You will need the ability to follow written orders; an eye for detail; and good time management.

If you like a physical challenge this is the job for you. Flourish Plants is a fast-paced work environment with a great team of happy people working hard to meet daily deadlines.

If you are only available for a short time, please do not apply. We are seeking a team member with the view of permanent work. Please contact Diana on (07) 4092 7122 or Email: info@flourishplants.com.au with Résumé and Cover Letter.

FARM HANDS

Email: evelyn@skymesh.com.au

Successful applicant will have experience with sheetmetal, plumbing or building trade, excellent attention to detail, strong work ethic and be able to work under pressure to meet daily deadlines.

Immediate start, above award wage with penalties, well equipped workshop with good environment.

Please contact Schep on 0427 390 767 if this job is for you!

POSITIONS VACANT

Etheridge Shire Council is seeking applications from highly motivated, enthusiastic and team orientated persons with a commitment to providing excellence in Council operations.

Traineeships 2023

- Certificate III in Work Health & Safety (12-month traineeship) - Certificate III in Supply Chain Operations (Stores) (24-month traineeship) - Certificate III in Children’s Services (12-month traineeship)

Applications close 12th December 2022

Road Crew Plant Operators

These

x 6

These positions are to commence in 2023, full time based on a nine day on five day off roster and applicants will be required to camp at various locations within the Etheridge Shire.

Applicants must be in possession of a current drivers licence and have or be willing to obtain a Construction Industry White Card. Applicants with a HC truck licence and RII plant operator tickets (specifically roller) will be highly regarded.

Applications close 9th January 2023

Applications are to include a covering letter, resume and at least 2 references. Applications can be posted, delivered to the Administration Office, faxed or emailed to:

Position Vacant – (the position applying for)

The Chief Executive Officer

Etheridge Shire Council PO Box 12 GEORGETOWN QLD 4871 Fax: 07 4062 1285 Email: info@etheridge.qld.gov.au Further information can be obtained by contacting Council’s HR Assistant/Payroll Officer, Jodi Kernan on Ph.: 07 4079 9090 or Councils website www.etheridge.qld.gov.au

Timms CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Ken

PUBLIC NOTICE

QMSC2022-13

OF PROPERTY

LEASE

INVITATION FOR QUOTATION

Overhaul and Refurbishment of Staff Quarters and Camp Facilities

Etheridge

The Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work 2016 applies to the building work associated with this project. It is a requirement of this project that any per son who undertakes the work be compliant with the Code.

The Queensland Government’s Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry applies to the building work associated with this project. It is a requirement of this project that any person who undertakes the work be compliant with the Code.

Tender documentation may be obtained from: www.ether idge.qld.gov.au on Monday 14th November, 2022.

A site visit is mandatory and is scheduled for Wednesday 30th November, 2022 between 9am and 11am.

To register attendance, please email: allan.parry@ether idge.qld.gov.au

Tenders must be lodged via email to: tender@etheridge. qld.gov.au by 4:00pm on Tuesday 6th December, 2022.

Council reserves the right to invite all tenderers to change their tenders to take account of a change in the tender specification.

The Council’s representative for this quotation is Allan Parry who can be contacted on: allan.parry@etheridge. qld.gov.au.

Ken Timms, Chief Executive Officer

NOTICE OF AGM

Ravenshoe-Gulf Country Community Enterprises Limited A.B.N. 54 144 780 217 Bendigo - Community Bank – Ravenshoe

To be held at 4:00pm on 28 November, 2022 at Ravenshoe RSL Hall, Grigg Street, Ravenshoe Shareholders are invited to join the Directors, Staff and Bendigo Management after the meeting for drinks and finger food.

Please rsvp your attendance at the AGM to the branch by 25 November 2022.

Phone: 4097 7000

Email: Secretarialsupport@rgccel.com

To access the Annual Report, please go to: https://www.bendigobank.com.au/branch/ qld/ravenshoe-gulf-countrycommunity-bankbranch/

MEETING ESSENCE

303 Byrnes Street,

118 BYRNES STREET, MAREEBA QLD 4880

Mareeba Shire Council invites tenders for the lease of property located at 118 Byrnes Street, Mareeba QLD 4880, described as Lot 1 on RP746342 for the purpose of redevelopment of the site for a suitable commercial or community use. Tender documents are available on Council’s online e-procurement system, VendorPanel- https://www.vendorpanel. com.au/PublicTenders.aspx.

All enquiries or clarifications must be via the online forum which will close 5 days prior to closing time. Council officers are unable to respond to verbal or emailed enquiries.

The closing time for electronic lodgement of Tenders is 2:00pm Tuesday 13 December 2022.

Regulation 228(7) of the Local Government Regulation 2012 may be applied.

Tender will not be opened publicly. The lowest or any tender not necessarily accepted.

Peter Franks

Chief Executive Officer PO Box 154, MAREEBA QLD 4880

NOTICE OF ROAD CLOSURE

Notice

from: 4.00pm

$2,000 CHRISTMAS VOUCHERS GIVEAWAY - Terms and Conditions -

The Express Christmas Vouchers Giveaway will commence on Monday, 21 November, 2022 and ends at 12 noon on Monday, 12 December, 2022.

The competition is open to all shoppers who purchase products and services from participating outlets. Shoppers are asked to provide their name, address and phone number on the entry forms provided. Only official entry forms provided by the The Express will be accepted as entries.

By entering the competition you are agreeing to allow The Express to publish your name and use any photos which will be taken upon notification of being a winner. The official draw will take place at The Express office at 186 Byrnes Street, Mareeba at 12 Noon on Tuesday, 13 December, 2022

The four winners will each receive 10 fifty dollar ($50) vouchers which are to be spent with the participating businesses only. Vouchers are not redeemable for cash and are not transferable. All vouchers must be used by February, 2023 (unless otherwise stated). Any vouchers not redeemed by this time will expire and will not be honoured.

Winners will be notified by phone and published in The Express on Wednesday, 21 December, 2022.

Judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Further details can be obtained by calling The Express office on 4092 3464 during office hours.

SPORT

Davis wins world gold

THE region’s best barefoot water skier has returned with a neck donned in gold after Northern Region QLD Bare foot Club’s president Katina Davis competed at the recent World Masters Championship in America.

Katina has attended worlds previously as an independent skier in 2016 when it was held in Wisconcin, USA and again in 2018 in Ontario, Canada as a member of the Australian team in the senior division.

She was also meant to repre sent Australia again in 2020 but the competition was cancelled two weeks before due to Covid.

This is the first World Mas ters Championship to be held and it was hosted in Texas, USA.

Katina’s main competitor at the titles was the US’s Teri Larson Jones who won Senior Womens at Worlds in 2016, a very talented barefooter with a good history of achievements.

However Katina was the skier to come out on top win ning gold in her age division (over 55) in all events, tricks, slalom and jump as well as be ing named the overall winner

and getting the main prize of best senior women overall.

Katina said the support her self and the other Australian skiers had for each other made the titles all the more enjoyable.

“It was a great atmosphere, our team cheering with the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant and supporting each other on the water,” she said.

“We met some wonderful people, made some awesome friends, saw some terrific plac es and travelled, skiing in sev eral of the southern US states –Louisianna, Florida, Texas and California.”

With her second world title performance now under her belt Katina is hoping to add another if the chance presents itself.

“If the opportunity arises again, I will certainly be aim ing to compete,” she said.

“I am off to AOs now, then returning to train for the Open Worlds in Mulwala in Febru ary.

“In the meantime, you will probably catch me on the smooth water, early mornings, most days.”

The Tablelands own resident water skiing world champion Katina Davis has returned from the first ever World Masters Championship in America with a gold medal.

is hereby given that English Street between James Street and Catherine Street in Malanda will be closed to vehicular traffic

to 8.30pm on Thursday November 24th, 2022

Macular Degeneration “Arresting” Club

Shire Council invites quotations for Overhaul and Refurbishment of Staff Quarters and Camp Facilities at Mary Street Depot, Georgetown, Qld, 4871.

Atherton washed away by Cassowary Coast

ATHERTON suffered their third loss of the season at the hands of Cassowary Coast on Saturday after traveling to Innisfail for their 40 over first grade match.

After being forced to bowl first, it was a tough start for the Atherton bowlers with Casso wary Coast getting off to a great start, not losing a wicket until Logan Poggioli effected a bril liant run out in the 22nd over.

Captain Tom Boorman took the important wicket of Clint Ratatagia just a few overs later which started a middle order collapse with four wickets fall ing for just five runs, restricting Cassowary Coast to 6/167 off their 40 overs.

Atherton’s top order failed to impress and found themselves 3/33 before Tom Boorman built a 40-run partnership with Pete Sceresini followed by another with Matt Nielsen, putting 32 between them.

With the score at 6/112 wick ets quickly tumbled and Ather ton found themselves all out for 136 in the 33rd over.

Atherton will play host to Mulgrave next weekend at Lod er Park.

Sour tasting loss for Mareeba

MAREEBA second grade has narrowly missed out on their chance to secure their second win of the 40 over competition in a nail-biting finish against Barron at Borzi Park on Sunday in a game that went right down to the last ball.

The home side won the toss and decided to bat first, sending Barron out into the field in the scorching sun.

Mareeba got off to a shaky start with their openers not really bother ing the scores and Barron got out danger men Jar rod France and captain Brendan Payne cheaply, a duck and just 11 runs respectively.

The middle order found some fight and with a few loose balls from Barron’s spinning offense in the middle overs Mareeba looked in better straits.

Mareeba’s tail wagged right until the last over

with Damen Marcolongo joining Rowan Foxwell at the crease where they created a good partner ship and pushed Mareeba to 167 after their allotted 40 overs.

Things were looking good for Mareeba at the start of their bowling at tack with opener Will Hanlon striking first in his first over, he ended up with the most wickets at 3/35 off eight overs.

It was a tough battle between the two sides and Barron looked in all sorts as the Mareeba at tach quickly tore through the top and middle order.

Barron fought right until the end with the winning runs coming off over throws on the last ball that ended up cross ing the boundary line for four.

Mareeba will now face off against Mulgrave at Walker Road this Sun day.

Tom Boorman was the pick of Atherton’s batsmen, hitting 58 off 63 in their first grade match-up against Cassowary Coast on Saturday.

Mareeba batsman Rowan Foxwell fought his way to a solid 20 not out in an attempt to help push his team over the line during their weekend loss to Barron on Sunday.

Hoffman rides away to win at Atherton races

TOLGA trainer Sharlee Hoff man has dominated the recent race day at the Atherton Turf Club, winning three out of the fives races including the main Serra Drilling race.

For the first race of the day, the Tolga Hotel Benchmark 55 Handicap, Musical Girl trained by Matey Taylor and jockeyed by Lacey Morrison crossed the line first, followed by Solomon and Strategist.

Hoffman claimed her first win of the day in the following race with Narda Shar ridden by Isabella Teh in the Country Stampede Qualifier, Sylvester also trained by Hoffman came second with Cochrane trained by John Manzelmann, ridden by Pietro Romeo coming in third.

The third race was also claimed by Hoffman with Allied Command ridden by Isabella Teh crossing the line first, fol

Three on three basketball come to town

A NEW three on three basket ball tournament is due to be hosted in Mareeba beginning on 11 December, hosted by the local Pathfinders Club un der the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

It will be hosted at the Walsh Street sports hall adja cent to the Mareeba Skatepark and will be a mixed competi tion.

Teams must always have at least one female on the court with a max of five play ers per team and there will be prizes to be won.

There will only be a max of 16 teams able to compete in the competition so register quickly before the cut-off on 3 December.

For more information con tact Mou Aue on 0426 918 885.

lowed by Racatoon training by Athol Ryan jockeyed by Lacey Morrison and Snap Chat trained by Ralph Baker and ridden by Rachel Shred in third.

Manzelmann’s Dovi’s Day took the fourth race of the day despite a last-minute jockey change with Lacey Morrison in the saddle, Eye of Ra trained by Alwyn Bailey and ridden by Isa bella Teh took second and Miss Bossy trained by Janel Ryan jockeyed by Nor Yadi was third.

For the main race of the day, the Serra Drilling Benchmark 60 Handicap 1400m it was Hoffman’s Bonython ridden by Lacey Morrison that managed to cross the line first followed by Rough Cut Jewel trained by Alwyn Bailey jockeyed by Manabu Kai and Jenny Ball’s Cool Attitude ridden by Isabella Teh came in third.

New Gladiators committee gears up

THE Mareeba Gladiators will step into the 2023 season with a new leader at the helm as Darrin Hastie steps up from his position as vice-president to take the top job.

Supporting Hastie will be Simon Cockrem who has stepped into the role of vice-president, Tayna Croucher re turns as secretary, Rachael Morgan as registrar and Debra McGrath is com ing in as treasurer.

As the club has experienced a mas sive influx of sponsors, a new position was made for the club to better con nect to their supporters with Teresa Brcko taking on that role.

Hastie said he will be bringing in his organised mind set into the club and is excited to help push the club further in the upcoming season.

Chris Sheppard is reprising his role as head coach of the Gladiator’s A grade squad while Les Strickland takes on reserve grade.

While previous Mareeba Junior Rugby League president Shaun Fin cham has crossed over into the senior league and is now in the role of U18’s coach.

Mareeba Gladiators

treasurer Deb McGrath, vice president Simon Cockrem, secretary Tanya Croucher, president Darrin Hastie and registrar Rachael Morgan (Absent sponsorship coordinator Teresa Brcko)

Race two winner Narda Shar jockeyed by Isabella Teh was the first of three wins for Tolga trainer Sharlee Hoffman.

Bonnie’s makes her mark in the bull riding world

BY ELLIE FINK

AT only 14 years old, Bonnie Milgate is doing the unimaginable, coming eye to eye with some of the rankest bulls, fol lowing in her father and brother’s foot steps.

From a very young age, Bonnie has been heavily involved in the rodeo scene, but within the last two years she has jumped on the back of a bull com petitively.

Inspired by her brother and champion rider Wyatt Milgate, and her father Kyle Milgate who competed in Canada and America, Bonnie was determined to be the next big name in the chutes.

“Seeing my brother (bull riding) has really inspired me to give it a good go and he has always been someone I have looked up to,” she said.

“I just decided one day that I wanted to give it a go and have some fun. At first it was a bit terrifying but then it kind of got more comfortable and the adrenaline just made me want to do it more.”

Her first official mini bull ride in Charters Towers saw her making time, shocking spectators and her own parents with her strength and determination.

Since that ride, she has been hooked and has followed the ABCRA circuit with her family to take on as many mini bulls as she can.

One of her most memorable mo ments on the back of a beast includes the recent Great Northern Bullride in Ather

ton, where she made time on Lamont’s mini bull “Robbery Bob” with absolute ease.

“It was a great competition, and I re ally gave it my all on that one,” she said.

“I was standing in the chutes with my brother and some of the other open bull riders and I was really getting into the zone.

“I had so many people telling me to make this a good ride, because it may be my last on a mini bull.

“I went into it feeling pretty confi dent which really helped, but I would say every ride I make time has been re ally special.”

Bonnie’s trick to a good ride is having a connection with the beast and learning to move with it and not against it.

She proved her grasp on this tech nique at the Ingham Sugar City Rodeo where she took on “Publican”, one of her favourites in the chute.

The connection between her and the bull motivated her to hold on and take control, even when she felt she was slip ping.

“I felt a connection with this bull. I don’t know how to explain it but when I was standing up in the chute and looking down at him, I felt that he was going to be a good one,” she said.

“I still see him around at rodeos and remember what a good bull he is.”

Bull riding has always been deemed a “man’s sport”, but Bonnie encourages girls and women to get involved with

bull riding and to give it a shot no matter what anyone says.

She said she has followed other young women in the scene and contin ues to be inspired by their bravery and determination.

Even though she has found herself mainly competing against boys, she be lieves they have been supportive of her every step of the way.

“I guess all the boys are kind of my mates and they see me just as another competitor,” Bonnie said.

“It’s really comforting as I have known most of them all my life and they all know my brother, so they know to watch out for me.”

Bonnie’s father Kyle has been by her side since her first ride in their backyard and was impressed by her determination and bravery.

He hopes Bonnie continues to do what she loves and that she will find her self on the back of a junior bull soon.

“We are just super proud of her, and she has really surprised us with how confident she is,” he said.

“She practises a lot, and it has be come like muscle memory to her. If she’s sliding off she will make a move to get back up there.

“She probably has another few years on the mini bulls before things get a lot more serious on the junior bulls – some of them are pretty rank and bred to buck.”

Bonnie Milgate is following in her father and brothers’ footsteps as a champion bull rider. INSET: Bonnie is only 14 years old and taking on bulls triple her size.

PHOTO: MAREE MASTERSON PHOTOGRAPHY