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Dec 13, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Sarah Simpkins |Liam O'Connell
Landowners in the Pioneer Valley, west of Mackay, will soon be given the option to buy back properties acquired for the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro energy storage project. Residents say the move will mark the beginning of efforts to rebuild their community. Letters will be sent to 57 former property owners asking if they are interested in buying their property back.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell |Melissa Maddison
A coronial investigation into the death of a 33-year-old man killed at a central Queensland mine has been abandoned because a coroner has decided it will not lead to any recommendations that could avert similar deaths. Donald "Donnie" Rabbitt was alone when he was crushed by a heavy falling tyre and rim at Curragh Mine, north of Blackwater, on January 12, 2020.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
You may be struggling to connect after the 3G switch-off, and not getting the connectivity you one had. You're not alone. Residents in Collinsville in Queensland have been dealing with frequent dropouts and even times when they can't make a phone call, let alone connect to the internet since before the switch-off. But an internet solution from the early 2000s is keeping people connected.
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
A North Queensland pilot who was charged over a fatal light plane crash has had his manslaughter case dropped but is still facing other aviation-related charges. Peter Thomas McDougall, 67, was allegedly flying unlicensed when the plane crashed onto a beach at Ball Bay, 35 kilometres north of Mackay, on Christmas Eve in 2021. Grandfather Gerardus Miltenberg, 83, was killed in the crash, which happened shortly after take-off. He was the only passenger on the private leisure flight.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
A woman has undergone emergency surgery for a 30 centimetre shark bite to her leg after a marathon eight-hour rescue mission. Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) said the 57-year-old woman was 200 kilometres from Mackay when she was bitten on the leg while snorkelling on a reef. Emergency services were alerted by a triple-0 call from the yacht about 4.30pm on Wednesday, saying the woman had two lacerations.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
A navy ship has rescued a woman after a suspected shark attack about 10 hours off the coast of Mackay in north Queensland. The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) says the woman, aged in her 50s, was snorkelling on Wednesday afternoon when she was bitten by a shark and returned to her boat. The QAS was alerted by the Department of Defence about 4:30pm. HMAS Warramunga, which was in the Whitsundays region for training exercises, diverted from its path to pick up the woman.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
The seat of Mackay bleeds red. In Labor's hands for 104 of the past 109 years, it's a seat the party is keen to retain in Saturday's Queensland election when outgoing MP Julieanne Gilbert retires. When she was elected in 2015, Ms Gilbert was the fifth Labor representative of the electorate in the past 100 years. This election's Labor candidate, Belinda Hassan, hopes to be the sixth.
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Oct 12, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
Juggling her time between rodeos and stock work across Queensland, Emily Collits has rarely stayed in the same place for long. The bronc riding champion in her 20s says her work droving cattle for up to two months at a time can make it difficult to build and maintain her social circle. "We've got no cell service out here. It can get a little bit lonely," she said.
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Oct 4, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell
Police say a Mackay man allegedly murdered by his housemate was last seen alive on Monday this week. Emergency services were called to a unit block in Rae Street, East Mackay, about 3.30pm on Thursday for a welfare check. Mackay police Superintendent Shane Holmes said 64-year-old Colin Thomas Grohs was found unresponsive, and was declared dead. Samuel Luke Muntelwit, 33, was arrested at the scene and appeared in the Mackay Magistrate's Court on Friday morning via video link.
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Sep 28, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Liam O'Connell |Jenae Madden
It looks like a slick of oil floating on the ocean. Then the smell hits you. Dubbed "sea sawdust", the blue-green algae bacteria Trichodesmium has turned the normally blue Coral Sea off the Mackay coastline shades of brown, green and pink. The bacteria, which is slightly toxic to humans, normally sits at the bottom of the ocean, but blooms and rises to the surface to die and rot if the conditions are still and warm.
