More football can now be squeezed into the evenings at Boardman Oval with a $150,000 lighting upgrade giving Redcliffe Dolphins Soccer Club better use of two of its three pitches after dark.
The completed project replaced ageing lighting on seven existing poles with energy-efficient LED luminaires, along with new circuit protection, electrical equipment and lighting controls.
For a club with more than 300 returning players, the difference is more practical than cosmetic. Two pitches can now accommodate games under the improved lighting at the same time, opening more options for evening competition and events at the Kippa-Ring grounds.
Club president Ginette Barrett said that was one of the biggest gains from the upgrade.
“The new lighting creates more game time for players, as we can cater for more games being played at the same time across two pitches,” Ms Barrett said.
There is also a smaller change that will be familiar to anyone who has helped run a community sporting club.
The new controls allow the lights to be switched on remotely. Previously, someone had to get to the grounds to operate them — another job for a volunteer at a club that describes itself as volunteer-run.
“The lights can be switched on from anywhere without having to be at the grounds, which saves volunteers time racing to the fields to turn them on and off,” Ms Barrett said.
The LEDs replace what the Queensland Government described as costly and outdated infrastructure. The department says the new system should reduce ongoing operating costs as well as improve conditions for evening training and competition.
The work was delivered through the Queensland Government’s Games On! program, which is supporting 119 community sporting infrastructure projects across the state.
Redcliffe Dolphins operates three soccer fields at Boardman Oval and caters for players from MiniRoos through junior and senior competitions. Its 2026 program includes FQPL3 and under-23 men’s teams, Metro football and junior age groups, while the club says more than 300 players returned to register.
Boardman Oval sits within the much larger Talobilla Park sporting precinct, alongside facilities used for rugby league, baseball, softball and other community sport.
The lighting work is separate from the major projects now unfolding elsewhere at Talobilla, including the new softball clubhouse and further softball facility works ahead of the 2027 WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Finals.
It does, however, add another completed improvement to a precinct that has been developed as a centre for Peninsula sport over several decades.
Council currently identifies three soccer fields at Talobilla Park. For the Dolphins, the immediate change is simpler: two of those pitches now have upgraded lighting, more games can be accommodated after dark, and switching the lights on no longer requires a volunteer to make a trip to the ground.
Redcliffe tower plans could bring 44 apartments to a waterfront block above Suttons Beach, with two buildings proposed across the Marine Parade and Sutton Street frontages as the development application remains under assessment.
DA/2026/4300 covers 39 Marine Parade and 28 Sutton Street, placing the proposal between the Redcliffe foreshore and the residential area to the west.
The architectural plans describe an established mix of development around the site. Eight-storey apartment buildings form part of the Marine Parade setting, while the Sutton Street side includes lower-scale residential development alongside Beach House on Suttons.
Primecrest Developments Pty Ltd lodged the application on 22 August 2026. It seeks approval for 44 multiple dwellings, a two-into-two boundary realignment and associated easements.
If approved, construction is proposed in two stages. The Marine Parade building would contain 16 apartments — 15 with three bedrooms and one with two bedrooms — while the Sutton Street building would contain 28 two-bedroom apartments.
The proposed buildings would rise to as many as eight storeys, with the architectural material identifying a 27-metre height control above natural ground level.
Photo Credit: DA/2026/4300
Redcliffe Tower Plans Put Vehicle Access On Sutton Street
Both buildings would be reached by vehicles from Sutton Street.
The Marine Parade building would provide 28 car spaces, including four visitor spaces, and 10 bicycle spaces. The Sutton Street building would have 47 car spaces, including seven visitor spaces, together with 23 bicycle spaces.
Detailed drawings show a basement parking level extending beneath both proposed lots, with another basement level beneath the Sutton Street building. Ground-level visitor parking is also planned on the Sutton Street side.
The proposed subdivision would retain two lots, with the plan also identifying easements associated with access, services, sewer infrastructure and a padmount area.
Photo Credit: DA/2026/4300
Landscaping Planned Along Both Street Edges
The way the development meets Marine Parade and Sutton Street forms a substantial part of the plans.
On Marine Parade, landscaping is proposed around the building entry and along the street-facing edge, including pandanus and palm species. The plans also show planted terraces and vegetation along parts of the building façade.
A communal recreation area for residents would include a swimming pool, sun lounges and an outdoor shower. Planting is proposed around the pool and podium edges.
Along Sutton Street, the plans include street trees, screening plants and landscaping around the building entrance and driveway areas. The landscape design also proposes planting along site boundaries and around parts of the sewer easement.
The Marine Parade building has been oriented towards the bay, with living areas and balconies on typical floors facing east. Architectural screening is proposed around balconies and openings, with the design material identifying privacy between the development and neighbouring properties as one consideration.
The Sutton Street building uses a wider frontage, with four apartments proposed on typical residential levels and a planted central section dividing parts of the façade.
Application Awaits Response
The City of Moreton Bay is assessing DA/2026/4300 as a code-assessable application.
An information request was issued during the assessment process, and the application is currently awaiting a response. That stage began on 7 September 2026, with 8 December 2026 listed as the due date.
The application remains current and has not been approved.
Published 9-September-2026. Updated 12-September-2026
When Humpybong’s first pupils arrived for school on 1 February 1876, their classroom was a small slab-and-bark building near what is now Elizabeth Avenue and Duffield Road.
Redcliffe changed just as dramatically around it. Yet one thing survived all those changes: the Humpybong name, inherited from an earlier chapter of the Peninsula’s history and still carried by the school today.
This September, Humpybong State School marks its 150th anniversary.
Humpybong is an unusual name now, but in the 19th century it was much more familiar locally. City of Moreton Bay historical records associate it with Aboriginal words describing the shelters left behind after the Moreton Bay penal settlement was moved from Redcliffe to the Brisbane River in 1825.
The precise translation is less certain than some popular accounts suggest. Council traces the name to ngumpin, later anglicised as “oopie-bong”, with “humpy” or “oompie” referring to shelter and “bong” presumed to mean vanished.
As Redcliffe became the established name for the Peninsula, Humpybong gradually receded from everyday use. The school kept it, making it one of the most visible reminders of the older place name.
From Elizabeth Avenue to Ernest Street
The original slab-and-bark schoolhouse was replaced by another building nearby in 1878. Three decades later came a much bigger change.
Humpybong Provisional School and the separately operated Redcliffe Provisional School both closed in December 1908. Their pupils came together in March 1909 at a new Humpybong State School in Ernest Street, where the school remains today.
The district around it was changing quickly. The Hornibrook Highway opened in 1935, and post-war growth pushed Redcliffe’s population from 8,871 in 1947 to about 18,000 by 1959.
Humpybong grew with it. A Queensland State Archives photograph records a new classroom in 1952, and in 1959 Humpybong State Infants School opened separately for younger children. The two schools remained separate until they were reunited in 1998.
Nearly 1,000 Pupils by 1999
Official records put Humpybong State School’s enrolment at 992 students in 1999. Today it is considerably smaller, with Department of Education figures recording 464 Prep to Year 6 students in February 2026 and Benjamin Reed as principal.
Those figures bookend one period of a school that has repeatedly changed size and shape as the Peninsula around it changed.
One piece of Humpybong’s earlier school life survives at Redcliffe Museum: a school bell dating from 1929. For the anniversary, it is being displayed alongside old uniforms and other memorabilia.
The museum will host an Alumni Stories afternoon from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday 12 September, followed by Humpybong State School History: Then and Now from 10am to noon on Saturday 19 September, looking at changes in classrooms, teaching, transport and school life.
The school’s main birthday celebration takes over Waterfront Oval from 4pm to 8.15pm on Friday 11 September, with performances, fete activities, a bush dance and birthday cake. Entry is free, with an RSVP requested to help organisers plan numbers.
Former students and staff return the following morning for the Humpy Tea Reunion from 9am to 12.30pm, featuring school tours, historical displays, memorabilia and an art show.
The Peninsula outside Humpybong’s gates bears little resemblance to the place where children first walked into a slab-and-bark classroom in 1876. The school has moved and rebuilt, generations have come and gone, but 150 years later the old Humpybong name remains.
The Dolphins stared down a 14-point hole on the Gold Coast and came roaring back, beating the Titans 24–20 to carry winning momentum into the club’s first NRL finals campaign.
Gold Coast had them 14–0 down inside 16 minutes and threatening to turn the final night of the regular season into an uncomfortable one. By half-time, though, the Dolphins had dragged themselves back to 14–12 before two quick tries after the break completed the turnaround.
It wasn’t the performance of a top-four side cruising towards September. What mattered was how the Dolphins responded once the Titans had put them under genuine pressure.
Gold Coast Lands the First Punches
Playing his 100th NRL game, Jayden Campbell crossed after six minutes before AJ Brimson added another in the 10th. Campbell converted both and then kicked a penalty goal to give the Titans a 14–0 advantage.
The Dolphins, with Kodi Nikorima, Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Selwyn Cobbo all given the night off as Woolf took a cautious approach ahead of the finals, had made a mess of the opening quarter and were suddenly chasing the game.
Their opportunity arrived when Keano Kini was sin-binned in the 23rd minute, and they didn’t waste it. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow crossed less than two minutes later, Herbie Farnworth followed in the 28th and Jamayne Isaako converted both to cut the deficit to 14–12 at the break.
Twenty-Four Unanswered Points Change the Game
Rather than losing momentum at half-time, the Dolphins came out and finished the comeback almost immediately.
Ray Stone crossed in the 45th minute after Francis Molo broke the Gold Coast line, putting the visitors ahead for the first time. Two minutes later Tabuai-Fidow was through again and, with Isaako maintaining his perfect night from the tee, a 14-point deficit had become a 24–14 lead.
It was the Dolphins at their most dangerous. Once they found some rhythm, four tries arrived in a little over 20 minutes.
What followed was less convincing, with errors preventing them from putting Gold Coast away and giving the Titans enough possession to stay in the contest. Campbell eventually crossed for his second try in the 71st minute and converted to make it 24–20.
The final minutes became a scramble rather than a procession. Isaako was placed on report following a tripping penalty, while Titans prop Moeaki Fotuaika was sin-binned and placed on report late as Gold Coast searched for a way to steal the match.
They couldn’t find it.
A Win With a Warning Attached
There is plenty for Kristian Woolf to take from the comeback, but probably just as much from the way the Dolphins got themselves into trouble.
Giving a Titans side that entered the round in 16th a 14-point start was an obvious concern, while the errors that followed the second-half surge allowed a game the Dolphins appeared to have taken over to remain alive until the closing minutes. September is unlikely to offer the same margin for recovery.
Still, Tabuai-Fidow’s double again showed how quickly this attack can change a match. Farnworth continued his late-season scoring form, while Isaako’s four conversions ultimately made the difference in a four-point result.
There was a little history attached to the win as well. The Dolphins had won each of their previous three matches against the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium, so their perfect record there against Gold Coast now stands at four from four.
More significantly, the regular-season climb that began with their NRL debut in 2023 is complete. Finishes of 13th, 10th and ninth have now given way to a top-four season and the club’s first appearance in September.
A young Redcliffe woman planning to move out of home has received an unexpected $150,000 boost after buying a scratchie from a local Oxley Avenue newsagency.
The woman, who is in her early 20s and has not been publicly named, won the top prize on a $10 Bingo 10X Instant Scratch-Its ticket purchased from Midway News at 544 Oxley Avenue. She plans to save most of the money and put it towards moving out.
Routine purchase delivers six-figure surprise
The woman bought the ticket on a Monday but did not scratch it until the following day. After using a self-checker and learning the ticket had won a prize, she went back over it to confirm the result.
She initially believed she had won $75 before realising the prize was $150,000. The discovery prompted an emotional call to her mother, and she later told lottery officials the result was still difficult to comprehend.
Scratchies were not entirely unfamiliar to her, with family members having given them as birthday presents in the past. Buying one for herself was an occasional decision, however, and the winning ticket was a spontaneous purchase.
Moving plans move closer
The Redcliffe resident said she intended to put most of the winnings aside and use the money to help her move out. She has not disclosed where she plans to move or whether she intends to rent or buy.
No major spending plans have been announced. The $150,000 prize instead gives her a substantial financial buffer as she prepares for the costs of establishing a home of her own.
Midway News adds another major win
Midway News owner Deepak Rawat said staff were pleased to see another customer secure a significant prize from a ticket sold at the Redcliffe shop.
Rawat said the business had sold a division-one Lotto entry and two top-prize Instant Scratch-Its tickets in recent years, along with other smaller major wins. Staff plan to mark the latest result with posters in the store.
The Oxley Avenue outlet has previously sold other significant winning tickets, including a $1 million Gold Lotto entry claimed by a Redcliffe shopper in 2023 after going unchecked for several weeks.
A mother and daughter also won a $50,000 Instant Scratch-Its top prize from a ticket bought at the store in 2022. Another Redcliffe woman secured a $200,000 Lucky Lotteries first prize from an entry purchased there in 2019.
Every week at the Peninsula Support Hub, a volunteer team runs five meal services, hands out food hampers and opens the doors to showers, laundry facilities and internet access for people who need them.
The Breakfast Club has been doing this work since 2017, starting from a small shopfront with limited space and limited reach. The move to the purpose-built hub, which opened in July 2025, changed the scale of what was possible. The first breakfast service at the new hub fed 35 guests. Attendance has since doubled.
Since opening, the club has served 4,646 meals, distributed 1,081 food hampers, provided 714 showers and completed 401 loads of laundry for people experiencing homelessness or financial hardship.
More than just a meal service
The numbers are striking, but the feedback from guests puts a different kind of weight on them.
“It means I don’t feel like a refugee. It makes me feel human,” one guest said. Another described a first shower after months without access: “After a couple of months without a shower, having a hot shower made me feel alive and refreshed.”
For Breakfast Club President Michelle Gilchrist, that response is exactly what the service is designed to produce. “It provides a space where the community can come together and care for others,” she says. “People know they are welcome, whether they need support or simply have something they want to share.”
The hub sits within a broader support ecosystem run by the Salvation Army, which manages the facility and connects guests with housing advice, financial counselling, legal assistance, mental health support and family programs. In the hub’s first six months, 996 people received support, with 380 seeking help with housing and 219 seeking financial assistance or advice.
The partnerships that keep it running
The Breakfast Club relies on community organisations to maintain and expand what it offers. Orange Sky Australia sends volunteers each week to provide laundry services and helped fund upgrades to the hub’s drying facilities, a practical detail that makes a significant difference for guests trying to maintain clean clothes without a home.
Community Bank Samford, through its community grants program, recently funded a new commercial fridge that doubled the club’s cold food storage. The same grant covered computers for guests needing internet access and printing, as well as equipment for the administrative team.
Mandy Bell, Senior Branch Manager at Community Bank Samford, described The Breakfast Club as “a community pillar for the past nine years.”
“Recently, funding from our community grants program enabled them to buy a new fridge, doubling food storage for daily meal services and food hampers, which are distributed twice weekly to those in need,” Bell said.
A hub that feels like a neighbourhood
The Peninsula Support Hub was built as more than a service delivery point, and in practice it works that way. On any given day the building fills with conversation, volunteers preparing meals and guests who return regularly enough to feel ownership over the space.
Many guests help out with small tasks around the hub, contributing to the atmosphere rather than simply receiving from it. That dynamic, where people experiencing hardship also contribute to the community around them, reflects what the Breakfast Club has always aimed for.
The Breakfast Club operates from the Peninsula Support Hub at Oxley Avenue, Redcliffe. Volunteers and donors are always welcome. To get in touch or find out how to support the service, visit their site or contact the Salvation Army Redcliffe on (07) 3883 3200.
Patients presenting to Redcliffe Hospital with mental health concerns are receiving specialist support within the emergency department, while recruitment at Caboolture Hospital is extending the initiative across Moreton Bay.
Earlier Mental Health Assessment At Redcliffe Hospital
Redcliffe was among the first Queensland hospitals to recruit specialist emergency department mental health nurses, alongside Redland and Hervey Bay.
The hospital currently has 2.94 full-time equivalent mental health nurses under the initiative and remains actively recruiting. Most hospitals taking part in the rollout are receiving the equivalent of 3.5 full-time specialist mental health nurses.
Working alongside emergency clinicians, the nurses can assess people presenting with mental health concerns and help determine the most appropriate care pathway earlier during their hospital visit.
Their role can also extend beyond the emergency department, with patients able to be connected to follow-up care, referrals or information about services available after they leave hospital.
At Redcliffe Hospital, Nurse Practitioner Candidate Angus Hannon works with the emergency department team to assess, triage and treat people presenting with mental health concerns.
His role includes helping patients feel heard and respected while supporting connections to services suited to their needs.
Hannon’s nursing career was influenced by his own experience receiving chemotherapy at the age of 20. The care provided by nurses and other hospital staff shaped his career direction, while his first nursing placement later developed his interest in mental health care.
At Redcliffe, that work now includes helping patients move from their emergency department assessment into appropriate ongoing support, whether through follow-up by the mental health team, referrals to other services or information about services they can contact themselves.
The specialist positions are intended to provide more timely assessment and care for people arriving at emergency departments with mental health concerns.
Moreton Bay Rollout Reaches Caboolture
The same model is beginning to extend further across Moreton Bay, with recruitment now underway at Caboolture Hospital.
Caboolture is recruiting specialist mental health nurses alongside hospitals in Cairns, Nambour, Bundaberg and Rockhampton as the initiative expands beyond the first locations.
Across Queensland, 53 specialist mental health nurses are being introduced into emergency departments through Mental Health Levy funding. Redland, Redcliffe and Hervey Bay were the first hospitals to recruit, with more hospitals expected to introduce the roles in coming months.
The rollout is backed by an initial $93.1 million allocation, followed by $28.5 million in annual funding to continue specialist mental health support in emergency departments.
Redcliffe Hospital remains in active recruitment, while Caboolture’s recruitment marks the next step in extending the specialist emergency mental health nursing model across Moreton Bay.
Million-dollar house medians are now a feature of both Redcliffe and Woody Point, but some of the strongest recent numbers are coming from the unit market, where three-month medians have climbed to $950,000 in Redcliffe and $999,000 in Woody Point.
Across the two suburbs, 118 residential sales were recorded in the three months to 21 August 2026, comprising 51 houses and 67 units.
The latest Property Market Overview puts the three-month house median at $1.05 million in Redcliffe and $1.1 million in Woody Point.
But the split between houses and units, along with the suburbs’ highest-value transactions, shows there is more happening beneath those headline numbers.
Five Things We Learned
Redcliffe recorded a three-month house median of $1.05 million, 2.9 per cent above its 12-month median of $1.02 million.
Woody Point’s three-month house median was $1.1 million, unchanged from its 12-month median.
Unit medians reached $950,000 in Redcliffe and $999,000 in Woody Point, both above their respective 12-month medians.
Redcliffe recorded 69 residential sales, while Woody Point recorded 49 during the three-month period.
The highest sales reached $2.2 million in Redcliffe and $2.15 million in Woody Point.
Two Peninsula Markets Side by Side
Redcliffe and Woody Point property market comparison
Suburb
3‑Month House Median
3‑Month Unit Median
3‑Month Residential Sales
House Median Days to Sell
Redcliffe
$1,050,000
$950,000
69
40 days
Woody Point
$1,100,000
$999,000
49
36 days
Redcliffe recorded the greater volume of activity, with 69 residential transactions comprising 25 houses and 44 units.
Woody Point recorded 49 sales, comprising 26 houses and 23 units.
The house medians were relatively close. Redcliffe’s $1.05-million three-month median was around $30,000 above its 12-month figure, while Woody Point’s $1.1-million result was unchanged from its longer-term median.
Properties were also moving within similar timeframes.
Houses took a median 40 days to sell in Redcliffe and 36 days in Woody Point. For units, the figures were 32 and 37 days respectively.
Monthly Medians Show Why the Mix Matters
Monthly figures varied considerably during the trailing 12-month period.
Redcliffe’s monthly house median ranged from $900,000 in November 2025 to $1.225 million in May 2026. Its July median was $1 million.
Woody Point showed even greater variation, ranging from $886,000 in November 2025 to $1.3 million in June 2026. July recorded $1.0175 million, while the limited August data stood at $905,000.
Redcliffe
Houses
Redcliffe monthly median house price and sales volume.
Units
Redcliffe monthly median unit price and sales volume.
Woody Point
Houses
Woody Point monthly median house price and sales volume.
Units
Woody Point monthly median unit price and sales volume.
Those swings need context.
Monthly transaction numbers can be small, particularly for houses in Woody Point, so a change in the type, size or quality of properties settling in a particular month can materially move the median without indicating an equivalent change in the value of every home.
Units Are Closing the Gap
The unit figures are one of the more notable features of the latest results.
Redcliffe recorded a three-month unit median of $950,000, around 9.7 per cent above its trailing 12-month median of $866,000.
Woody Point’s three-month unit median reached $999,000, approximately 8.2 per cent above its 12-month median of $923,500.
The results put recent unit medians remarkably close to the suburbs’ corresponding house figures.
That does not mean houses and units of equivalent size or location are approaching price parity. Apartment markets can include very different stock, including larger and higher-end properties in premium positions, and the mix of transactions can have a substantial effect on short-term medians.
Three-Bedroom Houses Lead Activity
Three-bedroom houses were the most frequently sold house type in both suburbs.
Redcliffe recorded 12 three-bedroom house sales, compared with six two-bedroom, six four-bedroom and one five-bedroom transaction.
Redcliffe
Houses
Bedrooms
3‑Month Sales
2-bed
6
3-bed
12
4-bed
6
5-bed
1
Units
Bedrooms
3‑Month Sales
1-bed
3
2-bed
15
3-bed
11
4-bed
3
5-bed
1
Woody Point recorded 11 three-bedroom house sales, nine two-bedroom and five four-bedroom sales.
Woody Point
Houses
Bedrooms
3‑Month Sales
2-bed
9
3-bed
11
4-bed
5
Units
Bedrooms
3‑Month Sales
2-bed
3
3-bed
5
4-bed
2
6-bed
1
The available unit bedroom data covers a smaller subset of transactions and should therefore be read separately from the overall unit sales totals.
Within that subset, two-bedroom units were the most active category in Redcliffe, while three-bedroom units recorded the most sales in Woody Point.
Peninsula Sales Break Through $2 Million
Both suburbs produced sales above $2 million during the three-month period.
In Redcliffe, 94A Prince Edward Parade led the market at $2.2 million.
It was followed by 38/18–28 Prince Edward Parade at $1.835 million and 60 Prince Edward Parade at $1.75 million.
All 10 of Redcliffe’s highest recorded transactions reached at least $1.48 million.
Woody Point’s highest sale was 303/16 Woodcliffe Crescent at $2.15 million, followed by 22 Annie Street at $2.05 million and 501/14 Oxley Avenue at $1.75 million.
The results also show that the upper end is not confined to detached houses. Units feature prominently among the highest-value transactions in both suburbs, reinforcing the importance of looking beyond the broad house-versus-unit label when assessing the Peninsula market.
The People Behind the Numbers
In Redcliffe, Ben Campbell led the three-month agent activity table with six sales, followed by Bonnie Gamble with four. Clinton Viertel and Jonathan Koleszar each recorded three.
In Woody Point, Ben Smith, Kindred Sales and Matthew Smith each recorded three sales, while Mary Di Marco, Damien Misso, Adrianne Graham and Sheldon Pitama each recorded two.
The leaderboard reflects transactions attributed to agents in the underlying dataset and is best viewed as an activity snapshot for the period rather than a measure of overall agent performance.
The Meaning Behind the Numbers
The latest figures point to two neighbouring markets that share million-dollar house medians but differ in their recent sales mix.
Woody Point carried the higher three-month house median at $1.1 million, while Redcliffe recorded substantially more residential transactions and particularly strong unit activity.
For buyers and homeowners, the takeaway is that the suburb-wide median is only a starting point. Property type, bedroom count, position, condition and the characteristics of the individual property can substantially affect what constitutes a useful comparison.
That becomes particularly important in markets such as Redcliffe and Woody Point, where high-value apartments and houses can both feature prominently among the top sales.
A new housing development is set to rise in Redcliffe, providing 40 self-contained apartments specifically for young people between 16 and 25 who are currently facing homelessness or housing instability.
The Queensland Government reached a major milestone this week as construction tenders for the project were officially released. This development aims to provide more than just a roof over someone’s head; it intends to create a stable environment where young people can focus on finishing their education, completing training, or establishing a career.
Living independently can be a daunting prospect, especially when you have had a difficult start. To bridge this gap, the model requires residents to pay approximately 25 per cent of their income toward rent. In return, they receive around-the-clock, on-site support. The goal is to nurture independence while ensuring no one has to navigate the challenges of early adulthood without a safety net.
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor emphasised that securing a safe place to live is the fundamental first step for young Queenslanders trying to improve their circumstances. According to the Minister, providing this stability allows at-risk youth to focus on building a future rather than worrying about where they will sleep at night.
The Redcliffe facility is part of an ambitious state-wide strategy to deliver eight new youth foyers, with all projects expected to be completed or well underway by 2028. This move expands on the existing network currently operating in Townsville, Logan, and the Gold Coast. The initiative is a key component of a larger commitment to supply 53,500 social and community homes across the state by 2044.
For the local community, this represents a significant shift in how regional support is delivered. Member for Redcliffe Kerri-Anne Dooley noted that this project marks a positive change for the area. She described the development as a crucial piece of infrastructure that will give local young people the resources they need to find work and plan their future with confidence.
Australia faces immediate questions over its batting after Bangladesh completed a historic nine-wicket Test victory in Darwin — a result with added interest for Redcliffe readers connected to one of Queensland’s established Premier Cricket clubs.
The result leaves Pat Cummins’ side under pressure ahead of the second and final Test in Mackay, starting Saturday, 22 August.
Bangladesh Takes Control in Darwin
Australia was dismissed for 198 in the first innings before Bangladesh responded with 426, establishing a 228-run lead.
Cameron Green led Australia’s fightback with 104 in the second innings — his first Test century on home soil — but Australia was dismissed for 284.
Bangladesh needed just 57 to win and reached 1-57 in 14.2 overs.
Hasan Mahmud finished with nine wickets for the match, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz took 5-66 in Australia’s second innings.
The result was Bangladesh’s first Test victory in Australia. Its previous Test win over Australia came in Dhaka in 2017.
Preparation Comes Into Focus
The manner of the defeat has prompted discussion about Australia’s preparation, despite players undertaking a structured build-up before the series.
Australia had no competitive matches immediately before the Test, with players instead using extended training sessions to prepare for the demands of five-day cricket.
Josh Hazlewood said before the series that the break from matches had allowed Australia’s bowlers to structure their workloads specifically for Test cricket, including long morning and afternoon sessions.
Bangladesh’s preparation had offered few clues about what was coming. The tourists were bowled out for just 54 by a Cricket Australia XI in a warm-up match in Darwin.
Once the Test began, however, Bangladesh took control. The visitors built a substantial first-innings lead and dismissed Australia twice before comfortably completing the chase on day four.
Redcliffe’s place in the club’s identity also stretches back more than six decades. Club records show Sandgate-Redcliffe District Cricket Club was admitted with full District status by the Queensland Cricket Association on 8 August 1961.
While the club is based at Deagon on Brisbane’s northside, the Redcliffe name remains part of a cricket organisation with men’s, women’s and junior programs and a long history in Brisbane’s grade competition.
For local cricket followers, that connection provides a natural backdrop to the questions now confronting Australia about batting depth and player development at the top of the game.
Australia’s Batting Faces Questions
Australia’s top order will be closely watched heading into Mackay.
Marnus Labuschagne made 1 and 31 in Darwin, while opener Jake Weatherald scored 23 and 0.
Cummins acknowledged after the match that Australia had to consider whether its batting problems represented one poor Test or a trend requiring changes.
Matthew Renshaw is among the batting options available to selectors, while Josh Inglis was the spare batter in Australia’s 13-man squad for the series.
There could also be changes to the bowling combination, with Scott Boland available after missing the Darwin XI.
Mackay Suddenly Carries More Weight
Australia now heads to Mackay unable to win the two-Test series.
Another Bangladesh victory would deliver the visitors a historic series win in Australia, while a draw would also be enough for Bangladesh to take the series 1-0.
