This year's ANZAC Day saw hundreds turn out to remember the efforts of Australia and New Zealand's great service men and women. Veterans, schools, clubs and businesses poured into the streets to march in grand parades, and packed in close to attend services held across the Hinchinbrook Shire. Beautiful wreaths were lain and the bugles mournful tones echoed across respectful silences as flags were lowered to half mast. A gunfire breakfast, coffee and traditional ANZAC biscuits kept everyone going
Read the full storyAllan Colquhoun grew up in Sydney, but his life has taken him far beyond the city limits. In his youth, he worked with a station owner named Bob, whose property combined dairy and sheep farming with a focus on Jersey bulls and cows. One vivid memory that’s stayed with him is of Bob chasing down a bull meant for butchering on his stock horse —a beast that, to Allan’s amazement, climbed over the holding fence one hoof at a time to escape. Allan spent most of his working life as a coastal travelle
Read the full storyHinchinbrook Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Tourism held their monthly Coffee Connect last week, being hosted by local business Wild Local. There was a very strong attendance at this event, with Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter and KAP Senate candidate, Robbie Lyon. Rebecca and Dom Zaghini provided a delicious light snacks and gave the audience an overview of their business journey from inception to their current location, the diverse range of products they provide and some insight into t
Read the full storyOver the weekend, the Ingham Kennel Club hosted six rounds of dog shows, featuring judges from across Australia who rotated to ensure fair and balanced competition. Dogs were entered into one of seven group categories, with the Toy Group attracting the largest number of entries. Sunday's shows saw the Italian Greyhound emerge as a standout, making up 20 of the 170 total entries across the weekend. Unique and rarely seen breeds like the Xoloitzcuintli and Briard added excitement to the event, of
Read the full storyThe March monthly Chamber Meeting was held last Monday and very well attended despite the return of another rain event. The meeting was very well attended with new Members welcomed and some new faces around the table.
Chamber would like to acknowledge and thank Alan and Sharon Quagliotto, previous owners of the Royal Hotel, for their years of support of chamber and for hosting the monthly meetings for so many years and always being accommodating and welcoming. We wish them well in retirement and hope they have an opportunity to relax and enjoy this next phase of their life. We also thank the new hotel owners for continuing to support chamber in hosting their monthly meetings at this venue.
The meeting opened with President Mary Brown acknowledging the challenging times that the business (and broader) community has experienced during this recent flood event and commending the strength and determination that has been demonstrated by so many to reopen their businesses and return as quickly as possible to some kind of normal.
An update was provided in relation to the work that has been done by Chamber to continue to support its members and as many local business owners as possible during and after this event. Working with the relevant government agencies, Dept Small and Family Business, Rural financial Counsellors, Wellness Coach, Insurance Council of Australia and QRIDA. Chamber has to date, facilitated three lots of “One-on-One” sessions for local business owners with QRIDA representatives and are very pleased with the uptake to date.
An update was provided in relation to the local spend from flood donations through GIVIT and how this is supporting the economic recovery processes locally, as well as benefiting those who have been significantly impacted through the flood event. Chamber’s Administration Assistant, Christina, provided valuable information in relation to business openings and contact for GIVIT team, immediately after they were engaged. This information assisted in ensuring as many local businesses could be included in the GIVIT local supplier database.
Chamber continues to survey local business owners to gain an understanding of the Flood event Impact, having commenced immediately after the event and follow up survey at 6 weeks post event. The information received from these surveys is consolidated to provide trends, which enables Chamber to provide input to the economic recovery sub group and advocate for support for the business community.