Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

England’s new Garden of Eden…

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I was involved with a group of Maleny residents who put together an exciting proposal for world class gardens, integrated with eco research and education facilities amongst spacious wetlands on the Council-owned, Maleny Community Precinct. Our project had the backing of some key Australian architects, horticulturists and scientists. The project – the Obi Obi [...]

Continue reading...

Restaurants race to raise money for Cambodia

WHEN ten hospitality teams compete in the Food and Beverage Cup at the Real Food Festival on Sunday September 11, it won’t be merely to entertain festival goers. Proceeds from the event will go to Plant It Forward, a grassroots aid project initiated 18 months ago by Chris Wright of the Terrace of Maleny Restaurant, [...]

Continue reading...

Bill Hauritz wins Lifetime Achievement Award

ON AUGUST 16, Woodford Folk Festival veteran Bill Hauritz was honoured with the G.W. McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Queensland Music Awards for his contribution to Queensland music. We spoke to him about the significance of the win and how the festival was affected by the Queensland floods. What does winning this award mean to [...]

Continue reading...

Bellthorpe sprinter on track for Olympics

AUSTRALIA’S next Olympic sprinting sensation may well be 17 year-old Hugh Donovan, a quietly spoken teenager from Bellthorpe. Hugh recently returned home from the World Youth Athletics Championships in France, where he was the first Australian male athlete in ten years to represent Australia in the 100 metres and 200 metres. He posted the fastest time in [...]

Continue reading...

A cute dog with a big job ahead of him

MEET TOBY, one of Maleny’s cutest residents. The six month-old labrador with gentle brown eyes is soon to become a Smart Pup — an Autism Assistance Dog. He’s being fostered by Maleny teacher Annie Tattersall until he’s 12 months old and ready to go into intensive training. Sunshine Coast organisation, Smart Pups Assistance Dogs for Special [...]

Continue reading...

Bright spark builds mobile recording studios

YOU MAY have heard about the growing trend in recycling steel shipping containers into homes, hotels, museums and sculptures. Now Maleny musician and sound engineer Mark ‘Sparky’ Paltridge of Spark1 Studios, has come up with his own bright idea: shipping container recording studios. Shipping containers outlive their usefulness as cargo carriers within five years, and their [...]

Continue reading...

ADVENTURES OF ‘THE SALT MAN’ …

How Himalayan salt made its way to the hinterland KAROM Himalayan Crystal Salt is a wholesale business tucked away behind the video shop in Maleny. It’s off the beaten track of Maple Street, but locals in the know make a point of stopping in to buy Himalayan table salt and salt lamps at wholesale prices (an [...]

Continue reading...

Kevin Borich is rocking on after his battle with cancer

He’s a long way from the city lights and rockstar lifestyle he once lived, but the legendary guitarist Kevin Borich, once described by Carlos Santana as Australia’s Jimi Hendrix, couldn’t be happier. HAVING BEATEN a particularly aggressive form of cancer, Kevin is now fighting fit and is back on the road playing live shows and recording [...]

Continue reading...

A small Hunchy farm is changing lives

IT’S EARLY August and the afternoon sun is beating down on the young farm workers. Jesse Price, Matt McMahon and Jenna Best are busy digging a new garden bed and are more than happy to take a break while they pose for the camera. They are part of a team of 17 school leavers with intellectual [...]

Continue reading...

Come on Julia, surprise us…

Let’s drop the absurd legal fiction that Christmas Island is not really part of Australia and get on with it… Perhaps the silliest single thing said in response to the High Court’s decision last week was Julia Gillard’s comment that the judges had missed an opportunity to enhance the region’s response to people smugglers. As numerous lawyers have [...]

Continue reading...