The Loop Road at Paluma is finally getting a face lift.
Anyone who has visited McClellands’s Lookout and the various walking tracks via the Loop Road in recent years will have noticed that the margins of the roadway were looking very much the worse for wear. The old wooden sleeper retaining walls along the roadway were mostly collapsed, termite infested and dilapidated. Old sleepers, soil and vegetation were strewn along the roadside and not only was this very unsightly, but the drainage of stormwater from the roadway was impeded during heavy rainfall.
The work being undertaken at the Loop Road includes the installation of a new retaining wall made from steel posts, concreted into the ground along a concrete base and drainage channel. A permanent retaining wall of concrete ‘sleepers’ is being erected between the steel posts.
This appears to be a great solution to what has been one of Paluma’s less attractive spots and an ongoing maintenance problem. The new retaining wall will be a termite proof, permanent and attractive solution, at the same time managing drainage and water flow from the roadway.
Contractors for Townsville City Council are undertaking the upgrade works and be aware that the northern end of the road is closed to vehicles during this work. The main car park and walking track to McClelland’s Lookout remain open.
Some views of the new retaining wall under construction are shown below.
There are two upcoming events at Paluma to mark in the calendar for the month of June………..!
The Wattle ‘n’ Gum Bush Band invite everyone to attend their annual Bush Dance at the Paluma Community Hall on Saturday 29th June at 7.30 PM. Details are provided in the flyer below.
After dancing the night away, you can then catch up on your shopping at the Paluma Sunday Market on Sunday 30th June between 9 AM to 1 PM. Celebrate the end of the financial year with a sausage or two at the PDCA Sausage Sizzle.
We are looking for new stall holders for the Paluma Sunday Market so if you have some goods to sell please contact Lynn Hyland at email address: lynnhyland@optusnet.com.au
Len Cook would like to advise that the new Gallery is OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
Len Cook Ceramics (formerly known as Paluma Pottery) is located at 29 Lennox Crescent, off Mount Spec Road. You can’t miss the sign on the corner of Lennox Crescent.
The Gallery will be OPEN on a regular basis over the coming months, with the usual business hours of 10 AM to 4 PM.
There has understandably been a lot of talk about rain and rainfall records over the last few months. While the daily falls that Len Cook recorded in February (see previous post and also additional info at Higgins Storm Chasing) are impressive and probably unprecedented (over 2.5 metres in 11 days!), it begs the question of how many records were broken in Paluma this wet-season and just how wet Paluma is compared to other areas in the north (and elsewhere).
For those who are unfamiliar with the quote alluded to in the title of this post, the famous author Mark Twain once remarked that there are 3 types of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and statistics. This post may serve to underscore his point that you can prove just about anything you like if you carefully choose your statistics.
We now have 50 yrs of rainfall records for the Ivy Cottage BoM station (1969-2018) but due to some months with missing data, there are gaps in the records of annual totals. Fortunately, the late Roy Mackay kept his own records and I have been able to use his graph to fill in the missing annual totals (1992,1996-99). Lets start with how this year’s wet season in Paluma compares to the long-term record. Well, we have had the wettest February on record with 1986.7mm. In addition this wet-season from November ’18 to April ’19, even though we have no official data for April, has already been the the wettest on record with 4,636.9mm for November to March. Whether or not the 11 day accumulated total of 2571 is also a record breaker would require a deeper analysis of daily totals over the last 50 years – not something I, or anyone else detectable from a google search has been prepared to do. Nevertheless this year was a record breaking wet season in more than one way. We have already had enough rainfall from Jan-March to exceed 90% of the annual records, so there is also a reasonable chance that 2019 will be the wettest on record.
While we are discussing the long-term record for Paluma on its own, it is worth asking whether or not there have been any obvious trends or patterns in our rainfall. The graph below indicates that there has been no appreciable increase or decrease in mean rainfall over the last 50 years, but there does appear to be regular cycles of wet and dry periods with rainfall peaks separated by 7-9 years.
Charlie Allen recently forwarded me a graph from a now closed BoM station at Mt Spec (somewhere near the summit). The records go from 1933 to 1967 with no overlap between it and the Ivy Cottage station. Interestingly, the records indicate much higher rainfalls at Mt Spec. The median annual rainfall for the 32 years of complete data was 3324mm, which is almost a meter more than Ivy Cottage (2355mm). Also there were 8 years at Mt Spec with annual falls greater than 4m (25% of all years) and of these 3 exceeded 5m. At Paluma, we have only had 4 years exceeding 4m annual rainfall (12.5%) and none that exceeded 5m. The Mt Spec record also shows a clear decline in rainfall during the recording period. These data from Mt Spec raise the question of whether rainfall at Paluma was also higher in the 30’s to 50’s with a subsequent decline. We may never know.
Do any of these new records mean that Paluma has toppled our two wettest towns in Australia (Babinda and Tully) off their pedestals? The short answer is no. After scratching around amongst the totals, I did find that our new record for February is higher than the highest February rainfall in Tully but not for Babinda. However I can report that our highest daily rainfall ever recorded in Paluma (634mm in January 1972) is higher than any daily totals for Tully or Babinda! Also it is possible that our recent 11 day cumulative total exceeds anything recorded there (it’s too much work to check on this!). But before we crack open a bottle of bubbly, bear in mind that having had one exceptional wet day, or series of days doesn’t really make us generally wetter than towns with much higher averages (see comparison table below). And besides, it turns out that other places in Australia have had much wetter single days – Crohamhurst in SE Qld recorded 907mm on a single day in 1893, and if we look globally, La Reunion holds the world record for daily rainfall with a staggering 1.825 metres in 24 hours.
If all of my efforts to find some way in which Paluma can be considered uniquely “wet” seem a bit over-the- top, spare a thought for Babinda and Tully.
In terms of the key statistics I have seen, Babinda easily exceeds Tully in terms of average annual rainfall (4.287 vs 4.092 metres per year) and the same goes for median rainfall, making it an easy pick for the wettest town in Australia. In recognition of this humble achievement Babinda has placed a small golden gumboot in the window of its post office . Not to be outdone, Tully (in the spirit of overcompensation) has argued that it has the record for the wettest year ever (7.898m in 1950) and has erected a massive 7.9m high golden gumboot in a local green space.
Ironically neither the town of Babinda or Tully come close to being the wettest “place” in Australia. That title goes to the nearby unpopulated summit of Mt Bellenden Ker, which boasts a massive annual average of 8.12 metres and a record year of 12.46 meters in 1973. Makes Paluma seem positively arid in comparison!
At the recent PDCA Annual General Meeting the following people were elected:
President
Jamie Oliver
1st Vice President
Sarah Swan
Treasurer
Wilfred Karnoll
Secretary
Michele Bird
Committee Member
Lynn Hyland
We welcome Sarah as a new member to the Committee (and to Paluma) and look forward to her contributions and perspectives on how we can ensure Paluma lives up to, and enhances, its reputation as a key destination for locals and interstate/overseas visitors, and as a small patch of paradise for those of us who are residents.
The position of 2nd Vice President is currently vacant (it is an optional position) but we are keen to fill it if there is someone who is interested in getting involved with the PDCA. Please contact Michele or anyone above it you would like further information.
Colwyn Campbell and Juanita Poletto decided not to seek re-election this year in order to concentrate on other work. The meeting thanked both outgoing members for their contributions on the Committee. Colwyn in particular has been on the committee as Vice President or Treasurer. Her calm and considered voice on key matters during Exec meetings will be missed. Colwyn will continue to play a key role in the History Project as well as maintaining her important contributions to the Web site and Turkey Talk (as editor). Juanita was also thanked for her work in securing new first aid kits for the hall and in conducting a review of the Royal Flying Doctor medical kit arrangements (which remains at Ivy Cottage under the stewardship of Ian Marshall).
The full minutes of the AGM and General Meeting will be published shortly in the members section of the website.
On Sunday 21 April many of Roy Mackay’s long-time Paluma friends and acquaintances joined the Mackay family to celebrate and pay tribute to Roy’s long and wonderful life.
Duncan and David Mackay spoke about their father’s life and work, outlining some of their childhood experiences and reminiscences growing up with their naturalist and explorer parents in the wilds of Papua New Guinea. The Mackay family presented a photo essay of Roy’s life, with some unique and remarkable photographic images capturing Roy’s absolute passion for his family, nature, wilderness and the people of PNG.
The afternoon of remembrance was bittersweet as Roy is no longer with us, but sharing his memory with others was a happy and heartfelt occasion.
The overwhelming theme of Sunday’s celebration was that Roy Mackay was a true gentlemen – he was a devoted family man and his time and generosity in sharing his vast knowledge of the natural world was extended to all people from all walks of life. Roy’s passion for nature and for making the world a better place was ever-present right to the end of his life.
The admiration and respect for Roy Mackay is enduring in the village of Paluma. His spirit resides in all those who loved and admired him and he will never be forgotten by the many people whose lives he touched.
The Paluma community sincerely thanks the Mackay family for arranging this celebration of Roy’s life, for sharing their memories and for the wonderful luncheon in his honour.
The Mackay family who attended Sunday’s celebration of Roy’s life and work.
The following are some selected photographs from the event.
Members (and prospective members) are reminded that the Annual General Meeting of the Paluma & District Community Association Inc. will be held on: Saturday April 20th, 2019 at 5pm in the Community Hall.
Nominations are open for all Executive Committee positions.
Please attend and support our village community association.
One of Paluma’s very own artists, Sarah Swan will join two of her esteemed artistic colleagues, Heather Byrne and Linda Bates, to present the upcoming ‘Ecologica’ Exhibition at the TYTO Regional Art Gallery in Ingham.
The ‘Ecologica’ Exhibition will run from 5 April to 5 May with opening hours of 10 am to 4 pm daily. Entry to the Exhibition is free of charge and all are welcome.
Sarah invites her Paluma friends and family to join her at the Exhibition Opening on Friday 5 April at 6.30 pm.
Information on the Exhibition is outlined below:-
‘Ecologica’ is the result of the collaboration between three artists who are passionate about the flora and fauna of our beautiful planet. We live surrounded by outstanding landscapes. From the brilliant ochres of the desert, to the lush greens of the tropical rainforest there are more colours around us than our eyes are capable of seeing. ‘Ecologica’ has given us, as artists, the chance to explore these landscapes through our chosen media. Our work is inspired by the life nurtured in our chosen landscapes from the clean tang of saltwater, through the expectant hush of a woodland clearing.
On Saturday 16th March, an Afternoon Tea was held at the Rainforest Inn to honour the memory of the late Roy Mackay, one of Paluma’s most loved, admired and respected residents, who passed away on the 12th February.
A year ago, the community helped Roy celebrate his 90th birthday at the Inn. Roy was born on the 18th March. It had been hoped that he would be here for his 91st birthday, but sadly, he did not make it.
The Inn was crowded, with more than 55 guests, not only residents but also others whom his life had touched – birdwatchers, students, taxidermists, fellow nature lovers – all came to reflect on his life and share memories. Again and again, his enthusiasm for life, his kindness and his generosity were mentioned. Many who were unable to attend the afternoon tea sent messages recalling their association with Roy.
Beth Snewin gave a Power Point presentation she had compiled, showing photos and commentaries on Roy’s remarkable life. A guest book was also passed around in which people shared anecdotes and reminiscences. This book will be kept in the Paluma History display as a tribute to this remarkable man’s contribution to the people of Paluma – our very own national treasure.
Always a very sociable man – we are sure Roy would have enjoyed this tea party immensely.
