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Once you’ve got the legal all clear, spend some time considering the realities of chicken keeping – both pro and con! PROS: * The eggs are supremely good * Chickens are wonderfully entertaining .. Chickens are full of personality and are often very funny. They push each other around, fly up and down, scratch and peck, roll in the dirt, etc. And the clucking! They have a wide range of vocalizations and listening to them “talk” to each other is endlessly interesting. Something about watching chickens makes people happy. It’s relaxing, it’s fun, and it reminds people of simpler times. A flock of chickens makes a yard a home. CONS: * Chickens are cute, fun, and full of personality. Chickens also poop everywhere, and they poop A LOT. And the poop accumulates and smells. You can put down straw, or diatomaceous earth, but these are bandaids. Prepare to do a lot of particularly gross cleaning to keep the coop and yard in an acceptable state. * A raccoon, an owl, the neighbor’s dog, an unexpected illness – eventually, something bad is almost sure to happen to at least one of your chickens. For all the fun times and idyllic evenings spent watching your chickens at play, there will be sad, difficult and potentially ugly moments as well. * Chicken sexing is quite reliable, but nothing is 100%. You may think you’ve bought all hens, but the day may come when you realize that “Penelope” has started to try out a little beginner crow. Roosters are beautiful, noisy, often aggressive, and probably illegal in your municipality. There are the neighbors to consider. You will need an emergency plan in the event that one of your hens is actually a rooster. * A continuous supply of fresh eggs requires a continuous supply of hens of laying age. There is likely a legal limit to the number of hens you can own at one time, so non-laying hens will be taking up the “spots” you could otherwise fill with new young egg producers. Keeping chickens in the city may be tough at times, but there are many rewards that go along with it! Take some time to consider all the implications of beginning your own backyard chicken adventure – and maybe you’ll come to the conclusion that it’s time to dive in! Source: aercmn.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-keeping-city-chickens/

The town pool built in 1936 saw a number of managers throughout the years, including Allan Scheskie who managed it from about 1942 to 1945. Leigh Gunston (nee Scheskie) recalled that, in the old days when water was pumped from Auckland Creek to fill the pool, she had to blow seaweed away in front of her when breast-stroking. Bill Potter (around 1953), Bob Austin (around 1961), Vince Breslin and Cecil Ringuet were later managers. In early 1959, the Gladstone Town Council voted to allocate 10000 Pounds ($20000) to install a chlorination and filtration plant. There was some opposition to this plan, with some aldermen and citizens expressing the view that the pool was outdated and should be replaced with an Olympic sized pool rather than undergo a renovation. The new pool was not to become a reality for nearly 20 years. Source: gladstonehistoryinc.wordpress.com/entertainment-in-the-ea...

A telegraph station had been erected at Coen in 1886, when the overland telegraph line from Laura, at the southern end of Cape York Peninsula, to Thursday Island at the northern end, was being constructed. At Coen, a carrier station was erected adjacent to the 1886 telegraph station and connected to it. Like the buildings erected at Mt Surprise, Fairview and Cape York, the Coen Carrier Station was of pre-fabricated steel frame construction, with outer walls of corrugated iron, concrete floors, and fibrous cement roofing. They were partitioned internally with fibrous-cement sheeting to provide equipment, power and battery rooms, and living accommodation for two or three maintenance staff. It is thought that these buildings were designed and pre-fabricated in one of the PMG's workshops in Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney. Paste: apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=601485

Men, women, and children living on reserves and missions were used as a cheap source of labour. Aboriginal children were considered wards of the state, and removed from their parents’ care to live in segregated male and female dormitories on the reserves. Formal education was limited to fourth grade, followed by training in farm or domestic duties. At the age of twelve, Aboriginal children were usually placed on mandatory twelve-month work contracts with local farms and stations. They were not given a choice about who they would work for, and allegations of physical and sexual abuse and cruelty were the common experiences of many young Aboriginal people. Source: www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/10606/Abo...