A reminder to all interested Paluma residents that Colwyn Campbell will host a Watercolour & Wine Workshop at 4 pm on Saturday 21 August 2021 at the Community Hall.
If you are planning to attend this fun workshop, please contact Colwyn in the coming week to RSVP your attendance. The number of attendees is required so that Colwyn can arrange materials for the Workshop – paints, brushes and paper, etc. If you have some of your own materials, please bring these along.
Process: The listed items are made available for sale by Paluma Environmental Education Centre via Sale by inviting offers (tender) process. Offers must be submitted on the attached Sale by Inviting Offers document.
Timeline: Offers will be accepted from Monday 9nd August to 3pm Friday, 13th August 2021. No offers will be accepted after this date. The person submitting the successful offer will be notified as early as possible from Monday, 16th August 2021 and then invoiced. Once an invoice has been raised, payment by Bpoint or EFT is preferred. Payment should be finalised prior to collection of goods no later than Friday 20th August 2021. Delivery charges are the responsibility of the purchaser.
Tenders must be submitted via email to: Gail Gannon – Business Manager, Paluma Environmental Education Centre, admin@palumaeec.eq.edu.au
Condition and Inspection of Goods: Goods are offered on an “as is” basis only. Goods can be inspected by arrangement with the Barry Smith, Unit Support Officer from Monday, 9 August 2021. Please phone Barry on 07 – 4770 8528 to arrange inspection
After the Sale: No warranty or backup service is available, either implied or stated. Paluma Environmental Educational Centre cannot and will not provide any support either by way of parts or expertise after items have been removed from the centre.
Conditions: The Department of Education reserves the right not to accept an offer and may set a reserve price. Whilst all care has been taken, the Department of Education disclaims all liability for loss or damage to person or property arising from the removal of the items for offer.
Last Saturday (July 31st) there was a great turnout of locals to the gardening working bee at the Community Hall. Graham Pope brought his mini-tractor along and quickly ensured that the huge pile of mulch near the kiosk was distributed among the Trees of Memory and along the freshly weeded garden beds around the Community Hall. With over a dozen pairs of hands, the mulching was quickly finished and we then got to work digging trenches for a new irrigation system for the garden beds. Using a hose and a piece of conduit to create a channel under one of the concrete paths resulted in a few muddy hands and trousers but we soon got the piping laid and the earth and turf replaced into the trenches. While all this was going on some of the group carried out a bit of vegetation trimming along the road.
As soon as the work was complete it was time for the Paluma Push Thankyou Drinks and BBQ hosted by Paluma RFS. This was a great success, although it’s hard to fail when the drinks and food are free!
Before everyone got down to eating we were very fortunate to have Felicity and Josh from the Mt Zero -Taravale Sanctuary gave a very informative talk on the great work being done by the Wildlife Nature Conservancy just down the road from Paluma. The new $1.5 million project to build a predator-free safe-haven for the endangered northern bettong was a highlight of the talk. Judging by the number of questions flying during and after the talk it was clear that their work generated a lot of interest and possibly some new volunteers to help out.
After the meal, Sam Stedman from Outerlimits gave a brief talk on the outstanding success of this year’s Paluma Push and highlighting near-record number of participants, the quality of the challenging tracks, and the funds raised for our local SES and Rural Fire Services. He presented substantial cheques (both in size and dollars) to the two RFS branches and the SES, and expressed his gratitude to all the volunteers who helped to make this year’s push such a success.
Paluma is one of the wettest places in north Queensland (see post from 2019) and most residents take an active interest in annual, if not monthly or daily rainfall records around the village. After many years of faithfully recording official daily rainfalls at the Ivy Cottage, Ian Marshall is no longer able to fulfil this volunteer role. Many thanks to Ian and Sandy for performing this important and valued service to Paluma.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) originally decided to close the official Ivy Cottage rainfall station after they received notice that observations were no longer able to be provided. However, after repeated representations from several Paluma residents, the BOM has agreed to relocate the rain gauge to the village green while keeping the old “station identification” so that a continuous record going back to 1969 is maintained.
Our new rain gauge on the Village Green
The Paluma Environmental Education Centre (PEEC) has agreed that Barry Smith will officially take on responsibility for recording daily rainfall from our new gauge during normal workdays. On weekends Colwyn Campbell has agreed to take the readings. Thanks to both of them for agreeing to take this on!
There will still occasionally be times (especially over the summer holidays) when neither Barry nor Colwyn will be available to take readings. We are therefore seeking additional “backup volunteers” who are willing to be called when needed. If you are interested in helping us keep a continuous official rainfall record for Paluma please contact Jamie. He will draw up a list of residents who can be called on when needed.
Yellow Pittosporum (Pittosporum revolutum) is also known as Hairy Pittosporum, Brisbane Laurel and Lemon-fruit Pittosporum, the tree is a member of the family Pittosporaceae. World-wide there are up to 200 species of Pittosporum; 16 species within Australia with six occurring in Tropical Queensland.
The name derives from pitys (pine or resin) and spora (seed), referring to the sticky seeds. Revolutum derives from revolutus, (rolled back) referring to the leaf margin.
Yellow Pittosporum usually remains a shrub, growing to around 3 metres but occasionally will grow to a small tree. There are separate male and female plants. Yellow Pittosporum occurs naturally from Queensland to Victoria in rainforests as well as in wet sclerophyll country at altitudes up to 1100 metres. It is an attractive shrub, eye-catching when bearing its bright orange or yellow fruit.
Yellow Pittosporum leaves are simple, alternate or opposite; they have wavy edges and are clustered towards the ends of branches, making them appear whorled. Leaf size can be 50 -220 mm x 15 – 70 mm. The upper side is slightly hairy but the underside is covered with dense, rusty hairs. Small scale-leaves are usually present. Lateral veins on the leaf curve well inside the lateral margin, forming distinct loops. Small white or brown lenticels (small raised, corky areas) are usually visible on the twigs.
Fragrant, yellow flowers are carried on axillary or terminal umbels or racemes during August to October. They are partly tubular, opening to five petals. The calyx can be green, yellow, red, purple or brown.
The yellow to orange fruit capsules appear from April to July. The capsules are warty or lumpy surfaced, about 12-25 mm x 11-21 mm in size and may be two or three valved. These carry 20 to 76 red, sticky seeds.
The seeds are eaten by Satin Bower-birds and Figbirds while the flowers attract bees, butterflies and other insects. Although the seeds are bitter it is known that they were eaten by Aborigines. Uses for the plant range from hedges and screening, erosion control (it germinates readily and is fast-growing), and for fragrant oils.
Fruit, Seeds and Flowers of Pittosporum revolutum (photos by Russel Cumming on Flickr.com)
Around Paluma, I have found the Yellow Pittosporum growing in the re-vegetation area just outside the village and among the plants along the roadsides. Flowering could be any time now, and there may be some late fruit clinging to the branches, so keep a lookout for this attractive plant.
On Saturday, August 7th, Paluma will host a “Freedom of Entry Parade” to celebrate the decommissioning of the HMAS Paluma (IV), a Navy hydrographic survey vessel that is (indirectly) the source from which our village got its name.
The original Paluma in ca 1890
Paluma IV ca 2010
When the vessel was originally commissioned in 1989 it was granted “freedom of the city” of Thuringowa at Paluma. This included an official ceremony in which armed navy officers marched into Paluma, where challenged by Police and, on producing an official scroll that authorised their entry, were formally granted permission to continue marching through the village. Following other formalities and speeches, refreshments were served and there was a cricket match between the Navy and villagers that was handily won by the village!
Some three decades later the HMAS is now to be decommissioned and the Navy has suggested that one final march through city would be a fitting part of its final days in service. It promises to be quite a spectacle!
The ceremony and parade will be similar to the one in 1989 and all residents are invited to attend as spectators. The event will start at 11am. Food and refreshment will be provided afterwards at the Community Hall.
The original vessel that Paluma was named after was a gunboat built in 1884 in response to a perceived threat to the colony of Queensland from the Russians. Upon its arrival in 1885 its defence capabilities were considered redundant and it was converted into a hydrographic survey vessel. During its early surveys, it named the northern extension of Hervey Range as the Paluma Range. Our village was subsequently named after the mountain range it is embedded in. There have been four vessels bearing the name Paluma. The most recent is the HMAS Paluma (IV)
For a more detailed and highly readable account of the history of all the Paluma vessels, Linda Venn’s book on “Paluma, the first 80 years” has a section dedicated to this topic. You can read this section here.
The Paluma Rural Fire Brigade would like to thank all volunteers who helped during the Paluma Push by hosting a BBQ and drinks at the Community Hall on Saturday July 31, at 4pm.
This year’s Push was a great success due, in no small part, to the wonderful effort of the many volunteers who help to man checkpoints and attend to various logistical tasks leading up to the event. We hope you will be able to come along for a drink and a feed as a token of our appreciation.
There is a huge pile of garden mulch at the Community Centre which we would like to move onto garden beds and other more useful areas. Also, a bit of weeding and planting in the garden bed wouldn’t go astray. So if you would like to help out, we are planning a working bee the Saturday after next, from 2pm to 4pm.
If you would like to help out in beautifying our Village Green and Community Hall surrounds please come along.
This will be followed by a BBQ hosted by the Paluma Rural Fire Brigade to thank all volunteers who helped out during the Paluma Push.
The twentieth anniversary of the “Paluma Push” was different for all the right reasons. Sam Stedman and Aline of “Outer Limits” are to be heartily congratulated for masterminding the operation, but one must also say that it would not have been possible but for all the various helpers who were involved both before, on, and after the day of the race.
The principal difference was the holding of the race on a Saturday [July 17th] instead of a Sunday, as in all previous years. This permitted the Saturday evening to host a huge party at Hidden Valley Cricket Oval right at the race finish.
It was also a most beautiful sunny winter day, although there were a lot of water issues, many of them on the Paluma Dam Road which is in a deplorable condition. It was repaired in November but with material that did not stand up to the Paluma wet season and was studded with deep water filled potholes and gullies through a great deal of its length.
In the Community Hall a collection of 15 of the 20 “Paluma Push” tee shirts over the years was mounted and so much admired that it was moved to Hidden Valley for Saturday night.
The race start was on Smith Crescent in Paluma and there were five categories this year. The new one was the 100km “Crazy Course” with an extra 20km “Mt Fox Loop” at the last part of the race. There was the normal 70km and a 53km course divided between e-bikes and mountain bikes. The popular 42km Recreation Course was well supported. There were almost 650 competitors and although there were mechanical problems there were only two injuries one of which was sustained riding back on the road from Hidden Valley to Paluma after the race!
There were three electronic mats in use recording the competitors passage at Checkpoints 1, 4 and 6 reducing the number of volunteer manual number takers and improving accuracy. For the detailed results and times go to the Outer Limits website and look for: palumapushresults.
The Hidden Valley Cricket Oval was in use for camping on Friday night, but on Saturday it was transformed into a party ground with the bar run by the PDCA, three food outlets and the band “Shots Fired” providing music for dancing and created a good ambience for the really huge number of competitors, volunteers and others who seemed to all be having a great time especially those sitting around the very large bonfire that was kept blazing.
This is but a brief overview of this remarkable event but it hopefully conveys what an outstanding event the 20th “Paluma Push” was.
This is a notice to all friends and colleagues of Bill White. There will be a farewell wake held for Bill at the Herbert Hotel (102 Sturt Street in the CBD) on Saturday 24 July between 2 pm and 4 pm. All welcome to attend.
