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Quilpie in the Channel Country in SW Queensland has offered to give essentially free blocks of land to people who would move and build a home and a life there. I applaud this town for welcoming people to its community. 

Quilpie Shire Council first introduced its Home Owner Grant two years ago and offered a $12,500 grant for people who buy land and build in the region the same land size as Tasmania.

It now hopes increasing the scheme to $20,000 will boost the town's population by 20 per cent to 1000. 'Our new $20,000 grant will cover most of the price of their land if they build and live on it.' said council chief executive Justin Hancock.

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Quilpie is a tiny Queensland town in the middle of pretty much nowhere, 1000km west of Brisbane and in the heart of The Channel Country. 

" We were the first council in Outback Queensland to introduce such a policy, and it was a huge success – we had interest from all around Australia as well as globally from the US, India and Ireland" he continued. 

Some time ago, I wrote about the Great Dividing Range and how it sits between the city folk and the country folk. I spent 10 years living on the western side. Many more on the eastern side. My heart lies in both. My empathy, however, lies in the west. Where water is scarce and lives are lived in a precarious balance of good rain and no rain. Too much rain and drought. Life is always in the balance.
 
Having driven into Quilpie from the western area of the Channel Country, Quilpie was a hub of activity and a welcome day out. A chance to pass the time of day and enjoy the company of others and stock up on supplies.
 
It is home to some great people. Much like any other community, Quilpie has the odd person who doesn't cut it, but by and large, a good community.
 
One day, I drove into town and the sky was cloaked in a huge scarf of grey and pink. Thousands of galahs were overhead. It was a magnificently beautiful sight and one I shall never forget. If you have never been to the Outback, you will not be able to comprehend the miracle of life that survives, thrives and prospers in what, on face value, is an inhospitable parched environment. The great flocks of budgerigars, Major Mitchell parrots, galahs or even pelicans from time to time. 
 
 
The joy of walking into the hardware store or supermarket and being greeted by your first name, or as was the case in my days there ) walking into a butcher shop that sold mutton and still had sawdust on the floor.  I doubt the sawdust is still there, but the meat is still good from what I gather. 
 
 
The hardware store was friendly. Everywhere and everyone was friendly.
 
 
Some townies from the coast had bought the local bakery and were turning out the best meat pies I have ever eaten and you could get a smile and a laugh for free. I believe it is still as good as it was back in my time there, according to TripAdvisor reviews. I
 
The pub is a modern one as the old one ( I think it was called The Brick ) had burned down. The new one, The Imperial, is still serving up great tucker and the beer is cold.
 
 
My favourite building in Quilpie is the Catholic Church, St Finbarr's. 

" Home to one of Quilpie Shire’s most iconic attractions, St Finbarr’s Church rests on the foundations of an intriguing history.

In 1976, the Priest at the time, Father John Ryan, decided to compliment the opal mining background of the area by commissioning local miner, Des Burton, to install a border of opal around the carving of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

Instead, Des offered the Priest ‘a bit on the wall’. This turned out to be almost an entire wall, which is now installed on St Finbarr’s altar, lectern and baptismal font." source 

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There is a hospital and a GP and, quite frankly it beats the pants off the soulless prisons people call hospitals in the city. It is small, friendly and part of the community.

On the downside, it is hot. Stinking hot. But there are things called air conditioners. Admittedly, it is a long way from the beach, but there is always a waterhole, an air conditioner or a cold beer to sate the soul. And a friendly face to share the heat and grin and say " Yeah, mate. This is Australia. "

It is a town with a history and soul and guts and a sense of humour - attributes undervalued in today's modern cynical and selfish world.

It is a place full of love, spirit and tradition. Old fashioned values and the way things used to be. 

No, it is not for the faint of heart. It is not for people who are terrified of their own shadows and run off to get jabbed with an unproven, un-tested so-called vaccine because the government told them to.

It is not for someone who thinks that freedom means having a haircut at midnight or a trip to the Melbourne Cup. Or a chance to go to have a coffee on a crowded footpath in the middle of a city.

In fact, it is a place that a Townie would probably hate and that is just as well.  Bad attitudes are not welcome in the bush and greenie lefties would be told to piss off back to the city where flocks of migrants are eagerly embraced and a sky painted pink and grey is a sight that they will never see.

They will never understand the joy of seeing the lights of Quilpie on the horizon in the middle of an Outback night; the dance of the Emus as they play chicken in front of an oncoming road train or the wonder of seeing a dust storm roll in like Ayers Rock or the frustration at seeing a well-nurtured garden stripped bare by a plague of locusts.

 

The Great Divide has become even greater these days 

That our Nation is now divided by state lines, mountain ranges and " vaccine " status is a warning sign that we are in danger of a perilous future. 

The dust storm rolling in is a red flag that we need to be very aware of and wary of. 

To be honest, Quilpie may be the type of place that will be seen as a safe haven when the coast is taken over by those who lined up, got the shot and volunteered to be guinea pigs to a New World Order, Great Reset and the destruction of society as a whole.

The more I think about it,  the people of Quilpie are some of the last true blue Aussies in Australia. They still value a good feed, a cold beer and free life. If it means taking a bit of heat, it might keep the townies out.

Living in the real Outback of Australia is like confronting yourself with yourself. Seeing yourself for who you are. It is like meeting yourself as a stranger and wondering if you will like that person. 

 I doubt that many greenies or lefties would much care for themselves if they had to meet themselves face to face. 

The man in the mirror is often not at all the person we think we are.

For myself, I stand by what I said in an earlier article when talking about a man from the Channel Country.

"I will never forget the days I spent with him.  On that red and foreign planet ( because to me it was another planet ) where he seemed to move between a rock and a tree and know exactly where he was. "

People in the real bush, the Outback, know exactly who they are and where they are. The towns in the bush offer so much - if only people could see or would see what is on offer. 

Unlike so many people these days who don't seem to have a bloody clue. 

Personally, having met and lived with the people from the Outback, I would take Quilpie over Melbourne any day of the week. Because in the small outback towns, people still laugh and live life.  You know. that thing we used to call living. Not existing.  

There are plenty of similar places to Quilpie in the outback, taking a loop from Quilpie to Charleville up to Blackall to Alpha, to Muttaburra over to Winton and out to Boulia and down to Birdsville back to Bedourie and back through to Longreach and all the towns in between.
 

They don't put up with rubbish and they don't suffer fools. 

At least, in Quilpie, you still have the right to shoot a feral pig.

 Please watch this video - we should never forget what happened. 

 To look for current job vacancies

https://www.outbackqueenslandjobs.com.au/

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