2010 - the saga metamorphoses

Here is what the scene looked like in February,2010

Despite the sustained campaign of dire predictions waged for several years, there is no evidence of any deterioration in the quality of life in Maleny as a result of this construction or its operation.

In fact Woolworths has far and away the best parking in Maleny - the largest undercover area and is the only place in town where someone who has time constraints can rely on being able to do their shopping without trekking for large distances with a trolley.

In conclusion (I hope) my perception of the whole seemingly pointless exercise has been:-

3 years relentless bombardment through the Range News of highly emotive, biased and fear-based opinionating without any attempt to present a balanced point of view
The use of non-peer-reviewed figures and claims which supported the totally unsubstantiated idea that we were facing extinction at the hands of Woolworths
the gradual development of a siege mentality whereby people have learnt not to voice their opinions and, in some cases, their hopes or their dreams for fear of upsetting the "We wont shop there" mob
A lasting division in the community where there in no evidence of co-operation but rather a sustained but sub-surface confrontation

Possibly the most distressing aspect is the continued bitterness sluggishly circulating in and around Maleny as exemplified by this extract from one locally-based website malenyvoice.com (as at March 31st, 2010):

Quotes from the “Maleny Woolworths Campaign”^[1] the developer knowingly trashed a dense and active network of platypus burrows on the bank of Obi Obi Creek and got away with it when the regulators turned a convenient blind eye. The developers displayed no regard for our native wildlife, and no regard for the people of Maleny. Construction upon this site diminished a ribbon of green running through the town of Maleny. We are not letting them get away with it - many longer term residents of Maleny boycott the Woolworths store to this day. We are educating newly arrived residents as well.

As you can see from the above panorama - the Riverside centre on the opposite bank of the Obi Obi built its retaining wall below the waterline of the creek and still there is no concern expressed about that. Whereas the Woolworths building is well back from the water's edge and is being increasingly hidden behind an effective planting program.

But still Maleny must lurch along bearing the stigma of a community that can't agree to disagree despite an projected image of being highly co-operative.

As I said before (in 2004) ........ I believe the term used when a human psyche is split or divided by a mental wedge is "schizophrenia", is this term applicable to a community too?

The Oxford Dictionary says of schizophrenia: "a mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings and withdrawal from reality into fantasy and delusion." - well it still seems apt to me.

Other related pages:-

ŠCopyright 2004 Fergus Reilly. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer: The entire contents of this webpage are based upon the opinions of Fergus Reilly and probative facts arising from or derived from his experience and research, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Fergus Reilly and his community.

Strange Views index
Maleny Woolworths    page 1, July 2004 :||: page 2, July 2005 :||: page 3, March, 2010
Community response    Accidentally Maple Street :||: Accidentally Bunya Street
Community response     Accidentally Carbon Street coming soon