DRiVe Malanda - Sustainable Malanda

A 21st century model for a rural village in transition

Developing an innovative strategy for a product, industry, town or region is a hard task even during the best of times.

The Malanda Township began in the early 20th century as a place of hardy pioneers, facing an uncertain future in an unfamiliar landscape.

In recent years, Malanda town and surrounding areas have experienced more than their fair share of challenges: with Wet Tropics World Heritage Listing in 1988 resulting in the protection of our world class forests at the expense of employment in the timber industry; the deregulation of the Dairy Industry in 1999 causing many farmers to leave the industry and the local milk factory to scale down employment; Tropical Cyclone Larry in 2006 causing widespread damage to properties and farms; the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 reducing tourism in the region; and then Tropical Cyclone Yasi in 2011 causing more damage.

These events coupled with the uncertainty associated with a changing climate, the increasing costs of fuel and an unstable global economy find Malanda residents, along with many other rural communities challenged and concerned about their future.

However, a group of concerned Malanda citizens undaunted by the task of revitalising the area got together in 2009 as part of the Regional Council’s Town Plan consultation process, to brainstorm how to increase community prosperity and enhance economic diversification. They recognised that in spite of the difficulties, the area had exceptional environmental amenity and strong community cohesion.

In 2010, the group expanded and decided to keep working together under the name Sustainable Malanda, and with funding from the Queensland Government’s Building Rural Communities Fund through Blueprint for the Bush, undertook the role of investigating opportunities for the region that are practical and feasible and would, while diversifying economic risk, also help maintain the strong community spirit and unique environmental qualities which are prized by its citizens and the envy of visitors.

Sustainable Malanda, has brainstormed, analysed, commenced strategic planning and gathered other stakeholders from the area to develop this Scoping Document as a first step toward its primary goal: the creation of a model for economic reinvigoration of a rural town in the 21st Century.

The process has been lively and inclusive, involving up to 100 stakeholders in meetings and workshops, and has resulted in Transitional Strategies, objectives, action plans and a new name – Dynamic Rural Village (DRiVe) Malanda as a vision for future.