Bowen’s Bubble N Sudds Car and Dog Wash owner Shane Clohesy said you’d be surprised how many people don’t know how to use the self-serve bays at car washes – nor how convenient they are.

“It’s both cheaper than other types of car washes, and, once you get the hang of it, it’s really simple and saves you a lot of time,” Shane said.

So, for those out there a little confused, here’s a quick, three step guide on an easy variation of clean:

1- Pop a coin in the slot and wash away: Press the “wash” or “water” option on the control panel of the main machine and grab the spray pipe. This is for a little ‘pre-clean’ to wash away any muck, as well as put on a light soaping solution mixed with the water. Wash your car’s exterior properly and don’t forget to clean the tyres too.

2- Soap it up: Grab the brush – it looks a lot like a broom – and start applying the soap after you’ve pressed the soap button. This is the most thorough step – really dig in there!

3- Rinse off the soap: Once you’ve soaped your vehicle, it is time to rinse it off. Press the button on the panel and start taking off the soap. This will be a high-pressure wash and should get rid of any bug-splats not caught by the brushing.

And that’s it! Simple, quick, efficient. The self-serve bays at Bubble N Suds can be fast, or they can be a deep-clean where you use some of the brush and sprays other settings like buff, wax, and more!

Give it a go yourself this weekend.

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Shane Clohesy using one of the self-serve baysat his business, Bubble N Suds

When Taylor Trewartha was two years old, her family relocated from Adelaide to Airlie Beach chasing the sunshine and blue waters. She’s fundamentally Airlie Beach through and through and is the newest member of the Mackay and Whitsunday Life team, joining as our specialist Graphic Designer.

Taylor has always loved art of all forms. Her most frequented medium is digital design, but she also dabbles in drawing, painting and watercolour when the mood strikes. She entered many art competitions growing up and in 2017 she won the Lady Potter Young Australian Artist of the Year award which saw her travel to Melbourne to present a speech on national TV.

Taylor was a regular at Smart Arts Studio in Cannonvale, where she would take lessons before ultimately being asked to give them. She taught manga lessons and thrived in sharing the skills of her craft. She also worked at McDonalds while she studied her way through a Bachelor of Digital Design at CQU, graduating last year.

Taylor is a gamer, preferring the more intricate, creative indie games over multi-million-dollar Halo-esque epics. She aspires to be a game designer herself, with a vision for telling stories through immersive simulation games. With Virtual Reality becoming more and more prevalent, she hopes to utilise the technology to its fullest.

A lover of animals, Taylor has a conure named Prisma and a border collie named Spirit. These two demand much of her love and affection which she is more than willing to give.

Keep an eye out for Taylor’s creative handiwork every week in Mackay and Whitsunday Life.

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Did you know current research suggests 70% of all staff would consider leaving for better work conditions? And that includes your long-term, loyal team-members. Global engagement entities are now teaching us not only how to attract staff but how to REATTRACT your current long-term staff. If you haven’t changed how you engage your workforce by now, they may already have one foot out the door.

1. Flexibility – This is the #1 factor of influence when workers are seeking their new employer. Are you offering flexibility in regards to work hours, workdays, & remote working (work from home)? Many businesses globally have taken on a hybrid workspace where team-members are offered a choice of home & office days to suit both the individual and the business needs.

2. Having a voice – Do you include your team-members in decision-making? Do you ask their opinion on upcoming or current changes? Feeling heard & like we have the capacity to make a difference makes us far more emotionally connected to your brand & your goals.

3. Humancy – Gone are the days of telling your team to “park your emotions at the door”. Workers are looking for a better work/life balance and are putting their family needs before their employers. Include family members in social activities and take an interest in your workers’ families, friends & pets! Showing you care creates a reciprocal effect that results in increased loyalty and longevity in the workplace.

4. Feedback & recognition – Saying ‘thanks’ at the end of the day isn’t enough. Taking time to provide your team-members with an update on how they’ve been performing, and thanking them specifically for a task or job they have just finished shows you value them, you see the difference they make, and you care enough to take time out of your day to show appreciation.

5. Coaching conversations – Most workplaces have discarded the annual ‘performance review’ in favour for quarterly coaching conversations. These are a 2-way conversation which discusses progress, provides 2-way feedback, and motivates through the ‘what’s next for you’ discussion. These discussions are far more positive and no longer include the negativity of opinion-based metrics – which are disputable and unreliable. They provide a confidential and transparent platform for your team-member to have a say in their development as well as give feedback on what they feel they need to succeed.

Contributed by Shiift’s Judy Porter

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In a three-hour mission, RACQ CQ Rescue winched a person with a serious medical condition off a remote beach on Whitsunday Island last Thursday.

The 31-year-old was travelling on a 13-metre catamaran in Hook Passage just after lunch when they began suffering seizures and required immediate medical evacuation.

RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked by Queensland Health about 1.30pm to retrieve the patient from the vessel located 120km north of Mackay, near Hook Island.

After making radio contact with the boat, a decision was made by the helicopter crew to winch the patient off the rocky shoreline of Cairn Beach, on the northern end of Whitsunday Island.

The ill man was transferred from the catamaran to the beach by tender, accompanied by two others from the vessel.

The Mackay-based helicopter orbited the island before winching the RACQ CQ Rescue rescue crewman down onto the shoreline as the aircraft hovered about 15 metres overhead.

The patient was assessed and secured into an Air Rescue Vest and winched up into the helicopter accompanied by the rescue crewman before receiving further treatment from the doctor onboard.

The winch and safe retrieval of the patient was completed within 20 minutes of arrival on scene. The patient was then flown to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition arriving about 3pm.

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A31-year-old patient suffering seizures was winched off Cairn Beach onWhitsunday Island yesterday by RACQ CQ Rescue

RACQ CQ Rescue

Over the years since the first lease taken out by D C Gorton in 1883, South Molle Island has witnessed many owners come and go. But the Bauer’s tenure was by far the longest and one of the most successful.

In 1937, when Ernest (Ern) Bauer observed islands for sale in the Whitsundays, he chose South Molle with its north-facing bay and permanent water supply.  He wanted to provide a healthy environment for his eight children and figured twenty guests per week would sustain their needs. Since their home was already a focal point for young people to gather socially, there appeared little adjustment necessary.

Ernest took over the lease from Henry Lamond who possessed the island since 1923. The purchase involved a swap of the family’s dairying property in Brisbane with a large furnished family home for the island, livestock, primitive dwelling with no electricity and a pit lavatory. Enter the pioneers: daughter, Ruth, recalled, “My mother cried. We children thought we were in heaven. The water was so blue, clear and warm - nothing could keep us out of it and we became as brown as berries.”

The arrival of the weekly Correspondence School course, however, put an end to their little games. But there was great joy when the electricity generating plant arrived by cargo ship, which also homed their pony, “Star”, who was lowered over the side to swim ashore behind the boat.

While existing resorts had corrugated iron bungalows with coral for the floors, the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau insisted that Ern build fibro cabins with wooden floors before they would be included on the books.  These building materials had to be shipped from Brisbane.  The cabins and a large central complex of lounge, dining room, kitchen, shop, office and family accommodation were eventually completed, and a slow trickle of guests began to arrive.

Ernest and Anna became far too busy to supervise their children’s schooling, so Anna took a house in Proserpine where the children attended school and went home weekends to help.  Ruth especially remembered peeling potatoes around an iron tub as their contribution to the Sunday influx of day visitors who dined on roast dinners, plum pudding, fruit salad and island cream.

The Bauer’s self-sufficiency included home-grown lamb, pork, fresh vegies, milk, cream and butter.  Sheep had to be rounded up for shearing, the wool baled in the woolshed and shipped to Dalgetys in Brisbane.

Progress was steady and each year extra cabins were constructed.  Guest numbers increased to the extent that shipbuilders had to be commissioned to construct a 72-foot TSMV (named “Crest”) suitable for both cruises and transport. Even with these larger numbers, the Bauers were still able to retain the “family” atmosphere.

When the Pacific War was declared, shelters were dug in the hills and provisions cached there. Since Japanese luggers had called in for water supplies, the family feared they would return.  However, the only “invasion” was from army personnel from a camp outside Proserpine and Air Force personnel from Bowen-based Catalinas which landed in the bay on R and R.  The Navy’s presence in Cid Harbour and manoeuvres down the passage were a comfort to the family.

Reg Ansett’s purchase and development of Daydream and Hayman Islands heralded the entrance of “Big Business” to the Whitsundays, an area previously operated by family units. But under the Bauer family’s ownership, South Molle remained a “Mecca” for families and young people.

It is indeed sad, today, to see this once popular island languishing.  

Story and photo courtesy of Proserpine Historical Museum and recollections from Ruth Dunstan (nee Bauer)

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This is a question we get asked all the time.

Statistic – ‘For a couple aged 65 today there is a 50% chance that one person will still be alive at age 95.  Source ABS.

A sobering thought when you’re working out much you need in the super and investment nest egg to retire.  Generally, people fall into one of two camps when it comes to retirement planning: 1. Those fortunate enough to have built such a large nest egg that it represents up around 20 times their required annual retirement income.  I.e., They want $70,000py and have built up over $1.4mill.  For these few people, their nest egg will grow throughout retirement as they will only spend a portion of the interest earned; 2. The more common scenario is those whose nest egg represents around 15 times their required income.  I.e., They want, say, $60,000 per annum and have around $900,000 built up.  This is most people, and they will be gradually eroding their nest egg to meet their income requirements and will eventually run out of money.

The key to good retirement planning is to do all the smart things to maximize your financial position throughout retirement and try and have your money run out when you think you will run out.  It is no good running out of money in your early 70’s but it’s also no good scrimping and saving, not enjoying your retirement and having heaps left in your 90’s.  

As an example: we recently reviewed a couple’s situation, Jim and Mary (names changed for privacy) decided they wanted $800pw or $41,600py as a pension from their super.    This coupled with part Age Pension entitlements of around $26,000py would get them up to $67,000 odd per year income in retirement to cover living, hobbies and travel in today’s terms.  We projected they were currently on track to build up around $450,000 in super and investments by their preferred retirement age.  As ‘balanced’ investors, expecting 7%pa after fees and costs, this meant their nest egg would run out in around 14 years, after allowing for inflation.  As Jim and Mary were 50, and planning on retiring young at 60, they weren’t comfortable with running out at age 74.  We implemented strategies to put away an extra $1,000pm tax effectively to ensure they built their nest egg up to over $700,000 which should now provide their required income and last them until age 90.

If you’d like a cost and obligation free review of your retirement projections, give us a call.

Written by Justin Butler, Managing Director Eclipse

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Clinicians across the region enhanced their emergency trauma skills with the latest round of Rural Emergency and Trauma Simulation Training last week.

Collinsville, Proserpine and Bowen hospital staff each attended the simulation sessions which focused on non-critical and critical trauma presentations.

The training also included skills stations which honed clinicians’ approaches to managing unexpected complications and intraosseous – directly into bone marrow - needle insertions.

The participants faced a number of scenarios, utilising the Telehealth Emergency Management Support Unit (TEMSU), as well as a Mackay Base Hospital senior Emergency doctor.

The Telehealth Unit assisted virtually with treating the fractured elbow of a 14-year-old patient, following a fall from a tree, to ensure safe reduction of the fracture in a first scenario.

The second challenge the groups faced was a critical scenario with a 29-year-old patient involved in high-speed motorbike accident.

The patient had been under the influence of drugs, and sustained thigh injuries and contusion of left lateral chest and abdomen.

Participants used their existing skills and knowledge to stabilise the patient with the assistance of Retrieval Services Queensland (RSQ) who provided virtual oversight of ventilation, intubation, fluid resuscitation and subsequent retrieval.

“Skills stations provided an opportunity for participants to refresh their critical thinking and review their own practice to consider various approaches to procedural sedation and to anticipate complications,” a Mackay Hospital and Health Services spokesperson said.

For authenticity, rib meat models were used to perform intraosseous needle insertion into real bone and place intercostal needles and tubes.

“Many of our rural clinicians are highly skilled in dealing with trauma emergencies, however it’s reassuring for them and junior staff to know they are supported by teams who provide a crucial link to consult with specialists when needed,” the spokesperson said.

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Proserpine, Collinsville, and Bowen hospital staff took part in trauma simulation training over the past week

The training helped the staff hone their skills in emergency trauma situations in a safe environment

Advanced Practice Enrolled Nurse Debbie Phillipson first walked through the front doors of Proserpine Hospital 40 years ago and she hasn’t looked back.

She was only 21 and on a trip around Queensland with a friend, having just finished training at St Vincent’s Hospital in Toowoomba. That friend stayed on in Mackay at the Base hospital, while Debbie travelled north to Proserpine.

After an interview with the Proserpine Hospital’s matron, Debbie, to her surprise, received a phone call to say she was starting that night.

“There was no orientation, I just walked in the front door and started night duty,” she said.

“I came in and never left. I soon fell in love, got married and had children so this community is definitely my home.”

Aside from a year off after the birth of her two children, Debbie has worked continuously and still holds court across the wards and in the operating theatre as a scout nurse and also attends to the sterilising.

Debbie says she has no regrets about spending four decades in the same workplace.

“Everyone says ‘gee you’ve been here a long time’ or ‘you looked after my mother’ or I see children I saw being born having their own children and I think, they are right, I have been here for a while,” she said.

“It’s a lovely connection, most people know you are a nurse and relate to you for something in their life. You feel close to everyone even though they are not your family”.

Debbie says one of the qualities of a good nurse is always doing your best to look after people, and she has no plans to retire as one of the hospitals longest serving nurses.

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Debbie Phillipson, an Advanced Practice Enrolled Nurse, has been at Proserpine Hospital for forty years

A by-election to vote in a new Mayor for Whitsunday Regional Council will be held on 13 August 2022 according to Electoral Commission Queensland (ECQ).

Currently there are six candidates running for the office: Jan Clifford, Al Grundy, Mike Brunker, Peter Hood, Julie Hall and Phil Batty.

Two separate Meet The Candidates Events will be hosted by Bowen Chamber of Commerce and Whitsunday Coast Chamber of Commerce respectively.

Bowen Chamber of Commerce will hold their Special Mayoral Candidates Meeting on Wednesday, August 3 at 5.45pm at the Larrikin Hotel. Whitsunday Coast Chamber Of Commerce will host their Meet The Mayoral Candidates Event on Monday, July 25 from 6 to 8pm in the Reef Gateway Function Room.

ECQ Commissioner Pat Vidgen said there were a number of ways people could vote.

“Don’t worry if you can’t make it on polling day, we have several options available including telephone voting for people who meet the eligibility criteria - like those who have tested positive to COVID-19 and anyone interstate or overseas,” Mr Vidgen said.

“There will also be two weeks of early voting and postal voting and both of those options are open to everyone.

“We know there are more than 23,600 registered voters in the Whitsunday region and we want to make voting as quick and easy as possible for every one of them.”

Postal vote applications are open now and close 7pm on 1 August 2022.

Early voting starts at 9am on 1 August 2022 and finishes at 6pm on 12 August 2022 at three early voting centres in Bowen, Cannonvale, and Proserpine.

On election day there will be five polling booths in Cannonvale Beach, Proserpine, Collinsville, Bowen and Hamilton Island.

Mr Vidgen reminded people in the Whitsunday region voting is compulsory and failure to vote fines increased to $143.75 from 1 July 2022.

Candidates may still nominate for the seat of Mayor until Monday, July 25.

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Campbell Irvine’s face underneath his iconic, well-worn hat, framed by thick grey beard and hair, is of “Never-give-in, of bright heat and of help-your-mate,” as Henry Lawson would have said.

One of Australia’s last bush poets, the true essence of Waltzing Matilda, has been wandering up and down the country’s coast for the last four decades.

He regularly stops in near Mackay, and on a recent trip through Airlie Beach where he performed poetry at the Airlie Beach Foreshore Markets, our Whitsunday Life reporter caught up with one of the country’s last swagmen.

Wearing blue jeans and a red button-down, Campbell the Swaggie had five or more festival bands on his wrist — he pointed to one and said it would be gone soon, replaced by another.

He hunches when he walks from years of carrying heavy swags and billy kettles on the road — as well as being born disabled up one side — but when he sits down there is an instant ease and gladdening.

With a swag, a few bags, and his hat, the Swaggie has trekked most of Australia. He’s performed countless round-trip tours of the country, taking part in festivals in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Darwin in a life under the stars.

He’s become an icon of folk Australia – although a New Zealand born Mauri – since he arrived in the country in 1975 following a band, The Bushwhackers. It was a first infatuation with the cultural history and character of the lucky country and most importantly its swagmen.

“I’m a bard, I guess you could say. An Itinerant, nomadic, traveller,” Campbell said.

“It was Waltzing Matilda that drew me to the swaggie’s life; and I’ve been doing it for 40 years now, living life on the hoof.”

Famed Australians and poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson would have called him a swagman. Others have called him a walking storybook and the embodiment of the bush ballads and poems. He performs the poetry of Australia’s past, as well as his own originals, and has made friends across the regions.

Especially in Airlie Beach, where most know him for his performances at Wintermoon Festival near Calen.

“I love the Whitsundays; it’s the Great Barrier Reef for me that is so special. I’ve only been there once but that was enough to know how important it is,” he said.

“There’s the bush side to it too: tramping the stock routes outback Queensland, I was reborn and raised into the whole thing from the Bushwhackers band and Australian folk music — that was back pretty well in the early ’70s and ‘80s,” he said.

“An apprenticeship between learning to love the land and being a swagman on the old routes of cattle musterers in Winton and places like that. I take on that character and tramped those routes.

“It bore down to a love of pretty much everything that’s Australian; I hold dearly to it and celebrate it, that sort of thing. I came here at about the age of 23 and I’ve never left this country — it’s been 47 years, now.”

Appearances at festivals have kept the storyteller on his chosen path, as well as busking in between those gigs to make ends meet. That keeps his pockets filled and the damper cooking — although he once claimed a government allowance but has not done so for more than 25 years.

He said it was a love of poetry that kept him travelling.

“It’s a history. It’s education, that’s the way I see it, you know,” he said, “it’s about my home, my new home that I’ve nearly been in for 50 years already.”

He said being a swagman, a traveller and to recite poetry on the road was “like bringing things to life.”

Campbell is 70 now, but still recites his poetry by memory, as well as hoofing it much of the country.

As if he weren’t extraordinary enough, he uses much of his busking money — as well as festival hauls — towards charities like the Flying Doctor’s Service and Australian Conservation.

“Old bush legends like me,” he said.

He also wants Waltzing Matilda to be the national anthem: “It has more to do with Australia than that other song we’ve got,” Campbell said.

Campbell will be travelling through Airlie Beach once again in the coming weeks, dropping by to see some old friends, recite some poetry, and have a laugh.

His final message for the people of the Whitsundays was “I’ll catch up with them on the road.”

Photography and story by Declan Durrant

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Campbell Irvine is one of Australia’s last swagmen, a bush poet who regularly travels up the country’s coast, including Airlie Beach

Campbell the Swaggie’s iconic hat. Two torn wide brims on top of another, held together by tarn and cloth

Campbell’s only belongings when he’s hoofing it up the coast reciting poetry for a living

The Whitsunday housing crisis is set to be tackled by local council who have come up with sweeping reforms to ease the issue crippling the region.

Working both alongside Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre and Bowen Neighbourhood Centre, Whitsunday Regional Council have adopted a consultation plan to determine what measures will have the best results.

According to council documents submitted at the July 13 Ordinary Meeting – a Housing Affordability Literature Review - the Whitsunday region is well above the statewide rate of 45.6 persons per 10,000 homeless, with a rate of “59 per 10,000”.

Director Development Services, Neil McGaffin, said the crisis was nationwide.

“As everybody should be aware, there is a housing affordability squeeze everywhere in the country,” he said.

“Alongside Neighbourhood Centre’s in the Whitsundays, we have come up with some potential solutions that could ease that.”

Councillor Jan Clifford said that, even within the council, they’ve been struggling with staff shortages due to the housing availability.

“The housing crisis is endemic across the entire nation. There is nowhere for anyone to live; it’s a crisis and it’s getting worse and worse every day,” she said.

Releasing their Housing Affordability Community Engagement Plan, council suggest seven potential changes for public consideration.

These include potential changes to the planning scheme, such as granny flat floor sizes and dual occupancy on measured lots, as well as revising minimum lot sizes.

“Council wants to know if there is anything the community is disliking about the planning scheme in relation to housing and the development of housing,” the document states.

Council will seek community feedback through email, Facebook, and other social media as well as in local newspapers.

Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre have previously said that the crisis has seen families living in caravan parks, cars, and in tents.

Councillor Clifford echoed those sentiments.

“I have families living in my division who have been sleeping in cars and there has to be something we can do,” she said.

“This is a step in the right direction for that.”

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A group of Proserpine State High School Students didn’t think twice about letting Lochie Tucker join in on their pick-up basketball game at the Cannonvale courts.

Little did they know that it would mean the world to both Lochie and his mother Renee Tucker, who said, after her son came home that night, she had to wait until he’d fallen asleep to “just bawl with tears”.

“Lochie has Asperger’s – he just doesn’t fit in at mainstream schooling – his social cues are not there, which I love; he dresses how he wants, but he sees the boys down here and he always wants to join in,” Ms Tucker said.

“We’ve been down here to the courts so many times and these were the first bunch of boys that have ever let him join in with them.

“He was rapt when he came home; he was just so happy and he’s smiling all the time when he’s with them. Usually they’re forced but he’s just smiling for real.”

The Proserpine State High School Grade 9 students, Elijah, Will, Niall, Jason, Kody, and Chaz, said it was just a normal thing for them to include everyone.

“It’s good for him to see a group of good young men,” Ms Tucker said.

Sarah Post, a mother of one of the boys said they “didn’t think anything of it, that’s just how they are.”

Lochie said it felt very including to play with the boys.

“It was just really nice,” he said.

“I think we’ll come down and make it a regular thing!”

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The boys at the court, Elijah, Will, Lochie,Niall, Jason, and Kody

Hi, Constant Readers.

We can all feel a bit stressed sometimes. But, within those times, there’s an opportunity for great personal growth. I’ve certainly felt a bit under the pump lately – as is to be expected running a newspaper – but I already know I’ve learnt so much.

My time as Editor has been such a horizon expanding experience, to coin a phrase. I’ve certainly had some knocks along the way, like any new role, job, or responsibility. And there’s still (by my estimation) three weeks left.

I’m hoping the challenges keep coming and that I can keep hurdling them. Should I stumble, though, I know there’s plenty of people in my corner to come pick me up again and dust me off.

I’ve struggled in the past with mental health issues like depression and anxiety and learning to live with those things presented its own challenges, too. I look back on how far I’ve come, and I want you all to look back on how far you’ve come in your own personal journeys.

We should all take a moment in our day to just reflect on how we got here, who helped us, and where we want to be. There’s one thing we should always strive for: to be better than yesterday.

Stick with me here: there’s a line from BoJack Horseman that I always think of.

One character says to BoJack: “It gets easier. Every day it gets a little easier. But you got to do it every day. That's the hard part. But it does get easier."

In that instance, he’s talking about running, but he’s not really; take it as being about life.

Whatever you’re doing, keep the momentum. Keep doing it every day because it gets easier. One foot in front of the other. And if you haven’t begun, there’s no time like the present.

Declan

Quote Of The Week:

“It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.” – J.R.R Tolkien

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The more than 41,500 people visiting the Big Mango Visitor Information Centre and the information booth at Bowen’s front Beach in the past financial year can pick up a copy of the new Bowen and Collinsville Visitor Guide.

The guide was recently launched by Bowen Tourism and Business and is currently being distributed to Visitor Information Centres in Queensland as well as some in NSW.

It is a complete guide to Bowen and Collinsville with sections on where to eat, where to stay and what to do.

The business is hoping its new guide will capitalises on those visitors and the further 1,100 that passed through the centre in the first week of this financial year.

Manager of Bowen Tourism and Business, Leanne Abernethy, said those numbers are not expected to slow down any time soon with data showing strong forward bookings for accommodation providers in Bowen in coming months.

“We’re noticing the number of overseas visitors had been increasing each month since the opening of the international borders,” she said.

“In January this year, we only had 10 international visitors for the entire month but in June, we welcomed 177 people from overseas.”

The guide includes maps of Bowen and Collinsville as well as a regional map of the Whitsundays.

There is also a farming map with a QR code to be scanned by those looking for farm work.

There is a story about when the Big Mango was stolen as part of a publicity stunt and about the movie “Australia” being filmed in Bowen when Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman called the town home for several months.

The Summergarden Cinema, Queensland’s longest running movie theatre, is also featured as well as sections on the walking trails and lookouts around Bowen.

Aside from at the centre, it is also available at various business throughout the Whitsundays.

The 60 page A4 full colour guide is also available online by going to www.tourismbowen.com.au and clicking on “Holiday Planner” at the bottom of the home page.

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Bowen Tourism and Business staff Melissa Beuzeville and Beverley Adams reading the new Bowen and Collinsville Visitor Guide

A special council meeting was held on Wednesday this week to appoint a deputy mayor of the Whitsundays, with previous deputy, Mike Brunker, stepping down.

Councillor Brunker is one of six candidates campaigning for the role of mayor, and as such saw it fit to step down so there was no conflict of interest, perceived or real.

Councillor Brunker was filling the role of acting mayor with the office left vacant after now Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox was elected to the federal seat in April.

With there still no current council mayor, the role of deputy takes on status as acting mayor until the election appoints the position after the August 13 vote.

Councillor John Collins was elected to the role in a 6-0 landslide.

Now acting mayor John Collins was first elected as Councillor for Division 3 on Whitsunday Regional Council in 2012 and was returned for his third term at the 2020 Local Government Elections.

He has been a member of the Proserpine community since the age of four, when his family relocated to the region, with his father transferred as the local police sergeant. John completed his schooling at the local St. Catherine’s Catholic Primary School and Proserpine State High School, and currently lives in Proserpine with his wife Jill and four daughters.

“I would like to acknowledge the work of Councillor Brunker, who rang me after the federal election and said he was happy to step down there and then,” Acting Mayor Collins said.

“I’d like to thank him for what he’s done both in the budget and in the past months. Until the election I’m going to be calling upon my fellow councillors to delegate work to them.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their confidence.”

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Councillor John Collins has been voted in as deputy mayor of the Whitsundays this week, giving him the role of acting mayor until a new mayor is sworn in