No, It's Rally Racers! By Victoria Velton Chris and Tracey Castles have taken to the skies on a 26-day, 10,500-kilometre journey as part of the Royal Flying Doctor Service Outback Air Race 2025. Flying under the banner of Team 15 – Rookies, the pair are navigating their fire engine red A32 Vixxen through some of Australia’s most remote regions in a rally that is less about speed and more about navigation, timing, and precision. Their mission is twofold: to embrace the adventure
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The renowned Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island (Munamudanamy) is receiving a significant upgrade, with works currently underway to enhance visitor experience while preserving the island’s unique natural and cultural values. Led by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, the project is being delivered in close collaboration with Bandjin and Girramay Traditional Owners. The aim is to improve infrastructure along the 32-kilometre trail without compromising the remote and pristine characte
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All around the Shire, and Australia, Vietnam Veterans' Day was commemorated in remembrance of the Battle of Long Tan and other Australian operations in the Vietnam War. “Vietnam Veterans Day holds profound importance in Australia's national consciousness. It is not merely a day etched into the calendar, but a moment of collective reflection, a time to pay tribute to those who served to acknowledge the complexity of their experiences and to ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten.” “The sto
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The Lions Club of Ingham is once again proud to present the annual Ingham Sportstar Awards, celebrating the outstanding sporting achievements and contributions of local athletes, teams, and volunteers. Nominations are now open, and the Club is calling on the community to help shine a spotlight on Hinchinbrook’s sporting heroes. The awards recognise achievements from 1st September 2024 through to the nomination closing date, and all nominees must be Hinchinbrook residents or represent a local sp
Read the full story‘Early start, early finish’ for the harvest season is advocated for by Queensland Cane and Renewables (QCAR), and it is the only way to avoid harvesting in December and in some years, January. Longer crushes are stifling industry growth and significantly limiting cane productivity, while decreasing profits across the value chain and the wider community.
Contributing to the reduced throughputs at mills and extending the seasons are a multitude of factors, including the weather, factory reliability, shorter maintenance seasons, labour issues and high extraneous matter lowering bin weights in green cane harvested areas.
In some cane growing regions, there has been a reluctance to start the crush due to historical norms and arrangements, making it nearly impossible to harvest crops in a timely and profit-inducive manner.
Every sector of the sugarcane industry must take a cold, hard look at this situation, so collectively we can address the critical issues driving down our productivity and profitability; especially as profit margins get tighter.
As an obvious starting point, we must stop ignoring the sound, science-based knowledge base built up over the past 50 years from both Australian and overseas studies, about harvest scheduling and its effects on the sucrose and subsequent ratooning of a crop.
We know across most Australian sugar growing districts that high November and December rainfall (as was the case in 2024) causes havoc with getting the crops to the mills and adversely impacts crop productivity in the ensuing season.
We also know the disadvantages of starting the crush earlier far outweigh the disadvantages of finishing the harvest late because of loss of sugar yield, loss of cane yields in the subsequent ratoons, and the possibility of premature ploughing out of the crop due to ratoon failure.
QCAR Herbert Committee Chair- Matthew Pappin said, “we can’t control the weather, but we can ensure that we can do our best to get crops off as early as possible.”
He said QCAR had been in discussions for quite some time with Wilmar about turning the industry around by adopting the ‘Early start, early finish’ approach to getting the crop off in a timely manner.
“The 2025 Herbert harvest season commenced on 10 June, two weeks earlier than the previous year; this is a positive step in the right direction.
“An ‘Early start, early finish’ to the harvest season is a win-win for the whole industry and the wider community,” Mr Pappin said.
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