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Bumper Easter Market at Paluma

It was a big Easter at Paluma with lots of visitors to the village, both day visitors and campers who stayed on for a few days. The local accommodation was fully booked and reports are that the camp ground at the Paluma Dam was at capacity. There were certainly a lot of people out and about enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather and all that Paluma has to offer.

The Sunday Easter Market was a roaring success. There were queues several times throughout the morning at the Sausage Sizzle and all stall holders reported excellent trade. The fundraising efforts for the PDCA on the day were outstanding.

The Sausage Sizzle alone raised over $630.00 and thanks go to Don, Leslie, Anneshka and Jill for keeping everyone fed. Lynda made the delicious coleslaw for the BBQ. Jill was a roving volunteer who popped up everywhere and between herself and Colin the coffee/tea stall raised $80.00. Stella’s contribution of freshly baked scones with jam and cream were a delicious addition to the coffee/tea stall, giving people the opportunity to enjoy a Paluma-style version of ‘Devonshire tea’.

The Paluma Bakers Stall made a record profit of some $454.00. Once again the Kitchen Goddesses of the village excelled themselves with their efforts. Eleven ladies baked to their hearts content to produce a huge variety of cakes, slices, biscuits and other sweet treats. Anneshka and Bronwyn deserve special mention as they both went above and beyond. Anneshka donated a huge variety of goods including freshly baked hot-cross buns. Bronwyn’s gluten free options and very glamorous baked treats sold like’ hot-cakes’ and were all snapped up early in the day. Thanks to the following ladies for their outstanding and very generous contributions for the cake stall – Stella, Ros, Bronwyn, Jill, Anneshka, Julia, Jan, Lynn, Michele, Bobbie and Jennie. Charlie ran the cake stall, assisted by Michele.

Other funds were raised on the day from an Easter raffle run by Wilfred. The raffle raised over $140.00 and the Easter egg and chocolate-filled food hamper was won by ‘Jessie’, a visitor to the village staying at one of the cottages on Mt Spec Road. Con the Fruiterer (aka Wilfred) raised $165.00 from the sale of produce (pineapples and bananas, etc). Les and Lynn report that the Paluma History (books and card sales) raised $240.00. Peter and Jan ran the book stall for fund-raising for the Paluma Rural Fire Brigade.

The overall success of the Paluma Easter Market and the impressive fundraising for the community is possible due to the generous contribution of time from the many volunteers in planning, setting up and cleaning up on the day. Lynn worked tirelessly and was still at the Community Hall at 3 pm on Sunday. To all of the volunteers from the community, well done and a big thank you!

And a similar big thank you to all those residents and their visiting friends and families who stopped in at the market to buy a sausage sizzle, some baked goods for morning/afternoon tea and to shop at the numerous stalls. Your support is greatly appreciated. Well done Paluma!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Free Workout at Paluma this Saturday

A reminder that there is a Free Workout on offer this Saturday afternoon 8th April – otherwise known as a Paluma Working Bee. Many hands make light work and there are always plenty of jobs to do around the village to keep things maintained and looking beautiful.

If you have a couple of hours to spare this Saturday afternoon, please meet at the Community Hall at 2 pm. Everyone is welcome.

It will be a great opportunity to work-off those extra Easter calories from chocolates and hot-cross buns and working outside in the fresh Paluma mountain air is always good for the mind and body.

A free beverage is on offer after the work is completed.

Rooster Ramblings….

There is no doubt that the Rooster on the Range Road has been the talk of the town over the past few months since he first appeared along the roadway at culvert 147 or thereabouts. I can’t recall the number of times I’ve been asked or have heard people remarking, ‘have you seen the rooster lately’?

Well, now some of Paluma’s local artists and craftspeople have taken inspiration from the wee Rooster. Jennie recently painted a portrait of the feisty fowl in all his splendour. She took inspiration from a photo taken by the Cooke’s in early January soon after the Rooster took up residence on the Range.

Ros and Jennie are now planning to transfer the image of the Rooster to coffee cups/mugs for sale at the upcoming Easter Market. Other images of birds native to Paluma are also being transferred to mugs from photos taken by local residents. The Riflebird will be featured as one of Paluma’s iconic native birds. Make sure you check out the Paluma-inspired crafts at this Sunday’s market stalls.

The ‘Portrait of a Rooster’ has already been sold and now hangs on the kitchen wall in a local Paluma residence.

Text & Photo by Michele Bird (no relation to the Rooster).

Ramp Reno’s Completed

Following on from last week’s post about the Ramp Renovations at the Community Hall, the new ramp is now installed and completed. The fine weather last weekend meant that the hard work to build the new ramp took place as planned. We have numerous volunteers to thank for their hard work on this project including Wilfred, Colin, Jamie and Don. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a few photos of the new ramp. Be sure to thank our dedicated volunteers in person next time you see them round the village!

Text by Michele Bird with Photos courtesy of Jill and Colin Meads

Ramp Reno’s at the Community Hall

In recent days you will have noticed that the Community Hall entrance-way has been cordoned off with hi-vis barrier netting. This is because the old wooden ramp to the front entrance of the Hall was removed last Sunday. To gain entry to the Hall at the moment you will need to undertake a rather impressive long jump of several metres on an incline ……….just joking people, please don’t try this!!

The removal of the old ramp was completed last weekend in preparation for the installation of a new improved ramp. The old wooden ramp had seen better days with some of the boards starting to rot and the aged timber was becoming very slippery when wet. The new ramp is to be made from flash new plastic boards to be installed next weekend. I have been reliably informed that the new ramp will be in place by the end of next weekend, weather permitting of course.

The renovations are being carried out by a team of dedicated volunteers. We need to thank Colin, Wilfred and Jamie for their hard work in renovating the ramp to ensure safe and reliable access to our beloved Community Hall.

Work in progress to remove the old wooden ramp.
Work in progress to remove the old wooden ramp.
Careful planning and deliberations on the job (otherwise known as having a rest).
The hall entrance way ready for the new ramp to be installed.

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Upcoming Events in April & Call for Volunteers

April is shaping up as a busy month in the village of Paluma. Here’s a reminder about some dates to put in the diary.

Firstly, Wilfred would like to advise everyone that the next Working Bee has been rescheduled to Saturday 8th April (Easter Saturday) at 2 pm. The change of date is to avoid double-bookings with other community events. Meet as usual outside the Community Hall and then teams of volunteers will be deployed for various jobs and projects such as continuing work on the Rainforest Walking Track steps, pruning and tree removal at the Hall and maintenance jobs at the Hall, etc.

The PDCA AGM will be held on Saturday 1st April. The event commences with a FREE BBQ for residents at 12 noon, followed by the meeting at 1 pm. Come along to have your say and/or to nominate for a position on the PDCA Executive Committee. Everyone is welcome.

The Paluma Easter Market will be held on Sunday 9th April from 9 am to 1 pm. We have already put the call-out for cooks and bakers to donate goods for sale, but as always other volunteers are needed for the bbq sausage sizzle, tea/coffee stall and other jobs on the day. If you can spare a few hours to volunteer at the Market please advise one of your friendly PDCA committee members.

Red-browed Finch

Red-browed finches (Neochmia temporalis) are a relatively common sight around village gardens at Paluma, mostly in open areas on lawns – especially when the lawn gets a bit long and there are seed heads. They are often seen feeding on the ground where there are crimson rosellas also feasting on grass seeds. They are said to feed on both native and non-native grass seeds. They are a beautiful and distinctive small finch easily recognised by their bright red eyebrow, red rump and red beak with otherwise olive green and grey plumage. If disturbed they will quickly fly away into dense undergrowth where they are hard to spot. They are also hard to photograph as they are fast-moving little birds and they don’t sit still. The two photos below have been reproduced from the Birdlife Australia website.

Red-browed finches (Photos from Birdlife Australia website).

Over the past couple of weekends (about 8 days) I have been lucky enough to watch the progress of a pair of very busy red-browed finches building their nest in close proximity to my place. The finishing touches to the nest were being made late last Sunday afternoon and one of the birds had taken to sitting in the nest – perhaps eggs had already been laid?

The nest is located in the high crown of a native tree fern in an open (garden) area. Birdlife Australia describes the red-browed finch nest as “a large domed nest with a side entrance, woven from grass and small twigs. Nests are usually built 2 to 3 metres above the ground in dense shrubs”. This description is entirely accurate for the nest I have observed. The photo below shows the (largely) completed nest in the top of the tree fern, dome-shaped and with a small rounded entrance. The entrance faces westerly away from the prevailing winds and rain in that particular location/micro-climate. Clever little finches!

According to my research, both parents share the nest-building (which I also observed), the incubation of eggs and feeding of the young. Four to six white eggs are laid per clutch two to three times per year, mainly between October and April. Juveniles are said to be fully independent within 28 days. I look forward to observing the nesting process and hopefully the fledging of some new little red-browed finches in the coming month.

Text & Photo (of tree fern nest) by Michele Bird

Call-Out to Paluma Bakers for the Easter Market

The Paluma Easter Market is fast approaching on Sunday 9th April and so this is a call-out for Paluma’s amazing cooks to donate some baked goods to sell for community (PDCA) fund raising.

If you are interested in doing some baking and donating your goods for sale at the Easter Market then please read on…..

Here’s what to do:-

  1. Please divide your baked goods into small batches for sale. We suggest batches of 2, 4 or 6 individual pieces as this has worked well at previous markets.
  2. Please plate the goods (in batches) and secure with glad wrap or suitable packaging. (We have previously used paper plates and glad wrap and this works well).
  3. Please add a sticker or other suitable label outlining the contents of your baked goods. You will need to add this label to EVERY individual batch of goods. This is required for health & safety reasons.
  4. Please add a price sticker to your goods, with what you think is a fair and reasonable price for your baked delights.
  5. Please deliver your goods to the Community Hall on Sunday morning 9th April at 8.30 AM (for a 9 am market start).

If you have any questions or need any further information, please contact Lynn Hyland by phone or email:- leshyland@icloud.com

Previous cake stalls have been a roaring success, so please contribute if you can for the upcoming Easter Market.