Sunday Mega-Market

The sun shone in Paluma last Sunday (3/10/21) and the final Paluma Community Market for 2021 was a resounding success. Crowds filled the hall to browse the stalls and the children’s playground, shade shelters and BBQ’s were filled with people enjoying the stunning Spring weather. All stallholders reported brisk trade and the sausage sizzle was a sell out. From plants to pineapples, gems and jewels, coffee and cake – the Paluma Market had something for everyone. Many visitors stayed on to browse the local art studios, enjoy lunch at the Rainforest Inn or take a walk in the cool mountain rainforest. Well done to the dedicated Paluma community volunteers who made it all happen.

All in all, a big day out in the little village of Paluma!

Paluma History Stories … John Chick

The following account was recently received (via Charlie Allen) from John Chick, an early resident of Paluma and one of a pioneering family that includes his brother Dave Chick, who lives on the eponymously named Chick’s road. Its great to receive these early accounts and the editors of the Paluma.org website warmly welcome this contribution and would love to receive others from people who were (or were related to) are first residents in the village. These stories are also published in our History section of the website.


My Early Memories of Paluma

by John Chick, August 2021

My early days at Paluma started around 1950 as I can recall. My parents Frank and Fran Chick along with my grandparents Jim and Marynne Chick took up a small heavily vegetated jungle block in what is now known as Whalley Crescent. At the time of the selection there was no road access to the property and everything that was needed to carry out the clearing etc had to be carried in by hand from Mt Spec Road at a point which is now the old Police Station block. It took four adults to carry our wood stove up this narrow track whilst avoiding the wait-a-while. As I was only six years old at the time I could not do much but pick up sticks and other small jobs at the direction of my grandparents.

The clearing was a big job and as we did not own a chain saw everything was done by an axe, a long scrub hook and some great fires. The property adjoined an existing block that had a modern brick home on it built by the Kiery family who had owned a Butcher shop on the western end of Flinders Street in Townsville. The property had a beautifully hand crafted aviary just inside their fence line with a large carved log as a viewing bench. The timber for the aviary had been hand shaped with an Adze as was the frame for a gate on the boundary fence adjacent to the cage. Of interest was the fact that the lower hinged end of the gate had been tapered and rested in the dimple of an upside wine bottle set in the ground as a lower hinge.       

During the second world war this property was seconded by the US army and used as accommodation for its higher ranks. They must have had some great parties at this place judging be the amount of alcohol bottles, both whole and broken were all hurled over the fence into our block. My Grandmother spent many long weekends picking up very last slither of glass up.

We usually arrived at Paluma on Friday evening and after a big weekend of work would depart mid afternoon on Sunday. One of the most memorable events of the clearing procedure was the eventual removal of a very big tree situated pretty much central in the block. We had been applying fire to the base of this tree for many weekends with timber acquired from the rest of the clearing effort. Then came the Sunday when we were sure that the monster would finally fall on that day, however time ran out on us and we were having to leave for Townsville.

As was the usual, before departing we would visit Jimmy Linton’s shop where dad and grandad would have a couple of quick drinks with Jim and his wife Win. And then it happened; and we missed it; the sound of our nemesis crashing to the ground in the distance was fantastic but it was a shame to have missed the fall after all of the work that went into getting rid of it.

As most will know, you just don’t realise how much wood is in a tree until it hits the ground and you have to dispose of it. My grandmother took to this tree with the same gusto that removed the glass but it did take several months of weekends. Many years later I saw her deal out the same treatment to a very large Tamarind tree that stood in our Queens Rd back yard.

Our weekend accommodation on the mountain was at what was then called the Main Roads huts on the original road down to McClellands Lookout. They were big open plan units with a great fireplace. We had plenty of firewood. 

A little further down this road and set back on the northern side was a small building about the size of a large outhouse. This area now appears to be a subdivision. I think this building was originally a munitions store for the US army and then used by Main Roads as an explosives store. The rainforest around and in behind this store was strewn with live ammunition such as 45cal pistol bullets and the common .303 rounds. The yanks did not clean up very well when they left.

The Americans had quite a presence at Paluma with the construction of a couple of radar installations in concrete igloos which have since become homes and water tanks for the town’s supply. When I first saw these igloos, some of the camouflage was still intact and the bats had taken over.

My favourite US leftover was a beautiful big log cabin which was constructed almost opposite the entrance to our block of land. The cabin was quite large with a high pitched roof and open plan design. Each log in the construction was over one foot in diameter.  There was a large stone pitched fireplace on the left hand wall with a set of nice glass windows opposite. There was a heavy timber double door entrance and a smaller door at the rear. Straight out of an American movie.

I have fond memories of some of the old characters who had lived on the mountain for many years.

Jim Linton operated the local store which was an old US demountable with low push out panels as windows. It was always very dark in there and on the counter he had a stuffed Quoll on the counter and on the wall was an arrangement of native spears and a couple of boomerangs and a woomera, all collected in the locality.

Mrs Linton operated the local telephone exchange and post office in the back of this building. It just seemed a tangle of wires and plugs to me at the time.

Jim did a lot of tin prospecting throughout the area and I spent many hours wandering up and down local streams with him. The spot that I remember mostly was a little down the track that starts from the igloos and goes down the Blue Gum creek. There was a small creek off to the right of this track where we sluiced for tin and it was quite plentiful. Later on there was a vertical shaft sunk in the middle of this track adjacent to the sluicing point. The doorstops in Jim’s home consisted of two pound milk tins full of alluvial tin. Jim was also responsible for pumping the town water up from the creek behind the village to tanks situated at Lennox Crescent. I went with Jim on several occasions and it was quite an experience to see him fire up that old ancient diesel engine.

The scary man in the bark hut in the clearing. The story of Arthur (Possum) Benham is well known by locals and historians alike. To us young ones at the time, he was a scary man living alone in a very old style in the bush. Whilst we saw Arthur at a distance on many occasions I sometimes regret that I never got to speak to him. His tin workings in the clearing were quite extensive with the water collection channels commencing up near the road and going down to the extensive gullies that he had excavated. The lower end of the excavations drained into a small creek running parallel to the road and we caught many Yabbies in this creek. On the banks above the diggings were several grape vines of the green variety however they were never very productive.

At the head of Benham’s channels up by the road on the right hand side of the entrance to the clearing was the original Paluma school and the teacher was a miss Little whose parents owned the guest house at that stage.

Another local character was Tommy Nutt who owned a small home about opposite the entrance to Benham’s clearing. Tommy had a great collection of minerals and other artifacts from the surrounding area. Tommy’s income was generated by meeting the tourist bus when it arrived several times a week and taking tourists on walks on the local tracks. I was asked on one occasion myself to take a sound recordist from down south out early one morning to record the morning bird chorus as recordings were needed for the burgeoning film industry.

The Smith family lived in the last house on the right on the way out of Paluma towards Running River. They were relatively old when I met them and my brother and I mixed with their sons around the village. One son Russell lived out at the valley for some years and Trevor is now down at Eungella as part of Smith’s Sawmill. The family had been involved in the forestry all of their lives and at one stage also ran some cattle. Another brother I believe is up in the Gulf somewhere.

Paluma had a lot of visitors in those early days and the guest house was always busy. The guest house was owned by Mr and Mrs Bill Little and boasted  the biggest combustion stove in the region. Old movies were regularly shown there on Saturday nights. Later on the guest house became a holiday resort for an order of religious nuns from Townsville.

A major milestone for Paluma was the clearing of the land for the creation of a park and the construction of the first community hall which was built with local logs. I recall the Saturday morning that the bull dozer arrived  and the felling of the first trees began. A lot of locals assisted with this operation and also the reestablishment of the swimming pool originally constructed by the US army. I had previously walked down this creek from Benham’s end with Jim Linton prospecting for tin. At that time the metal gate at the bottom of the dam was open and the creek flowed through. For some years there was a fish around a metre long living in the pool; this looked like a Queensland Lungfish and no one seemed to know where it came from. Many great bush dances were held in the hall over the years and on one occasion I played the drums there.

As time went by, our little house was completed. Dad had pre-cut all of the frames in Townsville and then transported them to Paluma for assembly. During the week, we also made bricks in Townsville and carted them up in our Vanguard Spacemaster ute. I remember that with all of the other equipment our poor utility could only carry fifty two bricks at a time. When I was young I bought two pine tree seedlings from Magnetic Island and planted one on each side of the gate at the entrance to the property. When I was at Paluma a couple of years ago I noted that in spite of their unfamiliar environment they were now fifty or sixty feet tall but struggling.  They did make great Christmas trees for us in the early days.

Power was connected to Paluma around 1969 / 70 and our farther Frank who was an electrician wired all of the homes in the village with the assistance of my brother David who had the task of pulling the wires through the ceilings.  

I wonder how many Opossums and Pythons they encountered?.

The little house in Paluma was sold for $30,000 in January 1982 following the previous purchase of forty acres at Blackfriers for development. This block was purchased from Jimmy Heath who was a vegetable grower in the area. The property is on Chicks Road and is now operated as a tree plantation by David and Sharon Chick.

PALUMA SHINES (Even When The Sun Doesn’t)

It was a very busy weekend at Paluma (26 & 27 June) with a hive of activity going on around the place. The rather cool winter weather and the thick veil of mist that failed to lift for several days did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm for the range of activities on offer – from bush dancing, bike riding, bushwalking and shopping.

It all started on Saturday with the annual Paluma Bush Dance hosted by Wattle ‘n’ Gum. While the Dance this year was moved to the earlier time slot of 1 to 4 pm, a good crowd of more than 50 people gathered at the Community Hall to dance the afternoon away. Lynda and Don fed the hungry patrons with a pre-dance tasty sausage sizzle, which was a sell-out. From the hokey-pokey to the heel-to-toe, everyone had a great time dancing with their friends and family. We even had a visit from Sergeant Tony from Rollingstone who dropped in to say hello and sample the sausage sizzle. Barman Les was worked off his feet to keep everyone hydrated with their favourite beverages. The PDCA did a roaring trade with the sausage sizzle, bar takings and tea/coffee sales. Well done to all the Paluma community volunteers and a big thank you to Wattle ‘n’ Gum for the fantastic entertainment. Special mention goes to Jill, Suzanne and Anne who didn’t miss a single dance all afternoon!

After a good sleep on Saturday night, the action was on again first thing Sunday morning!

Sam and a very keen crew of bike riders left the village early and rode off into the mist to make a practice run for the upcoming Paluma Push. Other visitors to the village took off on bush walks and bird-finding expeditions.

At 9 am the Paluma Market opened with Lynda and Don firing up the BBQ yet again for another sausage sizzle. Stallholders at the market reported steady trade for the day. There was a range of goods on offer to buy from plants, books, cards, jewellery, spices and condiments, handmade arts and crafts, fruit and veggies and home-baked sweet treats. Tea/coffee sales went well, boosted by Jill’s delicious fruit and nut slice (many of us ate more than our fair share!). Jill’s fund-raising for the Children’s Cancer Institute was a success and raised important funds for the charity. The winner of the ‘pick the numbers’ competition on the day was Catherine (the Spice Lady from Ingham).

All in all a very busy and action-packed weekend was had in the not-so-sleepy little village of Paluma. I don’t know about everyone else, but I need to go back to work for a rest after the weekend!

Check out these photos of some of the action over the two days…………

Roy Bird really enjoyed the sausage sizzle at the Market.

So did Colwyn and Sonya!

Text by Michele Bird. Photos by Michele, Sonya and Gail.

Let the Games Begin…..

Saturday night (29/05/21) was Games Night at Paluma. A good crowd gathered at the Community Hall from 4 pm to take part in a series of games and sporting activities. Four main teams were formed and they rotated through the various activities including pétanque, darts, table tennis and quoits. The competition was fierce amongst the rival teams – even if the skill level was sometimes questionable. What we lacked in skill, we made up for in enthusiasm!

The Games Night was hosted by Dorothy and Peter Klumpp who provided some excellent coaching tips. Peter did his best to control some rampant cheating amongst the team members. Lynda was in charge of the BBQ, cooking a gourmet sausage sizzle, complete with coleslaw, caramelised onion and sauerkraut. Barman Les was on hand to supply drinks to the thirsty competitors. The overall winning pair on the night were Colwyn and Danno, proving that age, wisdom, charm and cheating are a winning combination!!

A great deal of fun was had with laughter, cheering and banter echoing from the Community Hall. Special thanks to Peter, Dorothy, Lynda and Les for making the night a great success. And thanks to all those who participated, keeping the spirit of community alive and well in the little village of Paluma.

Let the pictures tell the story!

Text By Michele Bird. Photos by Michele Bird & Peter Klumpp.

Night Stalker in the Village!

Just lately a very persistent prowler has been making a nuisance of itself in homes and gardens at the eastern end of Paluma Village. The perpetrator is a rather lengthy Night Tiger Snake, otherwise known as a Brown Tree Snake or Doll’s-Eye Snake (Boiga irregularis).

It all started with the onset of the warm weather and the wet season. Lynda at the Manali House started noticing that the Night Tiger was making regular visits to her front verandah. It wasn’t long before Lynda noticed that her closely guarded nest of Shrike-Thrush chicks had been raided. The chicks disappeared overnight and Lynda found the slithery culprit curled up in a nearby shrub with some distinctive lumps in its belly. Put that down to nature I suppose, but then the Night Tiger started to take some liberties around the place……

Several times Lynda was woken to things that go bump in the night, only to find the Night Tiger in her back room, actively rifling through the contents of boxes and other things in the search for food – geckoes, cockroaches and frogs.

The guilty reptile being relocated to the rainforest.

The next time Lynda encountered the snake it was in her lounge room, having a snooze under her favourite recliner. It was promptly relocated to the garden. Just last week, the Night Tiger was back in the lounge room, this time comfortably resting on the bookshelf. A late night call was made to the neighbours for some assistance in relocating the Night Tiger to the outdoors again. It was relocated to the forest at the eastern end of the village, but we are convinced it will be back, when it wants an easy feed of geckoes and tasty frogs or birds.

A spot of reading? The Night Tiger Snake resting on the bookshelf in Lynda’s lounge room.

My own encounter with the Night Tiger was one evening upon returning from an outing. I walked up my drive-way only to find the ‘stalker’ outside my garage door. With some skilful wrangling via my gumboot, my umbrella and a cake tray, the snake was re-diverted back up the driveway. It took off, heading again for Lynda’s place. No doubt it was missing the cosy lounge-room and its recliner!

Re-diversion of the Night Tiger Snake away from my garage.

The Night Tiger or Brown Tree Snake is a nocturnal snake (as we have obviously discovered!). They are arboreal and can often be found in buildings and in tree hollows. They feed mainly on birds, eggs, frogs, geckoes, small mammals and other reptiles. These snakes have a large head with distinctive and protruding large eyes with vertical pupils (I am not getting close enough to look into its eyes!). The head is distinct from the narrow neck. They are usually brown in colour with darker cross bands on the back and sides (hence the common name of ‘Night Tiger’). Specimens in northern Australia tend to have bold reddish bands with a creamy to orange belly. This snake can grow up to 2m in length. They are not usually considered dangerous, but they are venomous.

Text by Michele Bird with Photos by Paul Venn, Lynda Radbone and Michele Bird. Noting that the quality of our photos is not great, given the night time conditions and in my own case, the shaking hands and rapidly beating heart!

Chinese Lunar New Year at Paluma

The incessant Paluma rain stopped on Saturday evening (20/02/21) just in time for the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations at the Community Hall. Twenty-something very enthusiast residents gathered under red lanterns at the Hall to mark the occasion.

While it’s well known that Paluma has some great cooks, they really excelled on Saturday night. The Chinese-inspired banquet was good enough to rival any restaurant – even without the fried rice! Funnily enough, everyone assumed that everyone else would cook rice, when in fact no-one did (with the exception of Colwyn’s coconut milk and peach dessert). One thing was certain, everybody had more than enough to eat and plenty to share.

Lynn hosted her newly invented game called “The Chinese Tree of Good Fortune” whereby some residents got to try their luck with a Lunar New Year Scratchie. Unfortunately no major winnings were ‘scratched’ on the night. Chinese horoscopes were read in this the Year of the Ox. Fortune cookies were shared, with some residents still contemplating the profound messages contained in their cookie. My own fortune cookie read……”Judge not the horse by its saddle”. Mmmmmmm…..I’m still thinking on that one! A planned game of ‘Chinese Whispers’ was abandoned because the lively noise reverberating from the Hall meant that anybody ‘whispering’ would have gone unheard.

The Bar did a lively trade as always with some profits in the kitty for the PDCA. Thanks to all those who attended and for embracing the theme of the night.

Our next Social will be held on Saturday 20 March for St. Patrick’s Night celebrations. Time to put the Chinese clobber away and start thinking Irish GREEN!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

The Fast and the Furriest…..

Many dog lovers reside in the little village community of Paluma and it’s not uncommon to see people out and about walking their beloved canine companions in the fresh mountain air. But just lately, there are two very precious pooches who have taken to getting a bit of help when it comes to regular exercise. Let’s face it, some days it’s just hard to get out of bed and go for that vigorous walk, especially when you are well into your senior years.

At the outset of this tale (tail!) I must for the sake of clarity confirm the main characters in the story. The canine characters are Bailey and Flossie. Their well trained and dedicated human companions are Bruno and Colwyn, respectively.

Both Bailey and Flossie are well advanced in dog years. Arthritis, a bit of deafness and a few other ailments have made taking a stroll a bit of a challenge some days. The solution, get your human to invest in a new mode of transportation. Both these pooches now take their walk, or at least part of it, on wheels. They are the fast and the furriest!

Bailey has been seen recently in a bright red, rather flashy four-wheel drive version of a child’s pram. With mag tyres, a pillow and seatbelt, Bailey is ready for action. His pram is red because it goes faster. Strapped in on the top deck of his pram he can reach much greater speeds than he can on foot with his degenerative arthritis. There is a great view from the elevated deck so that Bailey can see everyone coming and going. There are no missed opportunities in getting free pats and loving attention from every passerby. Most importantly, Bailey no longer gets left behind at home when his favourite person in the world (Bruno) goes for a walk. 

Bailey off on a walk in his flashy red pram.

Flossie also has a new pram, but hers is the deluxe version as far as canine transportation is concerned. Flossie’s wheels are like a ‘Pooch Porsche’, decorated with motifs and flashy designs. After all, a girl should be able to travel in style. Her pram has ample room for sitting, reclining or snoozing. When she gets tired of the walk (and her mum stopping to chat) she can settle herself down for a dog nap in transit.

Flossie is ‘hot to trot’ in her new wheels.

So, next time you are walking in the village of Paluma and you see someone approaching with a pram, do not assume it will hold a human baby or small child. No, around here the pram is much more likely to contain a ‘fur baby’ and a much coveted, spoilt and beloved pet.

These mobile pooches in prams are a testament to the devotion of both Bruno and Colwyn in caring for their elderly, increasingly fragile and very special best friends and canine companions. It also goes to show that sometimes you can teach an old dog a new trick!

Bruno and Bailey on a walk in the village.
Colwyn and Flossie preparing to take a morning stroll.
Bailey on a walk, catching up with his good pal Miss Molly.

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Tropical Festive Cheer at Paluma

The PDCA ended the year on a high note on Saturday night (12/12/20) with the final social event of the year, the Paluma Tropical BBQ.

The Community Hall was lit up like a Christmas tree (literally!) and the tropical shirts were as loud as the lively chatter emanating from the hall. The residents of Paluma came armed with a feast of sumptuous dishes and Don fired up the BBQ with his usual finesse. Barman Les reported a lively trade and he made sure that everyone remained hydrated with their favourite beverages on the night.

Colin and Jill were the outright winners of the ‘Best Dressed’ tropical costume, arriving as if they had just stepped off the cruise boat (hopefully not the Ruby Princess!) adorned in sarong, board shirts, frangipani leis and tropical cocktails in hand.

Despite a challenging 2020, the community spirit is alive and well at Paluma as these few photographs clearly show. Merry Christmas Paluma-style!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

The Hall of Horror !

The inaugural Monsters and Mayhem on the Mountain Social was held on Saturday night (7/11/20) and the event certainly lived up to its name. The Paluma Community Hall was transformed into a Hall of Horror as mummies, zombies, witches and other freaks and extremely creepy people came out of the woodwork to join the pandemonium.

Medusa made an appearance. So did the Grim Reaper, Herman Munster and a duo of Hannibal Lecters. A Pastor arrived, but was way too late to save the ‘souls of the damned’ at Paluma! A couple of Aliens joined the fray, so perhaps those UFO’s did land at Paluma after all?

The best/worst costume was won by ‘Kreepy Klumppy’ (Peter). The runner-up was Peter ‘The Mummy’ Cooke.

Jodie was the winner of the “Whose Sitting on a Big Black Spider Competition”. She was somewhat alarmed to find a large (plastic) arachnid fastened to the underside of her chair. Ironically, Jodie has a morbid fear of spiders (oops!). Her initial alarm and a few palpitations were consoled with her winning prize of a free drink from the bar.

The gathering of weirdos and whackos dined very well on a feast of dishes (none containing human flesh – that we know of!!). The bar did a lively trade with lots of thirsty patrons. Barman Les (Hannibal No. 1) reported good takings for the PDCA.

Sincere thanks to all those who attended the night in support of the PDCA and for embracing the theme of the night with gusto. Community spirit, good humour and good fun were the order of the evening. Special thanks to the band of volunteers who decorated the Hall of Horror on Saturday afternoon and then cleaned up on Sunday. What a great team!

Let the photographs of the night tell the rest of this (freaky) story……!!!!

Text & Photos by Michele (Witchie-Poo) Bird

Report on Paluma Push 2020

The 19th edition of the Paluma Push was a great success. We had 420 mountain bike riders saddle up for the challenge to ride from Paluma Village to Hidden Valley across 3 distances: 42km, 53km and 70km.

This also included 30 E-bike riders for the 53km course. The E-bike category has doubled in size compared to last year. We are still in the early days when it comes to E-bikes, but it is a rapidly growing option for people to get out and about riding the trails.

This was the first year Outer Limits hosted the Paluma Push after taking the event over from the Rockwheelers. Townsville’s Mountain Bike Club and Outer Limits collaborated and came to an agreement which intends to keep the Push alive, continue the tradition of the event and have it professionally run and organised. We have goals to grow the event and make it, not the biggest, but the best (and most efficiently run) mountain bike race in NQ.

The Rockwheelers have received $4000 from the event, which will go toward the mountain biking community in Townsville and aid the trail maintenance on our local trails.

This year Outer Limits introduced the “Pre Push Dinner”, which was held at the Community Hall in Paluma (The event HQ and start of the race). We had 60 people attend and we hope to grow this dinner for 2021, which will be the 20th anniversary of the event. 

All photos above by Juanita Poletto

We also added a perpetual trophy “The Hayden Tiley and Peter McLean Trophy”. This is to celebrate the history of the event as the years go by. This year the winners of the 70km competition course were Michael England in the Mens and Anita Narula in the Womens. 

This year we learnt a lot about the event, and we have taken many notes for next year. Thank you to the team from Hidden Valley Cabins, Charlie Allen, Len Cook and Jamie Oliver for your assistance in the lead up and during the event and sharing your knowledge with us. 

Thank you to Peter Mclean for all the guidance for the event and I hope we can continue the tradition you started 19 years ago.

Thank you to all the RFS and SES volunteers that helped make the event possible. The event has donated over $5000 for their services.

As part of a big thank you to all the volunteers, the Paluma Fire service put on a BBQ with funds from Outer limits for the checkpoint workers and other volunteers along the track and at headquarters. A great eveing was had by all!

Thank you to the Furber family to allow us to clear the trails and continue to ride the trails that lead through Hidden Valley Station. 

Thank you to the event naming sponsors, Mike Carney Toyota, who has been sponsoring the event for many years. Outer Limits will continue the partnership to help bring professional events into our community. They also sponsored the new “Home of the Paluma Push”- sign, which is installed in Paluma Village.

Thank you to Ausfield Services who assisted us to clear the entire Push course. I am sure those who rode the course would agree that they did a mighty fine job. 

Thank you also to Top Brand Cycles, GNM, Markwell Demolition for your support of the event.

2021 will see the 20th year of the Paluma Push. We have big plans to celebrate this special occasion, one of the ways might see the addition of a 100km course! 

Article by Sam Stedman

Photos by Juanita Poletto and Michele Bird