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

Monday May 17, 2004 130th Edition

Innovation festival planned for Far North
An innovation festival is tipped for the Far North region to enhance the areas reputation for research and development. Cairns recently hosted its first exhibition of companies with new products and ideas, prompting the need for a festival. Cairns Region Economic Development Corporation hosted the exhibition. Manager Steve Oldham said exhibitors were part of the corporation’s industry clusters and led the world with their inventions. “There is an incredible amount of innovation in a lot of areas – software, the fishing industry, agriculture,” Mr Oldham said.

Tableland coffee popular with Danes
Coffee from the Atherton Tablelands will soon be sold in shops and delicatessens throughout Denmark. The Coffee Works in Mareeba has sent 100kg of ground coffee as part of a consignment of gourmet Australian produce to Copenhagen. With the marriage of Australian Mary Donaldson to Crown Prink Frederik of Denmark, the Danes can’t get enough of Australian goods. “There is a tremendous interest in Denmark at present in all things Australian,” Coffee Works co-owner Rob Webber said. “The Danes have one of the highest consumptions of coffee in the world, so we naturally have hopes of sending larger consignments in the future.”

Wet season close to record
Far North Queensland has experienced one of its wettest wet seasons this year thanks to the effects of two cyclones. The tip of Bellenden Ker got the heaviest rains in the six months to April 30, with over 7m of rain falling, while Cairns airport recorded nearly a metre more than usual. Weather forecaster Jonty Hall said the 2003-04 wet season rated among the top 10 per cent of “wets” in terms of rainfall records, particularly for coastal areas from Cooktown to Babinda. “Some of the station records go back over 100 years,” Mr Hall said. Mr Hall said the wet season was now over with cooler temperatures and clear skies predicted.

Boost in international numbers at JCU
James Cook University in Cairns is set to out do the Townsville campus in international student numbers in the near future. Vice Chancellor Bernard Moulden said JCU had set a 25 per cent cap on international numbers for the Townsville campus but Cairns could climb to 40 per cent or 1200 students, up from the current 5 per cent. “For the last two years, we’ve been building relationships particularly with the Chinese, but also Singapore, Malaysian and Indian universities and we’re now about to capitalise on them,” Professor Moulden said. JCU recently opened a $500,000 English Language Centre in Cairns.

Tableland businesses given financial boost
Six major projects on the Atherton Tablelands have received almost $700,000 in Federal Government funding to boost their business. The Djabugay Tribal Aboriginal Corporation will receive $156,300 to develop guided tours of Aboriginal rock art, the Mount Uncle Distillery in Walkamin will expand its liqueur distilling with $53,800 granted and JAM Custom Kitchens in Tolga will expand its showroom and display centre with a $204,350 grant. The other winners were NQ Co-operative who will develop further bio-industrial farming systems, male dairy calves will be supplied to a large southern abattoir for veal production and a commercial aqua farm enterprise specialising in redclaw and crayfish also received funding.