looking forward to 2030 Draft for comment introduction The Sunshine Coast’s first community plan October 2010, which was attended by a wide documents our community’s vision, values range of community representatives and and aspirations for the next 20 years. stakeholders. It recognises that we are community of What emerged from this process was an communities and acknowledges and respects agreement to the Sunshine Coast becoming our unique environment, our rich heritage, Australia’s most sustainable region. Along our diverse people and our shared values. with the realisation that to become more sustainable we must protect our precious The plan is a strategic document that sets the natural assets and lifestyle, build our context for the development and growth of economy, create a fairer society and seize our region, the protection of our ecosystems, new opportunities as they arise. improvements to our infrastructure and supports the wellbeing of our people. The community appreciates that there are difficult choices and major debates ahead as This plan has been facilitated by the Sunshine we try and balance economic development, Coast Council. It details elements of our environmental protection and a more lifestyle that the community wants to see equitable society. Crucially our community preserved and the big issues which need to has also made it clear that it wants to be addressed going forward. As such its key participate and its voice to be heard in these messages need to be carefully considered by future debates. all decision makers across the region in the development of their strategic plans. Council would like to thank everyone who has participated in the development of this plan. Preparing the plan has involved reviewing We look forward to continuing community regional issues and input from local residents. input and engagement in the development of All consultation has been undertaken in line the region. with council’s community engagement policy. It began with an extensive analysis Images and captions in this plan have been of feedback obtained over the last five years contributed by local people through the from previous research and community Zooming into 2030 photographic project consultation activities. and as feedback on the draft plan. Further information was derived from an independent survey of 800 people and a two day community conference held in Image from Community Conference October 2010. “I hope in 2030 we still have a place to play in our neighbourhood” Contents Indigenous history 2 Changing our thinking 15 The early Europeans 3 Retaining our lifestyle 16 The 20th century 4 Managing growth 17 Becoming the Sunshine Coast 5 Becoming ecologically sustainable 18 Recent developments 6 Developing our economy 19 Lessons from the past 7 Ensuring social cohesion 20 The region today 8 Being connected 21 Big issues for the future 10 Tapping into our creativity 22 Our vision 11 Sustainability indicators 23 A community of communities 12 Areas for improvement 24 Our values 13 Next steps 25 Our principles 14 Council’s response 27 Sunshine Coast Community Plan 1 Image courtesy of Megan Gill Indigenous history Our region’s development and industry are The coming of Europeans changed the relatively recent but our Aboriginal history lives of the traditional owners forever. dates back many thousands of years and Following the establishment of the penal evidence of that time remains with us today. colony in Redcliffe in 1824 it is estimated that up to 3,000 Aboriginal people died as a The Sunshine Coast is rich in Indigenous result of the expansion of white settlement heritage, with numerous sites steeped in into the region. cultural significance and a long oral history which is still very much alive today. Today the Indigenous community on the Sunshine Coast includes Traditional Owners, The Gubbi Gubbi people lived along the coast South Sea Islanders and historical Aboriginal and inland on the adjacent ranges while the peoples. The South Sea Islanders were Jinibara people lived in the south western brought here in the early days of European parts of the region. settlement and forced to work on farms. These people had an excellent knowledge of Most of the historical Aboriginal peoples the land, and they hunted the ranges, fished have moved into the area since 1965 when the rivers and lakes, and gathered seafood the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander from the ocean for many thousands of years. Act repealed previous laws dating from 1897 which had restricted Indigenous people’s The Gubbi Gubbi and Jinibara walked the rights to own land, travel and vote. country in family groups coming together when food was plentiful. Probably the most significant and largest of these social gatherings were the Bunya festivals in the Blackall Ranges where people from all over the region and beyond gathered to sing and dance, exchange the news, settle “In 2030 disputes, arrange marriages and undertake I hope that initiation ceremonies. we celebrate our rich and diverse Tribal boundaries were marked by rivers and mountain ranges and a number of major cultures.” trading routes past though the Sunshine Coast. Today many Aboriginal words are still used to describe parts of our region’s geography and landscape. These include Cooroy, place of the grey forest possum, Nambour which comes from the Gubbi Gubbi name for the red flowering grevillea, Beerwah which means eagle, and Bli Bli which refers to the flying fox. 2 Sunshine Coast Community Plan Image courtesy of Corrie Wright. the early Europeans Lieutenant James Cook observed the peaks His nephew, novelist Vance Palmer, wrote of the Glass House Mountains from his ship of the early days of settlement in his classic The Endeavour in 1770. He named them after novel The Passage. the furnace cones of the glass factories in his Signs of the region’s agricultural potential native Yorkshire, which they resembled. began to emerge in the late 1860s, and in Some 29 years later, Matthew Flinders 1876 the first sugar mill was established conducted a survey of the Glass House in Buderim. In the decades that followed, Mountains from the summit of Mt Buderim farmers turned to large-scale Beerburrum. fruit production. The first Europeans to live on the Sunshine To the north, the discovery of gold in Gympie Coast were drawn to the region’s abundant in 1867 provided a significant catalyst for timber and grazing potential. By the mid 19th the development of Tewantin and Noosa. Century, almost all the land in the vicinity The road connecting Brisbane to Gympie of the Eumundi district formed part of three was completed in 1868 and by November of cattle runs. that year, Cobb & Co. coaches were carrying passengers, mail, goods and gold between the The Mooloolah River mouth and harbour two centres. were surveyed and charted in 1861 and Tom Petrie explored the region in the early 1860s. Bankfoot House a heritage residence set in The first settlers came to Landsborough a the Glass House Mountains, and now owned decade later. In 1875, the first house was by Council was built as an accommodation constructed at Caloundra by Robert Bulcock. stop for coaches travelling the old Gympie Road. “In 2030 I hope that there is still a viable, commercial fishing fleet operating from Mooloolaba Harbour.” Sunshine Coast Community Plan 3 Image courtesy of Bill Sanderson. Caption courtesy of Joanne Henebery. the 20th century The development of the Brisbane to Gympie The region’s population grew throughout the railway in the late 1800s had a significant 1930s as roads improved and automobiles impact on development and settlement became more reliable and affordable. patterns. It opened up the hinterland and There has always been a strong nature spawned the railway towns of Beerburrum, preservation and conservation movement Beerwah, Mooloolah, Nambour, Yandina, in the region advocating the protection Cooroy, Pomona and Cooran. of natural areas and the enlargement of The establishment of the Moreton Central conservation tenures. The original rainforest Sugar Mill in 1897 saw Nambour emerge as a areas of the Noosa National Park were centre of industry and business. gazetted in 1930 and since then other national parks have been established in the Around the turn of the century the dairy region including Kondallilla Falls in 1945, industry became dominant in the Kenilworth the Mooloolah River National Park in 1960, and Belli areas and agriculture had begun the Great Sandy Park in 1971 and the Glass to thrive on the Blackall Range. Mapleton House Mountains in 1994. had become a leading citrus producing area by the early 1900s and citrus orchards and World War Two brought an influx of pineapple farms covered the plateau at Australian and American armed services Montville. In the decades that followed, this personnel to Caloundra and Bribie Island, while the beaches from Noosa to Caloundra area became known for macadamia nuts and hosted a series of military camps to guard avocados as well as its dairy industry. our coastline from attack. On the coast, the sale of residential After the war there was a building boom allotments in 1908 marked the beginning on the coast, with the well-heeled from of the development of Maroochydore as a surrounding areas building fibro shacks in seaside resort. prime beachfront positions to use as holiday Coolum had also become home to a number homes. The real breakthrough for tourism of settlers and between 1922 and 1925, the however arrived with the completion of the first genuinely trafficable road providing David Low Way from Maroochydore to Noosa vehicle access from Coolum to Yandina was in 1959. constructed. Cane farming provided the main The opening of the Maroochy Airport in 1961 source of financial stability in this area until marked another major milestone for the the advent of tourism in the 1960s.