
A
weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the
past week.
Monday
July 26, 2004 136th Edition
Cairns
boom tops state
Housing construction in the Cairns area has jumped by over half
to $414 million in value last financial year the most significant
leap in the state. According to the Building Services Authority,
2389 residential projects were undertaken, 694 more than the previous
year. Its the busiest period we have ever experienced
and I have been here for 25 years, Cairns builder Adrian Nunn
said. The Cairns region grew in the value of residential construction
by 55.6 per cent, ahead of Townsville (54.6 per cent), Mackay (46.8),
Toowoomba (42.5), Sunshine Coast (17.6), Brisbane (15.5) and Gold
Coast (14.5).
Umbrellas
bring national publicity to small town
Around 800 people congregated near the Golden Gumboot in Tully over
the weekend, bringing out the umbrellas in unison for the sake of
national publicity. A photo of the event was sent as an entry in
Channel 10s comedy show Rove Live, for their quirky calendar
campaign. Tully pharmacist Raymond Evans came up with the idea and
said the town turned out in full support. It was just something
fun to promote the town, Mr Evans said. The photo was accompanied
by an invitation for cast member Corinne Grant to visit the town
for the annual Golden Gumboot Festival on September 4 as part of
the shows Tell us where to go segment.
Cairns
technology aids commercial fishermen
A new computer program developed in Cairns is helping commercial
fishermen to accurately document their catches and cut down on time
consuming paperwork. The CatchLog program logs daily seafood hauls
and has been trialled on trawlers in the Gulf of Carpentaria and
the east coast over the past two years. Cairns prawn boat skipper
Matthew Smith said the program would benefit the industry by creating
a database of facts and figures as well as cutting back on paperwork.
The technology will show fishing authorities that commercial
operators are serious about sustaining their industry, he
said.
New
use for irukandji sting found
The toxins in a rare species of the deadly irukandji jellyfish may
hold a solution for impotent men, according to researchers at James
Cook University. Researchers have found that the sting from a rare
species of irukandji not only cause the regular symptoms but also
an additional symptom of prolonged erections in male victims. Isolating
the cause of the erections from the toxins carried by the jellyfish
could lead to a remedy for male impotency, JCU irukandji researcher
Lisa-Ann Gershwin said.
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