Qld

For the first time this century, expecting mums in Weipa and the surrounding community will be able to give birth in a local hospital when a new service begins early in 2023. The Weipa Hospital has a fully equipped birthing suite and a top team of staff lined up to welcome Cape York’s newest arrivals.

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The large number of Darling Downs locals who help make up the throng at Woodfordia for the annual Woodford Folk Festival will notice a touch of luxury has been added for a lucky few this year. Twenty luxury glamping tents with ensuite bathrooms and kitchens have been launched with the help of $1.2 million from the Queensland Government Growing Tourism Infrastructure fund.

The Darling Downs is arguably the centre of the Queensland thoroughbred breeding industry with numerous large and small horse studs scattered around the region from Cambooya to Gladfield and from Warwick to Greenmount where rich soil is ideal for growing good horse pasture. The breeding season starts in August and continues through till December with the first foals born in August and mares begin to be served by stallions in September.

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A number of state forests across south east Queensland will be conserved earlier, the Palaszczuk Government has announced ... Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said it’s part of the Palaszczuk Government’s election commitment to transfer 20,000 hectares of state forest to Queensland’s protected areas.

This intriguing book was launched in Warwick last week by Chair of Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board (DDMRB) Lockyer Valley Regional Councillor Janice Holstein. It tells the Board’s story and that of rabbits in Australia. The DDMRB maintains the oldest and longest purpose-built, rabbit-proof barrier fence still in use in Australia, if not the world.

Allora local Mary Higgins, who is a student at Griffiths University, studying Psychological Science and Business, has been awarded a Scholarship under the New Colombo Plan ... “Growing up in Allora, a small town of just 1200 people, I’ve seen my community come together through droughts, floods and many other crises, which has inspired me to work further toward social justice on a grander scale,” Mary said.

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Janelle Saffin. Jamie Simmonds, the man who directed the relocation of the town of Grantham, shared his story with Lismore when Janelle Saffin MP hosted him during a visit ... Ms Saffin said it was a great opportunity for locals like South Lismore’s Harper Dalton, who established the Relocate Lismore Homes Facebook group, to link with a planning and development expert who nowadays advises disaster-affected communities globally on managed retreat.

Katter’s Australian Party is flagging a proposal incentivising Year 12 students to take up the forgotten “wet” trades of bricklaying, concreting and scaffolding in a transitional schedule strategically-timed with the winter weather. In response to predictions that North Queensland would face an alarming lack of willing workers in the “wet” trades of bricklaying, concreting and scaffolding in the next decade, the KAP proposed to incentivise and provide employment pathways for an annually-set number of Year 12 students.

Long-time Weipa firefighter Tony Lankester says he’s excited about the prospect of a new station for the local fire brigade after years of lobbying for better facilities in the region. In an early Christmas present, it was announced last week that more than half a million dollars would be spent on building the new headquarters for the Western Cape Rural Fire Brigade.

Health authorities are encouraging all Cape York residents involved in pig-hunting to take advantage of the free vaccination program for Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) ... there was heightened awareness of JEV on Cape York following the detection of the virus in some feral pigs in an area north of the Skardon River in June, and a further detection in pigs in the Mapoon area in September.

Steamy conditions made life tough for participants in the Hope Vale Pig Hunt on the weekend, as more than 100 people took part in the 19th annual event. Hunters weighed in 38 pigs, with an average weight of 49kg.

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February is when our first turtle hatchling emerges from its nest beneath the sand. Before that happens, Sunshine Coast Council is calling on our community to come together to tidy up their local beach as part of the 9th annual Clean up for the Hatchlings event on Saturday, February 4, 2023 ... Volunteers can register now to pick up litter at various beach locations between Noosa and Caloundra from 6am to 7.30am.

More than 1500 Sunshine Coast residents helped make part of local government history at the weekend as the first members of our community to set foot in the newly opened Sunshine Coast City Hall. Sunshine Coast City Hall is situated in the heart of the new Maroochydore City Centre and has been designed and built for our community.

Greenmount resident Kat Wells recently snapped this action-packed photo of these two fierce kangaroos going blow-for-blow in a local paddock. She said this type of scene is a common occurrence, the Buck Joey getting boxing lessons from Dad. “He, the Joey, will be pushed out of the mob at the end of summer," she said. “The fights will start to get fair dinkum about the middle of January, till he gets the idea.

Since its inception, Toowoomba’s Christmas Wonderland has welcomed over one million visitors and has returned over $1.32 million back to the local community through its beneficiaries. This year is its 20th year of bringing the joy of Christmas to the young and young-at-heart across the Toowoomba region.

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Fraser Coast residents will now be able to opt for a natural burial at the new Nikenbah Natural Cemetery. A natural burial is a funeral that seeks to make as little impact upon the environment as possible and to return a body to the earth in as natural a way as possible.