Friday, 23 December, 2022
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Chorale’s Adrian says farewell For Noosa Chorale enthusiasts the choir’s Christmas performances at the J are the official start to the festive season. And last Friday and Saturday with the theme of Angels and the ever-popular audience singalong of carols like O Come All Ye Faithful and The First Noel, there was a joyful feeling that Christmas had arrived. The sell-out concerts were a triumph but amid the laughter and happy singing, there was one sad note. Adrian King, the choir’s music director and conductor for the last 16 years, announced from the stage that he was retiring and the Saturday concert was his last. It was a vintage performance from the maestro as he danced and twirled and, as he said at the after concert choir party, “It was a thrill to share the beauty of the music.” See story and more photos Page 4
Adrian King.
Picture: JENNY WOODHOUSE
Speak up on river After years of talking about it, the Noosa community is set to make fundamental changes to vessel management on the Noosa River to make it safer and more accessible for all. Following long hours of private consultation between Maritime Safety Queensland, the council-funded Noosa River Stakeholders Advisory Committee and council staff and councillors over many months, MSQ released its online survey on 9 December, asking the community to have their say on a raft of proposed changes to vessel waterways management. The survey will remain open for feedback
until 13 January. Announcing the community consultation, an MSQ spokesperson said: “The Noosa River is a complex waterway valued economically, environmentally and socially by the people of the Noosa Shire region and its visitors. The congestion and diversity of users on the waterway makes managing the anchoring, mooring and navigation of vessels challenging. “The proposed changes are a response to concerns raised by the community, in particular threats to safety and environmental threats. Stakeholder and community input is a vital part of this engagement to ensure that changes
to vessel waterways management contribute to achieving safe and equitable access to the Noosa River and surrounding waterways for everyone.” According to sources close to the river management issues, a shift in attitude of commercial stakeholders and a surge of new permanent and semi-permanent Covid-era residents who want to see the river made safer for passive users means that the Noosa community is more likely than at any other time in recent history to back a new and more sensitive approach. The proposed changes include anchoring
zones and new time limits on their use, and a permanent 6 knots speed limit on the main thoroughfare of the river. The main points are: A 28-day limit on vessels anchoring in the river. 10-day transit vessel anchoring zones. No anchoring in key congestion zones. 4-hour maximum temporary near-shore access in tourism zones. 6 knots speed limit along the busy southern shore of the Noosa River between Doonella Lake and Woods Bay and the dog beach area south of the Frying Pan. Continue page 6
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By Phil Jarratt