Mackay’s Wildcat Adventures has been named Queensland’s best new tourism business at last Friday’s 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards.

Launched in December 2021 at the height of the Omicron wave, Wildcat Mackay has achieved incredible success in its first year of operation.

Owner Julie Telford said she was extremely proud to accept the award.

“To launch a business at the height of COVID-19 seemed crazy, but we knew we had a solid plan, an innovative boat design and a spectacular place to show visitors,” Mrs Telford said.

“We operate a successful business in the Whitsundays but could see an opportunity for a new business venture just a couple hours south in Mackay.

“This award provides an opportunity to thank every single customer for booking on our awesome tours.”

Owner Asher Telford and his innovative naval architecture team custom-designed and built a vessel to suit Mackay’s marine conditions.

“We’ve been able to design a boat that keeps visitors comfortable while also moving through the water quickly to show visitors as much as possible in one day,” Mr Telford said.

“It has been pivotal to our business success to design boats that make the most of local conditions. As a result, wildcat offers a smooth ride, 360-degree viewing platform, easy access electric stairs, wheelchair access and lock-in points, fully licensed bar, paddleboards, solar charging system and is extremely fuel efficient.

“It was a dream to start a new business in Mackay and show off this spectacular part of the Great Barrier Reef, and to accept a Gold Queensland Tourism Award is the best reward for that risk.”

Wildcat Mackay offers immersive learning tours, school group excursions, sunset tours, private charters and daily day tours taking visitors snorkelling, paddleboarding and showcasing the Great Barrier Reef.

The business holds the highest level of ECO accreditation and are proud Climate Action Leaders.

Al Grundy, Chief Executive Officer of Mackay Isaac Tourism, said the region is excited about Wildcats future.

“Winning the Gold Award for best New Tourism Business is a credit to Julie and Asher Telford who have brought a clear vision to this region and who deliver exceptional experiences to our visitors every day,” Mr Grundy said.

“It’s a distinct advantage for our region to be home to one of Queensland’s best, and I congratulate Julie, Asher and their team on this achievement.”

Wildcat Mackay is now in the running for Best New Tourism Business at the upcoming Australian Tourism Awards in Sydney in March 2023.

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Wildcat Adventures owners Julie and Asher Telford with their gold award in the Best New Tourism Business category at the 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards

Wildcat Mackay offers immersive learning tours and school group excursions among its other adventure tours

A third generation member of an artistic Sarina family is following the paths of his mother and grandmother.

Bradley Perna, 15, and his mother Jodie are among seven artists displaying their works in a display at the Sarina Art Gallery which continues until November 25.

Bailey has on show his lino print Nature’s Pattern which took him five weeks to complete and earned him an A in his art class at Sarina State High School.

Bailey also makes jewellery, including rings, pendants and earrings.

He said he has been inspired by his mother Jodie, who has been president of the Sarina Arts Council for the past six years, and his grandmother Dianne Moren who are both talented artists.

“Mum certainly has had an influence in my art,” he said.

Jodie said she just loved art from a young age in primary school.

“I loved doing the CWA posters and when we were really young we coloured in flags. I would always get first and I just had a great passion for it.

“That’s why I keep running the art gallery, because I love that people in the community can display their artwork.

“Mum was also putting her artwork in the gallery but hasn’t now for a couple of years.”

Jodie said the Sarina art scene was strong, with 33 members in the Sarina Arts Council and up to 600 tourists and locals visiting the monthly exhibitions.

This month’s display includes Jodie’s watercolour Protea, along with pieces by Marilyn Parnell, Doug Lenton, Monika Ciesielski, Joy Hold and Brigitte Zimmermann. The display is open free of charge from 10-3 daily until November 25.

The Sarina Art Gallery is near the Sarina Sugar Shed, in the Field of Dreams Parkland.

By Charlie Payne

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Bailey

Bailey Perna with his lino print Nature’s Family which earned him an A at school. Photos: Charlie Payne

Jodie

Jodie Perna with her watercolour Protea

Lenton

Buick Roadmaster by Doug Lenton

Ciesielski

Seascape with Boats by Monika Ciesielski

Hold

Pottery by Joy Hold

Zimmermann

Magpie by Brigitte Zimmermann

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A giant garage sale has led to a very generous donation.

The Sarina Beach Progress Association donated to the Mackay region’s valuable aeromedical service, RACQ CQ Rescue, from funds made during its Giant Garage Sales.

Fran Lloyd from the Progress Association said it’s important to support this community-funded rescue service.

“For our small community, with boaties, fishermen and women, and swimmers, you never know when you may need them,” Fran said.

“Two of the amazing staff of RACQ CQ Rescue, Zenta and Rona, showed us around the eye-opening facility, sleeping quarters, doctor’s rooms and even a gym. But the helicopter took the cake, what a beauty.

“If you make a donation to this service, 100 per cent of your donation helps to save lives across Central Queensland, 24/7, 365 days of the year.”

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L-R: Fran Lloyd, Roy Roberts, Zenta Martin and Sharon Schofield

With such a large area for the SES to look after, the Mackay unit is divided into three key areas, with the teams from each area often working together on jobs.

Rebekka Murray is the Deputy Local Controller South, managing the southern part of the Mackay Unit, including Sarina, Sarina Beach, Campwin Beach, Koumala and surrounds.

“We work together as a unit quite often,” said Rebekka.

“The more people we can get to assist in any activation, the better it is.

“More hands make light work.

Rebekka, a teacher-aide by day, has been in the role for the last five years, joining the SES back in 2014 after her husband joined the year before.

“Watching him being able to help the community inspired my drive to want to do the same,” said Rebekka.

“Even being able to do something simple to help someone in their time of need is very rewarding in itself.”

Rebekka says it’s her compassion that assists her most in her role with the SES.

“You drive past somewhere and you think, ‘I’ve helped that person, I’ve helped patch that house in their time of need,’” she said.

“It’s just the fact that you get to help and give back to your local community and know that they’ve got someone there when they need it.”

Her leadership role with the SES allows her to care for her community and her fellow volunteers while forever growing her knowledge and skills.

“I learnt from a good few people before me and am also constantly learning now, even though I’ve been in my role for nearly six years,” she said.

“There is never a time where you don’t learn something new, which is something I enjoy.

“We have a lot of experienced members and leaders throughout our unit. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without their support and knowledge.”

The SES has equipped Rebekka with invaluable life, people and practical skills.

“Operating a chainsaw, driving a flood boat, tarping roofs, but also how to be a better teacher and leader,” she said.

“Within the SES, the possibilities for learning are endless and you can take it as far as you desire.”

Rebekka says Cyclone Debbie was her most memorable activation; witnessing the damage a cyclone can produce has always stuck with her and being able to help those who were affected is one of her prouder moments.

Leading a team of 12 volunteers, Rebekkah is passionate about sharing skills and knowledge with her colleagues, as her leaders have done before her.

Her team has responded to a few callouts from the storms that have already rolled through so far this disaster season and she urges the community to be prepared.

“It’s been fairly reasonable so far this storm season, but we’re expecting more to come,” she said.

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Rebekka’s Disaster Tips

- Make sure all your gutters are cleaned.

- Keep your yard tidy from flying debris as we know storms are unpredictable.

- Make sure you have your household kit in place (radio, torch, batteries, water and non-perishable items).

- If it’s flooded, forget it.

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Deputy Local Controller South Rebekka Murray loves serving her community. Photo supplied

By Kevin Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay

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It is becoming clear that despite the long harvest season, there will be standover cane adding to this year’s losses in sugar content and to the high cost of production. It’s been a double-edged sabre, as growers grapple with mill performance issues and a few unseasonal rain events.

Plane Creek Mill is expecting to cut out by December 31, and Mackay Sugar is estimating an extraordinary January 13 for the end of harvest. A long harvest serves neither miller nor grower well, with sugar content (CCS) usually dwindling after mid-November. That CCS is already declining in some areas with the storm season underway.

High temperatures and frequent rain bring on the plant’s seasonal transition, causing suckering and degraded quality, driving sugar content down. When it hits a low sugar content of 7, The grower ceases to make a profit. In Mackay, there is no return, in Plane Creek, there is a payment to cover basic harvest costs.

Adding insult to injury, the grower is left with the cost of growing the next crop on that land while experiencing impacted cash flow.

Given issues with mill performance, there is a strong perception among growers - and the Mackay Area Committee acting as bargaining agent for CANEGROWERS members - that Mackay Sugar should take example from other millers, understand the position of grower families, and act to financially support growers impacted by low CCS as the season wears on some two months longer than is agronomically practical.

As for the grower with crop left in the paddock, the losses are further increased and push into the following year with the major risk that is standover cane.

Standover cane is old, or dead. It is paddocks that cannot be ratooned with fresh growth for the following harvest, but instead aged into fibrous, tangled, hard-to-harvest and mill cane. Nor can that paddock be put to fallow if that is where it sits in its cropping cycle, that pause time where the soil can rest and re-generate with legume or mixed species planting. Standover throws farm planning out the window and it can take years to restore proper crop rotation.

With added season length, labour costs get blown out and inflate cost-of-production, the mill maintenance season shrinks, imperilling milling performance in the following harvest.

With high sugar prices, and a bumper crop in the ground this should be a harvest for the ages. The estimated crop for Mackay is 5.6 million tonnes, and 1.5 million for Plane Creek District. Prices have tipped the $640. However, the season has been dogged by wet weather, particularly in Plane Creek district, and ongoing mill breakdowns and stoppages in the north, particularly at Farleigh Mill.

Mackay Sugar has crushed 60 per cent of the crop as at October 30, and Plane Creek has now crossed the one million tonne mark and nearing 70 per cent.

There is a lot of money being lost for growers with standover cane and low CCS because of poor milling performance and long season length. The situation is causing anxiety among growers as they strive to meet the necessary percentage of their crop harvested to fulfil forward pricing commitments, make finance repayments and maintain profitability.

The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting an early onset of the wet, and above average rainfall when it comes. We have certainly experienced a solid start to the storm season in the past few weeks. There’s a high risk the monsoon will set in, putting an untimely end to the 2022 harvest.

It is upon us - the growers and the harvest contractors - to make the most of what time we have remaining to get our crop away: weather, bin and mill availability willing.

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The onset of the wet brings about a seasonal change in sugar cane. Pictures: Contributed

Queensland farmers and landholders will soon have a handy online toolkit to help them cash in on the renewable energy revolution, through a new partnership with the Queensland Farmers Federation and the State Government.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said there were many opportunities for landowners to benefit from new and reliable income from Queensland’s energy transformation.

“There’s a major shift happening right now across regional Queensland and a growing number of landholders are researching their options to lease part of their properties and co-exist with renewable energy ventures, especially solar and wind farms,” he said.

“The opportunities are here and now and they will keep evolving through the pipeline of investment outlined in the State Government’s $62 billion Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.

“For many landholders, this presents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to future-proof their family businesses which have traditionally been susceptible to weather and fluctuating produce prices.

Mr de Brenni said sheep and cattle graziers, horticulturalists and viticulturalists as well as farmers across the cropping and beekeeping sectors had the opportunity to reap the rewards of the clean energy boom.

“This toolkit, being developed in partnership with the QFF, will highlight the opportunities the energy transformation presents and identify key considerations to help guide rural producers in maximising the benefits of them,” he said.

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for rural Communities Mark Furner said the Palaszczuk Government recognised the importance of working with Queensland farmers for a prosperous clean energy future.

“We are already working with both the QFF and AgForce to develop an Agriculture Low Emissions Roadmap and support good jobs for many years to come, and this toolkit will ensure our farmers can take advantage of the rapid expansion of renewable energy production,” Mr Furner said.

“Global markets are increasingly demanding higher sustainability benchmarks from our exporters, and the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan is another way Queensland produce and other exports can meet and exceed those expectations.”

The toolkit will be developed in partnership with QFF over the next few months and delivered in early 2023.

The toolkit will include:

• Overview of what a renewable energy project may include and the goals/objectives of the different renewable energy projects.

• Understanding the potential benefits and impacts of projects.

• What to expect if approached by a developer.

• How to negotiate an agreement, including considerations such as project impacts on future production, land value and other considerations.

• Information to support an understanding of the relevant and applicable legislation.

• Where to go for more advice – financial, legal and regulatory/planning.

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Hi Everyone,

This week we finally hit ‘print’ on the last issue for the year of our bi-monthly sister publication, Core Life Magazine, and it feels great!

After a mammoth effort from everyone involved, we are now on the home-stretch gliding smoothly into the festive season to recharge, re-energise and reinvigorate in preparation for another exciting year ahead.

Despite what you may think, we are a relatively small team here at Core Publishing.

There are just 10 of us full-time staff who produce, on average, 80-pages of quality community news per week for this newspaper you are holding.

Somehow, we also find time to publish about 100-pages of premium content for Core Life Magazine, which has been coming out every two months for the past 11 years.

It’s pretty cool!

This edition of Core Life is due to hit the stands next Monday and animal-lovers in particular will enjoy the first annual Pets in Business Feature.

When we launched the feature, we were overwhelmed by the amount of people who were eager to get involved and we quickly realised how much pets mean to local small business owners.

They bring joy, a sense of ‘home’, a comforting paw and a little entertainment to any office space.

We experience this first-hand with our boss’ pets here in the office – her two playful German Shepherd pups and a docile blond Labrador who come in almost every day.

These are just three of the 45 pets from across the region that share their story in Core Life’s Pets In Business special – make sure you grab your free copy when it comes out next week.

Rach

“Remember, you can’t buy love, but you can rescue it” - Unknown

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In September Collinsville was inundated by a swarm of over 26,000 Flying Foxes who over-ran trees, parks and gardens, decimating on almost every surface of the town and becoming a noisy nuisance.

At the time, Whitsunday Regional Council forecast that the ‘bat plague’ would soon end when the Little Red Flying Foxes naturally migrated to their next food source.

Fortunately for Collinsville residents, this predication came true with the population now reduced to 3000 and forecast to soon reach its normal levels of between 200 and 900.

To encourage the bats to move on as quickly as possible Whitsunday Regional Council worked with local residents on a variety of measures.

These included placing six-metre high ‘Wavey Men’ near the trees (which act in a similar way to scarecrows), playing loud music at certain times of the evening and burning incinerators to deter them with smoke.

At one point there were 42 trees impacted, many of which were on private property.

There are now only a small amount left on public land.

“Thank you to everyone in the community that assisted,” said Julie Wright, Director of Community Services for Whitsunday Regional Council.

“It’s good news for all involved and hopefully the rest will move on as well soon as it will get too hot and too uncomfortable for them.”

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Usually ‘Teddy’ would stay at home while Sofia Catoni and her 18-month-old son go to the local shopping centre but on this particular day, he came along with them to give some extra comfort to little Frankie who had an ear infection.

The trio headed to Whitsunday Plaza, where Sofia was hoping to settle Frankie who had been grizzly and ill all morning.

Eventually the walk soothed the little guy and Sofia decided to return home, tucking Teddy under her son’s arm in the stroller.

When she arrived home, however, she looked down and suddenly realised Teddy was gone!

Panicked, Sofia knew it would be impossible to settle Frankie without his much-loved soft toy who he’d been sleeping alongside since he was four-months old.

But Teddy was more than just Frankie’s comforter, he was also Sofia’s best pal since shortly arriving to Australia from her home country of Argentina.

Their friendship began when Sofia was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation and Teddy was given to her by a dear friend.

For the past few years, Sofia had been sleeping with Teddy by her side and had now given it to her own son.

Realising Teddy was missing that day, meant Sofia was devastated.

She raced back to the shopping centre and asked everywhere, even checking under cars.

Other mums saw her plight and joined the search.

Shopping Centre staff announced it over the loud speaker and a message was posted on social media.

Eventually, after the community rallied around, a message came through Facebook that Teddy had been located.

“I would like to thank everyone who helped,” said Sofia.

“We are new to the area and haven’t made a lot of friends yet, but I really felt the love of the community that day.”

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Sofia, Frankie and Teddy

Shute Harbour Marine Terminal has become a welcome additional access point for a vibrant industry which regularly sees between 50 and 60 cruise ships a year bringing their passengers to Airlie Beach.

Contributing around $10 million to the local economy, Shute Harbour is now perfectly poised to help with the growth of this sector.

Chief Operating Officer of Aviation and Tourism for Whitsunday Regional Council, Craig Turner, said that the Council owned facility is focusing on attracting new cruise ship businesses.

“These cruise ship companies have never been here before, they are brand new to the region,” he said.

“There will be days when there are two to three cruise ships arriving in the Whitsundays and we are adding opportunities to the destination.”

Negotiations have been taking place for almost four years, and Mr Turner said he is thrilled to report that 20 cruise ships will be bringing passengers to Shute Harbour from now until June 2023.

“This is another step forward on our recovery from COVID,” he said.

“Every visit gives passengers a site inspection of the Whitsundays – they can touch, feel and have a little taste of what we offer which is better than a brochure and hopefully encourages them to return.”

On Wednesday passengers were greeted with live music, market stalls and food vans as they disembarked at the brand-new Shute Harbour facility.

Mayor Julie Hall attended the opening and spent time talking with representatives from the cruise ship.

“I am so excited to welcome the first ever cruise ship, Celebrity Eclipse, to the new Shute Harbour Marine Terminal,” she said.

“The safe return of cruises is an important milestone in our region’s economic recovery and the revitalization of the tourism and hospitality sectors.”

Celebrity Eclipse arrived at Shute Harbour on Wednesday bringing 2900 passengers ashore

Cruise Ship Ambassadors Brian Richardson, Whitsunday Regional Council representative Brooklyn Clarke, Cruise Ships Ambassadors Lyn Blanche Woodham and Eddie Bennett

Whitsunday resident Dan Popovich has announced his intention to run for the division two seat, joining candidate Clay Bauman, who announced his candidacy three weeks ago.

A United Kingdom expatriate, Mr Popovich has lived in Woodwark for the past 15 years and raised his family in local area.

“We live here and work here in this division and we love the place,” he said.

“I feel this is a call of duty to some degree, this area’s been so good to us, and I thought it was an appropriate time to offer my skills, service and experience to the community.”

Mr Popovich has a broad career history as a strategist for a global company, involved with many infrastructure and development projects, as well as being a qualified surveyor, civil engineer, and project manager.

While living in Hobart he was also active in the local progress association working between interest groups and the local council.

Mr Popovich says he now wishes to use all these skills to create more transparency.

“It seems like there is a big divide between the community and the Council,” he said.

“I’d like the people to have a closer relationship and to feel that the Council is there for them and not them for the Council.”

Tackling issues such as “the rash of traffic lights becoming an epidemic in the area”, Mr Popovich says that he hopes to help create a vision for the town.

“It all just seems very ad hoc - we need a strategy and we need a vision – there seems to be too many conflicting powers and influences and as a rate payer I don’t feel included in this,” he explained.

“At the moment I feel the tail wagging the dog – the Council’s got it’s fingers in so many pies and it forgets that it’s the rate payers that should be looked after fist.”

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Dan Popovich is running for the Whitsunday Regional Council’s division two seat

Clay Bauman announced as a division two candidate three weeks ago

Medical professionals aboard our region’s life-saving service, RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter, will now be even more prepared for every eventuality thanks to a kind donation from the Kennedy Masonic Lodge No 11 of Bowen.

A total of $15,756 was gifted to the invaluable local service and was put directly towards funding an advanced life support mannequin that will help train doctors and Critical Care Paramedics on RACQ CQ Rescue missions.

The life-size and interactive mannequin, named ‘Kennedy’, coughs, wheezes, breathes and even screams – in fact the mannequin makes an array of heart, breath and bowel sounds as well as speech and even has pulse and blood pressure simulator plus skin and veins.

Providing the trauma team with interactive training scenarios and practical experience in airway/intubation training, the life-like device also simulates cardiac related skills, circulatory skills, IV drug administration, trauma and bleeding control, first aid, cardiac defibrillation, pacing and ECG interpretation of over 100 rhythm variations.

RACQ CQ Rescue Media and Communications Manager Naomi Noy said the mannequin was helping educate and improve the competency of the chopper’s medical team by delivering “highly-effective simulation-based training”.

“As medical professionals in varied and high-pressure scenarios, the challenge to deliver continuous and consistent quality patient care requires proper training,” Ms Noy said.

“This mannequin incorporates consistent simulation scenarios into clinical training curriculums helping the doctors and paramedics on board our chopper correct any potential clinical errors.

“Ultimately, the mannequin helps ensure our helicopter medical team are better trained and have more practical experience in the variety of missions we face.”

Kennedy Masonic Lodge Master Ian Barrett said they were very pleased to assist in funding the mannequin and were thrilled it offered such benefit to the medical crew, service and in turn, the community.

“This mannequin is incredibly realistic – it’s also durable, rugged and made to withstand years of use,” he said.

“The multiple modules it features will accommodate a wide range of training needs for this team for years to come and this will greatly assist their training for the emergency situations they face every day across this region. Ultimately, it will help save lives”.

This kind donation is just latest part in the $36,000 funding support given to RACQ CQ Rescue by Kennedy Masonic Lodge over the past decade.

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Kennedy Mason Lodge Bowen members, from left, Adrian Tilney, Neville Jones, Ian Pott and Ian Barrett with RACQ CQ Rescue rescue crewman Chris Muffett with ‘Kennedy’ the interactive and advanced life support mannequin they funded. Please credit: RACQ CQ Rescue

This January Whitsunday Regional Council will once again be celebrating amazing Aussies in the 2023 Australia Day Awards which means now is the time to put your fellow community members forward, with nominations closing at the end of this month.

Do you know someone who deserves to be recognised?

This could be a young achiever, local environmentalist, a kind volunteer, cultural ambassador or senior hero who always gives their all and goes above and beyond to contribute to the local community.

There are eight categories to choose from and Mayor Julie Hall encourages everyone to take the time to nominate a worthy recipient.

“Each year we have so many fantastic nominees that are tremendous contributors to our community. Their efforts bring us closer together and inspire us all,” she said.

“It is these nominees and many other volunteers in our community that work tirelessly without recognition and I’m sure everyone will know someone, young or old, who is an inspiration in their community.

“Let’s applaud these amazing individuals who have served their community and achieved incredible things by taking the time to nominate them for an Australia Day Award.”

Categories include:

• Citizen of the year (aged 26 years and over)

• Young Citizen of the Year (aged 16 - 25 years)

• Senior Sports Award (over 26 years of age)

• Young Sports Award (aged 16 – 25 years)

• Arts & Culture Award

• Environmental Achievement Award

• Community Event of the Year

• Volunteer of the Year Award

Nominations close Sunday, November 27 and can be made online at Your Say Whitsunday - http://yoursay.whitsundayrc.qld.gov.au/ .

PDF copies of the nomination can also be printed from the Your Say website or you can collect one in person from any of Council’s Customer Service Centres.

For enquiries, please call Council’s Events and Community Sponsorship Officer, Hayley Borg, on 1300 WRC QLD (972 753).

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Residents are advised to always wear stinger suits when swimming in the ocean from now until May as jelly fish, that predominantly favour warmer temperatures, become prevalent in our local waterways at this time of year.

Julie Wright, Director of Community Services for Whitsunday Regional Council said that each year they wait for James Cook University to “give the nod” before the region’s two stinger nets are brought out and placed at their permanent locations.

One stinger net is positioned at Cannonvale Beach and the other is placed at New Beach.

There is also a swimming enclosure, which is a permanent structure, located at Dingo Beach.

Irukandji, box jellyfish, bluebottles, and other dangerous species can be found throughout the Whitsundays and, if they come into contact with people, they can cause severe reactions.

Serious stings can cause cardiac arrest and intense pain, which makes them especially dangerous for young children, babies and the elderly.

Ms Wright said that while stinger nets prevent larger jelly fish from entering the area, the smaller Irukandji variety are the size of a thumbnail and can easily pass through.

“Stinger nets will not keep out all the problems in the ocean,” she said.

“That’s why we suggest and strongly urge stinger suits to be worn at all times.”

Swimmers are also encouraged to stay away from the perimeter of the nets as sometimes botanicals from the box jellyfish can be caught up in the net and still sting if someone brushes up against them.

Dog owners are also advised to keep their dogs from swimming at this time of year.

How to treat a jellyfish sting:

• Rinse the area with vinegar, for at least 30 seconds

• Remove tentacles from the skin with tweezers

• Once the tentacles are removed, soak the area in hot but not scalding water for 20 to 45 minutes

• If hot water is not available, apply a cold pack to help the pain

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The stinger net at Cannonvale Beach is now in place and open to the public

“THE PRIEST WHO STOPPED THE WAR”

Major Thomas Gard, Rat of Tobruk, is better known to the people of the Whitsundays as Father Gard, parish priest in Proserpine from 1966 until his retirement in 1988 and as a beloved coach to many young football players and cricketers in the area. But to the men of the 2/43rd Battalion, he was regarded as a legend in his own time. His award of an MBE was fitting recognition for this man renowned in military circles as “the priest who stopped the war”.

In 1933, Thomas Gard was ordained in the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville and served in a number of North Queensland parishes. When war was declared in 1939, he sought his bishop’s permission to serve his country by providing for the spiritual needs of troops. So began an illustrious career as army chaplain with the 2/43rd Battalion.

On March 25/26, 1942, his battalion arrived at Tobruk joining the 20th and 26th Brigades of the 9th Division. After an initial settling in period, and getting accustomed to the vermin, heat and flies, the 2/43rd and 2/28th Battalions received orders to attack five heavily fortified German field positions at 3.30am, August 3.

By dawn of that day, it was apparent that the casualties were very high. Of the 129 men committed, only 23 returned unscathed. The wounded lying in No-man’s land could be heard calling for help. An audacious plan was devised to recover the wounded and dead.

Tensely watched by thousands of eyes behind the wire on either side, a truck bearing the Red Cross flag drove slowly into No-Man’s land. On the bonnet stood Padre Thomas Gard, flanked by Sergeant Wally Tuit waving the flag and another stretcher bearer, Private Keith Pope.

The truck was halted a couple of hundred metres from the German stronghold. A German officer appeared, ordering the party back but Father Gard walked forward, offering the German a cigarette. After talking for a while, the officer ordered a path to be cleared through the minefield to allow them to reach their dead and wounded. Enemy soldiers produced cigarettes and drinks as the task of collecting the men went on; soldiers waved from both sides.

The recovery was almost thwarted by the sudden burst of artillery shots. Father Gard calmly and insistently pledged his word to the officer, explaining the Australian artillery was not responsible. A message was urgently relayed to the Australian trenches and despatched by field telephone to British Headquarters. The firing ceased. The recovery resumed – 5 wounded and 28 bodies – every man accounted for.

When the mission of mercy was over, the peace that had fallen ended – the machine guns recommenced firing.

“To drive unarmed by day across no-man’s land in a motor truck under the Red Cross flag to ‘test’ the feeling of the Nazi frontline regarding the collection of Australian dead and wounded is as hard a task as any man can set himself in war. (Padre) ‘Tommy’ Gard … carried it off successfully – and regarded it as nothing out of his line of duty.” (“The Courier Mail” January 4, 1945)

Father Gard was a man who was loved and respected by thousands from all walks of life and from all generations; a man who was humble about his wartime achievements. When asked about the strange, unplanned, unofficial truce in Tobruk, he would always brush it aside by saying, “We could not have done it without help from above…”

LEST WE FORGET

Story courtesy of Proserpine Historical Museum; T.M (Marty) Doyle and “The Proserpine News 1939-1945 WW11” by Lyn Burke and Lloyd Fox.
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Painting of Father Gard done by a local lady, Mrs Verla Dries.