Cardwell UFO Festival, an annual event in Cardwell, Queensland, is the only UFO festival in Australia. [1] [2] [3] The event started in 2014 to discuss the unusual sightings and activities in the area, including the Tully Saucer Nests and the Cardwell Lights. [1] [4] [5] [6] The festival also includes entertainment, family fun, markets, food and an alien-themed costume party. [1] [7]
In 2017, the Festival was named to the Top 10 Festivals for UFO and Alien Lovers and to Australia's 7 Most Eyebrow-Raising Festivals. [8] [9]
The festival includes the C-Files, a forum for people to discuss their UFO experiences as well as other mysterious sightings including the Min Min lights, rainforest pygmies, hairy men and large black cats. [7] [10] [11] [12] Guest speaker at the 2016 forum was Alec Birmacombe from Queensland UFO Research. [7]
James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairns and Townsville, and one in the city state of Singapore. JCU also has study centres in Mount Isa, Mackay, Thursday Island and Rockhampton. A Brisbane campus, operated by Russo Higher Education, delivers undergraduate and postgraduate courses to international and domestic students. The university's main fields of research include environmental sciences, biological sciences, mathematical sciences, earth sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, technology and medical and health sciences.
Tully is a town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is adjacent to the Bruce Highway, approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi) south of Cairns by road and 210 kilometres (130 mi) north of Townsville. At the 2016 census, the population was 2,390. Tully is perhaps best known for being one of the wettest towns in Australia and home to the 7.9 metre tall Golden Gumboot.
Hinchinbrook Island is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow Hinchinbrook Channel. Hinchinbrook Island is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and wholly protected within the Hinchinbrook Island National Park, except for a small and abandoned resort. It is the largest island on the Great Barrier Reef. It is also the largest island national park in Australia.
The Division of Kennedy is an Australian electoral division in the state of Queensland.
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway is a 7.5-kilometre (4.7 mi) scenic tourist cableway running above the Barron Gorge National Park, in the Wet Tropics of Queensland’s World Heritage Area in Australia. It operates from the Smithfield terminal in Cairns to the Kuranda terminal on the Atherton Tableland. It has won more than 25 awards.
Carl Webb is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop, second-row and lock in the 2000s and 2010s.
The Cairns Convention Centre is a convention and entertainment centre in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The venue was selected the World's Best Congress Centre in 2004 and 2014.
The Shire of Johnstone was a local government area of Queensland. It was located on the Coral Sea coast about 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of the city of Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Innisfail, covered an area of 1,639.1 square kilometres (632.9 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1881 until 2008, when it amalgamated with the Shire of Cardwell to form the Cassowary Coast Region.
The Shire of Cardwell was a local government area of Queensland. It was located on the Coral Sea coast about halfway between the cities of Cairns and Townsville. The shire, administered from the town of Tully, covered an area of 3,062.2 square kilometres (1,182.3 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1884 until 2008, when it amalgamated with the Shire of Johnstone to form the Cassowary Coast Region.
Cairns FC, previously known as FNQ FC Heat, was an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the regional city of Cairns, in the far north of Queensland. Founded in 2012, the club was awarded a licence to compete in the National Premier Leagues Queensland in the 2018 season, with matches played from Barlow Park. The club reached the 2016 NPL Queensland Grand Final but relinquished their licence at the end of the 2018 due to financial issues.
Bill Chalker is an Australian author and UFO researcher. He is a contributing editor for the International UFO Reporter and has been the Australian representative for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organisation and a New South Wales state representative for the Mutual UFO Network.
Lees Hotel in Ingham, Queensland, a Queensland icon, is recognised as the official Pub with No Beer made famous by Slim Dusty's song "A Pub with No Beer". The 1957 song, which became Australia's first international hit, was based on the poem A Pub Without Beer written by Ingham sugarcane farmer and poet Dan Sheahan in the Day Dawn Hotel, now known as Lees Hotel, in Ingham in 1943.
Lisa-ann Gershwin, also known as Lisa Gershwin, is a biologist based in Launceston, Tasmania, who has described over 200 species of jellyfish, and written and co-authored several non-fiction books about Cnidaria including Stung! (2013) and Jellyfish – A Natural History (2016). She provides independent advice related to jellyfish worldwide to the media, online and via The Jellyfish App. She was a candidate in the 2021 Tasmanian state election running as an independent in the electorate of Clark.
Robert John Pyne is an Australian politician, currently serving as a Cairns Region councillor as a member of the Socialist Alliance. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from January 2015 until November 2017, representing the electorate of Cairns. Pyne was elected for the Australian Labor Party, but resigned to sit as an independent in March 2016; he then lost his seat to a Labor candidate at the 2017 election. Pyne was formerly a two-term councillor for the Cairns Regional Council. Pyne is the first quadriplegic member of any parliament of Australia.
Gideon Gela-Mosby is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL.
Enari Tuala is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger or centre for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.
Bernard Lewis is a Papua New Guinea international rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, also known by the nickname of "Hammer", is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback, centre and winger for the Dolphins in the NRL.
Tropical Cyclone Kimi was a small tropical cyclone which briefly threatened the Eastern Coast of North Queensland in January 2021. The tenth tropical low and third tropical cyclone of the 2020–21 Australian region cyclone season, Kimi originated from a weak tropical low which formed northeast of Queensland on 16 January. The low strengthened into Tropical Cyclone Kimi early the next day, as it slowly moved towards the coastline of northeastern Australia. Despite most forecasts depicting a track south into the coast, a vigorous increase in wind shear made the storm shift west away from the coastline just hours ahead of a potential landfall and caused Kimi to significantly weaken, becoming a tropical low by 18 January and dissipating entirely the next day.
Matthew Adekponya is an Australian-born Ghanaian basketball player and filmmaker.