Category: Community Noticeboard

Chinese New Year Social this Saturday 19 February

It’s a new year and time to kick off the Paluma Village social calendar for 2022!

This Saturday evening 19 February, the first Social of the year will be held at the Paluma Community Hall. It’s the Chinese New Year celebration and the ‘Year of the Tiger’.

Everyone is welcome to join in the celebration commencing at 6.30 pm at the Hall. As always, please bring a dish to share – hot or cold, sweet or savoury. The theme of the night is all things Chinese, so perhaps test your culinary skills with a Chinese inspired dish? Last years banquet of Chinese dishes was remarkable, so let’s see if we can go one better this year? Ever reliable Barman Les will be on hand to serve low-cost beverages on the night.

Local artist Jennie Robinson was so inspired by the ‘Year of the Tiger’ she has created an amazing tiger portrait. Jennie has kindly donated her masterpiece to the Paluma community (PDCA) and so we will be holding a raffle for the painting on the night. Tickets are $1.00 each or 5 for $5.00 – absolute bargain. Please see Michele or Les next weekend for tickets – anytime on Saturday or on the night. The winner will be drawn at the Social.

Please come along to what will surely be another fun night at Paluma Village.

The ‘Year of the Tiger’ painting to be raffled at the Chinese New Year Social.

Special thanks to Jennie for donating her work to the Paluma community for fund raising.

New Defibrillator at the Community Hall

ATTENTION ALL PALUMA RESIDENTS

A new Defibrillator is now installed at the Community Hall.

The unit is in a cabinet which is mounted on the outside wall of the Community Hall, next to the main entry door to the Hall. Please take a look at the photographs below to familiarise yourself with the location of the unit.

New signage indicating that the unit is available at the Community Hall will be installed at the front and side of the Hall.

The cabinet is unlocked and it is alarmed (with a siren). The siren will go off as soon as the cabinet is opened, but it stops again when the door is shut. We are hoping that the siren/alarm will deter any would-be vandals from interfering with the unit.

May we please request that if any nearby residents hear the alarm going off that they investigate to either provide assistance in a genuine emergency, or chase away any idiots or vandals who might be interfering with the unit.

We are hoping that the current arrangement will work and that vandals will refrain from interfering with the Defibrillator. The preference is that we do not lock the cabinet, as this would mean that in an emergency people would have to seek out the key or the security code to get access to the unit. This delay could potentially mean the difference between saving a life, or having the worst happen.

We are relying on the eyes and ears of the Paluma community to be watchful and vigilant in protecting this unit.

The best outcome is that the Defibrillator sits idle, mounted on the wall for many years to come and that we never have to use it!

Over to you Paluma community!

Thank you Wilfred for providing the photographs and information for this post.

Reminder: Colwyn’s Birthday Party, 15 January

A reminder that the Paluma social calendar kicks off 2022 in style and sophistication with a Birthday Party for Paluma’s very own version of Audrey Hepburn – Colwyn Campbell.

Everyone is invited to attend this auspicious occasion to mark the 80 years young birthday party of one of our most beloved and admired residents.

The party will be held at the Rainforest Inn, Saturday 15 January commencing at 5.30 pm.

Please bring a plate/dish of food to share – finger food, savoury or sweet, hot or cold.

The Bar will be open so you can purchase drinks. Free tea & coffee will be available.

Don’t forgot to bring along 2022’s essential fashion accessory – your face mask (as per Queensland Government regulations for cafes, restaurants, etc).

We look forward to seeing everyone at this event to celebrate with Colwyn.

Reminder: Working Bee this Saturday 8 January

This is a reminder that there will be a Working Bee at the Rainforest Walking Track to be held this coming Saturday 8th January at 2 pm.

All volunteers, please meet at the Community Hall at 2 pm and please bring along your wheelbarrow, shovels, lots of energy and enthusiasm.

What better way to work off those extra Christmas calories than a bit of sweat and toil in the rainforest. Many hands make light work, so please come along for an hour or two to lend a hand in maintaining this precious patch of Paluma paradise.

See you there!

Working Bee – Rainforest Walking Track

There will be a Working Bee at the Rainforest Walking track to be held on Saturday 8th January at 2 pm.

All volunteers, please meet at the Community Hall just before 2 pm on the day and please bring along your wheelbarrow, shovels, lots of energy and enthusiasm.

Refreshments will be provided after the work is done.

Remember that the maintenance and up-keep of the Rainforest Walking Track is up to us as the residents of Paluma Village. If we don’t look after it, we will lose it!

Please direct any questions to Wilfred who is organising this Working Bee.

Everyone is encouraged to attend to lend a hand.

Paluma Dam Spillway Concrete Works – Project Update:

From Councillor Margie Ryder:

Townsville City Council is committed to providing and maintaining $5.4B worth of community assets consisting of water and wastewater networks, bridges, drainage, roads, waste management and spillway maintenance.

Paluma Dam spillway infrastructure maintenance works are ongoing that will see the delivery of protection barrier installed to the foundations of the dams spillways bridge.

Works are now at the stage for the construction of the new protective concrete barrier ‘slab’ that will be poured onto the existing surface. These works will require a convey of concrete trucks that will be using the Paluma Dam access road which will cause traffic delays.

Council will have traffic management in place; however, dependable on weather conditions the unsealed access road to the Dam including the Paluma Dam campgrounds may have considerable delays on the day of concrete pouring.

The Paluma Dam, Concrete Pouring works are scheduled to commence on Thursday, 02 December 2021 and are expected to take one day to complete.

Please be advised that the concrete trucks will be operational 7am through to 2pm. Normal traffic conditions will return post 2pm.

Townsville City Council Update on their Website

Reminder: Paluma Community Hall 20th Anniversary Morning Tea

A reminder to all Paluma residents past and present that there will be a Morning Tea this Sunday 24 October at 10.30 am to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Paluma Community Hall.

We encourage everyone to attend to mark this important occasion and to learn some more about the history of our beloved Community Hall and also to acknowledge those members of our village community who were instrumental in establishing the Hall (in its past and present forms). Please come along and enjoy a cuppa and some cake. Everyone has a story or an experience about our beloved Community Hall and we encourage you to come along and share your memories and reminiscences.

Prior to the Sunday Morning Tea, we are calling for some keen volunteers from the community to help us give the Hall a clean so it looks its very best on Sunday morning. Please come along to the Hall at 9 am on Saturday morning 23 October. The more the merrier and the sooner we get the job done!

Reminder: Rainforest Track Working Bee this Saturday

A timely reminder that a Working Bee is to be held on Saturday 16th October, from 2pm to 4pm at the Rainforest Walking Track opposite the Community Hall.

Please come and join us with a wheel burrow, shovel, rake, and your enthusiasm to undertake some repair works on the track including the spreading of deco.

A refreshing drink will be made available at the Community Hall after the Working Bee. Please contact Wilfred  on 0447 822 626 for further information.

IF WE DON’T DO ANYTHING – WE WILL LOSE IT!

The Rainforest Walk is a short approximately 600m track that starts opposite the Community Hall, runs down to a small creek with evidence of stone pitching from the tin mining days and ends back on the main road opposite Sarah Swan’s Glass Art Studio. For many years this track has been maintained by QPWS, together with the ‘H Track’, but as a cost cutting measure the QPWS has decided to stop all maintenance on the Rainforest Walk because this track is not in the National Park. This track is situated on Unallocated State Land (USL). The ‘H Track’ is only 10% in National Park and 90% on the same block of USL, but QPWS are happy to continue to maintain the ‘H Track’……..You Figure It Out??!!

The Rainforest Walk is a very popular track and it is an invaluable tool to introduce anybody who can walk to the delights and diversity of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, and it is ideally located right in the middle of our community!

The start of the Rainforest Walking Track opposite the Community Hall.

After discussions within the group and getting the support of the USL Department, the Walking Track Volunteers (we look after over 100 km of walking tracks around Paluma, the Dam and Mount Spec) have decided to take on the responsibility to keep this track open and maintained to the same or better condition than when QPWS looked after it. We have already replaced a rotten board on one of the walk platforms and have begun to install galvanized chicken wire on the wooden platforms, as they were very slippery during wet weather (most of the time in Paluma). The biggest job on the maintenance list is the re-surfacing of large sections of the track with Deco, that has been dumped at each end of the track and needs to be taken by wheel burrow to the washed-out sections of the track. Whilst doing this, we will also install some drains across the track to channel rain water away from the track, rather than have it wash the Deco away again on the sloping sections of the track.

We will make a start on this work at a Working Bee to be held on Saturday 16th October, from 2pm to 4pm. We would like to appeal to all residents and community members to come and join us with a wheel burrow, shovel and rake, and a bit of elbow-grease!. Remember the saying – Many hands make light work!! A refreshing drink will be made available at the Community Hall after the Working Bee. Feel free to contact Wilfred  on 0447 822 626 if you have any questions.

Article by Wilfred Karnoll.