“We’ve got elderly people, we’ve got some grandparents who come with their children and their grandchildren – so three generations of people coming in – it ranges from kids with their families to kids who are unsupervised, lots of teenagers sometimes,” Rosies coordinator Stacey Crockford said.

“It is not just for the homeless, it is for anybody who just wants to talk.

“We are getting a few regulars who are coming in and now that winter’s coming in, we’re handing out things like blankets, beanies, warm drinks, toiletries, and we’re getting to know the people who are in need of those sorts of things.”

In just over three months, Rosies has been inundated not just with supplies, but volunteers.

“The community response once we got the word out and about was fabulous,” Ms Crockford said.

It’s a far cry from when the service faltered after Covid.

“When Covid hit, the practice wound down.

“That, and a combination of a lack of volunteers, and an increase in unease in the town following a police shooting (in 2023), made a lot of people wary of going out.

“So Rosies just stopped, the coordinator ceased coordinating.”

Rosies originally started in a town called Rosebud in Victoria many decades ago as a volunteer group offering holidaying youth an alternative to running about in the popular tourist town. The idea spread to Brisbane, and then arrived in Mareeba in 2011, via a Brisbane teacher who had moved here.

“The only other Rosies between here and Brisbane is in Cairns,” Ms Crockford said.

But although officially, Rosies stopped operating in Mareeba, “one little team steadfastly kept going out once a month”.

In the meantime, Ms Crockford had been approached by the Brisbane head office to relaunch the service as its official coordinator, but with a teaching role at St Stephen’s Catholic College, she did not think she would have the capacity.

“Instead, I teamed up with this little group, and it was beautiful,” she said.

“I saw that this town needed this, so I worked with Brisbane and just got it up and running again – and became the coordinator anyway.”

Rosies goes out every Friday night and sets up at Arnold Park from 6pm to 8pm. It has four different teams of local volunteers, who rotate weekly.

The group sets up chairs and tables under the lights (near the toilets) so they can be there “rain, hail or shine”, and provide drinks and snacks, and supplies if they are needed.

A big attraction is the volunteer school children who attend with their teachers. Ms Crockford said they had so many put their hands up they had to develop a roster at St Thomas and St Stephens schools, as well as for volunteers from Herberton’s Mount St Bernard College.

“The Mareeba Community Centre, also attends and has information on available housing, emergency care and other services,” she said.

In recent weeks, Mayor Angela Toppin has been volunteering, and they had a visit from Rosies Brisbane chaplain.

“We also regularly put out messages on Facebook for donations, and people drop off coffee, tea, those sorts of things. When we’ve got enough, I put the call out for winter goods. And again, people have been delivering – our Mareeba community is so generous,” she said.

“It’s a matter of knowing – everyone wants to help in any way they can. This is a beautiful town.”

While initially volunteers were mostly church-related, Ms Crockford has noticed more volunteers are joining who were not, which offered people a broader range of contact.

“But in any case, we do have a strict no religion-preaching policy; we are there to be friends and that is it.”

How to help

If you would like to donate, drop-offs are set up at St Thomas School and St Stephen’s College, as well at St Thomas Church.

To volunteer, visit the Rosies website.