Photo: courtesy of Bright Stars Modelling.

Well, they’re not the words that 15 year-old Stacey Bentley would use, nevertheless, she is the best young Paint Horse rider in the country, and this striking young woman will soon leave for Fort Worth, Texas to prove her own worth as one of the best riders of the Paint Horse in the world. Stacey spoke to Hinterland Times editor, Michael Berry about this rarely known, but growing sport.

“Competition is like a western type of show with the emphasis on what they call Western Pleasure”, says Stacey. “You wear what the cowboys wear – leather stock curved saddles with shiny silver ornaments. The aim is that the
horse goes around in a relaxed manner with you being as relaxed as you can too, but having full control. The horse goes around on a long rein; they have to look willing. There’s a bit of an art to it.

Photo: courtesy of Agile Photographics.

“You ride around the outside of the arena, the judge will stand in the middle and they will call out to walk or to jog or lope which is a form of cantering but slower. They judge on how well trained the horse is, how well you ride yourself with position and leg aids.”

Paint Horse riding has become the second biggest show horse event in the US. The special quarter horse and thoroughbred  breed has striking white patches ‘painted’ over its body and the genuine  Paint Horse rider looks like a cut-out from Wild Bill Hikock’s Wild West Show.

When you see her all dressed up Stacey Bentley wears her wide cowgirl hat, silver belt buckle, wide chaps with frills down the leg, wrangler jeans, high boots and rhinestone covered shirt. A good paint horse rider must also learn equitation – a form of etiquette in the saddle. You have to look prim and
proper, relaxed but not sloppy.

Stacey is raising money for her airfares and expenses to Fort Worth in June when she will be in a team of four under eighteen year-olds.

Photo: courtesy of Francene Neuendorf.

“When we get there we literally draw a horse out of a hat”, says Stacey. You only have about 40 minutes with the horse before your event. So, you’ve got to be able to ride any horse, adapt and do your best. You might get a horse
that has been trained completely differently to what you’re used to, so there’s a bit of luck and some strategy to it to be the best rider that you can be.

“They also have a team relay on foot where you run from station to station having to piece together a bridle, then to another and say, put together a map of the world. Then there’s knowledge of the horse competition, a teams
parade with a set theme. Then they add up all the results. Last year Australia got fourth.”

Stacey was born into a horse-riding family. Their Kunda horse stud in Peachester has its own ring and stables and Stacey trains and rides her own paint horse called Odette. Stacey’s grandmother and mother have both been
champion riders and their trophies from decades past literally line the entire lounge / dining room of the grandparents’ home.

“My mum rides, trains and breaks paint horses, so I was kind of born into it”, says Stacey matter of factly. I started competing when I was 12. I have been to the state and national championships every year since then. In the last two years I have got high point junior youth (14 and under). At the state show I got high point junior for two years and high point youth overall (18 and under).”

Is there a secret to Stacey’s winning form? “Well, you see some people riding around who have such plain, scrunched up expressions. I enjoy myself and the bond that I have between me and my horse, Odette.”

“Presentation is the key”, adds Stacey. “I make sure all my tack and clothes are clean and I am fit well. And I pay attention to things like hair, make-up, clothes, etc. If you come into the arena on a dirty horse, with a bad outfit you will not place; the judge won’t even give you a second look.”

Stacey, who is a Year 11 student at Beerwah State High, is also doing a retail traineeship. She rides 4-5 days a week and when she leaves school she has ambitions of going back to America to work as a ranch farmhand.

Win or lose in Fort Worth Texas, one thing is sure. Stacey has her hands firmly on the reins of her future.

The Pattemore homestead, first known as ‘Fairview’ has now been re-named ‘Pattemore House’

ROB PATTEMORE has fond memories of his first five years in Maleny around the house built for his great grand-father, John Robert in 1908. Pattemore House is now owned by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and forms part of the 126 hectare Maleny Precinct.

John Robert Pattemore was a butcher by trade and arrived in Australia from Somerset when he was five. He came to live in Maleny in 1907. His four sons had come on ahead to built the home that John Robert lived in until he died in 1947 aged 97.

In the early 1940s Rob Pattemore remembers his elderly grandfather’s home because he remembers picking persimmons from his tree and receiving a very sore tongue.

John Robert’s son Bill and Stan had bought the land in 1906, known these days as Armstrong’s Farm. This large and close family had been farmers and butchers in Central Tilba, but too many dry seasons persuaded the Pattemores to move north to the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

The Pattemore family gather on their verandah during the early part of the 20th century.

John Robert also bought adjoining land parcels and the heavily timbered land provided the materials to build the elegant Pattemore House. It was typical of the times that the Pattemore brothers were not only farmers, but good builders and carpenters. They cut the timbers in a saw pit, then planed, tongue and grooved the cedar and white beech by hand for this spacious house with its deep verandahs and tall windows.

The only other surviving building in Maleny constructed with local pit-sawn timber is the first stage of the Maleny Hotel.

Keep in mind that there was no shire council until 1912, so there were no annoying building regulations to worry about. During this first decade of the 20th century Maleny grew with the dairy boom. An ES&A Bank came in 1906, a hotel was built the following year and there was a butcher and general store. Maleny was officially listed as a township in 1912 and it had a population of about 510.

When John Robert came to live in his new home in 1908 he set to planting a vegetable garden and fruit orchard around the house. At the turn of the century, if you didn’t grow or raise your own food, then life could be very tough. Ernest lived in the house with his father and mother Emily, and he became the share farmer taking a lease on the Pattemore land until 1923.

Robert and Shirley Pattemore. Robert is the great grandson of John Robert Pattemore who first settled in Maleny in 1908.

The Pattemore brothers – Bill, Stan, Albert and Ernest were industrious builders. For example, after Pattemore House, they built Forest Lodge, the house that stands at the crossroads in north Maleny. It’s believed they also built Lawley House and Priscilla Cottage now combined into an historical village in Bryce Lane.

In John Robert’s latter years his son Stan helped him grow corn around the home and he took on local farm work. His sisters continued to look after the house and their parents.
Councillor Jenny McKay says Pattemore House is fully protected by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council. “It is the first piece of the Precinct jigsaw in place and the first step has been to secure it for its historical value”, she said.

Rob Pattemore is president of the Friends of Pattemore House and hopes this rare Maleny homestead, which is on the state heritage register, will be maintained in perpetuity.
“Personally, I think it should be put together as an educational centre so people, particularly children, can see what life was like in the early 1900s. The old cow bails should be moved up there too, perhaps with a typical cream shed. We need to be reminded of how hard life was in those early days”.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ROBERT PATTEMORE

Jill Shelton the Festival Director says, “Our aim was to create a festival where people could come along and participate in a wide range of passion tasting workshops, talks, presentations etc for the equivalent value of twenty dollars a session, while experiencing quality entertainment for even less.”

The Passion Tasting Festival has over 30 interactive and content-rich workshops, all carefully selected to give people the opportunity to discover, share and experience a wide variety of passions. Workshops range from living your passion and creative structure, to dynamic storytelling, public speaking, primal dance, singing and much more.

Local and internationally-recognised speakers will reveal how their life experiences have led to the development and pursuit of their particular passions. You will be inspired by speakers such as Dominique Finney, Falu Eyre, Vanessa Hall, Barbara Brewster, Sarah and Chris Pye.

For those who are passionate about the arts, or would love to experience art for the first time, there is a variety of hands-on workshops, an interactive Art Central area and Art Gallery.

A platform is being provided for emerging bands, musicians and entertainers during the day, with soul-stirring professional concerts at night. Friday night is a charity concert with Sulco, Hayden Hack Infusion and French Butler called Smith, and Saturday night De Greer Yindimincarlie, The Twine and OKA.

The Craft market stallholders provide a passionate display of their creative talents to peruse, and for the health conscious there will be a broad mix of gifted energy workers and healers on hand to demonstrate their skills.

Food is one of our greatest passions and festival caterers will fill your stomachs with gourmet tastes and liquid delights.

The 3 day Passion tasting festival is at the Maleny Show grounds on the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland from 26-28 March.

For full program information and ticket sales visit the website at www.passiontastingfestival.com.au or phone:  07 5473 9498.

Left: Tim Donovan with wine glass.

THE BUTCHER, the baker, the cheese, chef and wine maker will all present their creative skills at The Kenilworth Cheese Wine and Food Fest on Easter Saturday, in Kenilworth Town Park.

Curious to know where that glazed ham comes from? Or what to do with the leftover pork hock? Introduce your self to local butchers Bruce and Jimmy and watch them go the whole hog. And a special treat –they will be selling bison beef on the day!

The day-long festival will present award-winning local produce including sumptuous sauces, organic olives, mushrooms, pies, and the famous preservative-free bread from the Kenilworth Bakery.

There will be cooking demonstrations throughout the day including unique tastes from local bush foods. Visitors can sample everything from cream scones to Thai country cooking, all produced with a local spin. The Farm-to-Fork Feast will be offering smoked semi dried tomatoes, beef jerky, tasty wood fired pizzas and Gitsham’s award winning sausages.

Obi Kobi Wagyu will be selling their gold medal-winning Wagyu beef steaks at the Festival.  In addition they will also offer Wagyu beef patties, hand-made Wagyu sausages and Wagyu kebabs for sale.

Other entertainment includes a Great Cheester Egg Hunt at 9.30am (registration at 9am). There’s a cheese rolling contest that kicks off at 9am and a line dancing display. More details: phone Di: 07 5446 0003.

The Divine Divas - regularly support the Variety Club of Queensland by taking part in the annual Variety Club bash into the outback. Here the girls take over a local fire truck. From left: April Adsett, Marion Pearson, Desley Cole and Roslyn Pritchard.

THE DIVINE DIVAS are again supporting the Variety Club of Queensland in presenting Woodstock at Witta on March 13.

This once a year band spectacular is held at the Witta Recreation Club with free entrance for children.

This year amongst the great line-up of bands taking to the stage are The Rain, As the Crow Flies, Jumbo Shack, and the Purebred Hybrids.

All proceeds from this event go to the Variety Club of Queensland which is children’s charity. Entrance fees are adults - $20, high school students $10 and children free. This is a licensed event and there is food at the Club. Gates open 5.30pm and bands start at 6pm.

For tickets to Woodstock at Witta, call Divine Divas: 5494 2776 or 0411 543191.

HT: Some Coast community groups say your ‘linein-the-sand’ is simply that … a line that can easily be rubbed out … that you aren’t tough enough to challenge the state government on growth planning.

BA: Well, I’d ask at what level do I not challenge the state? There’s still a lot of work to be done on the planning scheme, and detailed work, but I don’t see any weakening of this Council’s position. There isn’t a Council policy that says there’s a line in the sand, but Council policy is determined to ensure that those long term sustainability issues are well and truly entrenched in the planning scheme.

I think there is a very strong backlash against the Queensland Government’s persistent view, and I’m talking about 30 years, that in the state of Queensland, growth is good. And when you see predicted in the next 20 years massive growth in the south-east corner, that to me rings extremely loud bells in the community.

HT: Do you think councillors would resist the state government and risk having their planning controls taken away … possibly losing their seats in the process?

BA: That’s an awful big question for a Council. If the first test comes and the state legislates to remove the planning responsibilities from all of local government, then that’s a big onus to put on the Sunshine Coast regional councillors. But let me say, this Council has a determination like I’ve never seen before.

HT: Minister Hinchcliffe recently backed down on a massive development proposal on the Caboolture River through a threat of war from the mayor of Moreton Bay. Can you say your Council is equally strong enough to support you in opposing say, Palmwoods and Maroochydore greenfield sites?

BA: The Minister is very clear on my position with Palmwoods, Caloundra South and the Maroochydore areas. There will be some development in those areas but – no development without infrastructure – that is still the solid commitment of this Council.

HT: If infrastructure is the key for your Council accepting the kind of growth being pushed by the state government, what is the infrastructure that must be put on the front burner?

BA: CAMCOS is critical. We need efficient public transport that will create movement through the coastal corridor without the need for motor vehicles. It’s got to be able to tie together the town centres of Maroochydore, Kawana, Caloundra and the future Caloundra South in a highly efficient, cheap, high patronage system. What we need is public transport on the Coast, not public transport to the Coast. I think that’s the first course of action.

HT: So why is CAMCOS so delayed?

BA: I think it’s the capacity argument. When do we get to the size that we need that kind of integrated transport system.

HT: So we have to develop first, then we get an integrated public transport system?

BA: Well, this is the argument we can play. Currently there are significant problems with traffic, and the current level of public transport is struggling to cope, mainly because it’s not competitive, because it’s on-road. Translink’s doing a great job, but they’re working on a very limited budget, and they’re working in some difficulty because of the layout of the Sunshine Coast.

The point is, we still don’t know the carrying capacity of the Sunshine Coast, yet we have been forced into making decisions before we understand what that is. My view is we need to know where the community wants us to go, and to do that we need a planning scheme in place.

HT: You told me early last year that you felt that after 350,000 people the Coast would be moving into a different style of community. Aren’t we well into that now?

BA: My original comments to you were not based on science. I only rely on what I see. The Gold Coast is the analogy that I use. When it got up to that 350,000 that’s when their world started to change and it lost its small town feel . So, I would like to see us develop policies and a philosophy so that we didn’t go beyond that. That will be heavily driven by this first Council and heavily driven by this first planning scheme. That’s why this Council wanted to put its stamp on that and get it through in this first term.

HT: Do you sense there is a crunch time with the state government?

BA: I don’t see one crunch time, but there are a number of issues ahead of us such as the minister’s response to Palmview and to Maroochy town centre, because we’ve basically dug our toes in on that. We’ve started discussions on Caloundra South and that will be another crunch opportunity. I think the really big crunch will come when Council advertises its planning scheme. That will be a milestone of some note. And we will want it finished well before the election in 2012.

HT: You were elected because many residents of Maroochy and Caloundra wanted a piece of what Noosa had – a strong balance between the built and natural environments. Half way through your term, some electors are saying where is our piece of the Noosa action.

BA: Well the reality is we are where Noosa was 15 years ago when it was having these growth arguments in the community, and when a number of battles were fought under the leadership of Noel Playford. We’re having those battles now in the south but we are faced with significant hurdles to jump because previous councils made assumptions on Caloundra South , Palmview, Maroochy town centre and Caloundra town centre. But at the same time as trying to deliver some of this growth we are trying to deliver some of that protectionist psyche for our communities to give them a rate of growth that they can accept and not lose their lifestyle.

“Volunteering – an important part of life for Rhonda Hetzel”

Rhonda (left) with volunteer recepionist, Claire.

WHEN Rhonda Hetzel took on the task of coordinating the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre four years ago she added another level of professionalism to the way it was run, and with its new, purpose-built building in Bicentenary Lane the centre is flourishing. Rhonda took time out of her busy schedule to explain the role of the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre to Hinterland Times Editor, Michael Berry.

“We were given a grant for this Centre because of the lobbying of Carolyn Male. But we don’t own it. We lease it for a peppercorn rent, on Council-owned land . Although we’re in a government building that we don’t own, the Department of Communities has been very good to us. We are an unfunded centre which means that everyone who works here is a volunteer. We don’t have any paid staff.

“We got a gambling fund grant to furnish the building, but we need money to run the centre. It probably costs $25,000 a year to run the centre so we need to get sponsorships for some of the programs we’re running. We definitely need community support to keep us going “We’ve been told this is your building now. You make it work for you. That’s my philosophy anyway –to get the community engaged with the neighbourhood centre, and to connect up with other local organisations. We need to get people in here having their meetings, and making use of the building. We get paid rent, and that’s one of the ways we will pay our way.

People still ask what is the neighbourhood centre and what does it do. There are several centres on the hinterland including Beerwah, Mooloolah, Landsborough and Conondale.

“Basically what they all do”, says Rhonda, “is they respond to the needs of the people who come through the door. They also reflect the type of skills of the volunteers. So for instance they might focus on the older people or their youth or life skills.

“In Maleny we are very focused on youth because we have the flexi-school, and one of our aims this year is to establish a youth program.

“When the neighbourhood centre was first set up it was for homeless people, people on the dole, youth -all those people who slip through the cracks and we fail to see them, or don’t want to see them. What I love about being here is that we’re actually saying to all those people we respect you enough to have this beautiful building and this is your place. So we’re not telling them they’re insignificant and invisible anymore.

“Over the past year our clientele has changed. We now get pensioners and old Maleny dairy families coming in and saying they can’t cope. So, we’ve developed programs to help those people. We take them out on bus trips. We have morning teas for them. We teach them how to clean their home easily in a green way without buying all those chemicals that cost a fortune. We talk about cooking from scratch and different ways of shopping and all sorts of things that really do help to support them.

“We’ve got a free legal service that operates every fortnight and is manned by volunteers – most of whom are Maleny lawyers. It’s a two hour session. Anyone in the community can ring up. It’s free and not means tested.

Head teacher at the flexi school, Brad Owens, with teachers

The flexi school is located in its own suite of rooms in the centre. It takes young people who don’t fit socially into the local high school. It is incorporated within the state education department and it liaises closely with Maleny High School staff. Head  teacher is Brad Owens assisted by John Mays and teacher’s aid, Carol Ferriday.

Our bus is also used to pick up food from the food bank in Brisbane for our emergency assistance. When people don’t have anything to eat, they can come to us and we will give them groceries.

Homelessness is a problem in Maleny even though some people don’t believe it is a problem. There is the presumption that this is a wealthy community and therefore there is no reason for anyone to be homeless.

Rhonda says there are about 20 homeless people at any one time. They are mostly young people but there are also women over 60.

“When there are homeless people in town -which is always”, says Rhonda. “ they can come here and have a shower. They can wash their clothes and dry them. That situation is dire because there is no emergency housing anywhere in Queensland. There’s nowhere to send them. There are no vacancies in hostels. We have lots and lots of people couch surfing in Maleny, or sleeping under the bridge.

“We have two people who work in the building who are paid by other agencies. One is a family relationships worker. She works with families with children aged up to eight years. She looks at how the family is functioning and tries to help them. It might be for a short time or it might be for years. We also have a family relationships hub, where couples may be breaking up and we can offer them counselling – that’s an outside service we can offer.

“We’ve also got a community development worker three days a week and she works with other centres. She has experience in community and youth work and is a great help to me.

One wonders how Rhonda survives if she’s not paid. Her background is writing and she still writes for Burke’s Backyard magazine, as well as writing a book. She is also regarded as the most popular female blogger in Australia, getting paid for advertising on her blog site.

“It’s a struggle to fit everything in”, says Rhonda who spends three days a week running the centre as well as countless hours at home. “This is really a full-time job, but I have a lot of eggs up in the air and I hope I don’t drop too many of them”, she adds with a laugh.

“Whatever I do, I do it to the best of my ability, whether I am paid for it or not. Volunteering in the community is a very important aspect of my life. I have had a good life and I want to give back some of what I’ve had. That is why I am here and I hope that because I do my best, people will respect it and I will be seen not just as a volunteer but as an important member of the team.
Contact: Rhonda Hetzel, rhonda@malenync.org.au

Humble Beginnings…

The Maleny Neighbourhood Centre began in 1993 when a group of concerned Maleny residents recognised the need to develop supportive responses to families, young people and people with special needs. The organisation was incorporated in 1994 and became the first community association in Maleny that had a specific purpose to address poverty and social disadvantage in the area.

When they started, the organisation rented a small space in the RSL Hall, which limited its activities. So, they focused on active projects out in the community and not in the Hall. Over the years the MNCA has moved several times, always looking to develop programs and services that respond to the community within the limitation of the premises they were in.

They are now operating five days a week Monday to Friday from their own purpose-built building at 17 Bicentenary Lane.

“A Vision come true for Howard Buckley”

Howard Buckley, key founder and long term president of the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre.

MALENY RESIDENT Howard Buckley has been at the forefront of setting up and guiding the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre over the past 17 years – it’s a vision come true for this dedicated community worker.

“The journey of the neighbourhood centre has been about people in the community being there for other people in the community”, says Howard. “They have struggled together to try to do things for other people, and to work with other people to make things happen. So, having a new centre will enhance that immensely.”

Tertiary trained in community welfare and social planning, Howard has spent 25 years in community development. He is currently managing a youth service in Deception Bay. It was a youth crisis 17 years ago that sewed the seed of a neighbourhood centre in Maleny.

“Back in 1993 when the neighbourhood centre first began it was a time when there had been a spate of suicides” says Howard. More than 100 people turned up to a meeting and out of that the neighbourhood centre was formed.

“There’s been one core thread right throughout”, adds Howard,” and that is about people’s commitment. Without setting ourselves above any other community group, a neighbourhood exists because the people involved want to see other people in their community get help.

They want to give to their community and I guess that’s the heart of what a neighbourhood centre is all about – social justice. The head part of the centre is about the planning and the strategies we use to get there – essentially partnering with other organisations, particularly with those on the Coast because we don’t have those resources in Maleny. For example, mental health – we’ll never ever get government funding to provide a mental health service in Maleny, and it’s a problem that’s growing in our region. So, we create the hub so that they can come here to provide those services.

The new building is a dream that began in 1998 when again, a group of concerned people began planning a “space” that could be a hub for community services in Maleny, particularly for young people.

“We developed a concept plan for a new centre called Centre for Youth Community and Arts Development (CYCAD). It would provide a shared home for the MNC and the Maleny Flexi School. Carolyn Male took the CYCAD plan and knocked on the doors of every State Government minister in an attempt to get funding for the proposal. Eventually in September 2006 the then Treasurer Anna Bligh dedicated the funds to make the concept a reality.

This began a long process to find suitable land, building designs, and eventually making the whole project become a reality by building it!”

“Being here from the very start I have seen some difficult times for the MNC –judgementalism, ignorance and even malicious attacks on the centre from people who don’t understand what we do. At times we wondered how we were going to continue so I guess this is a moment of celebration, not only for what we have achieved but how we have achieved it. Having this wonderful building is certainly an exciting phase in our history, yet it is just another chapter in our story of how people working together in a respectful way can achieve good things for other people”

A volunteer management committee is headed by Howard Buckley, and after 17 years he says it’s probably time for him to take a lower profile.

“My passion is working with young people and maybe in the future I will work with the flexi school on a voluntary basis. Professionally I started in youth work 25 years ago and now I am managing a youth service, so I guess that’s a thread for me – continuing to work with young people.”

Helen and David Crewe moved to the Hinterland only ten months ago. Their treechange was seeingly huge – from the small Mediterranean island of Gozo to the Blackall Range. However, this English pair are used to regular moves. Now in retirement they are building their first ever home in Maleny.

Why did you come here?

HELEN: Well, we had never thought of coming to Australia but my daughter has settled here. She is the director of marketing for the National Trust in Sydney and we decided to come out to have a look.

DAVID: We like getting in a car and driving and so we travelled around Australia -went to Alice Springs, Uluru, the Great Ocean Road -all those major tourist places. Someone suggested that we have a look at Maleny which we hadn’t heard about. We looked at properties here but I think the decision to buy the land here in Maleny was a spur of the moment decision.

HELEN: Since we’ve been together we’ve moved 17 times. We lived in a Georgian townhouse in central London, a cottage in Kent, a cottage in France and a four hundred year-old fortified farmhouse in Malta. We are very much people who get on and do things. So when we went to see that lovely piece of land with its lovely rainforest the creek is lovely, the waterhole is lovely -we said, where are we ever going to do better than that? So we bought it and settled here in May. In coming to Maleny we are also surprised at the number of English people here. I’m a great mimic and I thought in no time we would be talking like Crocodile Dundee. But it’s quite the reverse. We’ve sat around this table with all English people. I certainly didn’t think Australia had many people who weren’t Australian.

What have you had to change in coming here?

DAVID: Well, we lived in the Mediterranean so one big adjustment for us is the non-existence of night life -the fact that everyone gets up early, entertains early and goes to bed early. We’re not used to that. We’re used to having people around for drinks at about eight o’clock, going out to eat about nine, getting back about half past eleven. So, I suppose it’s getting used to that different social time clock that we were used to in Malta and in London as well.

Helen: We are delighted with all the services here, and the shops, with just about everything that you want. And the politeness of 99 percent of the people has been quite staggering.

DAVID: We are certainly used to change. We were living in the centre of London and then we moved to this tiny island of Gozo, the sister island to Malta. We had moved from a very urban existence into the country really. So it’s not such a shock moving here but on the other hand it is different to what we have experienced. The weather and environment are certainly different to England and of course Malta is just a rock basically. Building our first house at our age is a big change.

HELEN: We got the idea for it when we were in South Africa in the January before we came here. We saw the design in a magazine and we both fell in love with it. We both liked the blue and the grey because we thought that reflected the sky. So, we thought we’d put the sky colours onto the green. It’s kind of like a low-set Queenslander.

What would keep you here?

HELEN: Well Victoria is my only child so it’s quite nice for me to have her here. For her to come to see us, at least she is in the same country. Generally though we are quite independent of family. So, it’s very much the here and now for us. If we decided we wanted to do something else, I’m sure we would do it. But there is so much we want to do in Australia. There is a great deal here in Maleny that will meet our needs and I think we have only just scratched the surface so far. My mother used to say, see the seasons through before you get committed, and I didn’t want to get involved until I was ready for it. Like David I am very interested in plays and singers, and I would quite like to do some voluntary work. But I need to be available on a regular basis to do that and I am not quite there yet.

DAVID: We had a public relations company in London I was always writing things for clients. But when I retired and we went to Malta I wanted to write more creative things. So I wrote a musical with a friend about the siege of Gozo by the Turks and it’s been performed three times and was very successful. Coming here I thought let’s see what I can do. I was under pressure really to write The Trial of Millicent Malville and being a journalist you’d understand that deadlines are always a help. I’m now under pressure writing a Cinderella pantomime.

DAVID: Just in the short time we’ve been here we’ve got involved with the Maleny Singers and the Maleny Players. The fact that people were prepared to put ‘The Trial’ play on even though we’ve only been here a few months, I think is very special.

HELEN: they didn’t know you from Adam but they trusted you.

DAVID: Yes, that said a lot about the nature of this community. People are very welcoming and that’s something that’s quite important. If you want to join something, you can easily be a member of ten organisations here. So I think you have to be careful to ration your time.

“We led a very hectic life in Brisbane”, says Christine, “so we can’t wait to get into the relaxed lifestyle Montville has to offer”.

Montville Country Cabins has been run successfully as boutique accommodation for over 10 years. It has nine cabins and the 16 acre property backs onto Kondalilla Falls National Park, successfully mixing landscaped grounds with untouched rainforest.

“The previous owners did a great job fitting out the cabins with features such as private decks and spa baths, but we look  forward to adding our own special features to the place”says Christine.

Montville Country Cabins will remain fully operational whilst the family makes renovations to each of the cabins.

For further information please contact
Montville Country Cabins on (07) 5442 9484 or: www.montvillecabins.com.au

Owner John Hargreaves says “our emphasis is on using the best fresh fruit and vegetables sourced locally wherever possible, and providing affordable wholesome and healthy takeaway food whether it’s for people on the go or picnickers in the park.”

In addition to the fabulous fresh juices and smoothies available at Green Jaboranti, there is a selection of gourmet sandwiches, along with freshly made panini and wraps or portable lunch platters, just perfect for a picnic on the adjacent Montville Village Green.

Green Jaboranti is conscious of people with specific dietary requirements, and stocks a range of locally made gluten and dairy-free cakes incorporating omega 3-rich macadamia oil instead of butter and carefully selected non-wheat flours – just perfect to team up with a good coffee. The beautiful fresh muffins are a must try!

So, if you’re marking time to pick up the children from school or a partner cruising the shops…why not treat yourself to a gourmet ice cream or yoghurt while you wait?
Green Jaboranti Mayfield Centre Montville Open 7 days Ph: 5442 9344. Take advantage of their easy off-street parking alongside the Village Green or in the Mayfield Centre.