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29 March 2013

Former NZ International joins Goodna Rugby League for 2013

David Solomona has signed to play for the mighty Goodna Eagles in 2013.

David is a very experienced well respected second row forward and will assist the cause greatly as the Club seeks the holy grail.

His signing as well as Alby Talipeau and David Heketoa will work well for the Club.

David's career spanned 13 internationals for Samoa, 13 internationals for New Zealand, 78 NRL games for Roosters and Parramatta, and 204 games in the English Super League for various clubs.

He retired last year from Warrington in the super league.

At 35 years young he has still got a lot to give to himself, his family, the community and the Mighty Eagles.

17 March 2013

Goodna Lads Toowoomba Newtown Park 1918 - World War 1

Goodna Lads at Toowoomba Newtown Park 1918
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




Do you or any family members recognise any of the "Goodna Lads" in this historic photograph taken in Toowoomba in 1918.
 
If you can help, please contact: PaulGTully@gmail.com

12 March 2013

Tully joins irate critics of ‘shoddy’ tree gang

RESIDENTS MIFFED: Energex contractors
upset residents while cutting down trees
in Goodna and Bellbird Park.

RESIDENTS of Goodna and Bellbird Park are fuming over the actions of Energex tree loppers who have been accused of destroying trees and illegally entering people's yards.
 
Cr Paul Tully said Ipswich City Council was "investigating reports the Energex contractor using Victorian vehicles is dumping branches on footpaths forcing children and residents onto busy roads".

He described the contractors as "cowboys who seem to be breaking every rule in the book".

Cr Tully's Facebook page was inundated with complaints.

One resident named Katrina said the contractors "did Rosemary St recently and damaged the letterbox and walkway. Their trucks almost cut my driveway off. Made it quite unsafe to enter and exit our driveway".

Another, Mandy, said she "saw a small boy ... have to walk out onto the road" because of the contractors' actions. Cr Tully said council was investigating possible offences by the contractors with fines up to $110,000.

"A schoolchild could be killed as a result of these haphazard works," he said.

Cr Tully said the Energex contractors had blocked one footpath in Goodna's Queen St after NBN had blocked the other, forcing pedestrians onto a road that carries 20,000 vehicles a day.

"These cowboys should go back to Victoria before someone is killed or seriously injured," he said.

An Energex spokesman said the company had "an overriding commitment to provide a safe and reliable electricity supply for south-east Queensland".

This included "clearing tree branches growing near overhead powerlines, which can be a risk for children climbing unknowingly into danger, or in areas where tree branches can get blown onto lines, causing lines to fall and subsequent power interruptions".

"The council and Energex have in recent years undertaken jointly funded programs regarding overhead powerlines," the spokesman said.

"While around 25% of power in Ipswich is via underground cables there is still a requirement to carry out regular safety and reliability work around the existing overhead lines."


12.3.13

03 March 2013

More rain coming

The Sunday Mail reports:

DRENCHING rains since the start of the year have seen Brisbane receive more than half its annual average rainfall.

Thanks to the rain associated with ex-Cyclone Oswald, a wet February and a soggy start to March, more than 600mm has fallen on Brisbane, where the annual mean rainfall is 1149mm.

The bucketing is just a snapshot of a wild start to 2013 in Queensland - with more to come.

The weather bureau is watching a monsoon trough in the north that could turn into a cyclone, bringing more rain to drench Queensland.

Brisbane will today exceed its March average rainfall in the wettest weekend since the Australia Day holiday deluge.

From late Friday night to yesterday evening, between 100 and 120mm had fallen, with another 50 to 70mm expected before noon today, as a result of an upper air system fuelled by moist east-northeasterlies.


02 March 2013

Most of the water is gone from Smiths Rd Goodna but there's some still across Albert Street.

They're reelin' in the catfish at the Goodna Boat Ramp this afternoon.

Now 3 fishermen at Goodna. Those catfish must be mighty tasty!

This is amazing. Even the rain can't keep a good fisherman away from the Brisbane River at Goodna. Good luck!

The Brisbane River has risen only slightly at the Goodna Boat Ramp in the past couple of hours.

Smiths Rd Goodna in the dip between Albert St & Stuart St is down to one lane with extreme caution.

Albert Street Goodna - Don't even think about it!

The Brisbane River at the Goodna Boat Ramp is about 1.5 metres above normal. Nothing to worry about.

River 949 will have flood & rain updates during the afternoon.

Pedestrian walkway Lower Albert St Goodna is impassable.

Water across Smiths Rd Goodna between Albert Street & Stuart Street.

One driver braves Albert Street Goodna. Alice Street is a better bet.

Water across Leslie Park Goodna this morning - off Bertha Street opposite the BP servo. The ground is supersaturated at the moment causing higher-than-normal runoff.

Gailes Tru Value Hardware Store celebrates 40 years of serving the local community at a big celebration this morning. Congratulations.

Cut price dog & cat microchipping today 9am to 12pm at Evan Marginson Park Goodna behind Railway Station. Free chipping for animals being registered for the first time today.

23 February 2013

Kelly Gang saga continues: Truth of Dan Kelly’s fate stays a mystery


MYSTERY MAN: Dan Kelly, the bushranger’s
brother, whose fate may remain unknown.
The Truth from August 1, 1948.

IT IS a debate that has been in play for 80 years.

When an Ipswich vagrant going by the name of James Ryan walked into the offices of The Truth newspaper in 1933 and said he was bushranger Dan Kelly it unleashed an enduring controversy.

Ryan is buried in the Ipswich General Cemetery and his links to Kelly are honoured at the site.

Before Ryan's claims, Dan Kelly was thought to have died in the Glenrowan hotel fire of 1880.

In 2005 Cairns author and historian Brian Stevenson debated Cr Paul Tully about the issue in Ipswich. Mr Stevenson does not believe Ryan was Kelly, while Cr Tully is open to the possibility that he was.

Mr Stevenson has listed the errors in Ryan's statements. In the 1933 Truth article, Ryan said his father's name was "Old Ned". Kelly's father was in fact John Kelly.

Ryan said his father was brought to Australia from Dublin in 1845 for poaching. John Kelly was brought to Australia in 1841 from Tipperary for the theft of two pigs.

Ryan said his mother's name was Kate. Kelly's mother's name was Ellen.

Stevenson lists other errors and told The QT that "we have on record a gentleman that doesn't know the name of his father, doesn't know the name of his mother and gets mixed up as to when they were in jail and when they died".

"He says Constable Fitzpatrick was shot through the heart, but Constable Fitzpatrick lived a reasonably long life and died in 1924. There are inaccuracies all the way through it," he said.

But Cr Tully said the shrewd Ryan had good reason to throw in some misleading titbits of information and that he might have been "keeping things up his sleeve just in case he was charged with murder".

"He believed when he went into the offices of The Truth that the statute of limitations prevented him being prosecuted after 50 years, but that is not true," he said.

"If you were facing murder charges you might throw up a few furphies just in case the police had you extradited. Maybe he was changing some of the information so that if he was charged he could claim it was just a joke.

"You talk to people who knew him like (local resident) John Harris and they swear that he was Dan Kelly. One of the key facts is that in 1934 he appeared at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds in sideshow alley where people paid to question him. He spoke about his family and the Kelly gang and no one was able to refute him or catch him out on any detail. The Truth newspaper reported that."

Cr Tully said the article in The Truth may have included "transcription errors" by the journalist.

"The story in the newspaper in 1933 was provided orally. But having seen a newsreel of this chap, he spoke with a slight speech impediment and was roughly spoken," he said

"Could the reporter take shorthand? Everyone is assuming that what was written in the newspaper was accurately reported, but I defy anyone in Australia to say they have never read an inaccurate report in a newspaper."

Mr Stevenson said Cr Tully had "drawn a pretty long bow".

"Journalists get things wrong occasionally, but not perpetually," he said.

"If you think you are going to get yourself in trouble for murdering somebody, you keep quiet. You don't get yourself written about in the Sunday papers."

Mr Stevenson said Ryan likely enjoyed having the attention focused on him and the "free drinks" at hotels that went with his tales.

When The QT visited Cr Tully to talk about the Kelly saga he presented us with Ryan's death certificate. It says he was 94 years of age when he died in 1948 and that his parents were Luke Ryan and Kate Lawler.

But the real Dan Kelly was born in 1861 and would have been 87.

Cr Tully said a further discrepancy pointed to Ryan's propensity to leave false trails about his true identity for much of his life.

"That death certificate raises more questions than it answers," he said.

"I have done an online search of Victorian historical birth records and they do not show any record of a person named James Ryan with parents with those names.

"Did he falsify his pension application where that information came from? It is a bizarre situation. Even in death he might have had the last laugh of keeping the truth concealed."

www.QT.com.au

22.2.13

22 February 2013

Ipswich City's icon is on cloud nine




OPTIMISTIC AIR: Leighton Properties’ Bradley Norris,
Mayor Paul Pisasale, Cr Paul Tully and council’s
commercial asset manager, Steve Bannister-Tyrrell.


ICON Ipswich is on track for a September completion as construction of the ninth floor of the Bell St building is finished.

The $93 million tower will welcome 1200 public servants on October 1, the first day the Queensland Government's 15-year lease.

The "topping out" milestone was achieved on schedule, Leighton Properties project director Bradley Norris said.

"To see the exterior of the building taking shape is an exciting stage in the development's progress, and is a clear demonstration of the continued progress of Ipswich," he said.

"We are also on track to achieve practical completion by September 2013."

The 117 Brisbane St address covers 15,000sq m of commercial space together with 750sq m of ground floor retail.

Leighton Properties is continuing to progress negotiations with several national retailers for the ground floor retail tenancies.

Mayor Paul Pisasale said he remembered when the iconic Cribb and Foote store occupied the site.

Now the address is embarking on a new iconic future.

"This is only the start of the journey. We are talking about a very historic site that was the heart and soul of Ipswich," he said.

"The Icon Ipswich building will now become another icon. The hardest thing is to get the rest of the CBD going. The partnership between the CBD and Riverlink will become more important.

"This iconic landmark is supporting local jobs - it will boost our local economy and drive further commercial interest in Ipswich - helping to grow our city and the surrounding region."

Work began on Icon Ipswich in late 2011 as the CBD took its first steps towards a major overhaul.

Doubts whether the State Government could attract public servants to voluntarily work in Ipswich were raised when Premier Campbell Newman admitted public servants did not want to move.

But Cr Pisasale plans to hold an open day in a bid to convince public servants Ipswich is a great place to live and work.

Icon Ipswich

The second Icon Ipswich tower is expected to have eight levels.

It will be home to 1200 public servants.

www.QT.com.au

22.2.13

26 December 2012

The 1950 Supreme Court case of Goodna's wandering ducks



I was taking a stroll down memory lane through the digitised Trove newspaper library when I came across a story from Goodna 62 years ago.
 
The Courier-Mail sombrely reported on 2 September 1950 that John Sydney Egan and Helena Cecilia Egan of James Street Goodna (now Lower James Street) had claimed unspecified damages in the Queensland Supreme Court for trespass by their neighbour's wandering ducks owned by H. V. Davies of Woogaroo Street Goodna. 

They also sought an injunction to stop any further trespass by the ducks.
 
Talk about neighbourhood disputes. 
 
It never has been - and never will be - dull in Goodna!
 
 


The Courier-Mail Saturday 2 September 1950
 
Straying ducks bring writ

Ducks, said to be straying at Goodna, resulted in the issue of a Supreme Court writ yesterday. John Sydney Egan and Helena Cecilia Egan, of James Street, Goodna, claimed unspecified damages from H. V. Davies, of Woorgaroo* Street. Goodna, for trespass on their land by permitting his ducks to stray there or by failing to prevent them from straying there.
 
They also claimed an injunction to restrain Mr. Davis, or his servants, workmen, or agents, from permitting the ducks to stray on the Egans' land. Messrs. Morris Fletcher and Cross acted for the Egans.

 
* misspelt by The Courier-Mail
 



 
The sequel to the story was a week later when the Acting Chief Justice granted the injunction - with costs - against Mr Davis to stop his ducks straying on Mr ands Mrs Egan's land. 
 
 
 
The Courier-Mail Friday 8 September 1950

Ducks no more to go a'roaming

THE Acting Chief Justice yesterday gave his decision against a flock of Goodna ducks.

He granted an injunction against their owner to restrain him from allowing his ducks to stray on a neighbouring property.
 
John Sydney Egan and his wife, Helena Cecilia Egan, of James Street, Goodna, applied for an injunction against Harold Vivian Davis, co-operative manager, Woogaroo Street, Goodna, to restrain him from allowing his ducks to stray on the Egans' property.
 
They claimed that the ducks were fouling a waterhole and were damaging the pasture.
 
Wire shortage
 
Mr. Graham Hart (for Davis) said that Davis did not claim that the ducks had a right on the Egans' land, but he was hampered by the shortage of wire netting. Since September 4 he had restrained the ducks from straying.
 
The Acting Chief Justice said that the damage caused by the ducks would not be of a large amount. However, Davis had written to the Egans stating that, after having received legal advice, he would continue to allow his ducks to stray. It appeared that since September 4 Davis had kept his ducks locked up and there had been no further trespass by them, but that was not an answer to the Egans' claim.
 
His Honour granted the injunction with costs against Davis. Mr. C. G. Wanstall (Instructed by Messrs. Morris. Fletcher and Cross) appeared for the Egans and Mr. Graham (by Messrs. R. G. Smith and Smith) for Davis.
 
26.12.12

25 December 2012

Merry Christmas to the people of Division 2 from Cr Paul Tully



Merry Christmas to the people of  Division 2 - Augustine Heights, Bellbird Park, Camira, Gailes, Goodna and Redbank - and all local Ipswich residents.
 
My wife Liza and I wish you a very special Christmas and we trust that 2013 will be a great year for you.
 
Wishing you and your family happy and peaceful time during the festive season.

- PaulGTully@gmail.com
 

Cr Paul Tully


Cr Paul Tully    LLB   JP (Qual)   MMIA   MMA

Councillor for Division 2
City of Ipswich

18 Queen St
PO Box 1
Goodna QLD 4300

Queensland's Longest-serving City Councillor 1979 - 2012

Channel 7 News Flashback to 1995