VMR donation after 50 years of supporting community

Megan Dean

Volunteer Marine Rescue Bundaberg has another reason to celebrate its 50 year anniversary following a donation from Bundaberg Regional Council.

The organisation was established on 1 November 1972 as the Bundaberg Air Sea Rescue Squad and has since served the Bundaberg Region community with a number of operational activities including:

• an on call 24/7 marine search and rescue (SAR) capability
• maintaining a 12/7 marine radio safety listening watch
• supporting local emergency services and State and Federal government agencies
• providing a free Log On/Off service for local recreational and commercial boaters and vessels in transit
• promoting safety at sea

Mayor Jack Dempsey, who is also patron of Volunteer Marine Rescue Bundaberg, said Council had resolved to donate $10,000 from its partnerships and sponsorships program.

“On behalf of the Bundaberg Region community we’d like to thank the many volunteers for their years of service and also their families who support them as they give freely of their time,” Mayor Dempsey said.

“VMR is always on hand for boaties in need, whether it’s early morning or the middle of the night and have many times gone into precarious situations to ensure the safety of all.

“This donation doesn’t just recognise the years ahead but the 50 years of dedicated service already provided.”

Mayor Dempsey said VMR Bundaberg’s 50th Anniversary book was gifted to Council and would be donated to Bundaberg Regional Libraries where it would be made available to the community.

VMR Bundaberg President Rod Studholme said the donation would be a big help for the volunteer-run organisation.

“It’s a significant boost to our income and at the same time it relieves volunteers of the requirement to do fundraising,” Rod said.

“There’s a number of things we can use it for.

“We can use it for training and we can also use it to maintain our rescue vessels.”

Rescue crews are highly trained and members receive ongoing training to ensure their skills are of high quality, enabling them to be relied upon in difficult emergency situations.

There were 50 activations last year with 93 people helped to safety.

Rod said his favourite thing about being part of the group was “the rewards you get from volunteering and saving people’s lives at sea”.

“We have 65 operational volunteers consisting of rescue vessel crew, radio operators, fundraisers and support staff.”

But he said more helpers were always welcome.

“You can never have enough volunteers.”

Skechers opens at Hinkler Central

Georgia Neville

Shoe brand Skechers is just one of the latest stores to open in Hinkler Central, bringing its performance and lifestyle footwear to Bundaberg.

The store opened on Thursday 13 October next to Rockwear, near Woolworths, after parent company Accent Group saw recent success with the opening of Platypus Shoes.

Skechers QLD/NT State Manager Beau Martin said with stores located in Hervey Bay and the Sunshine Coast, the team saw an opportunity to open in Bundaberg.

“We have locations in Hervey Bay and on the Sunshine Coast which have been a go-to for so many of our Bundaberg customers over the past few years, so we knew there was a customer base that loved our product in the area,” Beau said.

“After our parent company Accent Group opened a well-received Platypus store in Bundaberg, we saw the opportunity to bring Skechers into this location as well.

“We have bought the full Skechers range to Bundaberg which is incredibly exciting!

“We have everything from walking and exercise shoes, certified workwear as well as fashion and lifestyle shoes for the whole family – we are truly a one stop shop for everything shoes.”

Beau said the store had employed two managers as well as six casual team members, although in the lead up to Christmas they were on the lookout for new team members.

“We currently have two amazing managers, Rebecca and Amber, as well as six casual team members in our store,” Beau said.

“We are also looking to grow our team further as we head into the busy Christmas period.”

Skechers is a global leader in performance and lifestyle footwear, with styles for men, women and kids.

You’ll find the latest innovative Skechers performance shoes including on-trend sneakers, sport shoes and casual shoes.

You can find out more about Skechers here.

Shining light on polio awareness

Megan Dean

The Multiplex fig tree lights have this week been lit orange for polio awareness, 68 years since Bundaberg was the first Queensland town to receive the polio vaccine.

The news was front page of The Courier Mail on 14 October 1954 with the title reading ‘Bundaberg gets polio drug first’.

“Gamma globulin injections will be used for the first time in Queensland today, to combat Bundaberg’s poliomyelitis epidemic,” the article read.

“A supply of the drug was flown to the city late yesterday.”

According to the report, injections were to begin that very day with a pregnant woman whose husband had contracted polio just that week to be the very first to receive it.

“A 32-year-old married man, taken to the isolation ward of the Bundaberg General Hospital at 3.30 yesterday, brought the total admitted since the beginning of July to 12,” The Courier Mail said.

Bundaberg’s 1954 polio outbreak appeared to have been making headlines throughout the state with the Cairns Post reporting on 13 October that the Director-General of Health Dr Fryberg had flown to Bundaberg to investigate.

While polio is no longer prevalent in Australia thanks to a National Vaccination Program, organisations like Rotary International are still working tirelessly to completely eradicate the disease.

Local history enthusiast and member of Rotary Club of Bundaberg Central Ross Peddlesden said he had always held an interest in the campaign with local Rotary groups involved in the international fundraising efforts.

He said Rotary’s campaign to eradicate polio started back in 1985.

“The idea was to eradicate polio through an aggressive international campaign of vaccination,” Ross said.

“By that stage polio vaccination had been around for decades, they knew they worked so the point was to get every child in the world to vaccinate against polio.

“It happens in Australia but not everywhere.”

Since its outset Ross said Rotary routinely raised about $50 million a year for the cause, using the funds to pay for vaccines and for teams of people to travel the world administering them.

While cases of polio had almost entirely disappeared in recent times Ross said it was less developed countries, or countries with access issues as a result of ongoing conflicts, which still needed Rotary’s advocacy.

“The good news is last year there were only six cases of wild polio picked up in the community,” he said.

“So we’re that close to eradication.

“I have to say there are still places in the world where polio virus has been picked up in wastewater - the virus is still out there so we’re having to be really vigilant and keep an eye on things because you know it could change at any time.

“[But] in terms of actually reported cases of infection from wild polio virus we had six cases last year

“It’s pretty incredible.

“It’s that last little bit that is so hard to eradicate … but we’re getting there.

“This would only be the second disease ever to be totally eradicated from the world.

“The first was smallpox.”

In Our Gallery with Vanessa Allegra

Morgan Everett

Vanessa is a contemporary figurative oil painter whose works in the Here + Now exhibition pays a loving tribute to a friend.

How long have you been an artist and how did you get started?

I've known I was meant to be an artist my whole life but I ignored it for a long time.

Seven years ago I took a few classes at the Brisbane Atelier School and there learned how to handle oil paints, which are my chosen medium.

Tell us about your artwork displayed by Bundaberg Regional Galleries as part of the Here + Now exhibition?

My painting, Love & Adoration, is a memorial of sorts.

It is a small artwork painted on three wood panels.

The outer two panels show the peaceful faces of two young women, and the centre panel features a pink magnolia flower.

The flower is almost luminous, and represents an incredible friend who was lost three years ago. 

What was the inspiration behind this piece?

We met at university, where Paul was studying food security.

He went on to re-grow mangrove forests, he set up a threatened species sanctuary and by teaching them new harvesting techniques, Paul helped countless families live sustainably along Third World coastlines.

He was brilliant.

Days before he died, Paul told me how ancient magnolia trees are and how they evolved during the era of dinosaurs 140 million years ago.

It was the last thing he ever said to me. 

What medium was used and how does this reflect your usual practice?

I am a contemporary figurative oil painter - meaning I predominantly paint people in oils.

Oil paints have this deep richness of colour and feel which I adore. 

They're the same paints used by most of the old masters and I love the way these old mediums are used by today's painters.

For example, I often fuse mine with spray paints.

What are some of your artistic highlights?

It's always a heart-in-throat moment when you win an art prize, and over the past seven years I've been privileged to win a number of them.

My proudest achievement as a painter has been seeing my student's individual styles shining through as they go off and create art long after our lessons have ended.

I feel like a proud mumma bear when I see them taking on the baton.

What do you love most about what you do?

My paintings all feel like I've revealed part of my soul to the world.

It's a difficult thing for someone who is fairly private, but I have to do it.

Painting is what I'm meant to do.