The sting in the tale

IT was interesting to read the article by Daniel Bateman in the Weekend Post (17/5) about the stinging tree and the dangers of it.

It brought back some nasty memories for myself and my brush with intolerable pain nearly 20 years ago.

While working for the Main Roads Department, near Thala Beach on the Captain Cook Highway, I heeded a call of nature and ventured up Grants Creek.

While jumping from the top creek bank to the bottom, both of my legs brushed a stinging tree on the way down.

While not instantaneous, within five minutes, I knew something was wrong. The rest of the afternoon was a blur.

The pain was incredible, unrelenting and driving me crazy. I eventually got home and rang my doctor. He recommended some gaffa tape on the legs. That didn’t work. I rang Cairns Hospital. They actually didn’t recommend anything. Then it came to me, go and speak to my neighbours, who were Aboriginal. They’ve been here 40,000 years. They must know something surely.

And indeed they did. They suggested heading down to the mangroves, near the Barron River, and getting a bucket of mangrove mud. Mix it with some water and apply to the stung area.

I did that immediately. The pain relief was instant. My relief was very much appreciated. Then a miracle occurred. As the muddy water mix dried out, it contracted on my skin, and as it did, it pulled out the little tiny hairs of the stinging tree. Then when completely dry, you just had to brush it off in a downwards motion to get rid of any loose hairs. Then reapply for two weeks. While my bed sheets were a bit muddy, and my workmates had a good laugh at the two brown patches of mangrove mud on my legs for two weeks, I didn’t care. It worked. After two weeks the burning sensation was as good as gone. I had been saved.

It seems when technology and modern medicine can’t cure you, perhaps the old wise indigenous peoples can find a way. And indeed they did. I have been grateful to them ever since. Bill Schutz, Mt Sheridan into a “Cairns Metro/Airport Link” project. More wasteful spending.

Can Councillor Cathy Zeigler, or any councillor who has put effort into attempting to get bus stops and shelters in their division, explain how planning a better public transport system for Cairns is wrong?

The council provides places for art, learning, sport, entertainment, exercise, culture and history. It gives us infrastructure like roads and footpaths but doesn’t see the merit in helping people get around our city?

For the council to reject funding for an analysis of demand and potential options to meet our public transport needs is grossly negligent. Cr Bob Manning can build as much public infrastructure as he wants but unless locals can freely and easily access the city the only people who benefit are those living in the city and tourists. I want the next council to provide a service everyone will use. It will help fix parking, invigorate the city, open up the CBD and help tourists and locals get around in the heat and rain.

The council must plan, manage and operate a free city loop bus. Steve Brech, Edge Hill 1934: World’s first-known surviving quintuplets, Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne Dionne, are born on the family’s farm near Callander, Ontario. 2006: Pope Benedict XVI visits the Auschwitz concentration camp as “a son of the German people” and asks God why he remained silent during the “unprecedented mass crimes” of the Holocaust. 2012: Federal government insists the new ASIO headquarters are secure and rejects claims they have been compromised by Chinese hackers. 2015: FIFA bans 11 officials from participating in soccer-related activities after racketeering indictment announced by the US Justice Department. 2017: Schapelle Corby arrives back in Australia (above) after serving nine years in an Indonesian prison.