What got us talking
DANIEL BATEMAN counts down the year’s top 10 stories that made an impact on the Far North
10. BARRIER REEF HEALTH While about two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has been affected by coral bleaching from warmer sea temperatures, there was plenty of good news for our natural wonder. The annual coral spawning was reported as the biggest in years and there were reports of coral recovering in areas worst-affected by bleaching, like Lizard Island. 9. SMITHFIELD BYPASS In 2018, the State Government finally got around to starting work on the Smithfield Bypass, awarding construction tenders and planning a route, albeit one that displaced a Smithfield business. In November, however, the Department of Transport and Main Roads left everyone scratching their heads when they revealed the $152 million new roadway would include four sets of traffic lights. 8. TRINITY INLET DREDGING After years of argy bargy between state and federal governments, the Cairns Shipping Development Project gained the green light. The $120 million project promises to attract an increase of about 103 cruise ships through the Port of Cairns each year by 2031. The dredging work is expected to start after the wet season, with the first of the larger cruise ships expected to arrive by August. 7. REFUGEES IN DAINTREE In late August, a bright blue boat filled with illegal immigrants made its way south along the Far Northern coastline to the Daintree, and apparently started to sink. Authorities swooped but several refugees managed to flee into the rainforest. While police and Border Force managed to round up most of the refugees – believed to have been from Vietnam – two lucky refugees were rescued by two passing fishermen, who ended up giving them a true blue fishing and nature tour before dropping them off to the cops. 6. FOOTY LEGENDS RETIRE To many, the NRL will never be the same after the retirement of Innisfail legend Billy Slater from the Melbourne Storm. Footy fans also saw Cowboys hero Johnathan Thurston call time on his glittering career. 5. THE OPENING OF CPAC It was a bumpy road travelled before the curtain was finally raised on the Cairns Performing Arts Centre in early December. The $71.5 million building was besieged by budget blowouts and concerns about the flammability of cladding and insulation used in its construction. 4. RIP TARZAN There were plenty of big celebrity deaths in 2018, but the one felt locally was the loss of Michael Fomenko, our own “Tar- zan” of the Far North. Michael was the bloke you would spot along the Bruce Hwy between Babinda and Cairns, shirtless and lugging a sack behind him. Tarzan, as he became affectionately known, became part of folklore: a former Russian royal who gave it all away to choose to live as a hermit in the rainforest. 3. HELLO RILEY Syrian billionaire Ghassan Aboud officially opened the first of his Crystalbrook Collection hotels in Cairns city, Riley, on the site of the former Rydges Tradewinds resort on the Esplanade. It was the first five-star hotel to open in Cairns in more than 20 years. The resort is the first of three to be built in the city heart, with Flynn and Bailey to follow in late 2019. 2. CRAZY WEATHER In late March, flooding associated with Cyclone Nora raised the banks of the Barron River for the first time in 18 years, and sent waves of damage through Redlynch Valley. In November, temperatures soaring more than 40C resulted in thousands of dead flying foxes – with the bats literally falling from the trees. 1. TOYAH CORDINGLEY A young woman went missing after taking her dog for a walk along a scenic tropical beach, her body found half-buried in the sand the next day. And the killer is still out there.
This is not the start of a Hollywood murder mystery, it’s a tragic crime that has had the entire Far North asking “whodunnit” about the tragic death of Toyah Cordingley.