Wet Behind The Years

Wet-season rain in tropical North Queensland is largely due to a macroclimatic (very large area) convergence of weather systems that form what is commonly known as the monsoonal trough.

The monsoonal trough is a band of unstable atmospheric activity that forms at the point where the south-east trade winds (pushing north-west) meet the equatorial westerlies (which blow south-east).

Put simply, it is the collision of these two warm, moist, rising air streams that create the heavy wet season rain that is associated with thunderstorms and tropical cyclones to the north-east.

The monsoon trough appears seasonally on satellite imagery during October to March as a single line of cloud, although at times, it may seem to be a little more scattered or random.

Okay class, now this is where weather gets sexy. What about our own little microclimatic (localised) system, what effect does our local weather system have on our lifestyles (non-condomic) and what influences it?

Our micro-climate has several local influences including the Great Barrier Reef to the east and the elevated Tablelands to the west. As the sea-breeze blows across the warm shallow reef, the sea surrenders moisture, this moisture is then taken as humidity by the breeze and pushed up into the mountains.

The warm moisture laden air tries to rise like a hot air balloon but gets trapped in the mountains by the cool dry air from the Tablelands.

A good analogy of cool air pressure is when you open the fridge on a hot day, you will feel the cold air drop at your feet and not lift up to your face. Cool air is heavy, so, grab us both a tinnie out and close the door before the flies get in!

The cool dry air sits weightily atop of the warm moist air that continues to rise, as it rises, it will eventually come into contact with the cool dry tablelands air. This process cools the once warm air, contracting the moisture particles together which in turn forms rain drops.

In short, humidity is trapped up in the mountains, the hot moist air rises up to meet the cool air of the Tablelands and then drops back down through the warm air and so on it goes.

It will often rain in the mountains as the moisture laden air reaches a critical mass, but generally speaking the humidity will stay trapped in the mountains cycling through warm, cool, warm, lifting and falling until the evening.

Still here? Hey, I am really proud of you for following me thus far, the best bits are still yet to come I promise. In the evenings, we experience a natural phenomena the local farmers refer to as the ‘land breeze’. Its meteorologically correct name is an atmospheric inversion.

To explain, as the sun rises, it warms up the atmosphere to the east and the elevated Tablelands to the west remain cool. As the day progresses and the sun goes over the mountains to the west toward Dimbulah, the atmosphere to the east starts to cool down and the tablelands dry air starts to warm.

These two systems eventually reach an equilibrium, sometime between 7 o’clock and 9 o’clock in the evenings. This is when you will start to feel a gentle breeze coming from the west, as it drops down over the mountains to meet the cooling coastal night air.

It was this land breeze that was very important to the cane farmers in days gone by. It was during this gentle westerly that it was (and still is) the safest time for the farmers to control or ‘draw’ burn the sugar cane fields without setting the entire crop alight!

This inversion or land breeze from the west pulls all of that built up moisture laden rain cloud out of the mountains, raining all the way out to sea and at sunrise the next day, the whole process starts all over again. Have you ever noticed how the rain, falls mainly on the plains, at night?

I find the best way to explain our local weather to the visitors, is to tell them that the Complex Mesophyll Vine forests of the Greater Daintree region are here because of the unique rainforest animals.

These unique little ‘locals’ are here to enjoy an over-abundance of fresh water and this over-abundance of fresh water is a direct result of the natural interactions between the Great Barrier Reef, the Mountain Rainforests and the Tablelands. Howzat for Harmony!

I’m such a romantic!

Ping-Off Buggerlugs!

AS I was walking up the stairs, I met a man who wasn’t there, he wasn’t there again today, I wonder why he went away?

It would seem that all too often in Australian politics, we are witness to the rise and fall of some truly talented and visionary politicians. Luckily for us though, there are those genuinely liberating moments in Australian history when the voters simply say, “Ping off buggerlugs, I’m over the bullshit, sorry. It is no longer funny!”

I can’t help but think that this is what really happened on Federal Election day 2007 and to be absolutely honest I was so totally cool with the result I surprised even myself. Did I predict it? No way. Did I vote for Rudd? No, I did not. Am I disappointed with the outcome? Nope, not at all. Welcome to democracy.

Let’s face it, the election was not entirely judged on the performances of the candidates alone, and sorry, nor was it all about the unions dominating government or Work Choices paranoia. It was not about global warming, health, aged care or the war on stagnant economies. The 2007 Australian Federal election fell rather befittingly into the circa 1972 category: It’s time.

And ‘time’ it was. It was not necessarily John Howard. It was not the fact that Peter Costello actually has a rather wonderful wit, as most previous former federal treasurers seem to have had. It was not even the fact that Tony Abbott lacks a somewhat sincere humanity.

It was time. Time to change; and good on you all for politically edjimacating me. I really needed to be pushed from my comfort zone this time, I really did.

Hey, talk about the really young Libs, I grew up in the Queensland Liberal Party. It was all around me back in the seventies. As you get wiser, though, you start to swing with your vote. Like Dad does nowadays.

But wait, there’s more. When I was only six years old, I remember going to a Liberal function at a truly magnificent home at New Farm on the banks of the Brisbane River and I sat on the knee of a really wonderful man whom I have fondly quoted in the first paragraph of this story, (go back and read it again).

I remember his smile and I remember asking what it was that he meant by this and he replied, “That’s politics, Brendan. When you’re needing a politician most, they’re never around, and when you vote them out they wonder why.”

The man’s name was Senator Neville Bonner. (R.I.P.)

Impossibly Unambiguous

Sorry folks, this may come as a complete surprise to you all but my latest Re:Port ‘Beyond The Chamber’ offering is not going to be centered around the usual lack of left-wing rights for which I am often quite rightly left to handle.

Not only have I left it rather late to submit my latest purging to this months most sacred of local journalistic cash-cows, I am also going to take the right-royal liberty to blame everyone that’s left other than myself for it’s delay and furthermore, I am even going to change my most learned editors brief to suit me, because you see peeps, for once, this article is all about me!

That’s Right! Me-me-me-me-me!

Why? Because today is my 43rd birthday and bugger-it-all, I am just feeling a wee bit selfish at the moment so just go and find yourself an accredited contractor, submit your plans to any relevant Government authority that is sympathetic to your cause, build a financially viable toll bridge whose profits are contractually obliged to fix the feeder roads that lead to it and well, just get over it.

With that said, our esteemed editor Mr. Tall N. Handsome (apologies for the typo – Ed) decided to put the Re:port second anniversary birthday bash on the day before my deadline, which incidentally is about 4 day’s past the real mag deadline because I had already negotiated my own Re:Port equivalent of the German-British Christmas truce of 1914.

So where is all this leading?

Well, nowhere really, as I said at the start, this one is all about me to make me feel good about me, me-me-me-me-me, but hey, as we get chronologically closer to that most frenzied celebration of international consumerism that is X-mas, maybe we need to stop and think with our hearts for a second and not with our wallets, now let’s see, for whom does your bell chime and why?

You guest it folks, Mr. Birthday here is trying to spread the message of love, because everyone I know has been bathing me in it all day, from my very own and very beautiful all grown up children to my somewhat overly competitive siblings, my wonderful partner Lorraine, my father Ted, Haneef, the Indian Telstra dude who rang tonight and even that unnamed evil unbending inflexible servant troll of the Child Support Agency who is going to ring me tomorrow.

To you all I want to say Thank-you,
I have had a truly wonderful day.

Tastes Like Chicken

Being the right raving lefty of which I am often accused, I would like to raise two very relevant questions and then possibly offer you some plausible answers. I will then give you some Re:Port homework to complete in your own time.

Here Goes…

Question One: Will the amalgamation of the Douglas Shire Council and Cairns City Council put our local community at risk of becoming just another congruous and politically compatible society, with no real local identity or spirit?

Question Two: What is the difference between a heterogeneous and homogeneous society?

Just for fun, I’ll start with the second question first. If you took the time to look up the meaning of the words in the dictionary you will find that the word heterogeneous (pronounced hetero-genius) means either different in kind or unlike in genes, ultimately making reference to differences celebrated.

In contrast, the word homogeneous (pronounced homo-genius) means a part or elements (plural) that are all of the same kind; not heterogeneous: an homogeneous population.

Now one could argue that the Cairns and Douglas communities are infact both heterogeneous and homogeneous societies; in other words, some things that are different within our communities will remain so and others will become similar. Moreover, some things that are inherently similar between our two communities will no doubt change.

Now here’s your homework, read a book that deals with the issue of conformity like Orwell’s ‘1984’ or De Lillo’s ‘White Noise’, as you read the book, start to observe people as they go about their daily lives. Jot down your observations of both individuals and society in general.

Then read something by Charles Dickens or Toni Morrison that concentrates on celebrating individuality and the richness in cultural difference.

Once again, go through your day observing. After reading Dickens, you will find that you start noticing how individual everybody is. In contrast, after reading Orwell, you will notice how pathologically conformist everyone is.

It is the nature by which we humans perceive the world. In our daily lives we are constantly bombarded with way too much information, we can only focus on a portion of it at once. In order to get through our daily lives, we take our world and we map it onto our consciousness in a way in which all but a very small amount of information is completely ignored.

Now, what was the question?

Olive Oil

It would appear that our own local community has been both politically and internally violated once again by our elected Council.

This time, a few local Government representatives seem hell bent on scuttling what’s left of our Shires future for their own personal agenda. Cr. Bellero once told me (in his own words) that he wants Newell Beach to be the next Palm Cove. While that maybe fine in theory, is that what the residents of Newell want?

We have an opportunity to place minimum cane land requirements into the Icon Legislation which may offer some legislative respite to an industry that has supported many local families over a hundred years plus. It may be that the mill will never need this respite, but why not use the Icon legislation as an agricultural industry olive branch?

The cane is not dead and the mill does have a commercial future. It is an evolving future that may even include water bottling one day, but it is a future none-the-less for the districts workers, farmers and mill shareholders.

Feeding The Future - a growing concern

With the next Federal election looming ever nearer, it would appear that the main issues at hand are inevitably the same with our major party leaders. Both say they have found the secret fiscal recipe book for sustained economic growth into serviceable debit.

Politicians are an elastically deionised bunch, often prone to severe bouts of chronic bovinae detritus and uncoordinated flip-flopping when intellectually over-extended or brought back to reality.

Unfortunately, missing from this campaign (like most) is what we mere mortals refer to as policy. There are two distinctly different types of policy, one is good governmental policy and the other is political policy, beware, they are not the same duck, they have a similar quack but you can tell them apart by the amount of guano they leave behind.

Good governmental policy is about doing what is humanly responsible for Earth and future generations with little or no motivation for political self-benefit. Political policy making is about keeping the flat bit of the tyre at the top of the wheel or in other words, defying reality.

In government, a general understanding of reality is as important today as it ever has been or ever will be. Good governmental policy should be borne of this same understanding of reality. With a world population of 6.6 billion that is destined to reach 7 billion by the year 2013, let’s take a quick look at the past in an effort to retrieve our future.

Over 5000 years ago, the Sumerians farmed a rich and fertile plain in the lower Mesopotamian region, these soils had been nourished over the eons by silt deposited from both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The ancient city of Mesopotamia was once surrounded by thousands of hectares of extremely productive and mostly irrigated farmlands. This very area is perhaps better known to the world these days as Southern Iraq.

So productive was the land, that small villages started to spring up around the city as settlers came from everywhere seeking employment and opportunity. These small villages later became larger villages and then towns and later cities as the economy started to grow.

Eventually, so many settlers came to live and work in the area that they consumed all the produce the area could physically grow. When it came time to expand the fields to increase production they no longer could, the ever expanding community had built homes and villages on the remainder of the good quality agricultural soil close to the market. This economy eventually fell over.

We all know that this is 5000 year old history and as Human Beings, we just don’t do silly things like this anymore. In Australia, some of the best agricultural soils are located along the coastal escarpments in Far North Queensland, we also have the most consistent rainfall, two critical elements in food production.

Contrary to popular belief, food does not come from ‘the shops’ and there is absolutely nothing organic about hydroponics. If we as a species keep allowing the gratuitous over-development of our good quality agricultural lands for short-term economic gain we are handing future generations of our species, a massive humanitarian crisis.

Who ate the chocolate Jesus?

Before you all start getting uppity about my choice of title, I can assure you it is very pertinent. I am of course referring to the un-clad and anatomically correct sculpture of a life-sized Cadbury Christ that was created for display at the swank Lab Gallery in Manhattan earlier this year.

This very controversially unique and culturally brave piece of confectious Choco L'Art entitled ‘My Sweet Lord’ by artist Cosimo Cavallaro, depicted an au naturel representation of Jesus Christ likeness complete with arms outstretched as if cruelly fastened to a visually impalpable crucifix.

Reaction to this sweetest of heavenly creations by America’s fanatical-right religious sector was nothing short of utter horror. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights spokesman Bill Donohue said, "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King with his genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show the Prophet Muhammad depicted this way during Ramadan.”

However, some people like Manhattan’s Reverend Jonathon Edwards aren't as bothered, he just would have preferred that the Mars bar messiah not be nude so as the artistic celebrations could have been shared at many different social levels.

“As a pastor, what I find far more offensive than a chocolate Jesus with an impressive 400gm bonus block is the fact that a few self-righteous Christians are intolerant enough to get upset about it.”

Although unintentional, the artist had unwittingly sculptured a somewhat ironic critique of mainstream Christianity that could only have been better delivered if it were wrapped in colourful tinfoil and placed in a giant Easter basket.

So what defines art and what are (if any) the limits to good taste?

Wikipedia states that “Art is a product of human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; thus art is an action, an object, or a collection of actions and objects created with the intention of transmitting emotions and or ideas.”

As a young musician, I grew up believing that taste is personal preference. Different people have different likes and dislikes and no one personal preference is any more relevant than anyone else's. Now I am a little older and wiser I believe otherwise.

The problem with the claim that there is no such thing as good taste is that it also implies that there is no such thing as good art. If you remove personal taste from the equation, you would have to discard the idea of art being good and artists being good at making it.
The idea that you can make a piece of art great is not just an egotistical manifestation, it is truth. If an artist believes there is such a thing as good art then he or she will be free to try and create it.

In the past, vulgar art was never such a problem. Some of the great works of western culture were filled with slapstick humor, violence and sex. Homer, Chaucer and Shakespeare are riddled with vulgarity. Chaucer, for instance, loved a fart joke even more than your average aussie male if that’s possible.

When artist Robert Fawcett decided to abandon culturally acceptable ‘fine art’ for illustration his peers claimed that illustration is a tasteless endeavour, to which Fawcett responded; “Good taste is often the enemy of creativity.”I believe that there is such a thing as good art, good art creates the benchmark that becomes good taste. If an artist strives to create good art, people with good taste will notice.

That leaves us with just one unanswered question, if the luscious Choco-lord was never displayed, what became of him and who in fact got to eat the bonus 400 grams?

My World, My Home, My people - Douglas Shire

Sadly, most people think I am nothing more than a series of inanimate geographical electoral boundaries but really, I am so much more than that, I am your home.

The same home that you should care for, love and nurture as you would a delicate new born. You might see me as a soil rich environment with burgeoning mountain ranges and ample freshwater streams, but I am infact a very old and fragile eco-system.

For many thousands of years I have had a lot of help from a group of very beautiful human beings who refer to themselves as Yalanji, a name which literally translates to English meaning ‘from here’.

Europeans first came to these shores back in 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook passed the coast heading north. His ship the 'Endeavour' struck the Reef and had to be beached at Cooktown for repairs. This is where the first of many subsequent environmental disasters happened.

Cook had live Pigs on board and prior to the ship being listed (put on its side) the Pigs were all taken ashore and penned. Unfortunately, many of the animals escaped the crude enclosures and the rest as they say is history.

I was named Douglas Shire in 1880 after the ‘then’ Queensland Premier John Douglas, prior to that I was known to the Yalanji people as Kubidi. What’s in a name I thought at the time but I have over the years become quite fond of my name, Douglas… Douglas Shire, It has a warm fuzzy homely type feeling about it doesn’t it?

Things were really starting to change around here by the mid 1870’s when gold was found up on the tablelands, the merchants and Government departments started to setup camp in and around Port Douglas. A road was completed on the 6th of September 1877 which became affectionately known as the Bump track, this road was to prove a vital link between the gold fields on the tablelands and the harbour at Port Douglas.

The local population grew to about 6000 settlers over the next thirty years and every year more and more of the precious Complex Mesophyll Vine Forest that once covered a great portion of this area was all but disappearing, as more trees were cut down, more land was planted with crops. Many crops were trialled including rice but by far the most successful was Sugar Cane.

In February 1911, a cyclone caused considerable damage to Port Douglas and battered coastal shipping. Five weeks later a second much more powerful system hammered the area (March 16th, 1911). This second cyclone almost completely destroyed Port Douglas and nearby Mossman, two lives were lost.

In addition, the railway connection between the two towns was wrecked by the destruction of the terminus and the intervening bridge in front of the Sugar Wharf. The 1911 Cyclone is only ever referred to as the 1911 cyclone as the practice of naming cyclones did not actually start until 1964, the reality is that two cyclones that hit that year.

Originally, the custom of naming cyclones was that only female names were used, the use of male names did not begin until 1975. Now the names alternate between male and female and if a cyclone becomes a significant event like Tracy or Larry that name will be ‘retired’ into the history books.

By the 1920’s the main business center of the district had drifted from Port Douglas over to Mossman largely due to the needs of an ever expanding sugar industry. By 1927, One hundred and forty eight cane growers were growing sugar cane in the Mossman district alone.

The 1930’s was a busy time around here as a real community leader was running the show, his name was R.D Rex and he was responsible for many infrastructure projects that still exist today also the hospital opened in Mossman and the Port Douglas hospital closed.

1933 saw the official opening of that wonderfully scenic drive between Cairns and Mossman we know as the Cook Highway and the Mossman to Daintree Road was also completed that same year. The US 2/15 Engineers commenced construction of the Rex Highway over the range to Julatten from the outskirts of Mossman.

Electricity was turned on in Port Douglas in 1957 and the following year saw the last rail and sea transportation of sugar from the Port Douglas wharf. After that it was sent by road to Cairns and the village of Port Douglas started to wane.

In 1960 the Douglas Shire Council started the Daintree ferry service and the road was extended all the way up to Cape Tribulation. The Great Barrier Reef was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 and by 1983 protesters blockaded the Bloomfield track to stop a road being dozed between Cape Tribulation and Cooktown.

In 1984 the Cairns International Airport was opened and tourism started to become a major industry in the area. The Sheraton Mirage resort opened in 1988 and the Greater Daintree National park was entered into the World Heritage List.As you can see, many things good and bad have unfolded around here over the years and many more are yet to unfold, but if you love me, I promise to love you back.

Developer Wanted!

One of the more costly and compounding problems facing the Douglas Shire commercial sector at present is how to attract and maintain a seasonal workforce whilst still being able to equip these workers with all of the necessary skills needed to be of value to our local industry.

I am not just referring to the Hospitality Industry workforce either, the phoenix like re-incarnation of the Agricultural Industry could soon too benefit from such an arrangement whereby casual transient staff could be housed, possibly fed and in some cases even schooled for a pre-agreed dollar value per week.

Let’s face it, we could really use a fully catered multi-purpose residential campus in the Douglas Shire, especially if it had access to equitable Public Transport.

A multi-purpose residential campus would take pressure off an overheated rental market which has a direct impact on the size of the transient workforce, this in turn has a compounding effect on the size of the localised permanent work force as it is often these seasonal transients who statistically settle and become long-term residents and eventually rate payers.

A residential campus, built in stages, that could house one-hundred or so workers or students would not only be a viable investment for a developer to embark on, it should also become a worthwhile business for any successful tenderer to operate. The social, commercial and economic synergies derived from a project like this present themselves everywhere.

For instance, a residential campus would be a positive way of housing a transient workforce equitably. Employers could sponsor beds at the facility and as they found staff could offer subsidised short-term housing until staff found a longer term solution or moved on.

A fully catered version of a residential campus could serve to further enhance the Douglas TAFE college or even James Cook University by way of courses on offer locally. There is also both State and Federal Tax Incentives for industry to invest in training making this proposition even more domestically palatable in the long term.

A residential ‘English College’ for overseas students would further enhance the local economy and add depth to the linguistic skills currently available to local employers engaged in international tourism marketing. I strongly encourage local Government and business to look at this idea seriously.

The endless not knowing

As life’s runes are drawn one at a time and the endless confusion over interpretation begins, I feel at ease.

I sense the knowing of my path and where I shall strive, I bare witness to the course that lay in the shadow of the moon as it teases in and out of its sanctuary deep within the cloud.

You need not me but your own path, I need not you but my faith, we need not each other but ourselves.

The reality is, I am here alone. Still, I remain unperturbed, I shall walk until I can no more, I must thirst until I can no longer, I will as thy will.

When the light fades and I can no longer see, I will not lie down. I may fumble, but I shall not fall, for something calls me. I don’t know where or what it is but still it calls.

One day I shall reach this calling and know it, I may not see it at first and walk on by, I may not know it and walk on through, but one day I will see it, I will see it, know it and be of it, best of all when I find it, I will know I belong.

For this is my destiny, and it calls me day after day after day.

Getting Laid for Chickens 1:01

I truly doubt that I am the only reader to find this insightful avian conundrum to be at the utmost provocateur eggstreme. The chicken or the egg theory has most certainly ruffled a perpetual feather or two over the generations however, did you know that the quandary itself can actually be quite easily eggsplained?

These day’s, there is resounding scientific evidence that modern birds have evolved from the small predatory dinosaurs of the Mesozoic era. Most paleontologists will agree that modern birds are direct descendents of the Jurassic Period from the Mesozoic era dinosaurs.

Many inhabitants of the Jurassic period including the dinosaur were egg layers. In nature, the laying of external eggs allowed for a large number of offspring without having to carry around the additional weight.

According to archaeological theory, modern chickens evolved from Mesozoic dinosaurs, which in turn have evolved over millions of years from oceanic primordial goo that produced the very first unicellular organisms.

Therefore, chickens are the direct ancestors of prehistoric amphibious reptiles that have evolved from an aquatic existence to later inhabit the terra firma during the warmer ‘Permian’ era. So there, the Egg was first.

These early reptiles were generally small with a longer backside. Species continuity via external egg laying were present in both amphibians and reptiles during this period and these traits continued during the next evolutionary period in which the Reptilian variants became warm-blooded, developed feathers and began to fly.

The ‘chicken or the egg’ theory though has more recently manifested itself as a metaphor for a circumstance in which no clear ordering can be determined, known as cyclical cause-and-effect.

There are many real world examples of the Chicken or the Egg theory, in which the question helps to identify the analytical problem at hand for instance, the fear of economic downturn will cause people to spend less which reduces demand thus causing economic downturn.

Another is, ‘more jobs causes more consumption which inturn requires more production and thus more jobs create more housing which leads to increasing credit card debit and rising interest rates due to increased inflation’.

Last but not least, a personal favourite, the fear of war can make people more violent; the resulting violence causes more fear, the rest is documented history.
The moral of this story could infact be that getting laid stops unemployment, economic downturns and wars.

Ticket to ride

Even though the Queensland Government will only subsidise certain transport activities until the Douglas shire's population grows significantly, this doesn't mean we can't have our tapas and eat it too.

Imagine living in Cooya, Wonga or Mossman and being able to catch a bus to Port Douglas in the evening for a romantic dinner with that special someone and be able to get home again. Imagine being able to live in an area of the shire that is perhaps more affordable or lifestyle oriented, and yet still be able to get to your workplace easily, safely and on time via an organized local transport network.

Most people I have talked to on this subject don't believe this is at all possible for all sorts of reasons, I am here to tell you that it is not only feasible, practical and affordable, it is very needed.

The current 'breadcrumb' transport mentality on offer by local shuttle companies in Port Douglas is neither helpful to local workers, the environment, nor is it equitable for the transport companies involved. When the visitors' dollars are moving the residents miss out.

Have you ever been late for work or an appointment because of a local shuttle timetable irregularity? I rest my case.

For this to work we would need to encourage a 'community partnership' arrangement with the Queensland Department of Transport, the Douglas Shire Council and one or more accredited local transport operators. Queensland Transport would need to grant a 'license to operate' to the DSC run 'community partnership' and that partnership would, in turn, reinvest a portion of the net local shuttle revenue on other community bus services that have an identified social outcome.

The local transport companies would be paid an agreed amount per person per service and wherever a service needs propping up financially, the operator can claim from the 'kitty' a subsidy for the agreed cost or partial cost of the run.

This arrangement could be easily managed via ticket control whereby the community partnership own and supply the tickets and pay operators on tickets collected. This, coupled with an integrated approach to transport planning within the Douglas Shire, should be able to deliver us a subsidised public transport network that is both usable and equitable for all.

Oh well … dreams are free.

Caring for Older People

Caring for older people in the Douglas Shire should not be considered something we have to do, it is very much something we must do. As we all get a little older, one can’t help but look around at family and friends who are also ageing. I have unfortunately come to the stark revelation that there is no real magical fountain of youth.

In 2001 the Douglas Shire population was 10,466 and the median age was 35 years (ABS). A breakdown of the age groups at that time will reveal we had 849 or 8.1% of our Shire residents aged 65 years or over. Now let’s apply the science to see where we could be in the year 2026.

According to the Queensland Government Planning and Infrastructure Forecasting Unit (PIFU) the Douglas Shire population should be around 16,247 and the 65 years or over age group will make up approximately 2837 individuals or 17.5% of the total Shire population. Of these 2837 older people, 1021.3 or 36% (ABS) will require some form of residential care by the time they reach 70 and over.

Thankfully, gone are the days of the ‘institutionalised’ type of aged care. Modern aged care is now a series of community health networks all working together to provide a range of services to the elderly.

For instance, extended home care services are the most common and cost effective form of aged care these days but a portion of those receiving home care may at some stage require a more round-the-clock type of care such as ‘residential care’ or ‘temporary residential care’. Some residential care recipients will statistically become high care or dementia care patients.

Okay, so now I’ll cut to the chase; the reality is, this type of community service costs money and in most instances a lot of money. When it comes down to looking after our older people we should be very wary about leaving all of the decisions to a board of directors who are ultimately responsible to shareholders.

So how can we as a small shire, fund community health and aged care initiatives and yet still be able to pay for other much needed Douglas Shire services and improvements?

The answer could lay with the establishment of a commercial water bottling plant. We are very lucky to have a water supply that has the unique potential to be a commercially viable resource. The water-bottling concept is not new in the Douglas Shire and has been discussed and bandied about for many years (since the commissioning of our state-of-the-art ultra-purification system). So where do we go from here?

Just bringing the issue into focus is always a good way to start any public consultation process. Current day water bottling plants are a ‘turn-key’ or ‘off the shelf ‘ item that can be delivered both quickly and cost effectively.

If we were to look at new bottling equipment at the slower end of production, a water-bottling machine that is capable of delivering around 1000-2000 (600ml) bottles per day will cost about $275,000.00. Alternatively, a bottling machine that pumps stock out at 2000 bottles per hour might be a little beyond our needs. With capper, labeller and packaging equipment you would be looking at a total investment of between $350,000.00 and $500,000.00 for plant and machinery.

As you can see, a water bottling plant would not cost a great deal to establish and depending on whether or not we find a reasonable size market could actually mean a road home for our community health services.

Once Upon A Lifetime

The soft moist grass over the vast undulating hillside looks rich, green and nourished. A certain calmness is derived from its radiance as it appears to dance and frolic amidst a fresh new daybreak that awakens it so visually.

I hope to be there one day, perched atop that serine, as the cool gentle breeze sweeps my brow and the struggles of daily existence become nothing more than a distant memory.

"Forever young" they tort as one battles with the guise of age, of petulance and greed, but I will not despair as I have my health, for now at least. I have my health, my lover and my special place.

I ponder an after-life and wonder if it too per chance maybe this place in my mind that I retreat or if it is truly just an eternity. Once upon a lifetime, I would have buried the great unknown, buried it in a glass of red and braved forth nonchalant but alas, no longer.

For now I feel of purpose and sprit, I have restored faith in my being and I shall continue on despite all the knocks and falls, the cursed jealousy and whim.

I feel as a caterpillar into a butterfly or a young cub into a lion, now I feel purpose and my purpose is clear.
Finally, I feel once again, I am me.