Category: PDCA matters

Paluma…NQ’s Blue Zone


(This is an edited version of “Paluma in the Clouds” submitted for the Rolly Rag September issue)

Scenes from getting out there and enjoying Paluma’s natural offerings

Recently, I met some delightful and dynamic Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) who were up enjoying our beautiful Paluma village and surrounds. There were two fellows from Adelaide, who were currently working at a local coastal business but were very keen and enthusiastic to know what it was like to live in Paluma. They had been looking at available real estate for sale.  It was a lively conversation.

The history display draws a range of visitors on a Saturday
Fiona and Peter Leather browsing the photographic history display


The other was an outstanding young woman (an assistant principal) who popped in to see the history display and was truly impressed with what was on view.  A credit to all those who have put in their time, skills and effort over the years. She was on a scouting trip to prepare for an active birthday weekend with the girlfriends sometime in the future. She counted herself lucky to have easy access to such a beautiful and unique part of the world.

Meeting and talking with these young people and the future plans they had made me reflect that small communities like Paluma can only benefit from the energy and ideas this age group offers. Their enthusiasm and skill set can only refresh and energise a small community.   Welcoming and supporting all newcomers, regardless of age, who are keen to be part of and wish to contribute to our community makes sense. Like the natural environment, there is strength and resilience in diversity.

Trying out the ropes course at Outer Limits

We’ve seen this already with businesses which use Paluma as one of their bases such as NQ Cycle Journeys and Outer Limits Adventure Fitness. Both have an ethos that promotes a healthy lifestyle across all generations through enjoyment and respect of our rainforest and its surrounding environs. Paluma isn’t just about woodfires and red wine (though I’m certainly partial to this ☺️), its key draw is its cool, misty climate and incredible walks featuring waterfalls, fascinating biodiversity and blissful peace. Our very own ‘Blue Zone’ right here on our doorstep… literally.

Star Valley lookout

The recent working bee included laying and packing gravel into the parking area out front of the hall as well as garden bed maintenance.

For those wishing to put into practice other key aspects of blue zones – community, belonging and a sense of purpose – in a beautiful environment to boot, check out the calendar to see what’s coming up. We’re grateful for all Paluma enthusiasts who volunteer their time and skills.

Text and Images: J Poletto

Paluma Push

The ‘Back Up’ crew arriving at Check point 1, Paluma Dam

The annual Paluma Push in the bush is over for 2024 and was a really successful event for all involved. Sam and Aline’s crew and the local volunteers ensured as smooth a run as possible for all participants. Members from our community who manned checkpoints along the various routes enjoyed one of Paluma’s perfect blue sky winter days. Some of volunteers saw quite a bit of action whilst others simply pointed the way. All were acknowledged and appreciated by many of the entrants as they passed by.

These ‘tykes on bikes’ were keen to get pedalling.
Great to see the older ones as support at the back of the mob.
These 70km entrants were all smiles as they came through Check point 1.

It seems it was a more health conscious group this year as Wilfred says the PDCA Bar at Hidden Valley didn’t sell as much as usual. Regardless, the approximate profit for the fabulous efforts of the PDCA volunteers was around $2000. The PDCA is VERY grateful to those who made the time to enjoy the atmosphere which is always fantastic down at the finish line and who put time into service through helping out at the bar. The ‘heavy lifters’ involved in the set up and pack up of the bar are especially deserving of our gratitude.

The Legend who rode this bike in the 42KM was too fast for this photographer to catch in action!

We have some barstock left over for those needing to drown their blues (pardon the pun) after the ‘big game’ between Qld and NSW. We are willing to sell at cost price to our community members. Anyone interested in buying any of these are to contact Wilfred on 0447 822 626. The following sixpacks are available as of the publication of this post:

  • 5 x Jim Beam & cola $23 each
  • 2 x Jack Daniels & cola $29 each
  • 8 x Bundaberg rum & coke $23 each
  • 16 x Coopers pale ale $15
Very proud of this ‘Wise Wizard’ finishing his first 53km in The Paluma Push.

Text: J. Poletto and W. Karnoll

Images: J Poletto

Winter Frolics in the Village

Wattle ‘n’ Gum hitting their stride in this country hall

The PDCA wishes to thank everybody for their efforts last weekend, helping out at the annual bush dance and the Markets.

Music and dance bringing joyous folk together

There were those generous with their time who were manning stalls, making cole slaw and slicing onions, cooking and serving sausages, cooking and baking for our cake and preserves stall, running the bar and stalls, setting up and cleaning, purchasing products and helping out in other ways to make it a great success.

Paluma’s very own “Jam Corner” 😉


Our treasurer Wilfred Karnoll has banked $1600 (with a few expenses to come out of that) but it still leaves a healthy profit for the PDCA and the community. GIVE YOURSELVES A BIG PAT ON THE BACK!!!

Text by: W. Karnoll (minor edits, J. Poletto)
Images: Jill Meads

Paluma History Display

First open day for 2024

April 10 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

If you’re a resident up for the day or one of our (lucky) lovely permanent residents in Paluma village, come and take a look at what happens during our History Project display day. Every Wednesday from March till November we open up the Community Hall and set out a variety of displays and resources that document the rich history of the region.

There are fact sheets and a dvd about the history of Paluma for viewing. You may learn something about where you live and even have some fabulous ideas on how to improve our display. We love feedback but we also would love some help.

We are needing interested volunteers to help with keeping the display open. Come along during April and May to see how it all works as there will be a range of people there who are experienced in manning our display. They will happily show you the ropes if you think you’d like to give it a go. Check with the person ‘on duty’ to see which dates during the year you may be free to support.

At the very least, come along and have a cup of coffee or tea  and a chat with our local history enthusiasts.

Easter Market Success

Record breaking crowds attended our Paluma Community Easter Market on Sunday.  Despite how the weather appeared as late as Friday night, the sun and Paluma blue skies put on a fabulous show and drew people from near and far to enjoy what our village market and community had to offer.  

The rain and clouds on the range Thursday afternoon did not bode well for Sunday.

There were a variety of stalls full of fresh local produce and preserves, plants, textile goods, Paluma souvenirs and Knick knacks. Loretta Brennan and her husband from Mutarnee had a table full of fresh goodies that were very popular.  Also, the lovely Kath who with Anne Briers, had an array of fascinating plants and produce as well as sweets and preserves that had people commenting.

Kath with her wares all displayed and ready for sale.
Loretta with her fresh produce and preserves stall.
‘Buddha’s fingers’ citrus – one of the fascinating fruits on Anne’s stall.

Bobbi’s beautiful mini moss gardens and painted saws were once again a big hit with some customers taking photos of her lovely work. The colourful textile stall, “Stitches…” (apologies for not remembering the full name) had some gorgeous items which were popular.  The stall holders themselves were very pleased with the market as they doubled their takings compared to the last market.

The PDCA had its own stalls with fresh local produce, souvenirs, baked goods and preserves as well as an Easter hamper raffle.  All of which were popular and sold well.  It can be confirmed that this market made over two thousand dollars for the PDCA as a result of the tremendous efforts of our community. 

The PDCA sincerely thanks all of those amazing PKRs! (Paluma Kitchen Rockstars!) who helped make this Easter Market such a success. And to all the ‘quiet achievers’ who organised, lifted, swept, washed, cleaned, cooked, made the tea and coffee, served the public, were accountable for the money… a heartfelt “thank you”.

Les ready for the hoards at the sausage sizzle.

Our next market will be on June 23rd, and if you would like to be part of it either volunteering or hosting your own stall, please contact Wilfred Karnoll or any other PDCA executive member.

The PDCA bake and preserves turned a record-breaking profit.

Notice of PDCA AGM, April 6th, 2024

Members (and prospective members) are advised that the Annual General Meeting of the Paluma & District Community Association Inc. will be held on:

Saturday, April 6, 2024, at 12pm for a BBQ lunch followed by the AGM at 1:15pm in the Community Hall

Nominations are open for all Executive Committee positions. Nominations should be forwarded to any member of the Executive Committee or by email to PalumaPDCA@gmail.com. Please use the nomination forms, which can be downloaded here.

Positions are:

  • President,
  • 1 or 2 Vice-Presidents
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • General Committee members (numbers flexible)

Members are reminded that Annual Subscriptions are now due and should be paid prior to the commencement of the AGM.   Membership is $45.00 Please use the subscription form here to submit your dues. New members are more than welcome and should use the same form.

Please note that you must be a PDCA member to nominate someone to the Committee or vote for any Committee member.

The AGM will be followed immediately by a normal General Meeting with the new Committee.

AGM AGENDA

  1. Opening – circulation of attendance sheet
  2. Apologies
  3. Minutes of previous AGM April 1st, 2023
  4. President’s Report
  5. Treasurer’s report
  6. Election of Officers for 2024-2025
  7. Election of Auditor for 2024-2025
  8. Close of Annual General Meeting

Normal General Meeting Agenda

  1. Open General Meeting
  2. Proposed Events/Fund-raising for the coming year
  3. Any other business
  4. Close of General Meeting

A Fantastic Community Effort

The PDCA would like to thank everybody for their combined efforts to make Paluma’s final market day of the year and the NRL grand final viewing in the hall such a great success this past Sunday.

The PDCA Bake and Preserves table. Photo by Anneshka Brown

Locals and tourists alike were a strong and steady flow starting quite early in the day. The bbq didn’t shut down till quite a bit after 12pm and did great business with many coming back for seconds (and thirds) for “‘the lot’ please, that bbq-ed pineapple is amazing!”

The hall was filled with chatter and laughs with some shoppers making beelines to the baked goods stalls and others slowly meandering and enjoying the sport of browsing and selecting what they desired. Our community was on show and did itself proud at these markets. So many smiles.

The NRL grand final evening was also an opportunity to quietly socialise prior to the game for some of the locals as well as an opportunity for all – locals and visitors – to watch the footy showdown on the ‘big screen’.

Our PDCA treasurer, Wilfred Karnoll, is likely still grinning as this post ‘goes to air’ as the markets and grand final viewing made a net total of $1366 for our community. This success comes with effort from all the volunteers who:

Paluma and district produce and preserves… YUM!
  • worked hard to ensure the hall was ready for vendors and shoppers alike;
  • Made the effort to set up their own stall to raise funds for the rural fire service
  • ensured all ran smoothly throughout the duration of the market;
  • prepared many a preserve, cake, slice, cookie and sweet and savoury treat for the PDCA bake stall
  • Collected fresh produce and plants from local growers for the PDCA fresh produce stall
  • sliced, diced, shredded, mixed, bbq-ed, served, washed, dried…

…and smiled through it all.

A great big “Thank You” to our volunteers. Your service makes our community stronger. As Wilfred said, “…just goes to show what a small community like ours can do when we all pull together.”

Text and photos by J. Poletto unless noted otherwise

PDCA Community Meeting with Townsville Councillor Margie Ryder

On Sunday, August 20th at 10am the PDCA is hosting a community meeting with our Townsville City Council representative, Margie Ryder.  This will provide an opportunity for Margie to report on what the Council has been doing and to listen to any concerns that Paluma residents may have relating to council facilities and initiatives.  Items that we will be inviting Margie to comment on include:

  1. Plans for signage at the village entrance, and upgrade of other signs around the village
  2. Dog Poo bag dispensers and other issues on animal control (Cats, noisy dogs)
  3. Community security in the light of multiple recent events in and around the village
  4. Road Maintenance
  5. Vegetation control (weeds)

The meeting is open to all Paluma residents.  Please mark this date and come along to have your say.