Mareeba

For the first time, Claremont will host a PBR event, bringing some of the country's top riders to town on Saturday night.

Mareeba bull rider Kurt Shepard says after coming away with a win at the recent Mackay competition, he's looking forward to riding in the regional town.

So we're a sort of small committee putting it on, sanctioned with PBR, and, yeah, first time.

So they've always had a rodeo there, but, yeah, first time for the PBR.

Born in Queensland.

Born in Queensland, Mareeba.

I don't remember f***ing over there.

We like swear on here, all good.

Say whatever the f*** you want.

Yeah, Mareeba.

I moved over here when I started school or like pre-primary kindergarten, that age.

And yeah, I've been here since then.

You know, the days of the Tent Evangelistic Crusade are not over.

Let's turn our eyes to North Queensland and the community of Mareeba.

The Mareeba churches together are hosting a Tent Crusade this week featuring evangelist Steve Schiller.

It starts this Thursday night, goes for four nights through until Sunday.

Well, Geoff Jaffer is one of the organising team.

Yes, there's a lot of practical stuff to go on, a lot of preparation, and we still have to put the tent up.

There's still a lot of work left in that, but...

It's that sense of community, the Christian community of Mareeba coming together in order to see this happen.

Queensland is leading the country with cattle sale yard transactions, recording year-on-year growth of 21%.

The Mareeba sale yard saw an 11% jump to over 34,000.

And NBL One popularity continues to go from strength to strength.

Australia's elite community basketball comp featuring the Cairns Marlins and Dolphins had more eyes on it than ever across the 2026 season.

Then I found a marriage certificate for Lucy Marcel Titu marrying Graham Lestrange in Queensland on the 10th of October 1917.

During the time that she had her two daughters, right through to the 1920s, under the name of Lucy Varley, worked as a private nurse and a midwife at Melanda, Mareeba and Corrine in the Atherton Tablelands of far North Queensland.

On the 22nd of January 1919 in the Cairns Post, it says that Nurse L.M. Varley of Orthona, Careen, desires to thank Dr. Clark, Matron Walpole and staff of St. Margaret's Private Hospital for skillful attention and kindness during her recent severe illness.

On the 12th of November 1919 in the Northern Herald, a Cairns newspaper, it says, Nurse Varley explains.

There aren't many Uzbeki restaurants in Australia.

Hunker Down, next to Bob Catter's election offices in Mareeba in Far North Queensland, is perhaps the more unlikely home of one of the finest.

How did you end up? having an Uzbek restaurant in the Atherton Tablelands.

How did you end up being there? Give us a short history of your journey from Uzbekistan to the Atherton Tablelands.

Back then, early 2010, I was in Western Australia, just finishing up a first year of work there on the farm.

And then I happened to talk to my friend and he said there was work here if you wanted to come.

And that's how I ended up going from Perth to Mareeba.

Well, what were you doing? Were you working the banana plantations, the avocados?

[laughs]

Which is actually quite widespread in a lot of isolated patches, and then there's others, like the Mareeba wa- rock wallaby that we've both seen.

Yeah

... which you only find in the one spot, basically.

They always say the cream rises to the top.

So heading up your way and Mareeba for Savannah, it's going to be an absolutely epic weekend coming up.

Well, you've been up this way before, haven't you?

Yeah, mate, I've done Savannah a couple of times before.