A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Monday February 9, 2004 126th Edition

Historic hotel up for sale
The historic Peeramon Hotel, one of the oldest pubs on the Atherton Tablelands, will be sold next month after going into receivership in early January. Receivers Ernst & Young in Brisbane were still
Determining how much money is owed to creditors. Justin Walsh of Ernst & Young said a national advertising campaign had begun to sell the property. “It’s a beautiful old pub and we have had good interest from people wanting to buy it,” Mr Walsh said. Situated on 3288sq m of land, the two story pub is almost 100 years old and has 13 accommodation rooms and a manager’s residence. Expressions of interest close with the Cairns office of CB Richard Ellis on March 10 at 5pm. Contact Danny Betros on (07) 4051 8922 for more information.

Barra season opens for Far North
The barramundi season has officially opened in Far North Queensland with the first catch of 2004 going to Paula Platzer of Innisfail, who hooked the 56cm fish in the Johnstone River. The fish was captured on a Squidgee soft plastic lure on 4kg braid and leapt from the water six times before reaching the boat. Paula and husband Glenn also missed two other barra, one measuring 80 cm
Which snagged and broke the line.

New centre for contemporary arts
The new Cairns Centre of Contemporary Arts, worth $2.7 million, was officially unveiled by Queensland Arts Minister Matt Foley recently. The building located in Abbott street, was the former Main Roads Department and has been reconstructed for the performing and visual arts, its pillarbox red roof matched with five giant jelly baby sculptures in front of the premises. Mr Foley said a further $1 million from State Government would allow for the construction of rehearsal spaces some time this year. A public open day will be held on March 20 when people will get a change to see the 250 seat theatre, galleries, artist studios, digital media lab, dressing rooms, cafÈ and shop. The centre’s first exhibitions, performances and film screenings will take place in April.

$6.5m plan for underground cable in Cairns
Plans for a $6.5 million underground cabling switching station in Cairns were revealed last week by Energy Minister Paul Lucas. “We’re doing all we can in terms of making sure we improve the reliability of power and that’s why I’m here in terms of announcing new underground circuits,” Mr Lucas said. Mr Lucas said underground cable systems were more reliable in storms although they could still fail, which was why Ergon Energy was improving switching and using thermal imaging.
Mr Lucas continued stating that the switching station would have little visual impact, with equipment being contained in one building and landscaping to be carried out.

Advanced irukandji net passes first test
A new fine mesh stinger net designed to prevent tiny irukandji jellyfish from entering swimming areas was tested at Palm Cove beach last week. The 2mm mesh used in the net is still undergoing testing but so far has succeeded in its purpose. “According to plan, we put it in the water and the sampling we did inside the nets showed the only thing getting through was very small material – and no irukandji,” Uninet manager Kim Moss said. “There were plenty of irukandji out there.” As the net incorporates the bottoms and sides, it is smaller than the present nets used to keep out larger box jellyfish. “It’s like a floating mesh swimming pool,” Mr Moss said. Mr Moss said he hoped it would not be too long before the nets could be used for swimmers.

Nightclub icon demolished
After 21 years in Cairns, the iconic Playpen nightclub on the corner of Hartley street was demolished last week. The Playpen hosted some of the biggest names in Australian music and was a popular meeting place for many clubbers from Cairns and around the world. The annual Hookers Ball was the last major event for the club and was often a high light of the year for Cairns. The Playpen in Townsville was closed last year. Industry observers predict the site will be developed as a twin tower apartment complex by Playpen owners Koppen Investments Pty Ltd.