A statewide wanding blitz saw police search over 450 people for weapons over the weekend in a nation-leading strategy to detect weapons and combat knife crime across Queensland. Here in Mackay police conducted 14 wandings, with no weapons detected. Police Inspector Godbold said that he was pleased with the results. “It was a great result for Mackay,” he said. “We didn’t detect any knives or other weapons.”
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A skydiving instructor was critically injured after impacting heavily with the ground at Laguna Quays Resort near Midge Point on April 16 and has now been flown to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital. Douglas Ball, a 52-year-old skydiving instructor was diving with a group according to police when he “had something go wrong.”
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Orange Sky Mackay is responding to increased demand for their services by adding another evening shift to their roster. With the assistance of another community minded organisation, Team Global Express (TGE), providing a fortnightly barbecue, Orange Sky will welcome friends on every second Wednesday night, starting on Wednesday, April 26.
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Public concern for the future of Mackay Base Hospital’s maternity services mounted this week following reports that the ward could be going into bypass causing patients to be referred to the nearest alternative hospital. Acting Chief Executive Dr Charles Pain was quick to deny these claims, stating that “Mackay Base Hospital has never been on bypass for maternity services and is not at risk of going on bypass”.
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Mountain bikers, rejoice. Three contracts have been awarded for the Pioneer Valley Mountain Bike project, with a total value in excess of $6.25 million, to complete stage one of the project. The approved plans for the major development include 26 trails, a 100-kilometre network of mountain bike trails that navigate Eungella and Sky Window to Finch Hatton, with a 36-kilometre trail to connect Sky Window, Broken River, and Finch Hatton.
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Holy Spirit College, a Catholic co-educational College for Years 7 to 12, welcomes you to their Year 7 in 2024 Information Evening on Thursday 27 April, 5:30pm – 7:30pm. As you learn about the College, there will be family fun activities and a free sausage sizzle.
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A scene of chaos and devastation greeted the volunteers at All Abilities non-for-profit organisation when they entered their Casey Avenue address on Monday morning. They discovered that thieves had “gone through every drawer in the building and emptied out every cupboard” in a destructive rampage which left the usually bustling community centre covered in shattered class and ruined.
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Unmarked burial plots in Mackay have been given plaques and a WWI veteran given official recognition thanks to a family ancestry project. Robert “Bob” James McGill, now a resident of Cairns but born and raised in Mackay, was researching his namesake when he realized his Great Uncle Bob was at rest in an unmarked grave in Mackay Cemetery.
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Preserving the stories of bravery through collecting military memorabilia has been a long running passion for one Moranbah local. ‘Anzac Day 2023’, an eclectic mix of military memorabilia, is on display at the Coalface Art Gallery for the third year running, curated by local military historian Dave Law with assistance from Andrew Tomlinson of the Moranbah RSL Sub-Branch.
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The father of five World War II veterans has been honoured with a headstone 76 years after his passing, unifying a family to reflect on his life and contribution. John Patton passed away on April 12, 1947, and was buried at Mackay Cemetery in an unmarked grave. John had eight children, five of which served various theatres of World War II, with one being killed in action.
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It’s an Australian first that could prove Mackay’s future to be in the safest of hands. 21 Mackay residents between the ages of 11 and 17 are campaigning to be on the Mackay region’s Youth Council, with Mackay Regional Council being the first in Australia to partner with Foundation for Young Australians and adopt the Young Mayors program.
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After months of fundraising, grants and community support, Safe Sleep Mackay excitedly announced that funding has been secured for Mackay’s first sleepbus. With 20 beds onboard, televisions, toilets, charging facilities and storage, sleepbus promises a safe and restful night’s sleep for those who have nowhere else to go.
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Talented Mackay dancers Ruby Meares and Eva Bishop experienced a huge thrill recently when they participated in specialised classes at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne and Queensland Ballet Academy in Brisbane.
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For the past two years, Naomi Tickle has been leading workshops on smart eating and healthy cooking, and in 2020 she became a Country Kitchens program facilitator. This year, Naomi is one of three program facilitators to receive the Facilitator of the Year award, given to individuals who have completed outstanding contributions to the Country Kitchens program. Country Kitchen is a partnership between the Queensland Country Women’s Association and Health and Wellbeing Queensland, supporting Quee
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Locals will not be able to access Bluewater Lagoon this coming winter, with plans to repair the lining confirmed. Mackay Regional Council has announced the schedule for the refurbishment of Bluewater Lagoon, with the tender awarded to Aquatic Project Solutions. This project with encompass two winter periods, 2023 and 2024, with the 2023 winter seeing the repair of the children’s pool.
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For 25 years, Crossroad Arts has been developing the sphere of celebrating communities, have embraced equity, diversity, and confidence, through collaborative arts. And, for 2023, the Annual Giving Program has taken a turn, with ReNew Mackay vowing to match donations, dollar for dollar, up to $5,000, until June 30. “Supporting things in Mackay, from a financial point of view, is easy,” ReNew Mackay Director, Craig Percival, said.
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Since its inception in 2018, the Mackay region has returned over 174 million containers using the Containers for Change program, and now Sarina is seeing the opening of a brand-new depot in the community. With over six billion containers returned through the Queensland program across the state, this new depot opens opportunities for locals to recycle their drink containers and earn some extra money at the same time.
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Often associated with big cowboy hats, shiny belt buckles, noisy boots and country music, line dancing has seen a resurgence around Mackay and Deb Wookey is one person bringing it to the fore. Teaching around 10 classes a week across Mackay, Sarina and Walkerston, Deb has had to expand her schedule to accommodate for the growing demand. She’s been teaching line dancing in Mackay for just over a year, with Mackay Line Dancers celebrating their first birthday earlier in 2023.
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The township of Walkerston - with a population of 3615, 50% male, 50% female; according to 2021 census - is named for John Walker who was a plantation manager in the Walkerston/Homebush area. Walkerston - affectionately known as ’Scrubby’, from the then scrubby terrain of the creek banks - is situated approximately 10 kilometres west of Mackay (Central Queensland, Australia).
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Federal Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox is calling the Federal Government’s safeguard mechanism a “Carbon Tax 2.0,” claiming it will impact the livelihoods of the region’s resource workers, especially farmers. The safeguard mechanism reforms – which passed both houses on March 30 this year – requires large-scale industrial emitters to reduce their carbon emissions intensity by 4.9 per cent per annum, to achieve a 205-million tonne greenhouse gas reduction by 2030.
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A global trend of “capital to regional” migration during the pandemic has continued in Australia as new figures show city dwellers moving countryside – could this be a boost for Mackay’s aging agricultural industry? This quarter’s Regional Movers Index reported migration from major cities to regional centres remained higher than pre-COVID levels and had even increased from the height of the pandemic by 16 per cent.
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If you’ve tried home brew before you may have some horrible memories, and for good reason. Maybe it’s my mid-life crises. I recall my dad home brewing in Adelaide as a youngster. While not being able to taste it because of my age, I was part of the clean-up of exploding bottles in the shed, and at the time I had no idea why. What beer is actually made from is extremely simple, but I’d love to go back a few thousand years and see how a civilization worked out how to make the stuff. Was it luck
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At first glance I am a boring creature of habit who has a predictable life with very little variation in what I do, where I go, who I see and the businesses I use. That may still be true after the second glance. And the third. I prefer to think that I am loyal. But it’s not blind loyalty, rather it’s loyalty that has been earned and deserved.
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Platypus Beach, the Pioneer Valley Rail Trails and the Finch Hatton Mountain bike trail town are the ideas of three separate locals that found a councillor to champion their idea and present the idea to council for consideration.
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Individuals working within the agricultural industry will soon have the opportunity to up-skill their ag-tech knowledge thanks to a new pilot scheme. Expressions of interest are currently open to participate in The AgTech Skills Hub Pilot Program which has been under development since early 2022.
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