Caitlin Kross has been celebrated for her refereeing excellence after returning from Basketball Queensland’s State Referee Program’s (SRP) Camp on Monday 17 June. Caitlin was prestigiously selected for the six-week program after refereeing at the U16 States Competition in April and has since been selected as 1 of 4 referees to represent Queensland at the School Sport Australia Nationals in July later this year. Caitlin made the decision to progress into the referring sphere four years ago foll
Read more
Congratulations to Tony Battiston, who celebrated his 70th birthday with family and close friends at the Bocce Club on Saturday. All were encouraged to dress as a movie character, with Tony donning a Jedi costume. He entertained everyone by sharing a few of his favourite riddles and after lunch, a game of bocce was enjoyed by all. Thank you to everyone who came, he had an awesome weekend, one not to forget.
Read more
The latest victim of severe staff shortages in the medical industry is the Bowen Herbert Street Family Medical Centre which announced this week that it will close its doors at the end of June. Over 200 GP clinics in Australia have closed down in the past year, many of them citing the same reason – they simply cannot get enough GPs. Bowen Herbert Street Family Medical Centre is operated by the Girudala Community Cooperative Society, which is a non-for-profit organisation which predominantly ove
Read more%20(1).JPG)
After six weeks of hard work, artist Glen Gillard is thrilled to have finished the latest of Bowen’s murals and is extremely happy with it. “It is probably the longest that I have ever spent on a mural,” said Glen. “I am glad to see the end of it, and I’m happy and think the results are pretty good. “Everybody's saying how wonderful it is and magnificent, but most of the comments I get is that it’s beautiful and that's what I'm really happy about.” Glen joked that his favourite part to paint
Read more
The Mooney Cup ignited the Burdekin Football Club from 3 pm on Saturday, June 15, delivering extraordinary results and plenty of good times across the board. continued on page 43 Caption1: Anna and Brandon Mooney Caption 2: Players with Anna and Brandon Mooney The Memories Continue continued from back page The Mooney Cup, an annual event in honour of ex-player Michael Mooney, who sadly lost his battle with brain cancer in 2019, brought International Park to life. Both players and onlookers gat
Read more.jpeg)
With a frosty start to the day turning into a beautifully warm morning, the Ayr Golf Course was filled with dedicated junior golfers ready to take out a win. The 9-hole gross winner of the day was Oscar with a score of 44, along with the day’s nett winner, Riley with a nett score of 29. The 6-hole victor was Jett with a gross score of 47, on a count back from Kyle, also with a great score of 47. The nett winner was Ivy with a nett score of 17. The 3-hole gross winner with Heath, with a score
Read more
Local Last weekend the Burdekin Panthers had three home games against Riverway JCU on Saturday, winning all of them. The Premiers won 2-1, the Under 23s won 2-0 and the Women Premiers won 2-1. The Division 1 team had a bye. This week the Panthers have four games starting with the Ladies away to Warriors on Wednesday night. The Funkies are at home to Rebels on Friday night and the Premiers and Under 23s are away to Rebels on Saturday. The Ayr Anzac Club Premiers were looking to bounce back afte
Read more
Putting up a good fight but sadly falling short, the Hens unfortunately took a loss to Western Lions 28 – 16. The girls sent the ball wide, making exceptional ground with the “speedsters” of the team taking over, however, the Lions outscored the locals by two tries with all of their five tries scored from running up the centre, close to the line. The Hens did have some setbacks, with star forward Abby King underperforming due to carrying an injury, along with losing Toni Daisy and Margie O’R
Read moreA rollercoaster of emotions was felt by Reserves Coach, Chris Perry as he watched his boy’s 18 nil lead slip away to Western Lions, dominating 36 – 28. With key players, Zac Campbell and Jared Thorley sidelined with injuries, and a couple of players progressing up to A Grade, Chris believes the reason for the drop off was due to other variables. “We seem to go to sleep at times when in front instead of putting the foot down, and putting them away,” said Chris. Players Player was awarded t
Read moreLast Saturday saw a jampacked night at Ayr’s Rugby Park with Townsville’s Western Lions A Grade dominating the Burdekin’s Roosters 26 to nil. The Roosters set out on the field at a disadvantage, missing their two Cowboy stars, and Blackhawk allocations from the team, and fielding a team containing six 18-year-olds against a team with years of experience was unfortunately no match for the much-loved local boys. A lop-sided penalty count against the locals further contributed to the unfortunate
Read moreThis Saturday, 22 June, Rugby Park will host only two matches with Souths set to pay a visit to the Burdekin Roosters. A Grade A mismatched lineup is on the cards, with Souths missing a lady’s team, and the Burdekin Roosters missing an U20s team to play, however, Souths will field their top of the leader board Reserve and A Grade teams, making for an unmissable couple of games. Souths will aim to hold their lead and continue their undefeated streak which has held up over the entirety of the se
Read more
The Ayr Bowling Club’s week began with Social Ladies’ Tuesday on 11 June; an enjoyable afternoon with great attendance. Meryl Smith, Merle Nixon, Ruth Moore and Irene Wilson took home a win, defeating Karen Shepherd, Katharina Stuckler, Linda Guimelli, and Betty Schultz. Also celebrating victory was Lyn Storrie, Isabel Cislowski, Raylene Hervy and Dot Cutting after defeating Margaret Linton, Donna Soper, Beryl Cornford, and Pam Power. On Wednesday 12 June, the afternoon’s competition was over
Read more
On Friday 14 June, the Ayr Golf Club held Captains Day 2024, hosting 27 nominations of ladies to participate in Captain Sandra’s Day. With a few hitches along the way, the day was an overall enjoyable experience with a 50m approach shot after the stableford competition exceeding the ladies line up in their respective grades on hole 18, seeing who could get nearest the pin with 1 shot. “This turned out to be quite the spectacle and could be something we might do a few times a year,” shared the
Read more
The Burdekin Clay Target Club held a jampacked weekend starting on Saturday 8 June which saw 42 shooters take part in the 100 Target Handicap Event as sponsored by JBS Foods Australia. The competition day provided perfect weather and exceptional scores across the board, along with some celebratory results throughout the competition. On Sunday 9 June, 35 competitors garnered outstanding results once again for another spectacular day, with the club’s Andrew Bergin sponsoring the Double Rise.
Read more.png)
The Brandon Bowls Club held a celebratory trophy evening proudly sponsored by BQC Quarry. The night fosters fantastic numbers once again, and the club thanks everyone who attended the wonderful event. The club thanks Garry Pearce for his preparations to organise teams to head out onto the green. Appreciation and thanks was also expressed to Heather Jorgenson and her group of ladies in the kitchen, for preparing delicious smoko for the everyone to enjoy at the evenings conclusion, along with Pe
Read more
Thursday winners were Wayne and visitor Jean from Weston Creek bowls club ACT. Dino Poli won the lucky jackpot ball $29 in his pocket. The meat tray raffle was won by another visitor Mal Gunner from the Tuggeranon Vikings bowls club also in the ACT. Thanks to our Sponsor once again Ferguson Plumbing. 30 players including 8 visitors turned up to play on a perfect NQLD Winter afternoon. 4 games of triples and a game of pairs. RINK 2. Jean (visitor) and Wayne were too strong for Ray M and Gary
Read more
The Burdekin Touch Fields are in for a busy night overflowing with nail-biting games when the Burdekin Touch Association hosts the season Grand Final from 6pm on Friday 21 June. The community is invited to come along to witness six men’s divisions, and two lady’s divisions put it on the field for what will make a lively, and entertaining Friday night of touch football for both families and friends to enjoy. The canteen will be serving up food and drinks throughout the evening, and fields are e
Read more.png)
By Amanda Wright Production at Wilmar Sugar and Renewables’ Inkerman Mill in the Burdekin region, which kicked off the 2024 season on Monday, June 10, was abruptly halted on Wednesday due to industrial action. The shutdown was prompted by union delegates informing the company of a planned one-hour work stoppage at Inkerman Mill and at least two other sites at midday on Wednesday. While a one-hour stoppage might not typically force a shutdown, the delegates declined to confirm whether this w
Read more
Production has begun at Wilmar Sugar and Renewables’ Inkerman Mill in the Burdekin region with the first cane for the 2024 season tipping at 9:28am on Monday 10 June. Invicta Mill and Kalamia Mill will see production also begin this week with the remaining five other Wilmar mills to start up the week beginning Monday 17 June. The beginning of what will be an extremely busy season for the Burdekin has been successful with General Manager Operations, Mike McLeod describing the kickoff as off t
Read more.JPG)
Hi everyone, On his way travelling down the Queensland coast, our recently departed journalist, Sam Gillespie, called into the Whitsundays with his mum, dad and ‘Uncle Chook’ to attend a little farewell afternoon that the team held in his honour. Sam has been an incredible contributor to Burdekin Life Newspaper and I couldn’t think of anyone with a bigger heart and a love for regional communities that could have guided this newspaper through its first eight months. He has set a precedent for
Read more.jpg)
Within the early hours of Thursday 6 June, the motorists of the Burdekin region experienced lengthy delays and major travelling inconveniences following a truck fire on the Burdekin Bridge. Five emergency service crews responded to calls just after 5am to find a B Double Semi Trailer Truck fully engulfed in flames. The vehicle was transporting pallets of alcohol travelling North along the Bruce Highway when a mechanical failure occurred, and the truck’s tyres burst. A Queensland Police Servic
Read more
The Queensland Government has been called out by Member for Burdekin and Shadow Minister for Rural & Regional Affairs Dale Last after increased funding for the Bruce Highway was announced from 2027-28, saying it has “given up when it comes to improving roads in regional Queensland”. The state government announced it will increase its annual Bruce Highway funding commitment to $250 million per annum from 2027-28 onwards, but Mr Last said this will see safety upgrades on the roads that their const
Read more
The State Budget was announced on Tuesday afternoon, unveiling measures to directly relieve the cost-of-living crisis and help people with everyday expenses. From discounted car registration to cheaper public transport, the pre-election budget is aimed at creating real change, although several measures are conveniently due to expire just after the State Government election set to take place later this year. Overall, a total of $11.2b in reductions to Queenslanders were outlined in this week’s
Read more
The young blue heeler from Brisbane who has taken the world by storm is now the face of the state as the latest major tourism marketing campaign from Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) kicked off earlier this month. Building on the global phenomenon of children’s television show Bluey, Queensland will be pitched as ‘Bluey’s world, for real life’, encouraging visitors from around the world to come and live the Bluey lifestyle in Queensland. Tourism industry representatives gathered at locations
Read more.jpg)
A big thank you to the Burdekin region for being so RV friendly and supportive. Travelling Australia for three years we have seen many places and your region stands out as a shining beacon of welcoming civility. We love your many camping options and have sampled a few. Plantation Creek Boat Ramp free camp near Ayr was a peaceful spot, and the mud crabs caught were very much enjoyed. Giru free camp is another great spot, the nearby Giru International Hotel always gets our custom for a night ou
Read more