About Sunshine Valley Gazette

Sunshine Valley Gazette

Overview

The Sunshine Valley Gazette is a free, locally owned independent community newspaper serving the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland — the towns and villages inland from the coastal strip, centred on Nambour and Woombye and extending through Palmwoods, Eudlo, Mooloolah, Yandina, Maleny, Montville, Mapleton and Flaxton. Although recorded in some directories as a weekly, the paper's own masthead states its actual format plainly: it is printed fortnightly, with 10,000 copies per edition distributed free to pickup points across the hinterland, and, in its own words, "The Gazette is Printed Fortnightly & Online Always."

The Gazette carries the strapline "Free Local Matters" and the editorial motto "Reporting & Supporting What's Good in the Hinterland." Its contact box invites readers to send news to editor Cameron Outridge with the line "If it matters to you, it matters to us." Full PDF editions of the printed paper posted on its website confirm it was publishing current editions through January and February 2026.

History

No founding announcement for the Gazette appears in the sources available for this profile, and no founding date is asserted here. The paper's own edition numbering, however, documents a long fortnightly run: its 174th edition was published on 27 March 2019, its 200th edition on Wednesday 8 April 2020, its 301st edition on 15 May 2024, its 319th edition on 22 January 2025 and its 325th edition on 16 April 2025, with editions continuing into 2026. In 2019 the paper described itself as "a locally owned independent newspaper circulated in the Hinterland communities of Woombye, Palmwoods, Nambour, Chevallum, Diddillibah, Eudlo, Yandina, Forest Glen, Kunda Park, Montville, Mapleton, Mooloolah Valley, Maleny, Kenilworth and Conondale", under the slogan "Connecting Hinterland Communities".

The 200th edition, published in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, shows the paper continuing to publish through the lockdown period, reporting on hinterland businesses adapting their offerings to comply with restrictions and support their customers — a small cafe in Eudlo, trading for three years at that point, was featured as, in the paper's words, "a beacon of inspiration" for the community. The Gazette has maintained its fortnightly print cycle, Wednesday publication dates and 10,000-copy print run, as stated on its own mastheads, continuously through the editions sighted between 2019 and 2026. Those editions are substantial community papers: the January 2026 edition runs to at least 23 pages, mixing news, features, a What's On guide and a large trades and services advertising section, and the paper's coverage area takes in both the valley towns of the Maroochy hinterland and the Blackall Range tourist townships of Montville, Mapleton, Flaxton and Maleny.

Programming and Content

The Gazette's content is hyperlocal hinterland journalism. Council coverage is a staple: Sunshine Coast Council councillors write for the paper, with Division 5 councillor Winston Johnston contributing a regular column on matters such as road widening and resealing, and Division 10 councillor David Law reporting on council support for community projects. State and federal representatives also appear in its pages — the state member for Nicklin, Rob Skelton, has written on the Queensland Government's community safety plan, and the paper covered the April 2025 Meet the Candidates forum at Nambour RSL, organised by the Nambour Chamber of Commerce, at which the federal member for Fairfax, Ted O'Brien, faced his challengers before an audience of about 150 voters.

Beyond politics, the paper reports local news and people: a Good Samaritan businessman cleaning graffiti from the CWA Hall in Nambour's Short Street, the Sunshine Coast Weightlifting Club based in Currie Street, Nambour, the Sunshine Coast Model Boat Club, Nambour Meals on Wheels, BushCare and Creek Care environmental volunteers, and community campaigns such as the relaunch of fundraising for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Nambour. It also covers hard local news: its January 2025 front page reported the deaths of two 17-year-olds at Wappa Falls in Yandina, and it has reported residents' disputes with authorities, such as Woombye householders sceptical of official explanations for rail noise. Its February 2026 edition carried the call for a volunteer coordinator for the 2026 Woombye Festival, described as the town's biggest community celebration, reported local groups rallying to remove illegally dumped rubbish from bushland at Woombye, and promoted Library Lovers' Day at Nambour Library; its January 2026 edition recorded the return of the free Live at the Chapel monthly music night in Nambour. Regular fixtures include a What's On guide to hinterland events and entertainment, real estate coverage, supermarket and local business advertising, and a substantial Trades & Services section through which local tradespeople reach hinterland households — a page the paper promotes to advertisers on the basis that local readers "look local first".

Audience and Reach

The Gazette's own masthead states that 10,000 copies are distributed to popular pickup points throughout the hinterland, including Palmwoods, Woombye, Nambour, Chevallum, Eudlo, Mooloolah, Hunchy, Yandina, Maleny, Montville, Flaxton, Mapleton and Forest Glen. That figure is the paper's own and is not independently audited. The distribution pattern — free copies at shops and community points rather than home delivery — reflects the dispersed settlement of the hinterland, where readers from small towns and rural properties travel into Nambour, Woombye and the other villages for shopping and services. The paper is also distributed by email to subscribers, posted on Facebook and published in full as a PDF on its website, extending its reach beyond the print pickup points.

Digital Presence

The Gazette publishes online at sunshinevalleygazette.com.au (its mastheads also use the shorter SVGazette.com.au address), where full PDF editions of the printed paper are posted; editions dated 28 January 2026 and 11 February 2026 were sighted there in preparing this profile. The paper states that stories are also posted on Facebook and on its blog and sent via email to subscribers, and its What's On section directs event details to the editor's email address. Its digital operation is deliberately secondary to print — summed up in its own formula, "Printed Fortnightly & Online Always" — but it ensures each printed edition remains available to readers across and beyond the hinterland.

Ownership and Organisation

The Sunshine Valley Gazette is a locally owned independent newspaper, as the paper itself states, run by a small team whose names appear in its own contact box: Cameron Outridge is the editor and the paper's main reporter, Tanya Outridge handles advertising and also writes for the paper, and Katie Buckley is credited as its designer. No parent company, chain or external publisher is recorded for the title, and it is not part of any of the large regional publishing groups; its organisation is that of a family-scale community publisher producing the paper from within the district it covers. Published contact details appear in the paper's own masthead: news can be sent to the editor at editor@sunshinevalleygazette.com.au, and advertising enquiries to tanya@sunshinevalleygazette.com.au.

Contact and Availability

The Sunshine Valley Gazette is a free newspaper printed fortnightly — 10,000 copies per edition, on the paper's own statement — and distributed through pickup points at Palmwoods, Woombye, Nambour, Chevallum, Eudlo, Mooloolah, Hunchy, Yandina, Maleny, Montville, Flaxton, Mapleton and Forest Glen, with the full edition also available as a PDF at sunshinevalleygazette.com.au and stories posted on Facebook and emailed to subscribers. Editions dated January and February 2026 confirm the paper was publishing at the time of this profile.