Police have charged a 59-year-old man with the murders of three people who were gunned down at their rural property in the Whitsundays and the attempted murder of a fourth man.
Married couple Mervyn, 71, and Maree Schwarz, 59, and their son Graham Tinge, 35, were shot and killed at their cattle farm in Bogie, about 35 minutes south-west of Bowen on Thursday morning.
Their other son, Ross, was shot in the abdomen and bleeding heavily, but managed to flee the scene in a ute and notify police.
He underwent emergency surgery at MacKay Base Hospital on Thursday night and has been well enough to speak to detectives.
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Police charged the family’s 59-year-old neighbor with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder on Friday.
Mackay Detective Inspector Tom Armitt told reporters alleged the offender and four victims had arranged to meet that morning.
“What we do know is that all parties are neighbours, some conversation has occurred between the parties and resulted in a meeting up at the parties’ boundary line earlier that morning when the incident occurred,” he said.
“We understand that there was a conversation the night before and that was the reason they met the next morning.
“What I can say is that there was an invitation for them to go there and discuss.”
Police said the distance between the properties is about a 45-minute drive.
The Schwarz family purchased the property in the last 12 months, Detective Armitt said, while their 59-year-old neighbor is a long-term resident.
He will appear in the Proserpine Magistrates Court on Monday, August 8.
A year-long mystery has been solved after residents of a coastal took it upon themselves to collect a strange black cylinder wedged into a beach waterway.
Yambuk resident Matt King said he found the unidentified object in September 2021 while walking his dogs along the beach.
He had no idea what the “weird bit of stuff” was but knew it was out of the ordinary in a town known for its beautiful estuary, wild beach and tall slide.
Harry Sokol and Matt King inspect the object for clues.(Supplied)
“It’s pretty weird. It’s obviously an expensive container. I don’t know if it’s stainless, wrapped in carbon fiber,” he said.
Curiosity and wariness of ocean contamination compelled Mr King to reach out to Colleen Hughson, an ocean plastics campaigner who was awarded Warrnambool citizen of the year for her hands-on environmental work.
Matt King first found the object on the beach at Yambuk.(Supplied: Colleen Hughson)
Ms Hughson’s credentials for investigating strange things that wash up on beaches are well established in the region.
She runs several local beach clean-up crews that document and log endless data about the hundreds of kilograms of junk that wash up along the south-west coast of Victoria and has found all kinds of strange objects over the years.
Ms Hughson said she reported the cylinder to the local police (in case it was a bomb), notified the Australian Space Agency, shared a photograph of the object on her social media accounts and then waited for the authorities to collect the item.
In the meantime, people began sending her articles about other space junk found around the world.
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“A lady from Tasmania actually sent us an article of a really similar thing that had landed in Washington on someone’s farm,” Ms Hughson said.
“It was this composite pressure vessel that contains the rocket fuel of the rocket ships.”
Matt King found the strange cylinder on the sand at Yambuk.(Supplied: Matt King)
The realization that discarded space objects could re-enter the earth without disintegrating sent Ms Hughson down a rabbit hole of information about spacecraft junk that was intentionally directed to an uninhabited zone in the ocean.
Our ocean space graveyard
An artistic interpretation of the “spacecraft graveyard” at Point Nemo in the South Pacific Ocean.(ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser)
Astronomer Dave Reneke said the existence of a space cemetery in the ocean was old news but not commonly known.
“There’s a part of the ocean there that not many people know about called the space graveyard, or cemetery,” Mr Reneke said.
“It’s a place where all spacecraft go to die, if you will.”
He said it was 4,000 kilometers off the eastern coast of New Zealand and about 3 kilometers deep.
“It’s the farthest place from any landmass on Earth,” he said.
“Since 1971, there’s been over 260 bits of space junk falling in there.”
‘It came from up there’
A year after the cylinder was first discovered and reported, it was still floating in the river at Yambuk.
Mr King and his dogs had walked passed it one too many times.
Knowing that the river mouth would soon open again, he mustered a group of locals and litter campaigners to take matters into their own hands and get the disintegrating object out of the estuary.
Love Our Street litter campaign founder Jill Sokol traveled from Melbourne with her aeronautical enthusiast husband Harry to take part in a regional beach clean-up, and they got far more than they bargained for.
Jill Sokol said she was mystified by the object.(Supplied: Colleen Hughson)
“I actually have absolutely no idea what it might be. I’m taken with the theory that my husband Harry has proposed, that it is something that has fallen out of the sky,” Ms Sokol said.
“Whether it’s come from an aircraft or a space craft of some sort, I’m mystified.”
Harry Sokol used a forensic approach to deduce where they object came from.(Supplied: Colleen Hughson)
“It’s got a metal core cylinder which is not corroded, some yellowish coating which might be a kevlar coating, all followed up by a wonderful bit of carbon fiber laminate,” Mr Sokol said.
“It has a serial number, which implies they made more than one of them, whatever it is,” he said.
Time to duck for cover?
Several stories about new space junk discoveries were reported last week about the time the ocean clean-up team was wheeling the unidentified object across Yambuk’s stubborn sand.
Ms Hughson decided to contact the Australian Space Agency again.
“I got a reply straight away,'” she said.
After just days, the agency was able to confirm with Ms Hughson that the object had definitely fallen from space, which they have verified with the ABC.
“It is an over-wrapped composite pressure vessel, so it is a canister that contains rocket fuel for a space rocket,” Ms Hughson said.
“It turns out that quite a few have dropped down to planet earth, about one a year.
“100 per cent confirmed. It is space junk.”
Ms Hughson appeared to be satisfied by the confirmation and conclusion of her detective work but now has a whole new source of potential ocean pollutants to monitor and campaign about.
Decision-making would be vastly improved by the Voice as an authoritative representative body to inform Canberra about the on-the-ground reality in local communities. It would be, as the PM says, an “unflinching source of advice and accountability” holding politicians’ and bureaucrats’ feet to the fire to ensure better outcomes for communities and best value for all taxpayers. Canberra’s handful of hard-working Aboriginal MPs cannot represent such diversity, and it’s unfair to expect that from them.
Second, they call for “more detail.” Before the apology, I faced weeks of demands to publish the full wording along with confidential policy advice. There was nothing earth-shattering there. Many just wanted material they could misrepresent for political effect – standard procedure in Tory politics.
Critics now demanding the government detail how the Voice would function ignore the fact that, because of the government’s conservative approach, this is not for the Labor Party to dictate. It is for successive parliaments to design and refine how the Voice makes its recommendations through processes that reach across the partisan divide. And they will be informed by the extensive 269-page report produced under that infamous radical, Scott Morrison. A more prescriptive referendum is exactly the sort of radical change that conservatives should oppose.
Third, they raise fear that the change is unworkable or even dangerous. For example, the week before the apology, Peter Dutton was claiming it could cost taxpayers billions in compensation, despite this claim having been debunked by John Howard’s own attorney-general. This was classic Dutton and designed only to engender anxiety and fear.
Abbott’s dystopic vision of a three-chambered parliament, activist judges overruling parliament and lawyers lining their pockets is similarly fanciful. Albanese could not be clearer: the Voice is “not a third chamber, not a rolling veto, not a blank check”. Abbott, like Dutton, is misleading the public for political ends.
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Fourth, they claim it will be “divisive.” The critics told the apology would rip the country apart because non-Indigenous Australians, who take pride in their forebears’ achievements, would not acknowledge what those forebears might have gotten wrong. The apology actually united Australians, rather than dividing them. It was a cathartic opportunity for all of us, whatever our origins. When it was done, most people were left wondering what all the fuss was about.
The arc of history, as it has been described, does indeed bend slowly. But unhappily for Dutton and Abbott it will continue to bend because Australians are fundamentally decent.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is co-chair of the National Apology Foundation.
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The Energy minister, Chris Bowen, has outlined proposals for six offshore wind projects around the country, including a 200-turbine windfarm off the Gippsland coast, claiming the industry could support up to 8,000 jobs and help shore up the nation’s energy security.
“We have some of the best wind resources in the world – just one rotation of one offshore wind turbine provides as much energy as an average rooftop solar installation generates in one day,” Bowen said.
A day after the government’s 43% emissions reduction bill passed the House of Representatives, Bowen laid out plans to harness what he called “world-class offshore wind energy potential”.
It included a project off the Gippsland coast in Victoria, with possible locations off Inverloch and Woodside beach. A 60-day public consultation period opened on Friday.
Five other proposals include developments off the Hunter and Illawarra coasts in New South Wales, near Portland in Western Victoria, in Bass Strait north of Tasmania, and in the Indian Ocean off Perth and Bunbury. Consultation periods for those proposals are yet to be announced.
Bowen said the sites were chosen because of “good to excellent” wind resources, existing energy generation facilities, connections to transmission networks, and locations near ports or industrial hubs.
The windfarms would be built in Commonwealth waters, starting 5.5km from shore, and feature up to 200 turbines.
Australia currently had no offshore wind generation, which has previously been considered too expensive and difficult to build compared to onshore wind or solar. In September, the Morrison government introduced legislation to establish a framework for the construction and operation of offshore power generation, including wind.
The director of climate change and energy at Ai Group, Tennant Reid, said offshore wind had “enormous” energy potential, utilizing the more consistently strong winds off the coast.
The Labor government plans to generate 82% of Australia’s energy from renewable sources by 2030. Bowen said Australia was “way behind the rest of the world” in generating wind power.
Map of proposed offshore wind sites
The Nationals MP for Gippsland, Darren Chester, said his electorate had “abundant” wind resources, and he expected the proposal to build a 200-turbine wind farm off the Gippsland coast would be warmly received by most constituents.
The turbines would be placed between 7km and 25km offshore and could meet up to 20% of Victoria’s electricity needs.
“Respectful community consultation and engagement is now critical to ensure the region understands the potential impacts and benefits of offshore wind projects,” Chester said.
“It’s important that issues surrounding transmission lines through private property to link large-scale renewable projects to the national grid are handled sensitively and transparently.”
Bowen said he expected there would be “very genuine concerns” raised by some locals and the fishing industry about the Gippsland project, dubbed the Star of the South, and that his department would listen.
“Around the world people have found a way for recreational and commercial fishing to work together with offshore wind,” he said.
The Liberal MP for the northern Tasmania seat of Braddon, Gavin Pearce, said he welcomed a proposal to develop offshore wind power in the waters north of his electorate but wanted to see “affordable, reliable, practical” energy generation.
“All I hear from the government is about investment in intermittent renewable energy resources,” he said.
The chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, Kane Thornton, said offshore wind was “an enormous opportunity for Australia”.
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Reed said there were still questions remaining around the dispatchability of offshore wind power, and the periods it would be available, but that it had the potential to add “tens of gigawatts” to Australia’s grid.
“Offshore wind increasingly looks like it will play a quite important role in the whole system,” he said.
“The challenge is to match what’s happened in Europe. It’s not just a matter of higher ambition but [also depends] if we’ve got the skills, supply chains, regulatory approvals and supporting policies on demand in place.”
The impact of what a national Indigenous Voice to Parliament might achieve has had a real-life example in Sydney’s Redfern this week.
Key points:
On Monday, it was announced the NCIE was due to be closed within a week
The community planned a sit-in next Monday to prevent the doors from being locked
The center has become a home away from home for a wide cross-section of the community
There were tears, cheers, relief and cautious celebration on Friday when the immediate closure of the National Center for Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) was averted.
Federal ministers Linda Burney and Tanya Plibersek heard the voice of the people who had rallied for five days after being told on Monday their jobs, sports facilities and cultural programs would be forced to close within in a week.
Rugby league players, boxers and wrestlers joined with local Indigenous kids and staff at the centre, which has been a community magnet for 16 years, to hear the news.
“Here is the bottom line,” Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney told them.
“I want to see the tenants who work out of NCIE given permanency… I want to see that this place stays open, and most importantly that people keep their jobs.
“I am saying very clearly to the people making decisions about this place, you’ve got a week to sort it out.
“It can’t be beyond people to sit down and negotiate in good faith because this joint is important.
“Voices need to be heard on this and the fact that you’ve got so many people here, hundreds of people, is a very loud voice.
“To the parties involved, get your act together and sort this out.”
Community members gather during a meeting about the future of the National Center of Indigenous Excellence.(AAP: James Gourley)
Regular users of NCIE’s gym and sporting facilities include NRL players from the Rabbitohs, the governor-general, members of the police and air force, but mostly members of the indigenous community for whom NCIE has become a hub and cultural safe space.
NCIE also provides crucial after school care, job-ready programs, health and cultural classes, as well as learn to swim programs for toddlers through to elders.
Out of the shadow of the 2004 Redfern Riots, with contested facts around a bicycle and a police car that resulted in the death of teenager TJ Hickey, an idea was born to improve community relations with the NCIE’s “sole purpose of creating long-term improvements.” in wellbeing”.
For 16 years it has done just that, making a positive contribution to closing the gap and improving community relations. Crime rates and arrests trended downwards while education and confidence levels trended up.
The former Redfern Public School was bought by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) but the land the center is built on was divested to the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) in June, with the ILSC retaining the license for the operation of the centre.
The sport facilities at the National Center of Indigenous Excellence are used by a vast cross-section of society.(AAP: James Gourley)
Tenants, staff and community leaders were shocked to be told on Monday the center would remain operational for one more week with all staff offered redundancies and one-off payments to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Their silence was not bought. They rallied instead and declared a sit-in at the site next Monday to prevent the gates at the facility being permanently locked.
“This place is for our local community,” local member and federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek told those gathered at Friday’s rally.
“I remember when it was a school, I was against the closure of the school. And I remember when the proposal was… the ILSC will buy it and it will forever be for the community.
“That’s what the promise was and that’s the promise we expect to be kept. This place has to be for the kids … but it’s not just the kids, it’s for the whole community.”
When it comes to measuring success, the community’s measurement stick is at odds with a traditional business model focused on profit.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek speaks at the National Center of Indigenous Excellence.(AAP: James Gourley)
NCIE costs money, and it doesn’t make money. It currently has a $2 million deficit, which for now will be covered.
Strategic projects advisor Indu Balachandran worked at NCIE for five years.
Part of her job was measuring the social impact of the organization.
“The question we need to ask ourselves today is … what do we need to do to make this place work for community wellbeing?” Ms Balachandran said.
The first social return on investment (SROI) report found for every dollar spent on NCIE created three times the value for members of the community, according to Ms Balachandran.
“[That was] in terms of health, wellbeing, culture, gathering … we had a technology program, we had job-ready … we were building a really beautiful organisation,” she said.
“After I left the SROI was done again, from with an Aboriginal framework. The SROI was actually three times more [than originally reported].”
The NRL’s Indigenous round was launched at the NCIE in May.(Facebook: NCIE)
Western business models do not value the same outcomes as the local Indigenous community.
“When you ask Aboriginal people what mattered about this place and then valued that – cultural, social, educational, health, gathering value, people value, the value of having a place for people to come together in Redfern — is that worth $2 million? That’s the question to ask.”
Judy Jarratt is a local grandmother who relies on the center for after school care provided by community group RYC (Redfern Youth Connect).
“My grandson’s 13, he lives with me, he’s been with me since he was two,” Ms Jarratt told The Ticket.
“He attends after school care here for cultural programs, mentoring, they get fed, they do sporting activities and I’d be lost without it.
“I work two jobs … this is my big concern. They’ve got nowhere else to go, this is like extended family, they look after Junior. If I’m working late they pick him up and hold him for me until I can get home.
“They go above and beyond to make sure the kids are looked after.”
Six-year old Kyeh is a regular visitor to NCIE.
“I come here to play with my 10 cousins and swim in the pool,” he said.
He has ambitions of being an Olympic swimmer and what he calls a zoo doctor, “because my dad is worried all the animals are dying.”
Children show their support for the Redfern Youth Connect.(ABC Sport: Tracey Holmes)
For Kyeh and hundreds of other children, NCIE provides regular community connection and sports activities.
Dean Widders, 22, is a trainer and gym manager.
“I’ve grown up in the Redfern community since I was a young boy,” he said.
“My mother and father, my grandfather, my nan, we’re all a big part of the community around here… it’s been such a great turnout… to see everyone supporting us and to see how much this facility means to Redfern.”
One fitness center employee is a refugee from the Middle East. He gave his full name to the ABC but in order to protect him, we’ll call him Farhad.
He describes NCIE as his home, his family having worked there for five years since being released from immigration detention.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke at Garma over the weekend.(ABC News: Michael Franchi)
“NCIE is like a house for me – not a second house, first house because I have spent more time at NCIE than my own place,” he said.
“I’m a refugee from a different country but I don’t feel that, I feel I belong to this community … they are really warm with me, they really respect me a lot.
“Since Monday when we heard the news I can see with my own eyes, and I can feel it, how bad it [closure] can be for the community.
“Straight away after we got the news people got teary and started crying. I was like a lost person. I had a flashback to what happened to me, I lost everything when I had to leave my country. It’s definitely going to have bad consequences for the community.”
For now, that imminent threat has been averted.
Gym manager Dean Widders spoke to the people protesting against the NCIE’s closure.(Supplied)
Community elder Aunty Margaret Campbell understands the sense of loss Farhad and others were feeling.
“It’s almost like there’s another terra nullius,” she told The Ticket, pointing to the failure of the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council to reach an agreement on the long-term future of NCIE.
“We need to work out how we can work together and develop a program and governance to make it [NCIE] viable.
“We feel stuffed up by the whole process, so our confidence has been shattered by them… but I am also excited in one way because it’s taken this community to make them realize that all of these voices are there.”
Her sentiments are echoed by others. There is a shared sense of frustration, the feeling that each time they build something it is ripped out from underneath them by others.
While Monday’s closure is temporarily off the table, there are those in the community who know it will take more than words to guarantee the long-term future of their cultural hub.
They have been burned before, but now there is a glimmer of hope that those in authority are not just hearing their voices but actually listening.
Authorities have told people who attended Splendor in the Grass to be on alert for symptoms of meningococcal disease, after reporting that one man who attended the festival had since died of the disease.
Two cases of meningococcal have been confirmed in people who attended the Byron Bay music festival, including the man in his 40s from Sydney, who died this week.
New South Wales Health announced the man’s death on Friday, and issued a public health alert late on Friday night urging anyone who attended the event in the North Byron Parklands between 21 and 24 July to monitor themselves for symptoms.
“Although the disease is uncommon, it can be severe,” the authority warned.
The festival said it had notified volunteers and staff of the health alert and was “working on communicating the information” to all attenders.
“Splendour in the Grass organizers are working closely with NSW Health authorities,” a spokesperson said.
In a statement, NSW Health said the man’s infection was identified after his death and notified to authorities on Thursday.
In an email to event volunteers, seen by Guardian Australia, organizers of the festival said: “The risk to other staff and festival patrons is low.”
“We don’t want to alarm anyone but we do have the responsibility to you as our staff to alert you,” the email said.
It urged anyone with symptoms of the disease – which include fever, sore joints and muscles, nausea and vomiting, headache, neck stiffness, discomfort looking at bright light, a rash, leg pain, and cold extremities – to immediately see a doctor or go to hospital.
“People who have had close contact with the two meningococcal cases will be offered antibiotics to prevent further spread,” the email said.
Bacteria can spread between people who have had extended close contact, while symptoms can take up to a week to develop.
Children may have less specific symptoms including irritability, difficulty walking, high-pitched crying and refusal to eat.
There have been 15 cases of the disease reported in NSW this year.
“While meningococcal disease is now uncommon thanks to vaccination, it can occur year round,” NSW Health said.
“We tend to see increases in late winter and early spring, with children under five and 15- to 25-year-olds at the greatest risk of contracting the disease.
“Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones and community from the harmful effects of meningococcal disease.”
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While rare, up to one in 10 cases die from the disease and four in 10 result in permanent disabilities.
Most Australians are vaccinated for meningococcal as babies or children.
The executive director of health protection NSW, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said early intervention could be lifesaving.
“Onset of meningococcal disease symptoms can appear suddenly and become very serious very quickly,” he said. “If you suspect meningococcal disease, don’t wait for the rash – see a doctor immediately.”
There were three deaths from meningococcal disease last year. In July, a two-year-old from South Australia died after contracting the disease.
People who attended Splendor in the Grass last month have been advised by NSW Health to stay alert for symptoms of meningococcal disease after the death of a Sydney man who attended the festival and another case.
Key points:
NSW Health has advised Splendor in the Grass attendees to stay alert for symptoms of meningococcal disease
A Sydney man who attended the festival died with the infection, and another case has been identified
There have been 15 cases recorded so far this year in New South Wales
All ticket holders of the event at the North Byron Parklands from July 21 to 24 received an email on Friday.
“NSW Health has been notified of two cases of meningococcal disease in people who attended the 2022 Splendor in the Grass festival,” the email said.
Authorities warn while the disease is uncommon, it can be severe and people need to act immediately if they see any symptoms, as they can appear suddenly and become serious very quickly.
Authorities were notified on Thursday after the man in his 40s was identified to have had the infection following his death.
Symptoms are nonspecific but include a sudden onset of fever, neck stiffness, or a red-purple spotted rash.
There have been 15 cases recorded so far this year in New South Wales with the disease tending to increase in late winter and early spring.
Dr Jeremy McAnulty from NSW Health said people who were at the festival should watch for symptoms, which include a rash and nausea.
“We think the risk is low, but we don’t know for sure, so we’re just asking people to keep in mind the symptoms so in the unlikely event you get them to seek medical attention,” Mr McAnulty said.
Carol Coleman had been dreaming for years when she stumbled on the rundown church campsite that is now the Joanna Life Skills Centre.
Her husband Rob was passing through the small farming area in South Australia’s Coonawarra region for work when he spotted it.
Once Carol saw it, their Adelaide life as they knew it changed forever.
“I was hysterical. All I could see was people in a safe place, warm in bed and with food in their mouths. And that was just so important to me,” Ms Coleman said.
“It wasn’t a choice. It was like this has been shown to us. We have to do it. We just have to do it.”
When they bought the site in 2017, its 12 buildings, with 42 bedrooms, had been vacant for two years and were in need of desperate repair.
It didn’t matter.
“When you’re working in mental health and you see the terrible situations that people are in, you look at a place like this and think ‘this place can make a big difference’,” Ms Coleman said.
There are 12 buildings on the property including a recreation room, commercial kitchen, and seven housing blocks.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
“So we packed up and we’re here.”
Over the years, they’ve chipped away at renovations, getting the place up to a good living standard for the people with disabilities and mental health needs that come to stay.
The NDIS registered service looks after 15 people at any one time. Most visit for two weeks to “catch their breath”, while others have stayed 12 months.
While there, visitors help clean and look after the animals. They have the opportunity to learn life skills like cooking and changing a tire.
“The whole idea is that they can look after themselves at the end of it all,” Mr Coleman said.
“While they’re vulnerable, they can be here. And when they’re a little more settled, they can go elsewhere and enjoy their life.”
Carol has created a pamper room for visitors to relax in.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
Vision for the site
Carol Coleman isn’t afraid of vulnerable people. Before studying as a nurse, her mother’s trade de ella, she worked as a cleaner at Glenside Psychiatric Hospital in Adelaide.
“Back in the 80s, people were looked after really well,” Ms Coleman said.
“It was once people started to be moved out into the community that people really started to struggle.”
While some residents who went into homes received lifetime support, Ms Coleman said others didn’t.
There’s lots to keep people busy at the center.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
“I remember one particular lady was placed in a house across the road from me. She only used the lounge room and the toilet because she was too scared to go into the other rooms,” Ms Coleman said.
“She was a paranoid schizophrenic.
“She ended up walking out in front of cars because she was so distressed.”
Ms Coleman doesn’t know where she ended up.
“It’s people like that you just want to wrap your arms around and go, ‘you can be safe here. You don’t have to be frightened anymore’,” Ms Coleman said.
“There are thousands of people in situations that it’s just cruel to them.
“It’s not something to look down on, it’s something to open people’s eyes and go, ‘How can we help?'”
The basketball court at Joanna Life Skills Centre.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
While the center may be Carol’s vision, Rob is just as involved.
His experience managing waste transfer systems for 45 years has been put to good use.
“I find managing people in local government is pretty much the same in managing people here,” Mr Coleman said.
“Everyone has problems. It’s about transferring those skills of dealing with people over to dealing with people on a day-by-day basis.”
Learning life skills
Molly is using the center to catch her breath after a tough divorce.
During her month there, she has enjoyed coloring in, playing puzzles, going to the recreation room, and feeding Rosie the lamb.
“I like it here. It’s much calmer,” Molly said.
“Being in Mount Gambier was so stressful, I was so stressed all the time. I just couldn’t cope. But being here, I love it.”
Getting to know lamb Rosie has been one of the highlights of Molly’s stay.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
Lately, she’s been busy preparing for her first prom later this month. The Colemans are taking her from her.
“They encourage me not to give up on things. If I say I don’t want to, they say, ‘come on. You can do it’,” Molly said.
“They’re really sweet and kind and caring for me.”
Required to help look after the grounds, Molly has taken to her new responsibilities well.
“It’s all part of normal life. If they’re going to leave here and go and find their own place to live, they’ve got to be able to look after what they’ve got,” Mr Coleman said.
Molly making herself useful.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
Five years in the making
The work on site continues. In five years, they’ve managed to renovate most of the accommodation — adapting 42 small bedrooms to fewer but larger rooms with more living spaces and wet areas.
“It’s taken us a long time. Two people can only work so fast. And then you have to have the funds to buy materials,” Ms Coleman said.
“It’s been a hard slog but it’s absolutely worth it.”
Rob has turned an old school building on the site into a functioning gym. He just needs to clad the outside.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
They were able to fund the project early on by accommodating local meatworkers.
“We were contacted by Regional Development when we arrived,” Ms Coleman said.
“That was like a gift from heaven because they basically gave us the opportunity to establish the place. We housed probably 140 workers over two years.”
Various animals call the center home.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
future hopes
The Colemans plan to keep adding facilities to the site — like a woodworking shed and community garden.
“The property’s huge. We have to use it,” Ms Coleman said.
Whilst clients can already access occupational therapist, dietitian and physiotherapist support at the center, the couple hopes for more services.
“In the future, it needs to be a one-stop-shop so that people have got all the support around them that they need,” Ms Coleman said.
“These people are humans, they’ve got a whole lot of needs. And it takes an army to fill those needs.”
Those staying are encouraged to enjoy the recreation room.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
Having extra staff around is also crucial for lightening the couple’s load.
They have had just one day off in five years but it’s a price they’re willing to pay.
“This is our retirement,” Ms. Coleman said.
Mr Coleman said people tended to stay in contact after they left the centre.
“Carol often gets a couple of phone calls a day from past ones that have been here. And they just check in, say hello,” he said.
“Sometimes they might not be feeling that great. And a chat for five minutes is enough to keep them on track.”
Rob and Carol Coleman are committed to being here for the long haul.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)
After the implications of renovations and COVID-19, the Colemans say they’re ready to take on more visitors.
“We’ve been under the radar for some time,” Ms Coleman said.
“For a place this big with so many opportunities, people need to know that we’re here.”
University students will need to ditch dodgy practices after the higher education watchdog blocked a range of “ruthless” academic cheating websites.
Australia’s university regulator, Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), has for the first time used new special protocols to prevent access to the most-visited cheating sites.
The 40 websites blocked by the regulator are visited about 450,000 times a month, Education Minister Jason Clare said.
“Illegal cheating services threaten academic integrity and expose students to criminals who often attempt to blackmail students into paying large sums of money,” he said in a statement.
“Cheating websites are used to sell students essays or assignments or accept payment for someone to sit exams on a student’s behalf.
“Blocking these websites will seriously disrupt the operations of the criminals behind them.”
Universities Australia CEO Catriona Jackson praised the money, saying “contract cheating” threatened “the integrity and operation of a university education.”
“It is bad for universities and students, and any action to stop these ruthless outlets is a good thing,” she said.
It’s the first time the regulator has used new protocols it developed with the communications industry and internet service providers to stop people from accessing cheating services.
The protocols streamline the process for blocking illegal sites and allow the regulator to enforce Australia’s anti-commercial academic cheating laws.
Laws introduced in 2020 made providing cheating services on a commercial level a criminal offence. Those found in breach face two years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $111,000.
The laws also allow the Federal Court to force carriage service providers to block access to such cheating services.
Michael Boon releases ancient “magic” each time he strikes his hammer against a rock for his TikTok followers.
He splits the Moroccan geodes open, cracking through the shell to expose an individual wonder of science that has never been seen before.
The social media platform is popular for sharing short videos of dance trends and comedy skits, but for Mr Boon it is about education and sharing his passion for minerals, gemstones and crystals.
“Sometimes these rocks and minerals can form hundreds of millions of years ago,” Mr Boon said.
“By cracking them open I’m the first person to have ever seen the inside of it.
“That’s pretty magical.”
Michael Boon just cracks the geodes open with a hammer.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
Throughout history, crystals and geodes have been used for religious, folklore and decorative reasons.
And it seems Mr Boon is not the only person who likes to witness the moment he breaks apart the rocks to reveal the internal crystal formations.
His most popular video has received nearly seven million views.
While Mr Boon is unsure exactly why the videos have proven so popular, he is excited that more people are learning about science and geology, as he shares his 13 years of knowledge around rocks and minerals.
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“I think it’s because it’s not something everyone can do,” Mr Boon said.
“I mean in most places you can’t just crack open a rock and see beautiful crystals inside, as well as it’s a bit of an entertaining thing, you never know what’s going to be inside of them.
“Sometimes it shatters into a million pieces, other times you get a perfect pair.”
What is a Moroccan geode?
From the outside geodes appear to be regular rocks, but they are hollow and lined with crystals or other minerals.
There is a variety of geodes that range in size and location with the Moroccan geode originating in the Sidi Rahal region of Morocco.
Chemical gas bubbles transform over thousands of years into crystals inside the geode.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
The age and science behind how volcanic gas bubbles transform to hidden crystals is part of the appeal of cracking geodes for Mr Boon.
“The geodes from Morocco are a limestone geode, to the best of my understanding,” Mr Boon said.
The minerals that create quartz, silica dioxide, fill a cavity in the stone.
“And over millions of years, through heating, cooling and heaps of geological processes they slowly grow into crystals.”
Geodes came in a variety of mineral composition and size.(Supplied: Michael Boon)
Childhood gem passion turns to business
Developing a love for lapidary as an 11-year-old, Mr Boon began learning the craft of gem cutting and polishing by joining the Bundaberg Gem and Mineral Club.
As his collection grew, Mr Boon began transforming his cut and polished work into jewelery which he sold at local markets and even from the front verandah of his Queenslander-style home.
Mr Boon decided to do the “grown-up thing” and get a steady job as he got older but eventually decided to follow his crystal love and open his own business.
TikTok’s platform has helped the regional Queenslander reach a global customer base.
Michael Boon loves to share experience of geode cracking.(ABC Wide Bay: Brad Marsellos)
“TikTok is a good way to expand my business and show it off to an audience that’s much bigger than Bundy,” Mr Boon said.
“Some videos might not get many views but lead to more sales — I had one video like that that led to 400 sales in two weeks.
“But for me, I just like opening them up and letting people see it for the first time as well.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
