Train mailbox really delivers
Navy base and city tank chemical inquiry
THE navy base in Cairns and former World War II-era fuel tanks at Edge Hill have been included in a list of sites believed to be contaminated with toxic firefighting foam.
The Department of Defence says an environmental investigation of both sites is justified and is calling a public meeting next week to discuss the inquiry and provide a timeframe.
Soil and water testing was ordered at Cairns Airport last year and in 2016 Cairns firefighters were pushing for medical checks to determine if their bodies were carrying dangerous levels of the per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) toxic chemicals.
YOU might think he is loco, but Adrian Keirle’s trainshaped letterbox is on the right track.
A gas cylinder, scrap aluminium and memories of his late father all went into the inspired creation outside his mother Marjorie’s home in Edge Hill.
“It’s in memory of my father who died at the end of last year,” he said.
“He always loved steam trains and so did I.
“When the old letterbox decided to pack it in I went looking for other standard ones but thought they were a rip-off for what you got.”
Mr Keirle, who is now his elderly mother’s carer, decided to create something special from the odds and ends in the backyard. “I put it together over four days,” he said.
Mrs Keirle said her new letterbox and was forever getting smiles from people passing by.
“He’s very clever,” she said.