Alert for Paluma Residents

Paluma residents are advised that there was an attempted break-in at the Rainforest Inn early this week, sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. Screens were removed and/or cut from windows on the laundry and toilet. Fortunately, the would-be thieves did not gain entry.

This is a timely reminder to residents to lock up and stay vigilant for suspicious people and/or activity around our village. We can all become complacent in assuming the village is safe from criminal activity, but it appears not to be the case.

Sincere thanks to those treasured friends and neighbours such as Don and Lynda who mobilised today to check on properties around the village.

This notice has also been posted to the Paluma Community Alert on What’s App. If you are not signed up to receive community alerts, please contact Sonya, Lynda or Michele (the administrators of What’s App Paluma) and they can invite you to join the group. The Alerts are used for important community messages and ‘need to know’ information such as Range Road information (trees down and road issues), Bruce Highway closures, safety issues and other urgent community messages and information.

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.

PDCA AGM – Executive Committee for 2022-23

This year’s Annual General Meeting was well attended with 25 people in attendance. Don Battersby and Lynda Radbone manned the BBQ to provide a lunch beforehand which may have helped to bring in a range of members from around the village.

The AGM minutes will be posted on the Member’s area shortly, together with the President’s Report, Financial Statement and History Project Report.

This year there were advance nominations for two new members of the Committee, who were elected unopposed (Anneshka Brown as Vice-President, and Juanita Poletto as Secretary).

Sarah Swann decided not to run for office this year, and I would like to thank her on behalf of the PDCA for her efforts on several PDCA initiatives and inputs into discussions over the last few years.

The remaining Committee Members agreed to stay on for another year and were elected unopposed. After a call from the floor for other nominations to fill available positions, I am delighted that Leonie Crennan and Linda Whitely agreed to join the committee.

It is great that we start this year with four new faces on the Committee and with the position of Secretary filled after more than two years.

The final composition of the PDCA Committee is listed below.

PresidentJamie Oliver
Vice-PresidentAnneshka Brown
SecretaryJuanita Poletto
TreasurerWilfred Karnoll
Committee Member (SES)Charlie Allen
Committee Member (RFS)Ross Hyne
Committee MemberLyn Hyland
Committee MemberJill Meads
Committee MemberLeonie Crennan
Committee MemberLinda Whitely

If anyone is interested in reading a summary of events and achievements for the year, you can download the President’s Report here.

Jamie Oliver

Koala Workshop at Taravale – April 19th

Did you know that Koalas can be found in the open forests west of Paluma and much of the sclerophyll forests in the eastern Queensland coastal area of north Queensland? If you would like to know more about koalas or share any sightings you have made in the region, The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is hosting a community workshop leading up to some targeted Koala monitoring later this year.

Felicity L’Hotellier, Senior Field Ecologist for the AWC is inviting Paluma residents to attend the workshop on Wednesday, April 19th. The workshop will be hosted on site at Mount Zero-Taravale’s bush camp. The day will kick off at 9am, and wrap up by 3:30pm, with informal discussions throughout the day including a round-table with those in attendance.

Attendees are invited to camp on site (would need to supply their own tents/sleeping gear), with AWC to provide basic catering from the evening of the 18th through until the morning of the 20th. For anyone interested, an evening spotlight drive and a visit to our new feral predator-free exclosure fence is also planned.

This invitation is restricted to Paluma residents and you are asked to register for the workshop before April 10th. To register or obtain further information contact Felicity on 0408084 617 or 4770 8025.

Felicity L’Hotellier, Senior Field Ecologist
Mobile. 0408 084 617 Phone. 07 4770 8025
Email. felicity.lhotellier@australianwildlife.org
Taravale, Ewan Road, Paluma QLD 4816
www.australianwildlife.org

Reminder: PDCA Annual General Meeting this Saturday

Don’t forget to come along for a free lunch prior to our Annual General Meeting this Saturday, April 1 at 12:00pm. We need a quorum for these meetings so please come along to support the work that you PDCA officers do, and to ensure that we can elect officers for the next year. More details here

We will be sending out press gangs around the village if it looks like we will be short on numbers. If you are unable to come but would like to assign a proxy vote to ensure we have a quorum please email Jamie Oliver or any other PDCA Committee member to let us know.

See you on Saturday.

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.