A SPECIAL NAIDOC event that hasn’t occurred for 30 years will be revived on July 9, when organisers in Chinchilla bring back a NAIDOC Golf Day to culminate a week’s celebrations of the district’s Indigenous heritage.
Marion Mitchell (Mandandanji) and Billie Brassington (Muruwari) have been the main drivers behind the event, which invites teams of three for a family friendly Ambrose competition at the Chinchilla Golf Club.
“Billie and I wanted to create an event for all mobs to come together and celebrate our culture and our people, and encourage community cohesion by developing positive relationships,” Mitchell said.
“My Nan has been talking for many years about revamping the golf day and bringing it back.
“We thought it would be awesome to do that as a 30 year anniversary. We thought it would be great to do something big this year to give back to the NAIDOCs from when we were growing up.
“I remember our grandparents and aunties doing big events like golf days and community fun days, so we wanted to try and bring it back for us and our children – the next generation.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
Erin O’Brien from Origin Energy, corporate sponsor of the NAIDOC Week golf day, with organisers Billie Brassington and Marion MitchellThe late Tony Turnbull, who ran NAIDOC Week golf days in Chinchilla until 1992
It was Mitchell’s late grandfather, Tony Turnbull who ran NAIDOC Week golf days in Chinchilla until 1992. Uncle Tony passed away after suffering prostate cancer last year, so the gold day is being used a fundraiser for cancer research.
“We’ll have an ambassador from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia to come up on the golf day to chat with all the fellas and give a bit of a spiel about what the foundation does and why we’re raising funds for it,” she said.
Mitchell’s family has strong roots in the Aboriginal communities of western Queensland.
Her ancestors come from the Mandandanji tribe around Roma. Her father is the widely renowned artist Anthony “Boy” Turnbull, while her great uncle is the legendary Indigenous jockey Darby McCarthy OAM from Cunnamulla.
Darby McCarthy OAM, the legendary Aboriginal jockey who was involved in Chinchilla NAIDOC Week golf days
[adrotate group=”2″]
After 30 years, boxing great Tony Mundine will return as special guest for the Chinchilla NAIDOC Week golf day
“Uncle Darby McCarthy got Tony Mundine up for the golf day in Chinchilla 30 years ago to, so we thought it would be awesome to have him come back again this year,” Mitchell said.
“We got in contact with Tony and he was free, so we’re very happy that he’s coming back again this year as our special guest.”
Registrations and payments are due tomorrow (June 1). Close to a full compliment of 33 teams have already registered. The $100 cost per head covers green fees, breakfast and lunch, and a shirt and cap.
There are several events organised to celebrate NAIDOC Week in Chinchilla, beginning with a community fun day the Botanical Gardens on June 3 and Aboriginal exhibition at the Lupunyah Art Gallery in Chinchilla opening on July 1.
KATTER’s Australian Party has recruited Adam Burling, a candidate in the Callide by-election who was initially running as an independent, to join the party and run for office as a KAP member.
Burling, a coal miner from Biloela, contested the seat as an independent in 2020 and had registered as an independent again for the forced by-election scheduled for June 18.
In his first interview as the KAP’s candidate for Callide, Burling told the Caller his political views were “strongly aligned” with the minor party, which currently has MPs in the North Queensland seats of Traegar, Hinchinbrook and Hill.
Burling lives with his wife and four children at Biloela and works at the Callide coal mine.
He grew up on a property at Longreach and went to university in Townsville. He has lived and worked in managerial positions in the resources sector at several Queensland towns including Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay and Clermont.
Burling’s father was a horse instructor and long time National party member who once ran for preselection against long-serving Gregory MP Vaughan Johnson.
“Mum’s side of the family were all railway workers – strong Labor people,” said Burling, who is a member of the mining workers union.
“I’ve had a diverse background. I think I’ve got the life experience and the cross section of upbringing that would see me really empathise, from the coast to the rural sectors.”
Adam Burling, KAP candidate for Callide, with his four children
Burling said his biggest concern for the future of Callide was the transition to renewable energy and what he saw as a lack of clarity about how workers in the fossil fuels industry would be re-employed, as coal and gas development phased out.
“It’s through my work and through where I’m living now that progressed my ambition to become a representative for Callide,” he said.
“I’m concerned about the lack of realistic progression from coal-fired power stations.
“I think all this talk about shutting down coal-fired power stations and moving to green hydrogen outside of our electorate is going to cost us a lot of jobs and it’s going to see these towns suffer – real estate, industry, jobs for our kids, and socio economic levels.
“I know clean energy is the future but I just want to see that our electorate is going to be part of that.
“We have a solar farm being built here (near Biloela) with 250 jobs in construction. I asked the local council how many of those jobs are ongoing. There are six.
“The way it’s being done at the moment, there are no future jobs there. There are not the jobs there that they are talking about. I just want a realistic assessment of it all and for the parties to be truthful about what the plan is and how we’re going to be involved.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
Burling said he believed blue hydrogen and green hydrogen production should be at the forefront of the renewable energy transition. He said other campaign issues included road infrastructure and healthcare.
“I’m really concerned about our famers as well, with reef regulations and tree clearing laws and the restrictions and the blame they’re getting for degradation of the environment and the reef. It’s just unjustified,” he said.
“I’ve grown to love Biloela, the surrounds and the electorate and I think it’s a great place. We’re very diverse but I just want to work on protecting what we’ve got here.
“Unfortunately I don’t see that the LNP are doing that. Because we’ve got such a safe seat, they know that they don’t have to do much to keep the seat and Labor knows they can’t win the seat, so they don’t do much to try and win it.
“We’re in a pretty poor position politically here, and I just think representing as an independent or a minor party that will have the balance of power in the very near future and I think what’s just happened in the federal election is testament to that.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said the party was very proud to endorse Mr Burling, who he was confident would make a “very powerful” MP.
“No electorate in Queensland has ever regretted electing a KAP MP – we are unashamed in our convictions and our allegiance to the advancement of rural and regional Queensland,” Katter said.
“Our allegiance to the coal workers, to the farmers and the battlers and to the every day people who feel forgotten by their two major parties is unquestionable.
“Callide would be a much stronger place if it elected a KAP MP on June 18.”
MARANOA MP David Littleproud has vowed to steer The Nationals towards the “sensible centre” after defeating former leader Barnaby Joyce and Victorian MP Darren Chester in a three-way leadership spill today.
It was a marathon party room meeting for Nationals MPs and senators, tasked with deciding the future direction of the party after last weekend’s disastrous federal election result for the Coalition.
Emerging from the meeting victorious, flanked by new deputy leader Perin Davey and Nationals leader in the senate Bridget McKenzie, Littleproud said it was the proudest day of his professional life.
“Forty years ago I joined the National Party as a 6-year-old, handing out (how to vote cards) for my father at Chinchilla Court House as he tried to become the member for Condamine,” Littleproud said.
“I believe passionately in regional Australia, I believe passionately in the National Party – we are the conscience of rural and regional Australia right here in this parliament.”
He said the party started its journey towards the 2025 election today and that elections are won from the “sensible centre”.
“This is about us as a party, moving forward. Not lurching to the left or lurching to the right, but bringing this thing called common sense to Canberra,” he said.
The new leader indicated the party won’t be backing away from its ‘net zero’ commitment on climate.
“I don’t think regional and rural Australia are against us reducing emissions,” he said.
“It will be the team, the collective wisdom of those men and women that will drive the National Party into the future.”
Nationals deputy leaders Perin Davey. IMAGE: NSW Nationals
[adrotate group=”2″]
Second-term New South Wales senator Perin Davey was elected Deputy Leader, saying her focus was on the future and the party remaining a strong voice for the regions.
“We’ve got three years to make sure we hold the new government to account, and to make sure they don’t forget the regions, and they don’t sell us short by doing deals with other parties and other interests,” she said.
Littleproud said he was proud to have two “bright, articulate and powerful” women on his leadership team.
The Liberals also held a party room this morning, with former defence minister Peter Dutton elected unopposed as leader, with Sussan Ley elected his new deputy.
COUNTRY CALLER FOOTBALL COVERAGE SPONSORED BY INTURA
By CAITLIN CROWLEY
NINETEEN-year-old rugby league sensation Selwyn Cobbo will fulfil a life-long dream to play Origin football next week having been named in the Maroons squad for Game 1.
The former Cherbourg Hornet junior takes the field as one of four Queensland Maroons debutants, including fellow Bronco Patrick Carrigan.
Cobbo’s blistering form on the wing for the Brisbane Broncos has earned him the Number 2 jersey.
Reuben Cotter and Jeremiah Nanai from the North Queensland Cowboys also received their first Origin call-up.
“They picked themselves,” Queensland Origin Coach Billy Slater said at a press conference this morning.
“I spoke to young Selwyn last night and they’re great phone calls. I remember my first phone call and they stick with you for the rest of your life.”
When asked how Cobbo reacted to the news, Slater said “he said thank you a few times.”
“What you see is what you get with Selwyn,” he said.
“He’s taken the game by storm. He’s really lit the game up and adds so much excitement.
“He’s doing a lot right that we don’t focus on as well, which is a big reason why he’s there.”
On Cobbo’s selection on the wing, Slater said it’s a “position that we have been a little bit skinny in the past.”
When a young Cobbo missed out on Queensland selection in his junior years, his father Shamus encouraged him to be patient.
“I kept saying to him, wait for the big one mate.”
Now that wait is over.
Selwyn Cobbo’s parents, Kaylene Blair and Shamus Cobbo, at Cherbourg
Queensland selectors have also rewarded the consistent efforts of Charleville’s Kurt Capewell.
Daly Cherry-Evans will captain the Maroons for a fourth consecutive series.
Game one is next Wednesday June 8th at Accor Stadium in Sydney.
OUTBACK Queensland graziers are on the cusp of unlocking lucrative new markets for sheep and goat meat, after a surge in productivity and confidence thanks to ambitious cluster fencing programs which keep predators out and biodiversity in.
Camden Park Station’s James Walker described the impact cluster fencing has had in the Longreach area as a “revolution”, with unintended but fortuitous consequences now revealing unseen opportunities for producers.
“It would be a once in a century change to production activity out here,” Walker said.
“It would be comparable to going from blade shears to mechanical shearing, what’s happened with these cluster fences.”
Agforce sheep and wool president Mike Pratt tells a similar story from his property 95kms south west of Longreach.
“It’s literally been a game changer,” he said.
“It’s reinvigorated Western Queensland – I don’t want to overcook it, but it really has given people hope.”
Pratt said it was around 2012 when the region’s sheep industry was faced with the decision of whether to abandon small stock completely because of wild dogs and other predators, or fence and fight on.
“1080 baiting had run its course,” he said. “We were losing control, the dogs just kept on coming and we couldn’t keep them at bay any longer.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk inspecting cluster fences at Barcaldine
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk touring a sheep station in Barcaldine
“When I first became Premier, I sat down with graziers outside Charleville and Longreach and they told me their heartbreaking stories of wild dogs and feral pests killing their livestock,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Since then the state government has committed more than $26 million to help communities build cluster fences and control invasive plants and animals.
“We’ve protected sheep, the livelihoods of farmers, brought jobs to the regions and bolstered economic activity in these communities,” Palaszczuk said.
Close to 24,000kms of fencing has been rolled out thanks to state, local government and private investment, but the full potential of that change is only just starting to be realised.
[adrotate group=”2″]
“Initially it was put in for wild dogs – we haven’t had one wild dog in our cluster at all since we put it up,” James Walker said.
“We’ve connected with three other producers in a cluster, which makes up a large exclusion-fence precinct north east of Longreach.
“Not only does it increase the lambing percentages here – it gives us the confidence to run mixed enterprises in terms of goats and sheep.
“We’ve got one of the largest agricultural bio-security precincts now – the biodiversity is extraordinary because we can rotate the animals on our property.”
Mike Pratt said he’d seen bio-diversity improve on his property too, with the ability to better manage grazing pressures, allowing more ground cover to return.
“You get so many more flora and fauna – we get little ground dwelling animals that would have been predated on by foxes and dogs,” he said.
“You can have your own quarantine zone. We don’t treat our sheep for lice anymore.”
Fencing on Mike Pratt’s property south west of Longreach
Another unexpected result was the ability to radically improve the management of goats, taking them from feral to farmable.
“There’s an old saying that if you can throw water through a fence, a goat can get through it,” Mike Pratt said. Not anymore.
Now the males and females can be separated, and instead of harvesting wild goats intermittently, animals can be sent for processing at the optimum time.
“That ability now is seeing massive gains in terms of productivity of goats,” James Walker said. “It’s just exploded.”
Walker said animals which were going for $180 could fetch $360 and that increased profitability is opening up exciting opportunities.
“We can really penetrate the value chains – we can really start to put production systems together to start branding what we produce out here.”
Goats at Camden Park Station. IMAGE: James Walker
The economic benefits flowing through to these outback communities are undeniable, particularly given the high labour costs involved in the merino sheep industry.
“When we shear it costs around $9 a sheep – all that money goes back into the community in wages,” Mike Pratt said.
James Walker said he’d seen land prices around Longreach increase, alongside agistment fees, and it’s being driven by confidence.
“People are paying for grass and they know their livestock will stay there and there won’t be predation – they pay a premium for that.”
He said the small stock game is also attracting interest from large corporates and investment funds, which never looked twice at sheep or goats before.
Tourists at Camden Park Station
Walker also sees new opportunities to market sheep and goat meat to the thousands of Aussie tourists who fall in love with the bush while visiting the region annually, surveying guests who stopped in at Camden Park Station last year.
“We surveyed every tourist that came through and had a meal here, to ask them if they enjoyed the meat and if they would be interested to source the meat when they arrived back home,” Walker said.
“95 percent of respondents said they would – they fell in love with the providence.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
State agriculture minister Mark Furner said there was a tremendous opportunity in the decade ahead for Queensland’s sheep and goat meat industries, as the sector rapidly scaled up.
“Under our Sheep and Goat Meat Processing Strategy, we are striving to double the value of sheep and goat production to $150 million per year and create over 100 new jobs,” Furner said.
This week the state government launched $4 million dollars in grants to be spent over the next two years, to leverage the benefits of its cluster fencing programs.
“The Rural Agricultural Development grants of up to $200,000 per business will help sheep and goat enterprises, businesses along the supply chain, and businesses that use sheep and goat-derived materials in their products or activities,” the Premier said.
“We want businesses to grow and diversify as the industry grows. These grants can help businesses with that by developing new products, implementing new technologies, upgrading equipment or training.”
With new business opportunities around the corner and green grass stretching towards the horizon thanks to a wet summer, the future is looking bright for this corner of country Queensland.
“It’s just amazing – it’s miraculous,” Mike Pratt said. “You forget how good it can be – it’s phenomenal the grass that’s grown.
“Honestly, I can’t think of anything to complain about.”
COUNTRY CALLER FOOTBALL COVERAGE SPONSORED BY INTURA
By HARRY CLARKE
ON A weekend that showcases Indigenous pride in Australian rugby league, there’ll perhaps be no one prouder than the 102 Cherbourg locals in attendance at Suncorp Stadium tonight when the Brisbane Broncos take on the Gold Coast Titans.
One hundred of those from Cherbourg will be the lucky recipients of a huge allotment of tickets that teenage Broncos sensation Selwyn Cobbo has organised for the people of his home town.
They’ll board a bus this afternoon and travel to Brisbane to watch their home town hero take the field for the NRL’s annual Indigenous Round.
The other two proud Cherbourg locals at Lang Park will be Cobbo’s parents, Shamus Cobbo and Kaylene Blair.
They’ve watched their boy grow from a pocket rocket 5-year-old running around with the Cherbourg Hornets to the tall and lean backline sensation who, at 19, has become undoubtedly the most exciting new player in the NRL.
Selwyn Cobbo’s parents, Kaylene Blair and Shamus Cobbo, at Cherbourg
With every one of his dazzling manoeuvres, stunning intercepts and blazing runs for the try line, there’s another big name in rugby league comparing Cobbo to his hero, Greg Inglis, or suggesting the young gun should be pulling on a Maroons jersey in a fortnight’s time.
With a towering 190cm, 100kg frame and a right fend that every week leaves defenders falling in his wake, the comparisons to GI and Latrell Mitchell are seemingly justified.
But Cobbo’s dad is more circumspect.
Repeating words the young Bronco himself recently gave football broadcasters, Shamus Cobbo said: “Myself and his mum, we’d like for him to be known as just Selwyn Cobbo – they are great players, but he’s going to put his own stamp on it”.
Even the conjecture around Cobbo’s State of Origin debut is premature, Shamus said.
“I reckon just hold off for another season, I’d to like see him to develop as a first grade football player. It would be good to get him around camp just to get a taste of it to see what it’s all about. It will make him hungry for next year,” he said.
Selwyn Cobbo leading out the Murgon State High School rugby league team in 2019
COUNTRY CALLER FOOTBALL COVERAGE SPONSORED BY INTURA
Regardless of what happens tonight and for the rest of Cobbo’s footballing career, the young man from the Wakka Wakka tribe around Cherbourg has already proven he’s not just a very gifted sportsman, but a trailblazer for Aboriginal youth.
Two-and-a-half years ago he graduated from Murgon State High School, in the town 6km from the Cherbourg Aboriginal Community where Cobbo was born in Queensland’s South Burnett region.
In the school’s 75-year history, Cobbo was the first student of Indigenous heritage to be voted school captain for his senior year.
Since he graduated at the end of 2019, two other Aboriginal kids have been elected into the prestigious role.
“He was a pretty shy kid but he’s a very highly skilled, smart young man, and he was always prepared to help others” said Simon Cotton, principal of Murgon State High School (pictured).
“The staff have very little to do with electing the school captain – we give our students the responsibility of voting and we trust them to make that judgement.
“His friends encouraged him to put his hand up and he was voted overwhelmingly as school captain.
“He certainly grew into the role. Before leading the school parades he started doing a welcome to country, and that’s something that we’ve instituted permanently in our school because of Selwyn.
“Selwyn’s presence, even now, is still really important to our students. He is putting footprints in the sand for other students to follow.”
Selwyn Cobbo delivering his Valedictory Speech as 2019 school captain at Murgon State High School
Behind the freakish talent and the huge praise Cobbo has received so early in his career, there’s a whole boyhood of determination, hard work and overcoming set backs that put have the world at his feet at a young age.
Shamus Cobbo recalls his son was about 13 years old when he began to dream of becoming a professional footballer, running in the morning before school to give him the best chance of being selected in junior representative teams.
“He’d stand out in his carnivals but he never got selected for Queensland through his juniors,” Shamus Cobbo said.
“He put so much time and effort into his training and preparing his body for these carnivals, but he’d always come home devastated. He put in so much effort but he didn’t get selected and he thought he wasn’t good enough.
“I kept saying to him, wait for the big one mate.”
COUNTRY CALLER FOOTBALL COVERAGE SPONSORED BY INTURA
If “the big one” is the honour of playing for the Maroons in State of Origin, then it seems a matter of time before Cobbo fulfils his dream of representing Queensland.
But tonight and for the rest of his career, Shamus Cobbo said, the boy from Cherbourg will be “representing himself, representing his identity – being a young Indigenous man, representing his family and his community.
“We’re as proud as punch.
“I don’t like to show it much but his mum gets emotional all the time. I sit back watching him play and she’ll be jumping up and down. I’ll be jumping up and down inside though.
“He’s done all the hard work, we’re just there to support him. We’ve got a pretty tight-knit family here, we’re very proud of him – can’t really put it into words. We’re very happy and excited for him.”
QUEENSLAND’S “Electric Super Highway” is pushing as far south-west as Cunnamulla with the state government building 24 new fast-charging stations to improve connectivity for electric vehicle (EV) drivers.
31 charging stations already connect Queensland’s east coast from Coolangatta to Port Douglas, but they only extend as far west as Toowoomba.
“Phase 3 had already been allocated $2.75 million to build 18 sites at Charters Towers, Hughenden, Julia Creek, Cloncurry, Mount Isa, Goondiwindi, Stanthorpe, Winton, Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Emerald, Dingo, Charleville, Roma, Miles, Kingaroy and Esk,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“I am pleased to announce an additional $1.08 million has been secured to deliver six more charging stations at Richmond, Kynuna, Injune, Rolleston, St George and Cunnamulla.”
The state government’s charging network, prior to the latest extension
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said this now extends the Electric Super Highway from Mount Isa in the north west to Goondiwindi in the south.
“This provides a regional connector between rural and city areas to create more tourism and economic development opportunities,” he said.
“As more and more people take up EVs we know the issue of range anxiety has been raised, which is why we will continue to supercharge our highways to make sure people have the confidence to take those longer trips into regional Queensland.
“As an EV driver I know how important the spacing, ease of access and speed of charging can be when you’re on a road trip so I’m proud to deliver better charging infrastructure for everyone who needs it.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
Between 2018 and the end of April this year, more than 55,000 Queensland Electric Super Highway charging sessions were logged, saving between 1148-1347 tonnes of CO2 emissions compared to similar light petrol or diesel vehicles.
“This is the equivalent of removing 391 petrol or diesel vehicles from Queensland roads,” Mr Bailey said.
“Over the past few years the number of EVs has skyrocketed from as low as 700 to nearly 9000, and I want to see this number continue to rise.”
Phase 3 works are expected to start mid this year with all 24 sites expected to become progressively operational by mid-2023.
COUNTRY CALLER FOOTBALL COVERAGE SPONSORED BY INTURA
By CAITLIN CROWLEY
RANGERS Ladies day is pushing ahead this weekend after torrential downpours saw the annual event at Toowoomba’s Gold Park postponed earlier this month.
It’s a relief for organisers, who have been looking forward to recognising the women involved in all areas of the club.
“Ladies Day is a chance for us to celebrate all the ladies in our club and there’s so many ladies that do so much work behind the scenes that don’t get noticed,” club spokeswoman Carissa Kemp said.
“We have our volunteers that do our line marshalling, all our canteen ladies, our vice president is female, so it’s a great day to celebrate all the wonderful women.”
Supporters sharing a drink at Rangers Ladies Day
Players in the Women’s 7s Emilee Cherry Cup have the round off, giving them a rare chance to enjoy a Saturday afternoon of food, drinks and live music from the sidelines.
It could be a much tougher day at the office for the Roma Echidnas A-grade men, taking on the top of the table Rangers men in the Risdon Cup clash at 3pm.
Ladies Days have become an integral part of the country sporting social scene and also provide an important fundraising opportunity for community clubs.
The Dalby Wheatmen Ladies Day is next Saturday June 4th, with Goondiwindi Ladies Day to follow on June 18th.
DARLING Downs farmers desperately need sunny skies for the next month or so to get winter planting and what’s left of the summer harvest back on track, after more rain across cropping areas in recent days left paddocks looking like lakes again.
“It’s just a waiting game and hoping it doesn’t rain any more,” said Warra grain grower Brendan Taylor.
“It’s quite concerning actually that it’s so wet – many places have had 500mm of rain this year. That’s a massive accumulation of rain in five months.
Brendan Taylor’s property after downpours on the weekend
“Realistically we need three weeks of warm, sunny weather to traffic machinery – that’s how wet it is. That’s to either finish harvesting sorghum or beans or cotton picking.
“Not that anyone enjoys drought but when it’s dry or drier you can always do something in the paddock. When it’s this wet you physically can’t do anything, you can’t move.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
Macalister crop farmer Stuart Schostakowski (pictured) said he was now at risk of missing out on a winter crop entirely, if the sun didn’t start shining.
“In those dry years, what we’d give to have 20mm to plant on come May, and now we’ve been getting 20mm every night here for the last week,” Schostakowski said.
“This is our ideal planting time now – end of May early June. That’s when if we could have a choice, we’d like to be doing something.
“If we haven’t got anything in the ground by then, we’ll go through to the middle of July if need be, but we’d prefer not to.”
Stuart Schostakowski, with mice bait to prevent damage to wheat stocks
Brendan Taylor said while very little winter crop has been planted due to the conditions, there are serious concerns what is out there won’t survive the latest drenching.
“I know in the Condamine down to St George and back to Thallon they were really worried about (crops) potentially being drowned and having to be replanted,” Taylor said.
Nobby farmer Belinda Callanan has already lost recently planted oats to the big wet.
“We planted a couple of weeks ago in between the rain and the dry patch we had, and now some of the oats has drowned,” she said.
“We’re not going to be able to get a planter anywhere near our paddocks for weeks, it’s just sodden.
“We can’t even drive the buggy down the road to the paddock, I’ve been jumping on the horse because it’s just so darn wet.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
And as if the wet weather wasn’t a big enough challenge, mouse numbers are creeping up again in some pockets of the Downs.
“We have seed sitting in our shed and trying to keep the mice out of it is a nightmare,” Callanan said.
“They’re not in bad numbers, but they’re still in damaging numbers.”
It was the threat of mice which prompted the Callanans’ decision to plant the oats which have now drowned in the paddock.
“It’s horrible at the moment,” Callanan said.
“People need to be aware, just because it’s raining there’s no gold in those paddocks.”
PUBLICLY owned power generator CS Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with French energy giant EDF Renewables to progress the development of its Banana Range Wind Farm in central Queensland.
The agreement comes 12 months after EDF Renewables purchased the 50-turbine, 230MW wind farm project, situated about 20km west of Biloela at the northern end of the Belmont State Forest.
Under the agreement, CS Energy is considering both an off-take agreement and equity participation in the project, which also has development approval for a storage battery to be built at the site.
Map showing location of Banana Range Wind Farm
EDF Renewables Australia CEO Dave Johnson, who was previously a general manager at AGL and oversaw construction of its major Coopers Gap Wind Farm, said the memorandum of mnderstanding aligned both parties’ common interests in the region.
“CS Energy has an established, long-term presence in the Banana Shire Council district through its Callide Power Station, and EDF Renewables is building a large presence in the same community with the construction of the Banana Range Wind Farm,” Johnson said.
“It’s an ideal partnership that brings together like-minded companies working together on common interests, which includes maximising opportunities for the local community through the energy transformation.”
[adrotate group=”2″]
EDF Renewables is subsidiary of the Paris-based, French government-owned EDF Group, which is the world’s largest largest producer of electricity.
The Banana project will be the first of what EDF expects will be numerous renewable energy projects to be developed in Australia.
Construction was scheduled to begin later this year but the time frame has been pushed back to 2024, creating about 150 jobs.
It’s expected to begin generating electricity in 2026.
WATCH: Artist impression of the Banana Range Wind Farm
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Banana Range Wind Farm was part of a “renewable energy revolution” happening in the state.
“Since 2015, 50 large scale wind and solar farms have been committed with more than $10 billion of investment and supporting 7,900 jobs…putting Queensland another step closer to our 50 per cent renewable energy target while providing decent, secure jobs for Queenslanders,” Palaszczuk said.
[adrotate group=”2″]
Energy minister Mick de Brenni said wind farms added to the pipeline of renewable energy generation projects diversifying the portfolios of Queensland’s publicly-owned energy companies.
“It also demonstrates their important role in driving the energy transformation in this state,” de Brenni said.
“With an established presence in Central Queensland, CS Energy can draw on existing skills to build local capacity as part of the renewable revolution.
“With its commitment to local procurement, this project would create secure employment and training opportunities for communities like Biloela, Moura and Gladstone.”
