OCTOBER
Andersens Stanthorpe team cleaned up at their 2023 Andersens Conference. The store won Best Franchisee and came runner’s up for Regional Store of the Year (SQ West) and Most Improved Franchise.
Two respected Southern Downs and Granite Belt rugby league referee have been recognised with Mick Mahoney has been honoured for his more than two decades of dedication and Michael Bell being named Warwick and District Referee of the Year.
A man who posed as a doctor looking fora nanny to work on his farm and wore a disguise to collect the backpacker before raping her will be detained in custody indefinitely.
A historically significant Southern Downs sheep station has hit the market for the first time in 174 years. Warroo Station, located on Stanthorpe Inglewood Road about 40 minutes from Inglewood and almost 70 kilometres west of Stanthorpe, has been managed by the Goodrich family since 1911.
The results of Australia’s first referendum in 24 years were made clear a little more than an hour after polls closed in Queensland. Approximately 60 per cent of the country’s more than 17.6 million enrolled voters rejected a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament come the end of voting on 14 October, with all states and territories bar the ACT delivering a majority “no” vote. But it was the federal electorate of Maranoa where support for an Indigenous Voice was at its lowest. Approximately 85 per cent of voters across the vast rural electorate which runs from Warwick and Stanthorpe in the east to the Northern Territory border in the west, returned the highest proportion of “no” votes out of anywhere in Australia at referendum.
Stanthorpe’s own James Massey stands tall among 100 inspirational old boys at Brisbane Boys College. With an astounding 50 years of service in the Rural Fire Service, James has become a true inspiration to his community by always running towards danger.
Under the ownership of Debra Spence, Conrad distillery, which opened last year, is one of five businesses in Queensland, and 35 from around Australia nominated in the “Accelerating Women” category of Telstra’s Business Awards for actively challenging exclusion to create lasting equality for women.
The pilot of a light plane which crashed into a paddock at Palgrave, has died, authorities have confirmed.
While QLD Mental Health Week concludes, the desire to express support for the community’s well-being is still ever-present. Happy Chat and the Whistle Stop Gardens have come together to create Totems of Hope.
The southern Granite Belt village of Ballandean has been given hope that it may receive some help towards mowing after the topic was brought up at a Connecting with Council session at the Ballandean Hall.
Celebrated winemaker Mike Hayes has once again proven his worth in the wine industry, receiving yet another prestigious award for his exceptional contributions. Having established himself as a staple in the Stanthorpe wine scene, Hayes was recently won the “Most Significant Contribution by an Individual to the Wine Industry 2023” award.
A total of 19 permits have been issued for mining exploration activities across the Granite Belt region since 2010 with a further 18 under consideration by the Queensland government, a search has revealed.
The Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery and Stanthorpe Library upgrade project budget has blown out from $4 million to $6.4 million; the Southern Downs Regional Council has heard.
The 2023 Stanthorpe Cup meeting was an outstanding success with more than 2000 people through the gate.
NOVEMBER
Granite Belt residents have been left in a state of shock after the fires that swept through the region over the past week. Four houses were confirmed to have been lost in Wallangarra where the efforts of firefighters were hailed for effectively saving the town after fastmoving bushfires forced swift evacuations from the small border community.
The Granite Belt’s only pipe organ has been temporarily silenced but a concerted effort is being made to raise the money to bring it back to life.
on Saturday, 25 November.
The paintbrushes have been cleaned, the easels are packed away and the Granite Belt Art and Craft Trail has ended after a highly successful long weekend of all things creative.
A region-wide effort to attract a Regional University Study Hub to the Southern Downs is to be auspiced by the Southern Downs Regional Council.
Teenage Stanthorpe Futsal star Indi St John is set to add a China to her passport stamps after being selected in the Under-16 Australian Girls team for the Jiangmen International Futsal Cup next year.
Approximately $5 million in federal government funding has been pulled from the Emu Swamp Dam project after a review found it and 50 other infrastructure projects across Australia “undeliverable”. Following an independent review into the federal Infrastructure Investment Program, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King announced funding would not be provided for some projects at this time
St Deny’s Church at Amiens celebrated it 100th birthday with invited guests and friends. The poignant service commemorated 100 years of thanksgiving.
A region-wide effort to attract a Regional University Study Hub to the Southern Downs is to be auspiced by the Southern Downs Regional Council.
Southern Downs Regional Council has successfully obtained over $18,000 in funding from the Department of Environment and Science to develop long-term roost management plans for the region’s protected flying fox populations
It was an historic moment in the life of the Warwick Saleyards when the Southern Downs Regional Council announced a $7 million redevelopment of the site and approved a tender for the work.
George and Furhmann Warwick director and livestock sales representative Matthew Grayson said that the entire contingent of stock and station agents had walked out of a meeting at the council chambers in Warwick on Friday 17 November over the reworked plans for the saleyards, to cost $7 million and approved by the council at a special meeting on 6 November.
Ballandean Estate hosted its first vineyard party in five years to honour Angelo Puglisi, the esteemed founder of the Queensland wine industry, in a belated 80th birthday celebration on the iconic Opera Block.
A letter asking for a stay in the redevelopment of the Warwick Saleyards was received at the Southern Downs Regional Council meeting on 22 November. The letter from the Warwick Livestock Selling Agents Association chairperson Ben Johnston outlined the concerns of the association members that the redevelopment was neither ‘suitable nor workable’. It followed a meeting between stock and station agents and council officers, when the agents walked out of the meeting in protest.
Members of Zonta Stanthorpe together with Cr Stephen Tancred and Southern Downs member James Lister, friends and family gathered to commemorate those remarkable women who were chosen to showcase the history and enduring contributions of women in shaping the community.
From Stanthorpe District Cricket to the 2024 T20 world cup – that is the hope for members of the Vanuatu Women’s National side currently playing in the Granite Belt-based competition. Eight of the Vanuatu Women’s National cricket team are currently playing in the Stanthorpe Cricket competition, also joined by several players from their men’s cricket sides, as they prepare to try and qualify for the world cup.
When Granite Belt resident Yvonne Rose received a letter advising her of a five-year mining permit issued for the exploration of critical minerals on her property, she was brought to tears.
DECEMBER
The frustration of a community concerned about the prospect of enduring another drought became apparent at a public meeting for the Queensland’s government’s most recent review into the region’s water supply.
Stanthorpe witnessed a joyous celebration as Probus marked its 15th birthday. Nick Hese, the current president, extended a warm welcome to over 50 attendees, including special guests such as Jim Barnes, the current president of Rotary Stanthorpe.
Stanthorpe Waste Management Facility hosted a world-first technology showcase. The Southern Downs Regional Council organised an information session to introduce the community to a cutting-edge pyrolysis technology trial, which has the transformative ability to turn plastic waste into usable fuels.
The Southern Downs Regional Council’s response to the Southern and Darling Downs Regional Water Assessment (RWA) draft document has come under fire from some councillors who wanted more time for consideration and more input from members of the community before signing off on the document.
Stanthorpe Hospital’s maternity team surpassed an exciting milestone for 2023, just weeks out from the new year.
Year 10 student Grace Roberts will jet off to Europe in April 2024 to tour some of Australia’s most poignant war memorial sites after achieving statewide recognition as one of eight students to receive the prestigious Premier’s Anzac Prize.
Sustainability is at the forefront of Balancing Heart Vineyard as they launch their new project, Wine in a Can which is poised to revolutionise the Granite Belt wine industry.
The recently released 2023 NAPLAN results have unveiled the academic prowess of schools in the Southern Downs, showcasing outstanding achievements in both primary and secondary education. Among the noteworthy standouts are Applethorpe State School and St Joseph’s School Stanthorpe, claiming top positions in the year 5 and year 9 tests, respectively.
Southern Downs Regional Council has coordinated a submission to the Commonwealth Department of Education to establish a regional university study hub in the Southern Downs region.
Golden Guitar-winning country music star James Blundell is set to open the gates to his Granite Belt farm to prospective hemp farmers early next year with hopes of inciting a hemp revolution.
Southern Downs Regional Council spent more than $21,000 fighting councillor misconduct complaints made against Mayor Vic Pennisi to the state watchdog in the previous financial year.
The Southern Downs Regional Council has no option but to approve a new wastewater treatment plant for Stanthorpe at an expected cost of $33.5 million.
