Toowoomba is known far and wide as a creative hothouse. Our community is very fortunate to have so many artists, musicians., performers and writers call the Darling Downs home.   

We're even luckier in that so many are also generous enough to lend time to sharing their skills and talents with others. 

That's been the "secret sauce" that's made not-for-profit organisation "The Toowoomba Lighthouse" such a terrific initiative for the past few years.  

The Lighthouse, on the corner of Margaret and Hume Streets in the Toowoomba CBD, is a youth writing centre with workshop spaces and an exhibition gallery. 

But this year should have been it's last. 
After failing to secure crucial SG funding earlier his year Lighthouse was preparing to close it's doors for good at the end of November. 

But, at the eleventh hour, the team received a “stay of execution”.
 
Lighthouse Chief Operating Officer Emily McManus came into the studio this morning to tell me about the perfectly timed lifeline the organisation was thrown and what it means going forward.  




Toowoomba Lighthouse gets Three More Years

Toowoomba is now home to South East Queensland's first Microforest. 
The Friends of Escarpment Parks Toowoomba Inc (FEP) recently held an open day to celebrate the success of the Hancock Street Park Microforest. 
The FEP created the micoroforest with the support of Toowoomba Regional Council and Queensland Government grants. 
Over 18 months, 160 people of all ages from the local community rolled up their sleeves and helped the group plant 1500 plants to reflect the ecosystem of the adjacent Hancock Street Park.     
Friends of Escarpment Parks President Elizabeth Addie recently sat down for a chat to talk about the secrets of rapidly transforming a patch of earth into an established microforest and how this  local example can easily be replicated anywhere with the right knowledge and willing volunteers.  







South East Queensland's First Microforest

The Toowoomba Region’s Ambassador and Town Crier Kevin Howarth kept his reputation as one of the nation’s best intact, winning four categories at the recent 36th National Town Crier Championships in Canberra. 
Mr Howarth retained his mantle as Australia’s loudest Cryer with a wind-affected, but respectable 92 decibel recording on the day, which was a little off his regular competition level of more than 100 decibels. He previously won this category in 2018, 2019 and 2023. 
He joined me just after arriving back from the event, his voice still showing the signs of strain from the competition, and recapped on a memorable but extremely challenging event.

Toowoomba Town Crier scoops the pool at National Championships

When Toowoomba was named as the hoist of the 2032 Olympics Equestrian events, it opened up opportunities for the region’s legions of horse enthusiasts to take their passion to the next level. 
University of Queensland has launched a new program in Equine Management to allow locals to capitalise on the equestrian opportunities the event will create. 
The program will be delivered at UQ’s Gatton Campus, led by Toowoomba award winning equine manager Chris Gould who explained to me who the program was for and what they would get out of it. 




UQ's new Equine Management Diploma to open career opportunities in the Darling Downs

We Aussies are big fans of driving holidays - using our weekends to get on the road and do a bit of exploring. 

And living where a lot of us do at the veritable crossroads of highways taking us either north, south east or west, we're a bit spoilt for choice. 

But if you're going to be heading out exploring some of our smaller but no less charming towns and villages across the region, you might as well be a bit strategic about it, and choose a town that really needs a visitor or two and their money. 

That's what a group called Weekend Locals is all about.  

This weekend, the Weekend Local convoy is heading for Bollon. 

Tony Marshall is the group's founder and he joined me for a chat this morning. 


DI Weekend Locals Oct 22, 2025


Anyone who has lived in Toowoomba for more than a few years will be aware of the Bolton family name. 

Transport businessman and philanthropist Bill Bolton had a passion for transport history and kept the Cobb and Co name alive with his own bus and freight company for many years.  

He also acquired a large number of original Cobb & Co carriages and others from the country's horse and carriage transport era and on his death, this collection was donated to form the foundation of what is now Toowoomba's Cobb & Co Museum.  

Mr Bolton also bequeathed his extensive and valuable collection of historic artworks and artefacts to form the Lionel Lindsay Collection now housed in the Toowoomba Regional Gallery.  

After Bill Bolton retired his eldest son David became General Manager of his father's Cobb & Co Transport and Coach Company and demonstrated his innate abilities as both an entreprenuer and business manager. 

David Bolton passed away earlier this month following a period of poor health. 

This morning on the show, I had a chat with Toowoomba identity John Osborne, who David Bolton employed in the late sixties as Cobb & Co's first Public Relations Officer to pay tribute to his former boss and long-time friend. 

A Tribute to the late David Bolton

Over the weekend you might have got along to the Shaken Not Stirred Ball at Toowoomba's Empire Theatre. The event was raising funds for the Saint Andrews Toowoomba Hospital’s Emergency Heart Centre. 

The facility is one of the jewels in this region’s crown of medical facilities. It’s existence means anyone who has a heart attack in this part of the world has a much better chance of survival because they can be treated there whether they’re a public or private patient - and not have to take the chance of surviving the journey to a Brisbane hospital. 

Jackie White is a Registered Nurse working at the centre and she spoke with me about the vital role it plays in our region.

How St Andrews Emergency Heart Centre is saving Toowoomba lives

Does Local Government have a role to play in protecting endangered species? Toowoomba Regional Council's Tim McMahon believes so. 

At this week's launch of the local Birds on Farms project, the Community and Environment portfolio leader told me more parcels of council-owned land had become sanctuaries for a variety of bird species than anyone would realise. 

Toowoomba Councillor Tim McMahon on Local Government's role in protecting endangered species

Paul Dobbyn is no stranger to writing or having his books published. 

The Brisbane-based writer is an award-winning journalist and published poet. But the book he's just released may well be one of the most important of all. 

"War Spoils: A Childhood Painting, My Grandfather and His Sons and a Stunning Revelation", takes the reader on a very personal journey into World War I battlefields as witnessed by Paul’s grandfather, Captain Henry Dobbyn, of the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.  

But along the way, it also shares the stories of both Paul’s uncle and his father in three very different accounts of armed combat.l

Paul came into the studio this morning to talk about "War Spoils: A Childhood Painting, My Grandfather and His Sons and a Stunning Revelation" which will be officially launched next Monday, November 10 at Toowoomba’s Cobb & Co Museum. 



Paul Dobbyn: "War Spoils: A Childhood Painting, My Grandfather and His Sons and a Stunning Revelation"

Our fathers, partners, brothers and friends are facing a health crisis, yet it's rarely talked about. Men are dying too young and we can no longer afford to stay silent.

That's the basis of this month's MOVEMBER campaign - where blokes are encouraged to ditch the clippers and let their beards run wild. 

But how do you grow a beard and how do you keep it looking good? 

Toowoomba’s Gary Moyle is a competitive beard and moustache grower and he came into the studio this week to talk beards and blokes’ mental health.  



Meet Gary Moyle: professional beard grower

Many Queensland towns are facing increasing risk of flooding with potentially devastating impacts. 
But could this threat be eased with some "out-of-the-box" thinking in terms of urban design?  
Architecture student Sophie Barrett believes so. 
The Australian Institute of Architects' Queensland Chapter has just awarded her a $15,000 national scholarship to look at gains other countries are making in this field.  
Sophie, who works at Brisbane firm m3architecture, will visit projects like Wuhan’s Sponge City and Copenhagen’s cloudburst boulevards to study how water-sensitive urban design can inform South East Queensland’s approach to flood resilience and sustainable growth. 
This week on the show, Sophie shared with me how Australia is already making inroads into water-sensitive urban design. 


Could the flood risk be eased with clever urban design?

As curveballs go, it's about as big as they get. 
You're a parent and you're told your child has cancer. 

In those moments, as your mind is scrambling to process that bombshell, you learn they'll have to go to Brisbane straight away to start treatment that will probably take six months, maybe longer. 

The question of how you're going to pick up your whole life and move it to Brisbane for the next half a year could end up being the most pressing question you'll face. 

But luckily there's an organisation that steps in and solves that issue in an instant. 

Childhood Cancer Support offers families facing this scenario accommodation near the hospital, transport to appointments, and informed wraparound care. 
This week on the show, I had a chat with Toowoomba father Tim Connolly. At the start of 2024, Tim and his wife Christa learned their son Tom, 13, had Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).   
Tim shared with me how an organisation he’d never heard of, made all the difference in the world. 

To find out more about  Childhood Cancer Support or to make a donation, go to: https://www.ccs.org.au/ 








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