Commuters and residents in Caboolture finally have a major new destination for their daily caffeine hit as Starbucks launches a massive drive-thru café at the Big Fish precinct.
The new store officially launched on Thursday, June 11, starting trade at a very early 4:30 a.m. to catch the first wave of highway traffic and local tradies. Situated directly along the Bruce Highway at 459 Pumicestone Road, the shop is designed to serve both the fast-paced traveller and the neighbourhood resident looking for a comfortable place to relax and connect.
A New Gathering Space for the Suburb
Photo Credit: Google Maps
The building covers 240 square metres and provides seating for more than 70 people across both indoor and outdoor areas. Inside, visitors will notice tall double-height ceilings and large windows that let in plenty of natural light, combined with warm timber features and lush green colour tones.
Outside, a massive mural displaying coffee plant botanicals gives the site a distinct visual look that easily catches the eye of passersby. For those in a rush, the purpose-built drive-thru offers a fast and easy option to order without leaving the car.
Special Offers and Community Focus
Photo Credit: Google Maps
Starbucks Australia chief executive Braeden Lord expressed enthusiasm about the company growing alongside the local population, noting the site will serve as a highly convenient stop for both everyday residents and the thousands of busy highway travellers passing through the region. To mark the launch and welcome the neighbourhood, the café offered half-price blended iced drinks in the late afternoon on Thursday and Friday. Additionally, the very first 200 visitors through the front entrance received a free reusable cold cup as a welcome gift.
The coffee shop brings its standard range of popular hot and iced drinks, alongside a wide variety of customisations like added protein inclusions for health-conscious buyers. For a limited period, the menu also features unique items such as a tropical mango dragonfruit iced drink and a hazelnut white chocolate latte.
Customers looking for a quick meal can purchase newly introduced deli rolls and wraps for lunch. The store is also stocking a special range of pride-themed items, including colourful drinks, rainbow merchandise, and heart-shaped cookies. The shop operates from 4:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, and opens slightly later at 5:00 a.m. on weekends.
Construction is expected to begin later this year, with completion targeted for late 2027. When it opens, the complex will house people from the Queensland Housing Register, including seniors, families and people with a disability who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The project involves the land being made available on a low-cost community use lease, with state funding covering the construction. It is one of several community housing projects now either completed or underway across the Moreton Bay region as the broader pipeline of social and affordable housing gathers pace.
Inside the planned development
The 14 units span one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom configurations, designed to accommodate a range of household types rather than a single demographic. The mix reflects the reality of who is on the housing register locally: it is not one kind of person but a broad cross-section of the community facing the same underlying problem of insufficient supply.
The development also includes a community room, which will serve as a shared space for tenant activities, group meetings, small events and programs delivered by local service providers. That addition goes beyond providing a roof; it creates the kind of social infrastructure that helps people settle into a new home and maintain connection with others.
Coast2Bay Housing CEO Andrew Elvin said the project is fundamentally about changing lives. “This project is about housing people and changing lives,” he said. “The support through the land lease, together with state funding, shows what is possible when we work together with a shared purpose. Once complete, our team in Caboolture will be there to support tenants every step of the way.”
Situated on Oakey Flat Road, the new site connects residents directly to local bus routes, Morayfield station, and nearby shops. This excellent location makes all the difference for future tenants who depend on public transport to get around.
A model being applied across the region
The Morayfield development forms part of a broader pattern taking shape across the Moreton Bay region. Bric Housing is also working under a low-cost lease arrangement to develop and manage community housing on a separate site in Caboolture, adding further supply through the same collaborative model.
The region also offers infrastructure charge waivers of up to 100 per cent for the social and affordable housing component of eligible developments under a local policy designed to improve project viability. So far, the policy has waived, or is set to waive, $2.281 million in infrastructure charges and development application fees across eligible projects.
A growing pipeline of social and affordable housing
The waiver program has already delivered tangible outcomes. An 82-home social and affordable housing complex in Redcliffe welcomed its first residents late last year. Builders are also constructing social and affordable housing projects at Deception Bay and Mango Hill, while planners continue to assess additional proposals.
These projects reflect a shift from one-off announcements to a sustained regional approach to increasing housing supply through multiple delivery mechanisms.
Across the City of Moreton Bay, a network of strategically positioned ponds, sediment basins, vegetated drains and native plantings is helping clean urban stormwater before it reaches local creeks and eventually Moreton Bay. These systems capture pollutants commonly found in runoff from residential and commercial areas, including sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus and other contaminants.
The region sits within the upper catchments of waterways that ultimately flow into Moreton Bay, meaning the quality of stormwater leaving suburbs such as Caboolture, Morayfield and Burpengary can have a measurable impact downstream.
Among the 90 constructed wetlands operating across the region, two projects close to home have received state-wide recognition for their innovative approach to stormwater management.
The Beech Drive Park Wetland Project in Morayfield was designed to improve water quality within the local catchment by capturing sediment and other pollutants before they enter downstream waterways. The project forms part of broader efforts to protect waterways flowing through the Caboolture region and into Moreton Bay.
Just south in Burpengary, the Crendon Street Park Naturalised Channel transformed a former concrete drain into a winding, vegetated waterway featuring sediment basins, habitat ponds and native plantings. The project now helps filter stormwater runoff while creating habitat for wildlife and enhancing a popular local park.
Both projects received honours at the 2025 Stormwater Queensland Awards for Excellence and showcase a growing shift towards nature-based infrastructure. Rather than relying solely on traditional concrete drains, these systems use wetlands, vegetation and natural water flows to improve water quality, support biodiversity and create more attractive public spaces for surrounding communities.
How constructed wetlands work
A constructed wetland is not a natural feature. It is an engineered system designed to mimic the pollutant-filtering function of natural wetlands, using sequences of ponds, sediment basins and densely planted vegetated zones to slow, settle and biologically treat stormwater as it moves through the system.
As water enters the first pond, heavy particles and sediment drop out. The water then moves slowly through vegetated zones where native aquatic plants and microbial activity in the root zone break down nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus. By the time the water exits the system, the pollutant load has been substantially reduced before it reaches any natural waterway.
The thousands of native plants in these systems do more than treat water. They provide habitat corridors for birds, insects and small animals, reduce urban heat, and improve the amenity of the parks and reserves in which the wetlands are built.
Moreton Bay and what it’s worth protecting
Moreton Bay is a Ramsar-listed wetland of international significance, home to more than 700 species of marine life, internationally significant migratory shorebird populations, dugongs, dolphins and sea turtles. It supports both commercial and recreational fisheries and draws tourists and residents to the peninsula coastline year-round.
Urban stormwater is one of the most persistent sources of pollution entering the bay. Nutrients from household gardens, sediment from construction sites and fine particles from roads and paved surfaces all travel through stormwater drains and into creeks, which carry them to the bay.
Constructed wetlands intercept that flow at the catchment level, removing pollutants at scale before the water leaves the urban area.
For more information on Moreton Bay’s waterway programs, click here.
Former Caboolture student Ryan St John’s journey into teaching began in Brisbane Catholic Education classrooms and has continued into his own Year 3 classroom, shaped by early school experience, university study and scholarship support.
Ryan St John’s journey into teaching began with his own years as a Brisbane Catholic Education student in Caboolture.
A Gamilaroi man, Ryan attended St Peter’s Primary School, Caboolture and St Columban’s College, Caboolture before moving towards a career in education. His interest in teaching developed while he was in Year 11, when he learnt more about teaching as a career and became aware of BCE’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teacher Aide program.
That early opportunity gave him a practical introduction to classroom life from the perspective of an educator. It also helped him understand what teaching involved before he entered the profession.
Ryan later studied a Bachelor of Education at Australian Catholic University, supported through a BCE Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teaching scholarship.
Ryan is now a Year 3 teacher at St Flannan’s School in Zillmere, the same school where he previously worked as a teacher aide while completing his education degree.
His move into teaching followed a steady pathway through school, classroom experience and university study. The teacher aide role allowed him to gain experience in a school environment while continuing his education, giving him a stronger foundation before becoming a classroom teacher.
This year’s teaching role also carries an added connection. Ryan had previously worked with the same students as a teacher aide when they were in Year 2, before becoming their Year 3 teacher.
That existing relationship has helped teacher and students settle into the school year with familiarity already in place.
Education Journey Shared During National Reconciliation Week
Ryan’s story was shared during National Reconciliation Week, held from 27 May to 3 June, as part of a focus on shared histories, cultures and achievements in Australia.
His experience highlights the role of teacher aide pathways and scholarship support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students considering careers in education. Through the pathway, Ryan was able to gain classroom experience, continue formal study and receive support while preparing to become a teacher.
He has reflected on the importance of education to First Nations communities and the way teaching can contribute back through the classroom.
Photo Credit: St Flannan’s School
A Full-Circle Path From Student To Teacher
For Ryan, the journey from Caboolture student to classroom teacher has been shaped by several connected steps: his own schooling, early exposure to teaching, teacher aide experience, university study and scholarship support.
His story shows how a student’s first understanding of teaching can grow into a career when practical experience and study are brought together.
From St Peter’s Primary School and St Columban’s College in Caboolture to a Year 3 classroom at St Flannan’s School, Ryan’s pathway reflects a steady move through education and back into the classroom as a teacher.
The church has stood at the Narangba Road site for more than 100 years. Its weekly emergency relief program feeds around 70 local families from Kallangur and Pine Rivers every week. It also provides pastoral care, youth programs, mental health support, chaplaincy, worship services and assistance for people in financial hardship.
Sharing the property is Pinnacle Academic College, a small independent school providing individualised education. The campus was previously home to Charlotte Mason College, which closed its doors in late 2023.
None of that activity has been given a path forward if the acquisition proceeds.
A community built over more than a century
The church has served the Kallangur area and surrounds, including Petrie, Dakabin, Lawnton, Strathpine and Murrumba Downs, for generations. For many families in the area, it has been the first point of contact in a crisis — referred through chaplains, social workers and community agencies rather than found through a search.
Its emergency relief operation alone involves coordinating food parcels and practical support for dozens of households every week. That kind of service does not simply relocate. It depends on relationships, volunteer networks, referral pathways and trust built over years. Losing the physical home risks unravelling all of it.
The church has not opposed the idea of a special school. It has consistently made that clear. In a statement, the Queensland Synod said it welcomes investment in education and recognises the need for specialist schooling in a growing community. “Our position is not opposition,” the Synod said. “It is about finding a way to make this work for everyone. We would welcome the school as part of our community.”
The church says it has sought meetings, written correspondence and invited decision-makers to visit the site to see the breadth of what happens there. It is awaiting a decision on its appeal.
A local representative who put the community’s concern on record
Division 7 Ms Yvonne Barlow presented a 61-signature petition on the church’s behalf. She said the lack of consultation before the decision was made had troubled her as much as the decision itself.
“I am very concerned it would be bulldozed,” she said, “and more upset there was no consultation over this.”
“I understand the need for special schools, but I know the special role the church has played in the community for many, many years. They will get money, but that doesn’t help a church which has been there for more than 100 years. There’s a great deal of sentiment.”
The petition and the appeal are the formal mechanisms now available to the church and community. The site’s neighbouring aged care facility is not part of the acquisition.
The need for the school is real — and so is the cost of this solution
Plans for a new special school in Moreton Bay were funded to address enrolment pressure at Pine Rivers Special School. The need is genuine. The region is one of the fastest-growing in Queensland, and specialist education infrastructure has not kept pace with population growth.
But the church’s position, and the position of those who have signed the petition, is that the need for a school and the loss of this particular community hub are not an either/or situation. The site is large enough, the church argues, for both to coexist.
“This is not simply about land,” the Queensland Synod statement said. “It is about people — those who rely on these services, those who volunteer and the many who call this place home.”
Anyone wanting to support Pine Rivers Uniting Church or its emergency relief program can contact the church at 30 Narangba Road, Kallangur, or through pineriverschurch.com.
Beachmere is at the centre of a growing local debate over a proposed $20 million motorsport park, with nearby residents questioning the scale and setting of the project while supporters say southeast Queensland needs a new venue for racing, training and junior motorsport.
The proposed Moreton Motorsport Park is planned for land off Bloesch Road, Beachmere, with a development footprint of about 24.8 hectares.
The application was lodged on 23 March 2026 and is moving through a separate infrastructure assessment pathway, rather than the usual local development application process. Formal consultation later opened, with submissions originally listed as closing on 11 June 2026.
The proposed facility includes motocross and speedway tracks, driver training areas, a BMX track, temporary shaded grandstand seating, food and beverage areas, event-day merchandising, amenities, car parking, loading areas, pitting spaces and supporting infrastructure.
The plans also include potential emergency access to Wallace Road north, acoustic mounding and fencing, earthworks, waterbody works, and stormwater and flood management measures.
Residents Question Traffic, Flooding And Noise
Concerns about the proposal were raised at a packed public meeting at Beachmere Hub, where residents discussed traffic, flooding, noise, wildlife, property values and the consultation process.
Some attendees had to sit or stand outside as the proposal was discussed, and the meeting became tense at times.
Traffic was one of the main concerns. Nearby residents questioned whether Beachmere Road and surrounding routes could manage construction vehicles, trailers and event traffic. Emergency access was also raised by residents worried about congestion during major events.
Flooding and drainage were also recurring issues. The proposal includes raised development areas and earthworks, prompting questions from some residents about how changes to the site could affect surrounding properties.
Noise was another major concern, particularly for residents who value Beachmere’s quieter coastal and semi-rural character. Some residents and commenters also called for acoustic protections, buffer planning and further consideration of environmental impacts.
Photo Credit: Moreton Motorsport Park/Facebook
Supporters Point To Lost Motorsport Venues
The proposal has also drawn strong support from motorsport followers who say the region has lost important racing venues.
Supporters have referred to the closure of Archerfield Speedway and Coolum MX, saying the Beachmere proposal could provide a structured place for speedway, motocross, driver training and junior riding. Some have described the project as a chance to bring more motorsport activity back to southeast Queensland.
Online comments in support of the proposal also pointed to possible benefits for local businesses, including accommodation, food and beverage operators. Others said the facility could give young riders and families a safer, organised place to take part in motorsport.
A Moreton Motorsport Park social media post stated that more than 3500 submissions had been made, while supporters encouraged more motorsport fans, competitors and sponsors to lodge feedback.
Photo Credit: MID-0326-1001
Projected Events And Economic Claims Remain Under Assessment
The proposal has been promoted as a racing and training facility capable of hosting regular motocross and speedway activity.
Projected annual activity includes 13 minor speedway events with about 1000 spectators each, three major speedway events with about 4000 spectators each, 26 minor motocross events with about 100 spectators each, and three major motocross events with about 1000 spectators each.
The project has also been linked to projected economic activity of more than $32 million per year, more than $20 million from an international event, 195 full-time construction jobs and 42 ongoing jobs.
Those figures remain projections attached to the proposal, not confirmed outcomes.
Photo Credit: MID-0326-1001
Beachmere Debate Turns On Fit And Impact
The central question for many Beachmere residents is whether a motorsport venue of this scale fits the area and whether proposed management measures would be enough to address local concerns.
The Corbet Group has maintained that the proposal has been supported by assessments covering noise, flooding, ecology, bushfire, traffic, economic need and social benefit. It has also argued that the project’s impacts can be managed.
For supporters, the proposal is seen as a chance to rebuild motorsport access after the loss of other venues. For concerned residents, the focus remains on traffic, flooding, noise, local character and whether the community has had enough opportunity to respond.
The future of the Moreton Motorsport Park proposal now rests with the assessment process and the submissions lodged by residents, supporters and other interested groups.
Public tickets for the 2026 Woodford Folk Festival are now on sale, with Queenslanders already locking in plans for the state’s most iconic cultural gathering.
The 39th edition is set to run from 27 December to 1 January 2027 at the 500-acre Woodfordia site near Woodford. Member presales have already recorded a 15 per cent increase on previous years, with organisers linking the rise to growing demand for meaningful in-person experiences rather than any lineup announcement.
The program and artist schedule will not be released until mid-October, yet thousands of Queenslanders continue to buy tickets months in advance for the experience itself.
This year’s festival carries extra weight. Co-founder Bill Hauritz AM, who led the event from its inception in 1994 until his retirement in 2022, died on 8 December 2025. The 2026 edition will be the first Woodford held without him.
A festival that became its own place
The Woodfordia property sits about 72 kilometres north of Brisbane, on what was once a barren dairy farm. Woodfordia Inc, the not-for-profit organisation that owns and operates the site, has planted more than 140,000 subtropical rainforest trees across the grounds over three decades, creating the hidden valley setting that festival-goers now describe as feeling nothing like the outside world.
During the six-day event, the site becomes a temporary village of 27 venues hosting more than 2,000 performers across music, dance, cabaret, circus, comedy, workshops, debate, street theatre, film, forums, visual arts and an entire dedicated Children’s Festival.
A swimming lake, camping options from glamping through to powered sites, and a New Year’s Day fire ceremony have become fixtures that return visitors plan their summer around.
Around 120,000 people attend the festival each year.
“Sometimes I think Woodford should be called a holiday rather than a festival,” said Managing Director Amanda Jackes, who took over the festival’s leadership from Hauritz in 2022.
Why people buy before the lineup drops
Jackes points to a shift in what festival-goers are seeking, one that has worked in Woodford’s favour while other events have struggled. Several Australian music festivals and venues have closed or faced significant difficulty in recent years, squeezed by costs, competition and changing audience behaviour. Woodford has moved in the other direction.
“We have observed over the years that people are seeking meaningful connections, even more so nowadays, with our society becoming so disconnected in human interactions,” she said. “There’s a strong appetite for gathering together in ways that feel human, grounded and hopeful.”
The festival has also become a generational tradition. Jackes notes that children who attended holding their parents’ hands are now bringing their own families. “That continuity creates a very rare kind of cultural memory,” she said.
“In a time when so much of life feels transactional or divided, Woodford remains one of the rare places where people gather to imagine culture, community, and the future together.”
Dates, tickets and what to expect
The 2026 Woodford Folk Festival runs from Saturday 27 December 2026 to Thursday 1 January 2027. Tickets range from $25 to $745, with vehicle passes from $10 to $80. A payment plan option is also available for full festival passes.
The 2026 program and artist lineup will be announced in mid-October. Tickets and full information are available at woodfordfolkfestival.com or by phoning 07 5496 1066.
Caboolture will host a free winter arts program shaped around colour, photography, heritage and personal storytelling, with exhibitions and creative spaces running across The Hub Gallery and Caboolture Regional Art Gallery.
Caboolture Winter Program Brings Together Four Creative Experiences
Caboolture’s winter arts program will bring a series of free exhibitions and creative spaces to 4 Hasking Street, giving visitors a local cultural option built around contemporary art, photography, heritage and hands-on participation.
The Winter Highlights 2026 program includes Excess All Areas, The Shape of Feeling, House of Gold and two creative spaces developed by artist Yin Lu. Together, the program offers a mix of large-scale visual work, black-and-white photography, moving image, sound and participatory art-making.
All four offerings are free to attend and do not require bookings.
The program will be split between The Hub Gallery and Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, allowing visitors to move through different styles and themes within the same Caboolture arts precinct.
Excess All Areas Opens With Colour and Consumer Culture
Excess All Areas will run at The Hub Gallery from 27 June to 23 July 2026.
The exhibition explores consumer culture and throw-away habits through humour, colour and bold contemporary works. It is described as an experimental exhibition that moves beyond traditional boundaries, bringing together works that explore scale, material and intensity.
The exhibition invites audiences into an immersive and layered art experience, with works that are expressive in both form and subject. Its focus on excess and consumption gives the winter program a strong contemporary opening, using colour and visual impact to examine everyday habits around waste and material culture.
Photo Credit: Supplied Photo Caption: New Quotidian Collective, Excess All Areas, 2025, digital collage printed on Pearl Rag
Black-and-white Photography Shapes A Local View
From 25 July to 20 August 2026, The Hub Gallery will host The Shape of Feeling, created by emerging local photographer Nicole Jones.
The exhibition explores the intricacies of black-and-white photography and considers how emotion can be expressed, interpreted and shared through visual form.
Jones’ imagery captures the landscape and people of the region, reflecting on what has been recorded and what has changed through history. The exhibition adds a quieter and more reflective layer to the winter program, using photography to consider feeling, place and memory without relying on colour.
Photo Credit: Supplied Photo Caption: In the shade, 2025, by Nicole Jones
House of Gold Explores Heritage Through Image, Sound and Movement
At Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, House of Gold will run from 27 June to 12 September 2026.
The exhibition presents an immersive body of work by Dr Christian Thompson AO, spanning photography, moving image and sound. It explores the intersection of Thompson’s Chinese and First Nations Bidjara heritage, shaped by the Gold Rush migrations of the 1850s.
Through shared language, food and history, the exhibition examines influences that have contributed to Thompson’s sense of self. Its combination of personal heritage and broader historical movement gives the winter program a deeper cultural and reflective focus.
Photo Credit: Supplied Photo Caption: Double Happiness, 2021, by Dr Christian Thompson
Yin Lu Creative Spaces Invite Personal Storytelling
Also running at Caboolture Regional Art Gallery from 27 June to 12 September 2026 are Golden Wishes and My Story Card, new creative spaces developed by artist Yin Lu.
The spaces invite visitors to reimagine their connections and personal stories through visual language. Golden Wishes encourages contributions to a growing installation of personal symbols and stories, while My Story Card gives participants a way to explore identity through art-making.
The creative spaces add a participatory element to the winter program, allowing visitors to move from viewing artworks to making their own visual responses.
Free Entry Keeps The Caboolture Program Accessible
The Caboolture Winter Highlights 2026 program gives visitors several ways to experience art during the cooler months, from the bold and colourful treatment of consumer culture in Excess All Areas to the reflective photography of The Shape of Feeling.
At Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, House of Gold and Yin Lu’s creative spaces extend the program into heritage, identity and personal storytelling.
With free entry and no bookings required, the winter program offers a straightforward cultural visit for Caboolture residents and visitors looking for art that is visual, reflective and interactive.
Published 2-June-2026
Photo Credit: Supplied
Picture: Yin Lu
Photo Caption: Artist Yin Lu and her Yinifity Poker Card series
Caboolture’s Abbey Medieval Festival is preparing to mark 35 years of living history at Abbeystowe, where jousting, re-enactments, markets, music and family activities will again bring the medieval world into view.
Caboolture Festival Marks 35 Years Of Medieval Tradition
For 35 years, the Abbey Medieval Festival has brought the sights, sounds and spectacle of the Middle Ages to Caboolture. In 2026, the long-running event will return to Abbeystowe for another milestone celebration of living history, with re-enactors, jousters, performers, merchants and visitors gathering across the festival grounds.
The festival is scheduled from 10 to 12 July 2026, beginning with Friday Family Fun Day on 10 July before the Weekend Tournament takes place on 11 and 12 July. The event will again centre on medieval life across Europe and the Middle East from 600 to 1600AD, presenting history through performance, craft, combat, food and family activities.
Rather than presenting history behind glass, the Abbey Medieval Festival turns it into a full weekend experience. Visitors can move through encampments, watch combat demonstrations, browse market stalls, see performers and take in the atmosphere of a festival built around pageantry, skill and historical interpretation.
Medieval Life Comes Back To Abbeystowe
The 35th year will bring back many of the elements that have shaped the Abbey Medieval Festival’s identity. Listed activities include jousting, knight combat, Birds of Prey, archery, children’s activities, entertainment, markets, food and drink, and the Stag Inn.
Across the grounds, hundreds of re-enactors from around Australia help recreate aspects of medieval life. Their displays cover combat, arts, crafts and practical skills from across 1,000 years of history, with demonstrations that can include swordsmanship, chivalry, armour, siege weaponry, costuming, weaving, pottery, illumination and music.
The result is a festival that blends performance with learning. Families can watch tournament-style displays, children can take part in activities, and visitors can see how medieval clothing, tools, crafts and traditions are brought to life by people who study and practise them.
Behind the festival is the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, which hosts the event as its largest annual gathering. The festival supports the museum’s operations, the care of its collection and its education programs.
The museum’s collection includes objects from around the world, dating from prehistory to the end of the 19th century. Its medieval and renaissance collection holds more than 200 works of art and artefacts, giving the festival a direct connection to the history it presents outdoors at Abbeystowe.
Festival patrons will have access to the museum during the Tournament Weekend. Wristbands can also be used for museum entry until the end of the calendar year, extending the festival experience beyond the weekend itself.
Accommodation and ticket packages for the tournament weekend have been promoted through Holiday Hub Bribie Island, with weekend tickets included for guests who book eligible accommodation. The limited Royal Suites VIP package is listed as sold out.
The event also relies on volunteers working behind the scenes across many parts of the festival, including gates and ticketing, information support, joust arena support, children’s activities, market support, parking and traffic, program sales, hospitality and general site support. Volunteer applications for 2026 are now closed, while photography and videography applications are handled separately.
As the Abbey Medieval Festival reaches its 35th year, the Caboolture event is set to return with the same mix of history, spectacle and community atmosphere that has made it a fixture at Abbeystowe.
The Bellmere Butcher has surged to the top of Queensland’s All the Best butcher leaderboard, with owner Jackson Miano now leading the state-wide public vote just hours before the competition closes at midnight tonight.
With voting wrapping up on Thursday 28 May, the Bellmere shop has overtaken early frontrunners to sit in first place, ahead of Stafford Heights’ Rode Meats in second and Cannon Hill’s The Butcher Shoppe in third. The All the Best competition, now in its second year, asks Queenslanders to vote for their favourites across 15 categories spanning everything from bakeries and beaches to burger joints and barbers.
For Miano, the nomination landed as a welcome surprise after years of grinding away to build the business into something the Bellmere and Caboolture community could be proud of.
“We’ve been putting in the hard yards over the last couple of years, trying to build something pretty cool, so we think it’s good to be nominated,” Miano says.
From apprentice to TikTok-famous
Miano started out as an apprentice butcher 11 years ago. He met his now-wife Megan at the Caboolture shop, and the pair took over the business together more than three years ago. What followed has been a quiet revolution in how a local butcher shop can connect with its community.
The shop has built a loyal TikTok following, earning it a place in the broader “ButcherTok” movement, which has seen independent butchers across Australia use short-form video to pull back the curtain on their craft. The Bellmere Butcher’s most viral moment came from a single video made during the COVID-19 pandemic: a sausage stuffed with hot chips, rump steak and pepper gravy that has since racked up more than 700,000 views.
The team’s current project is even more ambitious, working toward a spicy ramen sausage with customer input driving the flavour brief.
“Twelve months ago, I didn’t think we’d be getting photos with customers, that’s for sure,” Miano says. “It’s really good to see a lot of people supporting local again.”
The shop’s growth has been physical as well as digital. The team is preparing to move into a larger space within the same complex by the end of the year to meet demand.
The competition is friendly, but the stakes are real
Despite the leaderboard, the mood between competing shops is anything but hostile. Miano has been vocal about the sense of community the competition has sparked among Queensland’s independent butchers.
“Everyone is getting on and doing this social presence and really bringing the butchers alive together,” he says. “No matter who takes out first place will be well deserving of it. We’re trying to bring the butchering community back together. There’s definitely enough room for us all.”
Rode Meats owner Patrick “Will” Burgoyne echoes that view. His Stafford Heights shop only found out about its nomination recently and has since launched its own campaign to push up the rankings.
Rode Meats has become a household name across Brisbane partly through the work of teenage apprentice Ethan Johns, whose sausage-making videos have drawn enormous online audiences, including one clip that reached more than 5.8 million views. The shop is also expanding, with two new stores set to open within the next year, taking its network to six locations.
“There’s definitely no rivalry between butcher shops. It’s more small retailers against the big guys,” Burgoyne says. “There will be a lot of bragging rights, whoever comes out on top, but it’ll all be in a friendly manner.”
Both owners have promised one thing in common if they win: a celebratory sausage flavour made especially for the occasion.
How to vote before the window shuts
Voting closes tonight, Thursday 28 May, and every vote also enters the voter into a prize draw worth more than $1,800, including theme park annual passes, a Skypoint Dining experience and a Flight Centre travel voucher. Winners across all 15 categories will be announced on Wednesday 3 June, ahead of Queensland Day on Saturday 6 June.
Bellmere locals and Caboolture region residents can cast their vote through this link. Voters need to register with an email address before casting their ballot.
