FROM WHERE I SIT At 12.05am on Saturday 15 February, Ayr Police intercepted a vehicle on Bruce Highway, McDesme. The driver, a 36yr old Sunshine Coast man was issued a NTA for driving with a relevant drug in his saliva, possessing a dangerous drug and possessing a drug utensil. He is due to appear in Ayr Magistrates Court on 7 April. At 1.40am on Saturday 15 February, Ayr Police were called to a disturbance in Edwards Street, Ayr. It was established a person had been punched and knocked unconsc
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Did you feel the earth move on the 1st of March? A magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook homes in Townsville on Saturday night, causing a stir across the region. While the earthquake’s epicenter was located in Townsville, its impact reverberated along the entire Queensland coast, affecting residents in several cities. Geoscience Australia took to social media to alert locals about the seismic event, which struck at 9:31 PM. According to the agency, the earthquake was detected approximately 17 kilomet
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There was no sign of rain when the junior cricketers took to the Nutrien Ag Solutions fields last Friday for their second game this year. The scoring in the Challengers was close with the partnerships of Noah and Nate, and Everly and Anna producing 14 runs apiece. They were closely followed by Nahijah and Lincoln, and Corbett and Claire on 13 each. The wickets were shared around with Lincoln, Everly, Aria, Harvey and Claire, taking one each, while Noah did one better with two. Aria and Corbett
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A special shout out to Carla Healy principal of Raine and Horne. Home Hill Open Easter Fours: The Home Hill Bowls & Sports Club is set to host an exciting Fours Carnival over Easter Saturday and Sunday, with sponsorship ensuring an attractive event for all participants. Flyers have already been distributed to all bowling clubs, and organisers are hopeful this will become an annual fixture on the calendar. With the summer heat in full force, bowlers are reminded to prepare accordingly for t
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Local The 2025 fixture season kicked off last weekend when three Burdekin Panthers teams were in action. On Friday night the Ladies were way to Brothers and then on Saturday, the Premiers and Reserves were at home to MA Olympic. It was not the best start to the season with the Ladies losing 1-3 and the Reserves going down 1-4 but the Premiers did well to draw 1-1. After last week’s Kappa Cup loss to Estates the Ayr Anzac Club Premiers were hoping to get the season off to a good start against l
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Hi Everyone, Fantastic to be back in the region over the past few weeks and I’ve really enjoyed connecting with so many people in the community. First-up was the Home Hill Chamber of Commerce meeting where our Sales Manager Trish and I came along to chat to local business owners and, of course, support our journalist Mark in his engaging talk about his novel. Next up, it was the Sweet Days Hot Nights launch evening where we were thrilled to chat with event organisers and express our wishes to
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We’re Two Months Into The Year, What’s Something You’ve Done You’re Happy With Or What Do You Have Coming Up That You’re Looking Forward To? John: “I’m retired now but I used to work at the old Farry’s supermarket here in Home Hill as a butcher. I've been here 28 years now, I lost my partner about six years ago, I live by myself and so I just relax now. I got a son in town, and a daughter in Newcastle, another in Torquay, Melbourne. But now that I'm retired, I just go to a local here and have a
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CANEGROWERS has written to the Federal Government, urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise the disaster recovery grant threshold to at least $75,000 for primary producers impacted by the recent flooding in north Queensland. It has been more than two weeks since the government announced recovery assistance packages of up to $25,000 for affected growers. While growers are grateful for the swift response and the inclusion of replant costs in recovery grants, reports from the ground m
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On Act of Kindness Day, Ayr State Primary School was privileged to receive a heartfelt and thoughtful donation from Mrs Penny Ford. With creativity and compassion, Mrs Ford transformed scrap materials into stunning library bags, pencil cases, and bookmarks, providing the students with unique, handcrafted items to enhance their learning experience through reading. The donation, made from upcycled materials, not only promotes sustainability but also serves as a reminder of the power of giving. Ea
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Nineteen new apprentices have kicked off their careers with Wilmar Sugar and Renewables. The new recruits are based in the Burdekin region, where Wilmar owns four sugar factories. The apprenticeships are in the electrical, fitting and turning, boilermaking and diesel fitting trades. Wilmar Sugar and Renewables Training Superintendent Daniel Shipard said he was pleased to welcome such a high-calibre group of first-year apprentices into the business. “Wilmar Sugar and Renewables has a long hist
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Federal Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox believes that residents in the electorate of Dawson have again been let down by the Government when it comes to the Bruce Highway being upgraded. He states that Queenslanders were promised $7.2 billion in funding by the Prime Minister to fix the notoriously dangerous highway. However, in evidence to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport estimates hearings on Monday, department officials confirmed that just $432 million would be spent on th
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Home Hill-Ayr Lions Club hosted the club’s Youth of the Year Final on Monday 25 February. Four talented students from Home Hill High School submitted applications addressing a range of criteria about their academic results, their school and community involvement, and their aspirations for the future. On Monday afternoon, the judging panel interviewed them separately. This component is worth 70 marks. That night, at a dinner at the Crown Hotel, the judges, teachers, family members and Lions and
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Simon Hood Wilmar Manager Grower Marketing February was a positive month for prices with growers using the rally to tidy up 2024 season Target and GMPRS pricing. Additionally, with 2025 season prices breaking through $650/t, there has been increased scale up selling from Target price growers. There is, however, still plenty of 2025 pricing to go with only about 25 per cent of Target prices locked in at this point. The rally has also allowed our 2024 season pools to be forecasting higher retur
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Almost $600,000 had been committed to help state schools in the Burdekin turn the tide on poor behaviour according to Member for Burdekin, Dale Last MP. The funding, which is in addition to existing funding, will allow schools to tailor solutions focussed on tackling poor behaviour and lifting education outcomes. “This funding is not only about making our schools safer to help improve attendance rates and education standards, it is also about backing our local principals and teachers,” Mr Last
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I attended the Industry Breakfast on 26th February with my fellow Councillors. It was a very interesting breakfast. Mick Theobold from Rio Tinto came along and gave a very interesting talk about the Pongamia Farms project. Rio Tinto are developing seed farms in Australia as part of a new biofuels project. They have partnered with Midway Limited to oversee the planting and management of the Pongamia seed farms in the Townsville and Burdekin areas. I also attended the launch of the Sweet Days Ho
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Emergency Relief Program BCA provides financial and material assistance for adults experiencing personal, family, relationship and/or financial issues. The Service assists adults and children with basic needs in times of financial hardship, through the provision of: Food parcels Toiletries Vouchers (food, clothes, chemist, transport) Prepaid cards Payment of third-party accounts Please note that a Centrelink Income Statement is required unless you are affected by dom
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The Burdekin Shire Council hosted its first Industry Breakfast for 2025 on Wednesday 26 February at the Burdekin Theatre. With a receptive and large crowd who all turned up for the 7am start, they got to hear some great talks all while having a warm cooked breakfast. Providing local businesses with key insights into emerging opportunities and developments in the region, the breakfast brought together industry leaders and business representatives for a morning of networking and knowledge-sharing
Read moreCANEGROWERS has written to the Federal Government, urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise the disaster recovery grant threshold to at least $75,000 for primary producers impacted by the recent flooding in north Queensland. It has been more than two weeks since the government announced recovery assistance packages of up to $25,000 for affected growers. While growers are grateful for the swift response and the inclusion of replant costs in recovery grants, reports from the ground
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The Home Hill Choral Society is back for more fun in 2025, with their first show this year entitled, Shamrock Shindig. We sat down with Erin Brennan, the show’s writer and director, to find out what the audience can expect in what is always a hoot! “We will be featuring Irish songs, typical ones, you know such as: When Irish Eyes Are Smiling; If You're Irish, Come To The Parlour, and many more. And of course we’ll have jokes. There's lots of jokes that I've found over the years. I always find j
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Recently a beautiful and rare china tea set, which depicts the Ayr Council Chambers and the Ayr Post Office, made its way to a local radio station. The station is calling on any Burdekin historians or those who might be familiar with the family that donated them, to come forward and help solve a mystery. “They were sent to Pat Lawson via Victor Cecchin. The Cecchin's had a service station back in the day before they sold it to Romeo motors. After that, I believe it was demolished to become Wool
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Friday 7 March Creedence Clearwater Collective Friday 7:30pm The community is invited to a night of celebrating the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty from the songs they wrote, to the songs covered to the songs they wrote for others. Tickets can be purchase on the Burdekin Theatre’s website. Burdekin Theatre Sunday 8 March BBQ Breakfast Sunday 8am The community is invited to attend the Burdekin Aero Club Inc. Monthly BBQ Breakfast at the Ayr Aerodrome from 8am to 11am. Meet
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Friday 28th February (Night Bowls) ** Under slightly cooler conditions we all had a great evening at Brandon Bowls Club with 13 players venturing onto the green. Winners of the evening were Lloyd Shepherd, Jayson Farry, and Jamie Woods over Margaret McLaughlan, Margaret Chapman, Peter Legarraga, and Joe Yipnazar. In the other game of triples Ben Mills, Ross McLaughlan, and Ray Paneccasio, defeated Dave Sheehan, Lyn Storrie, and Gary Pearce. Sunday 2nd March Under very hot and extreme conditi
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Hot conditions greeted our teams on Saturday for Round 13 of the Home Hill Senior Cricket competition. Alliance Pharmacy v Peto Marine Alliance Pharmacy won the toss and chose to bat. Lee Watts led the way with 35 runs from 57 balls, supported by 18 runs from both Kane Batchelor and Mark Spalding. Alliance finished with a total of 5/132. The chase from Peto Marine was lead by Brad Parravicini, who retired not out on 50 runs from 31 balls, and consolidated by Greg Flanagan’s 50 not out from 24
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Thankfully, Cyclone Alfred has slowly moved on from the Burdekin, though it continues to tease the Queensland coast. While we’ve had significant rainfall, it’s amazing how quickly life has returned to normal. In true Burdekin fashion, our farmers are already back to watering their crops - just another example of the adaptability of our community. This week, we also celebrate International Women’s Day, a time to reflect on the incredible contributions of women throughout history and the ongoing j
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Our year started off this weekend with our annual sign-on and coaching session for new members. We also had our regular juniors turn up to refresh those skills and play a few holes, mainly to get rid of the cobwebs on their clubs after a couple of months off! A wonderful morning was had for the Ayr Juniors sign on this Saturday. Tara Jenkins joined us to teach many basic golf skills to our juniors with some familiar faces from last year, and many news ones too, which was great to see. It looked
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