April
Get shark smart
After more than 60 years of almost total reliance on shark nets and drumlines, a new plan embraces a broad palette of new technologies like drones and smart drums, plus a new approach to awareness and education programs that emphasises sharks are not the enemy – when we go into the ocean we are sharing their space.
The forward scouts for this new strategy, branded as SharkSmart Qld, arrived in Noosa for a targeted education workshop hosted by the Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation, the idea being to have a two-way conversation with marine stakeholders and ocean user groups about localising the key messages of SharkSmart.
Fight for Fed hall
Federal doesn’t have a township, a pub, a general store or a post office, only a hall, built as a memorial hall to commemorate local soldiers, on land donated by the Otto family.
With the hall having one of the lowest usage rates in the shire, council wanted to obtain better utilisation of it.
At a meeting with Council, the committee heard the Steiner school wanted to hold the prime lease on the hall in order to have a base with which they could move ahead with a development application to get funding for a school.
A public meeting was held to discuss the issue with the community which would have meant the use of the hall by the community would have to be a sublease from Mary Valley Steiner School on weekends outside school hours.
“We didn’t understand how that would work for the community,“ committee treasurer Mick Jones said.
According to the 2016 Census there are 300 people in 86 families living in private homes in the farming community of Federal.
Following the public meeting and support from the community to retain its hall, council decided not to proceed with the lease to the school.
65 years a Noosa Lifesaver
It was a fitting end to an extraordinary 65 years of surf life saving for Ron Lane when his colleagues formed a guard of honour the length of the beach to pay tribute to an absolute Noosa legend.
From his last shift posted at the radio tower to the club house, the club’s life member faced his final life saving duty with enthusiasm, good humour, commitment and dedication as he had every challenge in his many roles with the Noosa Heads Life Saving Club.
Lifesaving move
When the final vote of a drawn-out Noosa Council meeting was taken, it put the seal on a much longer project to bring a new surf lifesaving club to the Peregian community.
Eight years after the club ran out of cash and was wound up with the lease on its building passing to Noosa Council, a new entity had emerged to keep Peregian Beach safe.
The Council’s decision to authorise its chief executive officer to enter into negotiations for a 10-year lease to Peregian Beach SLSC was the outcome of a long and fraught community effort led by Peregian resident Leigh McCready, who always believed the surf club could be re-established.
Oysters go ahead
Council negotiated an extension of its partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to allow State Permits to be finalised and oyster reef restoration work to begin.
Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Thursday authorised the chief executive officer to negotiate the extension of the three-year alliance agreement due to end in September 2022.
May
It’s all fun and games
The much-awaited Hinterland Adventure Playground at Cooroy opened to the community, ahead of the official opening and community day on Friday 6 May. The playground offers all abilities play and fully accessible amenities.
Seahorses ride the waves for 10 year
It was 10 years since the Seahorse Nippers program began in Noosa to give children with a disability an opportunity to join in a nippers program and gain confidence in the ocean.
The smiles on their faces show what it means to them. Steve and Nikki Mawby joined Noosa Surf Lifesavers from Pambula Beach NSW where a modified nippers program had been developed by a couple of families with children with special needs and after discussions brought the program to Noosa.
Traffic concerns
We’re still a long way off city-style traffic and parking problems, but traffic congestion around Noosa is starting to have a major impact on lifestyle and how residents manage their daily routines, according to a new survey. Councillor Brian Stockwell polled more than 300 Noosa Shire residents through an online survey he developed and promoted in his community newsletter and on Facebook community pages and all of them confirmed concerns about the significant impact of traffic not only in tourist hotspots, but also the flow-on effects on shopping journeys and school drop-offs and pick-ups.
Yurol celebration
The ground-breaking and historic Yurol Ringtail Conservation Project was formally claimed by the Palaszczuk Government at Noosa Council chambers, in front of most of the conservationists and true believers who had worked since 2018 to make it happen.
Ukrainians welcomed
Ukrainian mother and daughter Lillia and Lisa left their home in Kyiv, Ukraine, to escape war, and came to live in Noosa, with their future uncertain and their thoughts with their family and friends left behind.
Their journey began about four months prior when Noosaville residents Adela and her mother Glennice were watching images of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on their home television and discussing what a terrible thing it must be for the innocent victims.
“Mum said, well we have room here we could offer,” Adela said.
The next day Adela phoned the Ukraine Embassy and the Australian Ukraine Society and posted a message on the Ukraine Society Facebook page.
A couple of days later a Ukrainian doctor living in Brisbane, a friend of Lillia, contacted her to say there was a family that would contact them.
Noosa returns Llew
Wide Bay’s Llew O’Brien was returned to his seat for a third term but his first one in Opposition, after LNP’s loss to Labor in the 2022 federal election and the appointment of new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Despite the national swing against LNP Mr O’Brien, with a 13.1 per cent margin in the 2019 election, won the seat of almost 86,000 voters comfortably, picking up 43.4 per cent of the primary vote and 61.4 per cent after preferences, but with an overall 1.7 per cent swing to Labor.
Rate rise
Most Noosa residents faced a rate increase of 5.1 per cent or about $80 a year and some residents with land valuation increases of more than 60 per cent faced higher rate increases, as revealed in the draft Noosa Council 2022-23 Budget that was initially released on Monday for a two-week public consultation period.
June
Sea scouts celebrate 70
As Noosa Sea Scouts prepared to celebrate its 70th anniversary, a search through the archives revealed that just about every mover and shaker in town played a part in its creation.
Perhaps that wasn’t so surprising considering that in 1952 Noosa Shire had a population of slightly more than 5000 (less than a 10th of what it is today) so it was pretty much all hands on deck when the community wanted something done.
Great taste of Italy comes to Noosa
Italians are renowned for their love of food and family, so it made sense that a group of remarkable, award-winning Italian chefs, most of them local, brought to Noosa a celebration of the Italian culture with the inaugural Italian Food and Vino Festival.
OAMs well deserved
Two Noosa volunteers, Lenore Grice and Helen Park were among 119 Queenslanders who were named in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours List – acknowledged for their outstanding service and inspiring achievements – Lenore for her service to surf lifesaving and Helen for her service to water polo.
Heritage push on
After a decade in the wilderness (excuse the pun), World Heritage re-nomination for the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park was very likely to be back on the negotiating table in coming months.
Quarry case final hearing
Noosa Hinterland residents more than filled the Planning and Environment Court in Maroochydore to hear the final hearing of Noosa Council v Cordwell Resources. About three months after the case began, both sides presented their final submissions and His Honour Judge Gary Long reserved handing down his judgement for a date to be advised.
The case relates to Council’s allegations set out by their barrister Mitchel Batty that the application was filed by council for the re- lief for the community from haulage trucks, in five areas.
The five areas relate to allegations of the quarry’s non-compliance of its Quarry Management Plan (QMP) in failing to avoid truck convoying, covering of loads, operating hours and use of quarry trucks during school bus hours, and the allegation the impact of the quarry’s intensification of work constitutes a material change of use.
Counsel for Cordwell Resources, QC Errol Morzone, informed the court his client strongly objected to the allegations.
In his summing up Mr Morzone said the Kin Kin Quarry had continued to operate within its approved authority.
