Category: Village news

Last Social for 2018 – Tropical BBQ

Last Saturday night (8 December) the annual Tropical Xmas BBQ was held at the Community Hall to close out the Paluma Social calendar for 2018. Up to 20 residents attended the event, with a few people coming and going over the course of the evening.

A sumptuous feast consisting of  BBQ meats and an array of salads and sweets was enjoyed by all. The ‘BBQ-er’ for the evening was Ross Hyne, closely supervised by ‘Mr. BBQ’ himself, Don Battersby. As usual, the Bar and Beverages were expertly dispensed by Les Hyland.

The ‘dish of the night’ was awarded to Jennie Robinson for her very special and unique recipe for ‘sweet but salty’ berry dessert cake! The encouragement award goes to Jim for his very special ‘do-it-yourself cucumber and egg salad’.

It was great to see many people embracing the ‘Tropical’ theme with their colourful shirts and other attire.  We were lucky enough to have two of Santa’s Elves attend as well (Ross & Sonya).

As with all Paluma Social Events, many of us ate too much food, drank a little too much wine and laughed a lot! A happy and fun-filled Paluma time was enjoyed by all.  Merry Xmas!

 

Telstra Mobile Tower Launch Celebration

Some of the community arrived a bit late for the 10.30 am start time last Saturday 1st December, but all up there were at least 17 residents in attendance to celebrate the provision of a tower giving Telstra mobile coverage over quite an extensive area in and around Paluma. 

Rachel and Joanne from Telstra came up from Townsville and were welcomed by PDCA President Jamie Oliver who acknowledged  the great benefits from the installation, not only in the township, but  as far as the Dam turnoff and quite a way down the Range Road. There is also reception on some of the walking tracks which has an obvious safety benefit – hopefully rarely needed. Lynn Hyland also spoke of the benefit to the PRFB and the SES who have on occasions found that their technology was useless in Paluma due to lack of mobile connection. Rachel replied mentioning that she had not fully realised the extent to which the tower would benefit the area. Participants were presented with a complimentary gift bag from Telstra containing a power pack – a very useful gift !

A scrumptious morning tea was provided by the Rainforest Inn and it was after 12.00 hrs that the group finally dispersed.

Article by Les Hyland

NOTICE TO PALUMA RESIDENTS: Heavy Vehicles on Range Road

HEAVY VEHICLES ON RANGE ROAD, WEEK OF 26 NOVEMBER

Paluma residents and visitors are advised that there will be heavy vehicles using the Range Road in the week beginning 26 November.

The heavy vehicles will include gravel trucks, concrete trucks and other large transport vehicles. The vehicles will be travelling to Gumburu to carry out work on extending the bus turnaround area.

Heavy vehicles are most likely to be encountered in the early morning.

Please drive carefully and be alert for these large vehicles on the road this week.

Telstra Paluma Mobile Tower Launch Celebration

     Paluma Mobile Tower – Launch Celebration

Telstra (Regional Australia, North Qld) and the Paluma & District Community Association (PDCA) invites all Paluma residents to attend a Morning Tea to celebrate the launch of the new Paluma Mobile Telephone Tower.

When: Saturday 1st December 2018, 10.30 AM

Where: Rainforest Inn, Paluma

Morning Tea will be provided courtesy of Telstra.

The PDCA encourages the attendance of Paluma residents, so please pass the word about this upcoming event!

Paluma Garden Competition – The Results Are In !!

Paluma Garden Competition 2018

On a sunny Friday 19th October, the judging of the 2018 Bunnings Paluma Garden Competition took place. Lynn Hyland accompanied the judges around the acreage blocks, whilst Jamie Oliver  escorted the judges around the village gardens. Natalie Pace and her mother Denise, both past judges for the Townsville Garden Competition were our 2018 judges. Natalie held an Open Garden in September at her Rollingstone property and attracted 350 visitors. There really are many keen gardeners in Townsville. She is encouraging us to consider having an Open Garden event in Paluma next year.  Well Paluma gardeners what do you think about this?

The Garden Competition winners were announced at our PDCA Social on Saturday 3rd November. They are:-

1. Best Business Garden Winner is Gumburu

    

2. Best Acreage Garden  Winner is Don Battersby

     

3. Best Residential Village Garden Winner is Nick and Glenda Van Rynswoud. The Alison Evans Memorial Trophy was also awarded to Nick and Glenda Van Rynswoud.

    

    

4. Highly Commended Residential Village Garden Winner is Peter and Dorothy Klump

    

5. An Individual Plant, Garden Bed, Herb Garden or Vegetable Patch, Outdoor Space, etc Winner is Michele Bird

Paluma is blessed with a cooler climate than the coast and hence we are able to successfully grow many plants that aren’t seen in Townsville gardens. During the judging, some of the plants that were in full bloom were the spirea, hippeastrums, New Guinea impatiens, daylilies and orchids to name just a few. Do check out ‘What’s Flowering In Paluma’ on the website to keep abreast of the latest showpieces in Paluma gardens.

Article by Lynn Hyland with Photos by Michele Bird & Colwyn Campbell

Remembrance Day at Paluma

Remembrance Day at Paluma

On Sunday 11 November at 11 am a small group of Paluma residents and visitors congregated at the Community Hall to acknowledge Armistice Day and the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War 1.

The commemoration included an audio rendition of The Last Post and a minute of silence, followed by a short anecdote from Les Hyland.

Many thanks to Len Cook for raising the flag on the day and to Lynda Radbone for her technical assistance. Len also provided the morning tea!

 

 

 

Vale David Georgee

VALE DAVID GEORGEE

It is with sadness that we report the death of David Georgee, who passed away on 8th November 2018.

David’s connection with Paluma spanned more than seven decades. He described some of his fond memories of our little village in the clouds in his book, ‘Townsville As It Was’. As a young boy, he used to come to Paluma with his family for holidays, staying at the Main Roads Tents. These were tents surrounded by stone walls, left over after the Main Roads Commission had completed construction of the Range Road. The tents were then used for holiday accommodation. The rock walls were later used to become the Mist Haven holiday units.

In later years David purchased the property at 16 Smith Crescent. In his book he describes how the waterfall in Benham’s Creek opposite their house, was used as the shower for the children. The girls’ showers were at 4 pm while the boys’ turn was 5 pm. Because the water was warmer earlier in the afternoon, the girls could enjoy their shower.

David’s talent as a piano player had him perform at many weddings, dances and social functions, including our own Paluma Music Festivals. Don Battersby remembers David providing the musical entertainment at one of his birthday parties a few years ago; probably the last time David performed in Paluma.

Our sincere condolences go to David’s family on his passing.

 By Wilfred Karnoll

 

 

Famous Paluma structure goes up in flames!

Even the editors at Paluma.org can’t resist the odd attention grabbing headline (or click bait as it is now called) …….

Len Cook watches the smoke and flames emerging from the Anagama kiln

Last week saw the famous Anagama wood-fired kiln blaze into life at the Paluma Pottery on Lennox Crescent.  Len Cook, our local award-winning Pottter, spent the last several months making hundreds of pots of various sizes and shapes, in preparation for  the annual wood firing.

Len Cook at around 3am on the 4th day- still going strong

The process started last Monday evening (October 29) at 8pm and finished exactly 100 hours later at midnight on Friday. Prior to the start of the firing the lower part of the shelter that houses the kiln was chocked full of firewood, mostly pine and black wattle from the blocks at Hussey Road. By Friday most of the wood had been fed into the kiln, producing temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees in the front part of the kiln. Continuous stoking of the fire was needed to maintain the temperatures that allow the wood ash that constantly flows over the pots to melt and form a wonderfully variable glaze on the pots.  Len, together with Kelly Davis and Jamie Oliver worked shifts feeding the kiln, monitoring temperatures and making the odd adjustment to airflow vents and shutters.

The pots started to glow after the first day and by the end of the firing the entire inside was glowing red.

Each time new wood was added (about every 15 min, 24 hours a day) the chimney would produce billows of smoke and fire, which was particularly impressive at night.

The kiln is currently in cool-down mode and Len will not know what the results of this year’s efforts have been until later this week. But given the wonderful results from previous firings, there should be some spectacular pieces.

More pictures:

 

 

 

 

Paluma Featured in RACQ Road Ahead Magazine

Paluma has an entry in the latest issue of the RACQ Road Ahead magazine in the “My Town” section.

The article was written by Michael Drew and features information on  what to do, where to eat and our main attractions. Thanks to Michael Drew for composing this article, which is intended to correct the impression in a previous RACQ article that there is little to do in Paluma.  A quick browse of our website should also dispel that notion!