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Home Expo To Launch Land Release June 24, 2008 - Across Country BGA Real Estate & Livestock are organising a Family Home Expo in conjunction with the Swendson Place Land Release at Panorama Parade, Kingaroy. The mini-expo, on Saturday July 12 from 10:00am to 2:00pm, will feature home and trade displays, food stalls, free tea and coffee, face painting, prizes, competitions and a jumping castle. Panorama Parade is located off Harris Road (turn left into Silky Oak Drive, the first street after Clark & Swendsons Road). View Larger Map

Fat Cow Farewells Mal June 23, 2008 - On Friday night, well-known local South Burnett band Fat Cow appeared at Kingaroy's Club Hotel to pay tribute to former band member Mal Matthew who collapsed and died earlier this year at age 49. Mal's death in April was not only a shock to his family and the fans of Fat Cow but also to the many people who knew him through his work at the QDPI&F where he was an industry development officer. Fat Cow posted the following video on MySpaceTV from their Friday night tribute to their much-loved drummer: (click on the play button below to hear the band in action)

Indian Flavour At Murgon June 20, 2008 - Raj Begeda is the face behind Raj's Turf and Tandoori restaurant which has opened inside the The Australian Hotel at 65 Lamb Street, Murgon, 4605. The restaurant offers both Australian and Indian meals and is open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Sunday lunches are available by advance booking only. Raj's Turf and Tandoori can be contacted on (07) 4168-2603.

New Life For Old Booie Range Distillery June 19, 2008 - Local businesswoman Bronwyn Bisley has opened a fudgery and function centre in the old Booie Range Distillery building, (right), near Kingaroy. The Old Distillery, located adjacent to the Bell Tower Restaurant, offers gift and home wares as well as being a purveyor of fudge and other fine pantry food. The conference / function area can seat 50. Bronwyn can be contacted on 0417-136-930 or by email [Photo courtesy: Where's The Beef?]

Opportunity For Local Artists June 18, 2008 - The South Burnett Disability Action Group is looking for artists with a disability to exhibit art and craft works at the Kingaroy Art Gallery in September. The works can be in any media and will be included in the Disability Action Week Art Exhibition which will be at the gallery from September 16-30, 2008. For more information, contact Graham House Community Centre, Murgon, on (07) 4168-2828.

Gold Miner Claims 'Significant' Nickel Finds At Black Snake June 17, 2008 - Mining company AusNiCo has reported finding "significant" new nickel-cobalt and gold-copper zones on the Black Snake Plateau, south of Kilkivan. AusNiCo is a subsidiary of D'Aguilar Gold which reported the find to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday. Earlier this month D'Aguilar Gold announced it had found copper and silver in the nearby Silver Valley on the north-eastern edge of Black Snake Plateau. D'Aguilar is prospecting an area which was the site of some of the earliest copper, gold and silver mines in Queensland. It says it has identified new prospects in the region including Mt Terrible, 500m west of Silver Valley, and Humble Pie, 700m to the north of Silver Valley. June 16 ASX announcement June 2 ASX announcment

Cheesemaking Workshop In Kingaroy This Weekend June 16, 2008 - The next in the popular series of cheesemaking workshops held by local cheesemaker Chris Ganzer will be held in the South Burnett this weekend. The workshop will be held on Saturday June 21 at Kingaroy Cheese's William Street factory. To book email Tracy-Anne or Fiona or phone (07) 4162-5990.

Winter Recipe Release From Cahills June 13, 2008 - The Winter 2008 recipe from Cahills Wines at Booie is now available for download from the company's new website. Owners John and Cindy Cahill have been releasing recipe sheets which feature Cahills boutique wines (available at the Carrollee Hotel, Kingaroy) at the start of every season since 2004. Over the years recipes have included Thai Baby Barbecued Barramundi and Char-Grilled Lamb Cutlets with Pesto. The Winter 2008 recipe is a warming Braised Pork In Red Wine featuring Cahill's Shiraz.

Youth Invited To Share Their Ideas June 12, 2008 - A Youth Expressions Event will be held this Sunday (June 15) in a lead up to the Ministerial Regional Community Forum which will be held in Kingaroy next Monday. The youth event will be held at Kingaroy Youth Park from noon to 3:00pm. Facilitators will provide a variety of activities to encourage young people to share their experiences, thoughts, issues and solutions for our region. Their ideas will be presented to State Government Ministers at the Wide Bay Ministerial Regional Community Forum which will be held at Kingaroy Town Hall on Monday from 9:45am. Local forum members will meet with Queensland MPs Rod Welford, Margaret Keech and Karen Struthers. The forum will discuss youth issues and will again be trialling interactive sessions to identify significant regional issues. For more information, contact Helen Hughes at the Office of Rural & Regional Communities (Wide Bay Burnett) on (07) 4151-9748.

WBBACC Reports On Federal Budget June 11, 2008 - The Wide Bay Burnett Area Consultative Committee has prepared a special Report To Community on the 2008-09 Federal Budget. The report is designed to inform readers of the key aspects of the Budget, including information on the formation of the new Regional Development Australia network which will replace Area Consultative Committees. The Report To Community can be downloaded here (961kb PDF).

Forum To Target Depression June 10, 2008 - The Kingaroy Rotary Club, supported by Incitec and Bean Growers Australia, are hosting a Depression Awareness Forum in Kingaroy next month to provide information on this growing problem. The forum will be held in the Tobruk Room at the Kingaroy RSL Club from 7:00pm on July 16. The forum will provide information about depression, dispel common myths and help people recognise symptoms of depression in their friends, family and workmates. Everyone is welcome and entry is free.

New Council CEO From Whitsundays June 9, 2008 - The new Chief Executive Officer for the South Burnett Regional Council is Tony Hayward, (right), the former CEO of Whitsunday Shire Council and Acting CEO of the merged Whitsunday Regional Council. Tony has had extensive experience in both private enterprise and local government and was formerly a Director of the Whitsunday Development Corporation. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, the Local Government Managers' Australia (Qld) and has a Bachelor of Business Studies from Charles Sturt University and a Graduate Diploma of Management from Central Queensland University. The South Burnett Regional Council engaged a recruitment company to manage the appointment process. Tony was selected by the Council interviewing committee from a shortlist of five male applicants from the more than 20 hopefuls. He replaces Acting CEO Shane Gray who successfully guided Nanango, Murgon, Wondai and Kingaroy shires through the difficult transition process.

Strong Man Games - Eat Our Nuts! June 6, 2008 - The entry forms and competition details for the 2008 SupaIGA Queensland Strong Man Games are available to download now on the new Kingaroy Peanut Festival website. The PCA Kingaroy Peanut Festival will be held on Saturday August 2 at the Kingaroy Showgrounds (the same venue as last year). The date has been brought forward a month to avoid the festival clashing with other South Burnett events and junior sports finals. As well as the Strong Man Games, there'll also be the ever-popular Thresher Pull as well as junior games, rides, entertainment and market stalls. If you are interested in having a stall at the Peanut Festival, please contact Polly Birchall at the KCCI on (07) 4162-8466.

Last Chance To RSVP For Meet and Greet June 5, 2008 - The Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry's June Meet'n'Greet will be held at The Belltower Restaurant on the Booie Range next Tuesday night (June 10) from 5:30pm. There'll be an update on the Tarong Energy Kunioon mine development, a briefing on this year's Kingaroy Relay For Life by John Bjelke-Petersen and updates by local businesses. Cost is $10 for KCCI members and $13 for non-members (which includes finger food) and there'll also be a raffle for a $25 meal voucher at The Belltower. RSVP to Polly Birchall by tomorrow on (07) 4162-8466.

We're Here Again (And This Time To Stay!) June 4, 2008 - Another minor disaster hit SBBiz about 5:30pm last night when the emergency generator which had been powering our server (and 2999 others also located on the ground floor of the data centre) since the explosion (see story below) also failed. At 2:30am this morning, our System Administrator decided enough was enough ... an opportunity arose to physically shift the server to another venue and so SBBiz was on the move. It has taken until about 12:30pm today for the technical arrangements to flow through to allow this website (and many other South Burnett websites) to be seen again on the internet (although our email came back online several hours earlier). Many thanks again for your patience!

We're Back! June 3, 2008 - It takes a fair bit to keep SBBiz off the air for three days ... how about an explosion that knocked down three walls and a fire? The data centre which is home to SBBiz (and many other South Burnett websites) suffered this catastrophic failure late on Saturday night when a power transformer exploded. Fortunately no one was hurt but thousands of websites around the world instantly blinked out. Emails routed via the centre were also badly affected. To their credit, the team at the Texas centre - the largest privately owned data centre in the world - worked non-stop with electricians and technicians to get the 9000 servers back online. There may be a couple of hiccups over the next few days as emergency power is switched off and local power restored but if we disappear again it will only be for an hour or two at most. Many thanks for your patience ... it's great to be back!

PCA Records $1.97m Profit May 30, 2008 - The Peanut Company of Australia increased revenues over the past 12 months by more than 6 per cent to $62.9 million despite the volume of domestic sales actually dropping by about 21 per cent. Adverse climatic conditions in Australia necessitated a higher than normal level of imports which affected profits. But despite this, net profit after tax increased by 7.5 per cent to $1.97 million. The figures are contained in PCA's 2008 Annual Report which was released yesterday on the company's website along with a Prospectus inviting shareholders to subscribe to a two-for-three shares Rights Issue. PCA intends to pay a full-franked dividend of 30 cents per share on June 27 on all shares (including those acquired under the Rights Issue).

Latest WBBACC Newsletter Available May 29, 2008 - The latest edition of the Wide Bay Burnett Area Consultative Committee's electronic Regional Update is now available online. This edition includes information about a Marketing Seminar to be held in Kingaroy next month, a Social Policy Forum to be held in Kingaroy in July, and the scrapping of the Regional Partnerships Program. The electronic newsletter is designed to provide all the latest information on events, activities and grant opportunities distributed by the Federal Government. To join the email mailing list, contact Cameron Bisley at the WBBACC on (07) 4121-7099 or email him

Women's Network Plans Bundaberg Conference May 28, 2008 - The Queensland Rural Women's Network's Barambah Branch will be hosting a Change and Challenge Conference in Bundaberg later this year. Workshops will cover a diverse range of subjects from MYOB and spreadsheets to scrapbooking, using Photoshop, succession planning and sustainable farming. The program for the conference, which will be held on August 27-28, can be downloaded from the QRWN website. For more information, contact Sue Kratzmann on 0400-723-070

South Burnett May Join Toowoomba, Darling Downs In Pilot Tourism Body May 27, 2008 - The South Burnett could soon be part of a new tourism body - an amalgamation of the South Burnett portion of the Fraser Coast South Burnett Regional Tourism Organisation with Southern Downs and Toowoomba and the Golden West. The new body would be known as the South East Queensland Country Regional Tourism Organisation (SEQC RTO). This is one of the options put forward in the Queensland Tourism Network Review report released this week. The report, commissioned by the State Government, also recommended the SEQC RTO be used as a pilot to test a new tourism organisational model, a Destination Management Organisation jointly funded by RTO members and Tourism Queensland. Feedback on the report should be forwarded to the Department of Tourism and Regional Development by June 13. Key stakeholders will discuss the feedback and formulate a position to be forwarded to the Minister for consideration. Download the Network Review report here (882kb PDF)