JANUARY

The year 2025 kicked off with Douglas Shire Mayor Lisa Scomazzon saying she was “looking forward to some sense of normalcy and tranquillity” returning to the region after a tumultuous 2024 dominated by the Cyclone Jasper clean-up and the shutdown of the Mossman sugar mill.

The announcement of a plan to build a training village for at-risk youth across the river from Daintree Village had many Shire locals concerned, the return of sausage dog Slinky after being lost in the rainforest for 13 days was a heart warmer, and the Low Isles Rally yacht race was relaunched.

FEBRUARY

Mossman music teacher Jenny Guyatt was named Shire Citizen of the Year, while readers voted overwhelmingly in a Newsport poll in support of keeping the ceremony on Australia Day after it was moved to January 24.

A bus driver was bitten by a brown snake in the Surfy public toilets, while flooding across Far North Queensland caused food shortages in Shire supermarkets.

Douglas Shire Council launched plans to extend and widen the cycling track into Port Douglas and a new late-night cocktail and tapas bar on Macrossan Street was shelved after planning setbacks.

The inaugural Savannah Sounds festival was announced, while heavy rains washed away parts of the Wangetti Trail.

Mossman Mill went up for sale and a mystery sculpture, dubbed “Ol Mate”, sprung up on the Captain Cook Highway.

MARCH

Pop trio Sheppard and roots-and-blues rockers The Black Sorrows were two of the acts announced for Savannah Sounds, while former Port Douglas dive instructor Jess McQueen was tragically killed in a car accident.

The first trial of former Innisfail nurse Rajwinder Singh for the murder of Toyah Cordingley resulted in a hung jury, with a retrial announced for November. 

The Port Douglas-based Muddies Cricket Club made two grand finals, but lost both.

APRIL

Katter MP Shane Knuth fronted a state parliamentary committee in a bid to reduce Queensland crocodile numbers, while Newsport highlighted the poor state of the ageing Port Douglas marina and a chronic shortage of affordable rental properties in the region.