Children on K’gari
Mayor George Seymour’s recommendation that small children not be allowed to roam on all parts of K’gari is the height of common sense.
There is no shortage of beautiful sandy beaches or islands for recreation in Queensland besides K’gari. Surely one island - which is a National Park - can be regarded as a place where dingoes can be spared the temptation of small wallaby sized humans playing in front of them - possibly unsupervised by an adult.
Some folk are understandably in love with beautiful K’gari.
My husband went there with a group of men friends every year for 42 years!
But if a family takes small children to K’gari, vigilance would be needed 100% of the time.
This can hardly be relaxing for Mum and Dad.
C.L. Bussey - Burrum Heads
Torquay Towers
International developers expect rural people to be naive hayseeds who will welcome any flashy confidence trick.
And so Hervey Bay residents were expected to fall for a gigantic 1930s Hollywood-style sparkling meringue with glittering windows, towering over the trees, birds, turtles and coral until only the meringue remained.
The pretence that the people of Hervey Bay gave their informed permission is contradicted by the thousands of protest signatures and donations.
Of course, we didn’t believe that “they” would do that to us.
Janet Kenny – Point Vernon
It’s Getting worse
It is a sad indictment of the state of Queensland Health and the HB Hospital when a three year old is rushed in vomiting, dehydrated and in pain, to be sent home with anti-nausea meds and fluids, only to be returned hours later worse, but again sent home…outcome??
Yet another trip to the hospital only to have to get the Emergency helicopter called to fly the child to Brisbane in a serious condition with pneumonia, lungs full of fluid in a serious condition.
No words! Just no words!!! Praying she gets well. Is it going to take a death before something is done about the state of the emergency medical system???
Millions of dollars to bail out a casino when this is happening.
Makes me sick to my stomach. Most people you talk to have horrific stories to tell.
This is not a first. Maybe everyone should inundate the Minister with their experiences.
Syl Mo – Eli Waters
Fox Control Program
What a disastrous decision it was to introduce the European fox (Vulpes vulpes) into Australia, for recreational hunting in the mid-1800s! Foxes quickly spread across the landscape and are now found in every State. Despite many millions of dollars spent on control programs, Foxes continue to threaten both wildlife and agriculture, making it one of our most significant invasive species.
Despite their relatively small size (5-6kg) these opportunistic scavengers and predators are highly adaptable and will consume a wide variety of animals and plants from their environment. Research estimates that foxes kill 300 million native animals in Australia each year (Stobo-Wilson, Murphy & Legge, et al, Wildlife Research 2021).
These consist of native mammals, reptiles, frogs, birds and insects as well as bird and turtle eggs.
Fraser Coast ecosystems and wildlife are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of the European fox. Turtle egg and hatchling predation threatens the breeding success of local turtle species, including Critically endangered White-throated Snapping Turtle (Elseya albagula), Endangered Mary River Turtle (Elusor macrurus) and Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta).
Local populations of small marsupials such as Planigales, Melomys and Dunnarts are also under threat from fox predation. There are seven threatened species of small mammals and birds venerable to fox predation on the Fraser coast.
Fox sightings (including dens and calls) can be logged on the free and easy-to-use FeralScan Pest mapping website or phone App. Once you’ve created an account you can record fox sightings (or other feral species) and these are added to a map that is available to the public as well as government bodies.
Ted Johansen – Hervey Bay
