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.

Our other young achiever is 15 year-old Stacey Bentley, a striking young woman, just starting Year 12 at Beerwah State High and a national paint horse champion in her spare time. Stacey is off to Fort Worth Texas soon to compete in the international paint horse championships as part of an Australian team. What’s also impressive is that Stacey is fundraising for the many thousands of dollars she needs to make the trip.

Following some suggestions from readers we have a couple of new columns in this edition -Mind Your Business offers advice for small business owners and it’s written by a very experienced marketing and ad man - Eddy Oddy. We also have an Auto Guide column which is prepared for us by a couple of professional motoring journalists Yvonne and David Williams.

Two outspoken Christian priests, are launching separate books this month. Catholic rebel Father Peter Kennedy and Anglican cleric and academic, Ray Baraclough each challenge religious orthodoxy. Peter was sacked from St Mary’s in South Brisbane in 2009 for supposedly breaking with Catholic liturgy. In Peter’s book supporters have written about the man, Catholic doctrine and the dire future of the Church.

Ray Baraclough faces the difficult question of why so many believe God is responsible for earthquakes, epilepsy and global warming. Why is a loving God so cruel?
We have reviewed both books in this edition, and I will chair a community conversation with both authors in Maleny on March 17 (see p.32-33).

My email inbox gets busier each month and I am sorry if an item you expected to see didn’t make it this time. Let me urge anyone with a personal, business or community story to let us know as early as possible in the month. Our deadline is always the 25th of the month for stories, and we’ll always do our best to fit you in. After that date is usually impossible.

Enjoy the March edition and if you feel like commenting on a story, please go to our website which, I am delighted to say, is now attracting more and more attention from readers around the world.
( www.hinterlandtimes.com.au ).

Michael Berry

“To be recognised by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, and to be named as young citizen of the year is an honour.

“I suppose that for the next year I can set an example for other young people to start standing up and taking roles in our community. My role will be continuing to be a voice for young people and the Indigenous community of the traditional Gubbi Gubbi people. I will be involved in cultural discussion papers, sitting on the cultural board of the Noosa Biosphere, and be a voice there for the things I hear from other young people, for what needs to be happening here on the Sunshine Coast.

“I’m employed by an organisation called Interactive Community Planning where I develop programs, projects, events around employment and training, self determination and identity. I coordinate a young women’s business program at Nambour High School. I just connect with the young girls there and build a relationship with them and create a space and find comfort with that.
“As a young person I have faced a lot of hardships and obstacles and have been in some very dark places. I was in a head-on car collision in 2007 and doctors thought I would die, and certainly never walk again. That period of my life revealed what is important; that we have only one life and one time, and the time is now to start trying to create a future for my children and build a better community.

“I was brought up in contemporary times in a modern day Australia. So, I am walking in two worlds, having to have respect and stay connected to my traditional aboriginal heritage, but knowing that I live in modern times where things are very different.”

Ukraine-born pianist, Yvgeny Ukhanov takes a bow at the opening of the Lucas Parklands new entertainment space on February 27.

THE THUNDERING rain stopped one evening at the end of February to allow a grand opening of the wonderful new music centre at Lucas Parklands in Montville.

Ian and Lee Lucas have made their music venue a dream come true and the opening concert was a stunning sign, if one were needed, that high musical culture on the Hinterland is here to stay.

To celebrate the 200th birthday of Frederick Chopin, Ukraine-born Maestro, Yvgeny Ukhanov played choice Chopin sonatas, at times pairing with cellist, and head of strings at the University of Queensland Gwyn Roberts.

Oliver She, a young Chinese third year music student at UQ astonished the audience of more than 200 keen concert goers with his own mastery of Chopin.

One of the highlights of this stimulating evening’s entertainment was when Gwyn Roberts persuaded Ian Lucas to sit at his beautiful flame mahogany Steinway grand. With Gwyn on cello they improvised around the film theme, The Deerhunter, the haunting piece by Stanley Myers.

Unwilling to let these talented musicians go home, encores were insisted from both Ukhanov and She who delivered blistering performances of Rakmaninov and Lizst.
Looking at his music space filled to capacity simply by word of mouth, Ian Lucas told his audience he now wanted a bigger room. For details of future concerts email: lucasparklands@bigpond.com

Three heads are better than one - Fig Creative team: IT specialist Nathan Arrowsmith, graphic designer Adrian Anderson and head of marketing, Jennifer Perri - taking online strategy to Blackall Range businesses.

MALENY-BASED Fig Creative specialises in online strategy and brand management for businesses. This group of marketers, web designers and IT specialists has now created a suite of training programs to further help their clients get maximum leverage from the Internet.

Fig’s head of marketing is Jennifer Perri and she told the Hinterland Times what her clients will gain from the new training workshops.

“What we’re finding is that businesses want their website to be at the top in Google when people search for their products and services.

What we’ve set up is a series of workshops where our clients and their staff can get an insight into the world of doing business online.

Social media is an area that I don’t think many businesses have embraced yet because they don’t understand it. Things like Twitter, Facebook and blogging can all be automated but people don’t know that can happen.

Many people have great industry specific information but they don’t know how to get that onto their websites and how to get it out into the marketplace.
So we’re looking at building people’s understanding over time of what can be done and then giving them the skills to be able to do it themselves.

Our workshops are designed for business owners, and include a free introductory session. This is then followed by an advanced session including hands-on training.

We have a range of online products for businesses of all sizes, from a simple online business card style website, to many more advanced options, including websites you can update yourself and shopping cart websites.”

The next workshop on March 16 is on email marketing, followed in April by social media networking.
To make a booking for Fig’s workshops, or for more information, visit www.figcreative.com.au or phone 0400 771 143.

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.”

“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

The Housing Industry Association -CSR Queensland Housing Awards are eagerly contested from regional builders throughout the state. Regarded as Queensland’s highest accolade for building design and site position, the Grandview Homes win was for the open category for all builders with unlimited budgets.

The winning entry is called The Harvard and it comes from Grandview Homes stable of award-winning designs. It was chosen by the owners in Flaxton as the best use of their hinterland acreage and its street appeal.

The winning house scored the highest against all criteria and the judges said “the workmanship was very good, and a step up from flawless. Given the site costs, this home represents good value for money and is very competitive in its category”.

The landscaping for the winning property was by Alexander Landscapes and according to the home owners the on-site judges spent as much time outside the house admiring the landscaping as they did inside.

Grandview Homes managing director, Scott Harrison said he was honoured to receive such high praise and he commended his staff, contractors and suppliers for their high standards of performance.