ABC Western Queensland

13/08/2026

🤠BUSH SPIRIT 🤠

A Longreach local has been recognised for her community spirit, taking out the Rural Ambassador community spirit award at the 150th Royal Queensland Show known as the Ekka.

Georgie Orman, who grew up on a beef property in New South Wales, has been working in agri business banking in outback Queensland for the past few years.

Representing the Longreach Show Society, Ms Orman was awarded for her contribution to regional and rural communities.

She spoke about the power of inviting family and friends to the bush.

"Invite them to the Flyer's Ball, invite them to the Longreach Show, and just get them within the community," she said.

"They will fall in love with it."

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12/08/2026

OUTBACK MAPS 🐂🛰️

Weather and maps apps will now connect using satellite in remote locations when customers are in a black spot, according to mobile telco provider Telstra.

Alpha-based rural connectivity expert Kristy Sparrow said the major telco had not provided customers with enough information about its limitations.

"You need to have a compatible device, and that device needs to have a software update," Ms Sparrow, from Better Internet for Remote, Rural and Regional Australia, said.

"You need to be outside with line of sight to the sky [and] it can be affected by things such as adverse weather."

Last year, the major telco provided satellite connectivity so customers can send and receive text messages in areas without mobile coverage.

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12/08/2026

🧑‍🚒LONGREACH FIRE🧑‍🚒

A fire that engulfed a unit at Eagle Street in Longreach next to the bowls club last night is being treated as "non-suspicious", a police spokesperson says.

The Queensland Fire Department said the fire broke out at 6.30pm on Tuesday following reports of an explosion.

The unit was well alight before being brought under control.

Two fire crews, police, ambulance and an electricity crew attended.

No one was hurt in the incident.

12/08/2026

MISSING CENSUS?

There's concern western Queensland could be underrepresented in the national census after some residents reported not receiving physical census forms to their mailbox, and being unable to take part.

Member for Maranoa David Littleproud said his office had been "inundated" with hundreds of community concerns, including from Roma, Yowah, Charleville, Cunnamulla, Eulo, Ilfracombe and Longreach.

"People have not even received any of the paperwork at all," Mr Littleproud said.

"Particularly the elderly, who aren't inclined or have the ability to navigate on an online system, rely on a paper base."

Mr Littleproud said the television advertisements from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed "physical forms would come to your place", although the advertisements also said residents could fill out the census online.

"The federal government literally has had years to get ready for this day."

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12/08/2026

In Cunnamulla, a 10-year-old boy had to be airlifted to hospital after injuring his neck on a rope strung across a dirt bike track.

A Queensland family is warning riders to be cautious after their 10-year-old son was clotheslined by an electric fence wire strung across a dirt bike track.

11/08/2026

BLACKALL FOSSILS

Trilobites and fossilised ferns are some of the samples extracted after geologists drilled a three-kilometre-deep hole into an ancient basin in western Queensland.

Geoscience Australia's $31 million geological "exploration" of the Adavale Basin at a site near Blackall found previously unseen rock formations and marine fossils. 🦴🪨

But it did not find the underground salt deposits that some hoped could become an "underground battery" to store hydrogen energy to power millions of homes.

Director of Energy Intelligence Mitchell Bouma said the findings will still help guide industry investment decisions around the Boree Salt deposit.

"We know the Boree Salt exists in the region and we didn't find it, but there are other boreholes that have found it and it's got a fairly decent distribution across the area."

The new core samples will help scientists better understand a buried ancient seabed.

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07/08/2026

CHARLEVILLE IN MOURNING

Murweh Shire Mayor Shaun Radnedge said the Charleville community is in disbelief but will unite to support each other.

He said the death of Julia Brunsdon, 23, and Michael Waltke, 45, at a property on King Street in Charleville had rattled the township.

"It's one of those things that do not happen in these regional areas very often and when it does, it definitely sends ripples right through the whole of the community," he said.

"It rattles you to the core."

Flowers have been laid at the base of a tree at the scene.

It is not clear exactly when the suspected murder-suicide occurred, but police say it happened "through the night" after officers first attended.

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-07/charleville-community-vows-to-unite-after-woman-man-found-dead/107005566

06/08/2026

The Mayor of Charleville is urging residents to stick together and look after each other, after the devastating, violent crime that has left Julia Brunsdon, 23, and Michael Waltke, 45, dead.

Murweh Shire Mayor Shaun Radnedge says the community will band together despite the devastating "violent" crime that has left a woman and a man dead.

05/08/2026

UPDATE 12.24pm - Police have spoken publicly about the deaths in Charleville.

A woman and a man have been found dead at a property in Queensland's south-west after police withdrew from what was described as a "violent crime scene".

The 23-year-old woman and 45-year-old-man were found at a property on King Street in Charleville this morning.

Southern Region Assistant Commissioner Matthew Vanderbyl said police had to "remove [a] child from the premises".

More: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-06/man-and-woman-found-dead-in-charleville-police/107002338

05/08/2026

6.30am: The Charleville PSPA has now been revoked. More information:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-06/man-and-woman-found-dead-in-charleville-police/107002338

CHARLEVILLE PSPA DECLARATION

Police have made an emergency declaration for the western edge of the Charleville township.

The Public Safety Preservation Act (PSPA) declaration includes Old Cunnamulla Road to King Street, and May Street to Carter Street.

A Queensland Police spokesperson said officers were called to a property on King Street at around 5.26pm following reports of a serious assault.

An emergency declaration has since been made and residents within the area are urged to remain indoors.

The public is advised to avoid the area.