General News
23 September, 2026
Probus members keep busy
THE ability for members of the community to deal with emergency circumstances is a great benefit to our local communities, especially in situations such as a natural disaster.
Members of the Port Douglas and District Probus Club recently attended a workshop at the Douglas Community Centre to brush up on their emergency trauma and first-aid skills.
The workshop was provided free of charge by the LifeFlight organisation and was titled ‘First minutes matter’. LifeFlight is a Queensland based not-for-profit organisation with a similar remit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and is totally funded by public donations.
The workshop was conducted by Maxine Stacey, an emergency nurse normally based in Toowoomba, but who is currently providing training on behalf of LifeFlight.
Local Probus members were taught skills in a range of interventions, including CPR and defibrillator operation, strokes, burns, severe bleeding control, snake bite management and choking and anaphylaxis.
On a more relaxed note, last month, the Port Douglas and District Probus Club went on a bus trip, up the Great Dividing Range and onto the Atherton Tableland. The bus stopped at the famous Coffee Works in Mareeba for morning tea and a break, before traveling on to Lake Barrine.
The lake is a deep volcanic crater lake inside the Crater Lakes National Park on the Atherton Tablelands in Tropical North Queensland. It was formed around 17,000 years ago after a volcanic explosion, a phreatomagmatic explosion, which formed a maar that has now filled with fresh water.
On arriving at Lake Barrine, the members all entered the beautiful old worldly tea house for an early lunch.
“It was like stepping back in time to the early 1900s,” said Dusty Howman, the club’s publicity officer
“The tea house is surrounded by jungle and as it sits right on the edge of the lake. Our members enjoyed lovely lake views while we were having lunch.”
After lunch many of the members took a stroll up to the famous and truly enormous twin kauri trees. While a few members decided to do the full lake walk, most went back and boarded the boat for a cruise around the lake.
“We were not disappointed, with a monster eel appearing before we even set off,” Mr Howman said. “The lake and the surrounds are teeming with life. We spotted lots of birdlife, both in the branches of the jungle trees, and on the water itself,” he said.
“The beautiful rainbow bee-eaters had the photographers amongst us diving for our cameras. As we rounded a corner there were a pair of black cormorants sitting on a half-submerged log in the water,” he said.
The Probus club members were further entertained as the boat stopped halfway around the lake so that the captain could feed the fish.
“The giant Australian long finned eel had followed us over from the other side of the lake,” Mr Howman said.
“It was now joined by several smaller eels, a few freshwater side-necked turtles and seemingly thousands of the invasive spotted tilapia fish.
“With the rainbow bee-eaters looking on, it was nature at its best. Sometimes when you are living in paradise you forget what’s right here in our own backyard.
“Alas, all good things must come to an end. The boat sidled in to shore back at the tea house and our bus was beckoning for the long trip down the Gillies Range, back through Cairns and up the highway to Port Douglas.
“It had been a truly wonderful day of fun and friendship.”
The Port Douglas and District Probus Club was established in August 2024 and currently has 47 members.
They hold monthly meetings in addition to a range of social and educational activities. Monthly meetings, featuring a guest speaker, are held at the Tin Shed at 9.30am fourth Monday of the month.
They welcome new members, so for further information call club secretary Christopher Saint on 0438 383 464.
I’m off to discover more of our region’s wonderful flora fauna and natural highlights.
Send your stories to gazza@cairnslocalnews.com.au
