About James Coghlan

I was born and raised in Mount Isa - a town I left for 14 years before returning with my wife Fiona and a young family.

I did my schooling in Mount Isa and an electrical apprenticeship with Mount Isa Mines. I have worked in the trade at Power and Water and George Fisher Mine, and in Brisbane with Main Roads.

I have been a trainer, mines inspector, carpenter’s offsider, chaplain and even cleaned toilets for a living.

My wife and I were of the same opinion; if you are part of a community, you contribute to it. So I have coached various sports, been on committees, been a school chaplain, a P&F president, a youth group leader, and now a councillor.

The stories that never make the front page

For years, I published a quarterly magazine called My Isa - a labour of love I produced while working full-time, dedicated to the people, places and stories that defined life in Mount Isa.

5,000 copies every three months. Stories about the people who built the town, coached the teams, ran the canteen, kept the lights on, and made the kind of contribution nobody thinks to put in a newspaper.

I wrote history books for sporting associations. I wrote a novel. I told the stories of people who never thought anyone would be interested in them.

I was always interested and turns out others were too.

In 2025, following the death of my wife Fiona, I did something that seemed impossible and completely stupid. I attempted to run 700 kilometres in ten days - between seven mines in Northwest Queensland.

I wanted to honour Fiona's memory and raise money for the Mount Isa Cancer Care Unit that allowed her to receive treatment while staying at home with her family and friends.

I was asked to write a book about the run but it ended up being about much more. I wrote about the journey Fiona faced and how it affected me and those around her, the grief and guilt that come and finding the courage to keep going.

I guess that is something I like doing. Breaking down things and explaining them in a simple way so that people understand and can use in their own life; either to improve or just survive.

Fiona and I had a plan. She'd play in the garden. I'd sit and write. We'd travel. I'm doing my part of the plan. I'm doing it for both of us.

What this platform is about

My stories exists because Mount Isa no longer has a local newspaper, and because the stories that matter most are the quietest ones.

This is a place for the people nobody writes about - the woman who fed thousands without ever being asked, the man who built the town pool with his own hands, the nurse who stayed when everyone else left, the waitress from Melbourne I met in a New York diner who had a story nobody had thought to ask about.

Good people doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Regional Australians or people anywhere who are just getting on with it.

Every story here is told with honesty, care, and a deep respect for the person at the centre of it.

The more good people you have in your life, the better your life will be. I've believed that my whole life. This platform is my attempt to prove it.