Glenwood residents frustrated as rapidly growing region stagnates

No water, no sewerage, and hundreds of people sharing a single public toilet - this is the situation in a regional town just north of Brisbane, where infrastructure has fallen off a cliff. Watch the video

On Anzac Day 2022, more than 400 people turned out in Glenwood for the town’s touching service.

There was an unfortunate problem though: they had to share a single public toilet.

Now residents of the township say the stainless steel unisex bowl is an example of a wider problem engulfing the sprawling, rapidly growing rural residential township nestled on the Bruce Hwy between Gympie and Maryborough.

The story of the town is clear in the numbers.

Census data shows between 2016-2021, Glenwood’s population grew 39 per cent, from 1535 to 2137.

The number of children aged from 0-19 living in the town rose from 241 to 325 in the same period.

This was compared to the total populations of Tiaro and Bauple in 2021, which were 778 and 745.

The growth was reflected in the massive surge in house values.

Realestate.com figures show the median house price in Glenwood rose from $215,000 in July 2018, to $460,000 in June 2023.

Deborah Clarke said Glenwood’s community oval only had one unisex toilet, with community groups forced to hire portaloos for events and cater for crowds of hundreds of people.

Despite these changes, residents say there was “discontent” over governments at all levels failing to keep up with the town’s needs since the 2009 amalgamations, when the small Tiaro Shire Council was swallowed by the Fraser Coast Regional Council.

Kevin and Deborah Clarke are part of a group of frustrated residents fighting for improvements to their town.

The Fraser Coast council collects almost $3 million a year in rates from Glenwood, Mrs Clarke said.

“We get nothing,” she said, noting she accepted at the time of moving to the town it had no access to water or sewerage services.

Glenwood’s community oval was a prime example.

She said a small outdated playground had been torn down, but no replacement was ever installed.

“What playground? … we don’t have anything,” she said.

“The kids are ignored here, absolutely ignored.”

Then there was the lone community toilet at the park (which Mrs Clarke said took almost 16 years of fighting to secure) and the lack of lighting at the oval too.

Residents of Glenwood said an outdated small playground for children had been torn down, but no replacement ever installed despite the number of youth aged 0-19 in the region rising from 241 to 325 from 2016 to 2021.

Mrs Clarke said a community church group which ran events for children was forced to park their vehicles on the grass and rely on their headlights for illumination.

The shortfall of services was a hurdle the Glenwood Community Resilience Network was being forced to overcome in its efforts to drive the town forward.

In the wake of criticism following the delivery of the 2023 budget, Fraser Coast council defended its decisions around Glenwood’s services.

It said it was working to develop the town, with a masterplan to guide that development in the works.

Residents have been left asking why this plan was not done years ago.

Another resident and father, who wished to remain anonymous, said their desires were simple.

“A lot of us don’t even want bitumen roads,” he said.

The population of Glenwood, which sprawls across 52sq km between Gympie and Maryborough, has increased by 39 per cent from 2016 to 2021 and the median house price has jumped from $215,000 to $460,000.

“What we want is bus shelters for the kids, playgrounds and recreational areas.

“At present there were only three shelters in the township, which is spread across more than 50sq km, and so “the buses stop wherever they pick up and drop the kids off.”

This was an accident waiting to happen.

“There is plenty of bloody traffic coming up and down Arborten (Rd) and you’ve got a bus pulling up with little kids,” the father said.

“There’s a lot of impatient people that don’t wait so they’re overtaking buses on hills, so you can’t see traffic coming down,” he said.

The town’s school was more than 1km down the Bruce Hwy, meaning it was dangerous for children to ride their bikes there.

Kevin Clarke said there needed to be a sense of urgency to fix the town’s shortfalls.

“In the next five years this place is going to flourish, when that highway comes through,” he said.

“But they’re still treating us like we’re in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

“It’s the gateway to the Fraser Coast, let’s face it,” Mrs Clarke said.