ABC Southern Queensland

18/08/2026

Clay Benjamin Hall has pleaded not guilty to two counts of r**e in the Warwick District Court today.

READ MORE 👇

Clay Benjamin Hall has pleaded not guilty to two counts of r**e at the beginning of his trial in Warwick District Court.

16/08/2026

Balonne Shire Council is warning Dirranbandi residents to boil water before consumption.

Due to a malfunction at the Dirranbandi Water Treatment Plant, raw river water has made its way into the water reticulation system in Dirranbandi.

For updates on this matter, please go to the Emergency News on Council’s Emergency Dashboard at emergency.balonne.qld.gov.au

14/08/2026

❄️ 🧊 Did your garden get a morning frost? 🧊 ❄️

Share your garden photos and share any wins or losses you've had this week in the garden. And feel free to ask, and answer, any gardening questions right here.
🔉 Listen live: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/live/southqld
✍️Subscribe to the weekly newsletter: https://ab.co/SouthQldNewsletter

12/08/2026

We love hearing what's happening in your world: the good and the bad. 🥰😳

Tasmanian tourists Steve and Kate were travelling through the Western Downs, when their vehicle rolled just outside of Moonie last Sunday.

🐾Whilst they both received medical help, border collie Sadie was missing - being ejected during the crash.

Steve's mum Joanne Pearce has told the ABC locals, council and the emergency services all banded together to help find the young pup.

👉 "Just so many people, strangers, willing to help," Ms Pearce said.

"In the negative world that we live in, it just reminds you that there are good people. Good things do happen."

Hear the full story 👇

📻 Keep listening to ABC Southern Queensland on your wireless and on ABC listen.

📸 Joanne Pearce

11/08/2026

Ten year old Braymond Pyke had to be airlifted to hospital after injuring his neck when he rode his motorbike into a piece of rope that had been strung up across an outback Queensland dirt bike track.

READ MORE 👇

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

WHAT QUESTION DO YOU WISH THE CENSUS ASKED? 🤔

It's officially Census night tonight. It's something the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) does every five years to count every person and every household in Australia.

🙋‍♀️Technically called the Census of Population and Housing, it gives the ABS a snapshot of Australia on a particular night.

You may have already filled out the survey, or are waiting to complete it tonight on: abs.gov.au/census

Here are what some ABC Southern Queensland listeners wished the Census would ask the Aussie population:

🤔 Mark: "The Census should ask about phone and data services."

🤔 Anonymous: "Have you been a victim of crime?"

🤔 Diane: "How content and peaceful are you within your life?"

🤔 Leigh: "How do you feel about renewable energy?"

🤔 Rachael: "They could have asked a question about mail service"

🤔 Stacey: "I would have liked questions about number of days waiting for medical attention, both hospital and GP clinics."

🤔 Julie: "With our aging population, there were questions regarding assistance during daily life but no questions regarding the availability of infrastructure to support those requirements."

🤔 Anonymous: "Smaller towns need better infrastructure with FIFO or DIDO workers."

👇 Do you have one? Comment it below.

📲 Keep listening to ABC Southern QLD on your wireless and on ABC listen. 📻

10/08/2026

WE LOVE HEARING WHAT'S HAPPENING IN YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY 😲🤣☺️

ABC radio keeps us connected through the good and the bad. Gold Coast tourist Geoff Palmer was travelling through St George, when he spotted a galah struggling in the Balonne River. 🪶

What happened next will warm your heart. 🥰

Do you have a nice story that's happened in your community? Tell us!

👉 Join David Iliffe and Kemii Maguire weekdays from 6.30am, and listen to our regular 'Good News' stories early in the morning.

📲 Call ABC Southern Queensland Breakfast on 1300 747 222, or text 0487 993 222

📸 Geoff Palmer

10/08/2026

👀 HAVE YOU SPOTTED THE NEW QUOLL SIGNS? 🪧

The Queensland first signs have been installed across the Southern Downs, mainly in the Girraween National Park.

The 10 signs are thanks to a partnership with the Quoll Society and Transport and Main Roads.

✏ Artist Vincent Watego specifically designed the sign using a reference photo he had spotted quoll near where the signs have been erected.

"My background is art, and I've tattooed for 20 odd years. So, hopefully you want to have something you can see across the room and know what it is," Mr Watego said.

"We had a quick scribble...I sent them a couple that I'd thought that they'd go with - which was a more terracotta brown, like you see in most street signs. Green was their [TMR] idea."

📻 Listen to Quoll Society president Paul Revie tell Kemii Maguire about how populations of the native species are going in Southern Queensland, and how the idea for the signs came about. 👇

09/08/2026

150 bilbies have been released outside predator fencing in a Southern Queensland national park where they were once extinct

After a decade of preparation, conservationists have spent the past six nights releasing the bilbies into Currawinya National Park.

It is the first time in Queensland bilbies have been re-introduced back into the wild in an area where they were previously locally extinct.

👇🏻FULL STORY 👇🏻

With the population booming inside a predator-proof fence, conservationists have set the bilbies free. But can they survive on the outside?

07/08/2026

Jana Armstrong has been farewelled in an emotional funeral ceremony in Millmerran.

A month after her alleged murder, Jana Armstrong has been laid to rest beside her parents at Millmerran after a moving service at the small country hall.