Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
Bowen Community Council and Federal Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox planted the first of a garden’s worth of trees at Cooinda Family Centre last Thursday, March 16. A small contingent of local families and dignitaries gathered for the tree planting ceremony which commemorated Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second’s Platinum Jubilee and was funded through a Queensland State Government Program.
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Staff members from Bowen’s The Grand View Hotel shaved their noggins and chins last Sunday for the World’s Greatest Shave annual charity event which raises funds for Australian families currently facing blood cancer. The ‘Shavees’ – Peter O’Toole, Brett Crich, Aaron “Pumba”, Andrew Jackson, Stephen Knight, and Stephen Sherriden – were joined by a few brave patrons who donned the cape and went under the blades, shaving their heads for the good cause and raising a $1077.
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Locals and visitors still have the chance to win $2100 worth of holiday vouchers. The Visitor Information Centre passport competition being run by Tourism Whitsundays in conjunction with Bowen Tourism and Business and Mackay Isaac Tourism is coming to an end. Locals and visitors have until the end of March to visit the information centres in Bowen, Proserpine and Sarina to have the chance to win.
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Pilchers Mitre10 in Bowen is pulling out all the stops in preparation for the Easter Holidays, particularly for those planning family camping trips. The local store has pulled together some ‘Easter Festivities’ for youngsters alongside their ‘Adventure Kings Center’ – a new display for the store’s large selection of outdoor and camping equipment.
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In summer, the Whitsundays becomes a condensed thermal spring. It seems like three-quarters of the earth's water has leapt up from the sea to join the air, and being outside is measured in the time between air conditioning units.
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Ten Indigenous Whitsunday students celebrated their successful receipt of school scholarships as part of continued reparations to the First Nations people of Australia. The cohort of 10 Bowen State High School students were successful in Round 14 of The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF) scholarships this year.
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If you put all the prosaic fantasy stuff into a soup (all the goblins and taverns and caverns, magic whatsits and wyverns and wizards) then served it in the Witch King’s helmet, you’d have this ghoulish goulash they call Dungeons and Dragons. An apocryphal, derivative, generic fantasy thing -that ends up, somehow, surprisingly edible -- in fact, it’s quite delicious.
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Two tantalisingly talented Aussie television darlings of the early and mid-2000s will make a combined eight appearances at The Airlie Beach Hotel across April and May, rolling back the years to when they captured the hearts of the nation as finalists in X-Factor and Australian Idol.
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The Cannonvale Cannons hosted another successful Wednesday Club Night last week before leading into Saturday’s Club Championships. Five Cannons also chased National qualifying times by participating in a time trial in Proserpine, with all making the cut: Jy Parkinson, Jacob Bell, Holly Perrin, Ehsan Helou, and Anisa Helou.
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The Whitsunday Sailing Club’s weekly twilight races were hosted in perfect sailing conditions on Wednesday, with 16 yachts on the water. While the easterly breeze was ideal, it abated during the afternoon, dropping to just four knots by the time the last boats finished.
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Onlookers may have been confused while watching Whitsunday Outriggers Canoe Club participate in ‘Huli’ practice two weeks ago in the Whitsunday waters. The local club embarked from Shingley Beach to New Beach, and whilst in the Pioneer Bay, tipped themselves out of their vessels. Outrigger Club member Paul Tobias said a Huli is essentially when an outrigger capsizes, caused when the outer float leaves the water, rotating 180-degrees.
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The Whitsunday Moto Sports Club held a successful Round 2 of its Club Championships on Saturday, March 18. Great numbers competed in both the club’s Cadet and Senior classes – with brand new karters Luke and Cruz racing for the first time this meeting.
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It was a massive day of darts coming up this weekend for the Airlie Beach Darts Club with the season’s first trophy up for grabs. Round One had valuable Premier League points up for grabs, and the winners advanced to the knockout stages of the Celtic Cup competition.
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A Proserpine bowls player has won gold for his part in Australia’s recent overall win at the International Blind Bowlers Association Championships in Tweed Heads last week. Scott Kinnear, a visually impaired Proserpine local, represented the country in both the Singles and the Pairs B4 Classification for the March 6 to 16 competition – and brought home a Gold Medal to the Whitsundays this week for his efforts.
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This week’s 9-hole stableford was won by Rhys Bartholomew on 24 points, second place went to Chris Bartlett with 19 on a countback, and third Jeff Tovey, also 19. Our Friday 9-hole stableford competition was a great turn out, with the winner, on 24 points, James Millar, followed in second place with 21 points by Tyson Flavel, and third with 20, Kev Francke.
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Proserpine Veteran Golfers fielded some impressive scores despite the oppressively humid conditions last week. Colin Hounsell came in with 37, followed by John Oates, 33, and Trevor Paroz with 32, but the absolute star of the day was in the ladies: Leanne Alexander with an amazing score of 42.
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Tuesday’s Competition at Proserpine Golf Club was won by Leanne Alexander, who showed everyone how to play in Club’s Tuesday Stableford with a very nice score of 42 points. Chris Brett was five points behind on 37, and Nathan Sothmann edged out Karl Kirkwood and Mason Kuchel for third place on 34.
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Wednesday’s competition at Bowen Golf Club was a single stableford event sponsored by the Club with Ladies’ winner Grace Nott. Ms Nott tallied an impressive 35 points, while runner up on a countback was Elona Lynch close behind, 34 points.
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Whilst the senior Men’s Premier sides struggled for numbers and results against Lions on the weekend, the Premier Women continued the winning form with a dominant performance against Mackay Rangers at Rangers Park.
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Wangaratta Bowls Club’s jackpot went off in the game between the teams of Roger Mumby, Kevin Jewell, and Greg Colquhoun, and Deb Retchless, Robyn Stitt, and Linda Smith on Tuesday. Roger’s team were the winners, and in the other game, Tracy Stanford, Sue Shearing, and Marg Wilson defeated Stumpy Adams, Merle Elphinstone, and Lyn Danvers.
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Proserpine Bowls Club launched into its full competition calendar last week with every rink hosting either a social or competitive match-up. On Wednesday, the club hosted social bowls with two games of triples played with very close outcomes.
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H. Wilkinson, Maureen Barnard, and Alan Pershouse had a great social win to start the week off at the Airlie Beach Bowls Club on Tuesday before the afternoon sessions of semi-finals. The semi-finals of the Ladies’ singles was decided and will be played between Ladda Purdie, Betty Nicole, Carol Crosbie, and last year’s champion Henny Tattam.
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The new-look Proserpine Whitsunday Rugby Union (PWRU) Raiders team travelled to Leprechaun Park, Mackay, to face off against multiple teams at the Mackay Brothers home turf in a round-robin preseason carnival.
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It’s been estimated that at least 1,200 people currently experience homelessness in the Mackay region. With local support services at capacity, a group of community-minded people working in the sector have come together to form Safe Sleep Mackay, an initiative dedicated to delivering the region’s first sleepbus.
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The bustling Ports of Hay Point and Mackay are now operating a little smoother thanks to a new 22-seater bus that provides much-needed transport to an on-shore haven where weary seafarers “can relax and enjoy having their feet on land with the grass between their toes”.
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