Great Barrier Reef Festival 3 – 6 August

Airlie Beach will reach fever-pitch this weekend as the Cruise Whitsundays Great Barrier Reef Festival takes over the town for this family-friendly culture and community event.

Now in its 22 year, the festival is an iconic part of the Whitsunday event calendar and thou- sands are expected to come to town and enjoy dozens of exciting events over an action packed four days.

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Hi Everyone,

Three years ago, when News Corp announced they were shutting 14 regional newspapers overnight, three of which were located in the Whitsundays, our region instantly lost all its printed weekly news.

Friends could no longer gather to complete the newspaper’s weekly crossword, die-hard TV guide fans could no longer circle their favourite shows in ink, but more than that – the local community had lost its connection.

Whose kid had competed in what sport? What’s going on in the local property market? Whose playing at The Pub on the weekend? What local causes do we all need to get behind?

Overnight, all this was gone. And while the internet is great at giving us national news and celebrity gossip, there is still nothing that can replace a printed weekly newspaper as the only source of local news gathered by local journalists. This was evident in January this year when I received a call from a guy called Neil who was part of the Economic Development Group in the Burdekin.

He told me he loved what we do and implored us to start a similar publication in his region, assuring me we would have strong support from the local community.