TGIF! Friday Social Drinks at the Hall

Our monthly Social Drinks evening is THIS coming Friday, October 4th at the Community Hall. The bar opens at 6pm. Come and mingle and catch up on the latest. Locals and visitors alike are all welcome. Bring a plate of nibbles to share.

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Also, don’t forget there is no working bee this Saturday but if you’re available 8am Sunday morning, meet Wilfred at the hall to help set up for the Sunday Spring Markets. Many hands make light work.

The Paluma Spring Markets needs YOU!

The final market of the year, the Paluma Spring Markets, is fast approaching and will be held on Sunday October 6th. This is a call-out for Paluma’s Kitchen Rockstars to rumble, roll and rock-out some home made goodies to sell for our community’s (PDCA) fund raising.

Also, there will not be a working bee as usual on Saturday 5th BUT, Wilfred would greatly appreciate a hand in getting the hall and bbq set up and ready for the markets on Sunday. Please be at the hall by 8am, Sunday 6th.

If you are interested in doing some baking and donating your goods for sale at the Paluma Spring 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 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. (If you get your the name of your item and list of ingredients to Anneshka, she will print them on sticky labels for you! But please, don’t leave this to the last minute).
  3. 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).
  4. Please add a price sticker to your goods, with what you think is a fair and reasonable price for your baked delights. We can provide price stickers if needed.
  5. Please deliver your goods to the Community Hall on Sunday morning 6th October at 8.30 AM (for a 9 am market start).
  6. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!😊

If you have any questions or need any further information, please contact Wilfred Karnoll by email: Wilfred.suzanne@bigpond.com or phone 0447822626

Previous cake stalls have been a roaring success. Any and all contributions are very much appreciated.

Spring has sprung in Paluma

So many beautiful blooms are all around our village at the moment. From the colour and variety in the carefully tended gardens to the surprise orchid finds in the forest. Such a season of colour and spectacle in this little village.


A little addendum to the previous post: “Paluma…NQ’s Blue Zone’.
After a couple of conversations, I was made aware I had wrongly assumed that all readers of the post would know what a ‘Blue Zone’ is and why one could consider Paluma had the potential to meet some of the criteria of a ‘Blue Zone’. The phrase ‘Blue Zone’ was introduced by Michel Poulain, Dan Buettner and Giovanni Mario Pes when investigating people around the world living longer and better. They developed BLUE ZONES as a brand and certification mark and with a team of medical researchers, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists found nine evidence-based common elements across those geographic areas that had these thriving centenarians.

And if you’re wondering, no, Australia does not have any BLUE ZONES however, Paluma has the potential for its residents to engage several of the common elements. If you’re interested to know more you can click on this link, BLUE ZONES.

The Paluma PDCA offers a range of opportunities to feel part of a community whilst contributing to its and your own health. We realise it isn’t easy when there are so many demands on your time and many of us value Paluma as our respite, not a workplace. However, if and whenever you’re able, supporting the working bees, the History Project, social events, markets and other significant village events allows your PDCA to care for our village and it’s assets, as well as raise funds to help with this. Any time and skills you can donate is valued and much appreciated and we’re sure you’ll feel good too as you’ve helped top up the community kitty.

Photo by Jamie Oliver.


‘How do these funds get used?’ you may ask. All spending is approved first through the PDCA executive committee. There are ongoing costs such as payment of hall maintenance bills, power bills, payment for the hosting of this website, hall landscaping and renewable supplies required for cleaning, the bar and catering. Recent spending this year saw the installation of new 40km signs throughout the village, updating of items in the First aid kit in the hall, the new gravel installed in the parking area out front of the hall, new entryway mats for the hall and even a fire pit for use at community social events. So as you can see, your PDCA funds work for you, the village resident.

Photos by Jill Meads.

Our next PDCA event is the Spring Markets in October which will be on Sunday 6th. Immediately following the markets, at 1pm, there will be a dedication ceremony for the naming of the Hylands’ Rainforest Walk. Our local councillor, and Deputy Mayor of Townsville, Paul Jacobs, will be there. Please feel free to come along to this village event.

This is an early heads up also for our Paluma Kitchen Rockstars – old and new – for baked goods, preserves, etc as well Volunteers for the sausage sizzle and PDCA stall holders for the Spring Markets. Let Wilfred, Anneshka or myself know if you’re available. There will be another post that will provide details regarding the bake stall.
If you’re wishing to have your own table/stall at the October markets, don’t forget you can contact Wilfred on 0447822626.

Text: J. Poletto Images: J. Poletto unless otherwise stated.

September Working Bee 🐝

Our next Paluma working bee 🐝 will be THIS coming Saturday September 7th.
We will meet at the Community Hall at 2pm. We will be cleaning up Hyland’s track, including: leaf blowing on board walks, using the last of the gravel and tidying up that end of the track.
Also, a focus on cleaning up Loop road including vegetation  over the retaining wall. The Cairns birdwing butterfly vine on the hall verandah is in need of a tidy up and trim for anyone wishing to work in the shade.
Bring equipment you think would be useful in the completion of all these tasks. Most importantly, bring your willing hands and smile.

Drinks to follow on the hall verandah at 4pm.

Reminder: Paluma Games Night this coming Saturday

Don’t forget to come along to our annual Games Night this Saturday August 17th hosted by Peter & Dorothy Klumpp.

Peter has been at work planning out the evening and he will be introducing some new games as well as a secret new pre-games event that should add some fun and a twist to the games. Come along and join us for a meal and a raucous night that will test your skills and coordination.

Games Night – Paluma’s mini Olympics are coming up on August 17th

Our Master of Games, Peter Klump has announced the next Paluma Games Night starting at 6pm on Saturday August 17th at the Community Hall.

The evening will start with a sausage sizzle dinner ($3.00) at 6:00 pm with the bar also open for the purchase of drinks and Linda’s famous mulled wine. By 7:oo pm, the teams of two will have been announced and the various games will commence. These will include darts, indoor bowls, ping pong, and soccer pinball to name a few.

Previous years have proved a great success with lots of friendly participation mixed with bouts of enthusiastic competition. There are probably a few residents looking to topple the previous winners in some categories so the spirits will be high. Hope to see you there!

August Working Bee 🐝

Our next Paluma working bee 🐝 will be THIS coming Saturday August 3rd.
We will meet at the Community Hall at 2pm. We will be spreading gravel along the parking area at the front of the hall so please don’t park there. Bring a wheelbarrow, shovel and steel rake if you have these items. All good if not, most importantly, bring your willing hands and smile. Drinks to follow on the hall verandah at 4pm.

TGIF! Social Drinks On At The Hall


Our monthly Social Drinks evening is THIS coming Friday, August 2nd at the Community Hall. The bar opens at 6pm. Come and mingle and catch up on the latest. Locals and visitors alike are all welcome. The darts board will be set up so you can hone your darts skills in preparation for our upcoming Games Night. Nibbles to share are always welcome.

YES! There ARE Cassowaries Around Paluma.

… AND there’s visual proof collected from camera traps set up in a range of places in the forests in the Paluma Range area. Please read Wren Mclean’s (project leader and researcher) update on data recently analysed.

A multi-year study of the cassowary across Paluma Range is underway and has returned some exciting early results with images of at least 7 individual birds so far.  On the tail end of the Wet Tropics, the Paluma Range holds the most southern population of these iconic, cryptic, assertive and very cool birds. These ancient ratites are the original rainforest gardeners, having evolved to their current form 50 million years ago!  They have spent that valuable time in symbiosis with the rainforest, consuming the fruits and dispersing the seeds of rainforest plants.  They depend on the rainforest and the rainforest depends on them.

A male cassowary captured on one of the ‘camera traps’ in the Paluma Range.

Having lost a majority of their rich fruiting lowland rainforest habitat to human endeavours, sadly, our much-loved Southern Cassowary is an endangered species. Some inhabit poorer fruiting high altitude forests and those that remain on the lowlands are susceptible to road strike, dog attack, pig competition and the challenges of habitat fragmentation.

We can rejoice that cassowaries are breeding in the Paluma Range with a pair of stripy chicks accompanying their Papa in November and two young sub-adults travelling together in December 2023.

We know cassowaries here are in low density but was this always the case? More information will help us put the pieces of the jigsaw together to understand their seasonal habitat use, whether there are threats we don’t understand and actions we can take to secure cassowaries for the long-term.

There’s cassowaries in dem dere hills, but are they using the lowlands and coastal vine thickets? A citizen science program is calling out for any historical or current sightings or signs of cassowaries from on, or below the Paluma Range.

Two sub-adult cassowaries captured on a ‘camera trap’ in the Paluma Range area.

Please record your sightings on this URL https://arcg.is/1vjLaq  or by scanning this QR code.