Australian Town Has Unusual Plan to Get People to Move There

Australian Town Has Unusual Plan to Get People to Move There

The Australian Outback town of Quilpie is home to 800 people.

The town hoped its offer of free land might draw five new families to the community. In less than two weeks, the town has received more than 250 requests for information about the offer from around Australia and other countries around the world.

The town leaders came up with the idea to deal with a housing shortage¹. The lack of housing made it difficult to fill jobs in the remote area of western Queensland state.

People who buy land, build a house on it for less than $560,000, and live in it for six months can receive a $9,400 payment, known as a grant.

A block of land in Quilpie, about 1,000-square meters, sells for around the same amount as the grant. It means the town is effectively giving the land away.

The idea for the grant offer came from Justin Hancock, head of the town council. The 30-year-old spent six months in a retirement² home when he first arrived in Quilpie this year because of the area's housing shortage.

Quilpie has recently needed workers in healthcare and education. It also needs people who can fix cars and prepare meat and many other kinds of workers.

Questions about the free land program came from as far away as Britain, India, Hong Kong and New Zealand. But home buyers need to be Australian citizens or permanent residents to be a candidate for the grant.

Hancock said recently that getting five new families to the area would be a big success. "To see the interest," he added, "it was a little overwhelming³." The word overwhelming is used to describe something that is very strong, confusing, or difficult to deal with.

Real estate prices have increased greatly across much of Australia throughout the coronavirus crisis⁴. Lockdowns in the largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and low interest rates have sent people to search for larger homes in smaller towns.

Most of the interest in coronavirus-free Quilpie has come from the state capital, Brisbane, a city of 2.4 million on the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers to the east. But there is also interest from Melbourne, Newcastle, and Western Australia state.

Both young families and retired⁵ people are considering the Quilpie move. They have different reasons.

"People who are coming out of lockdown are saying ‘I want wide open spaces,' and we have plenty of that," Hancock said. The area that Quilpie is in, known as a shire, covers 68,000 square kilometers.

Two grants will be received by Quilpie locals, one by council employee Tom Hennessy, 23, and his 24-year-old school teacher fiancée, Tessa McDougall. The couple bought a block of land in August.

"I love Quilpie. It's a great place. Everyone's friendly," Hennessy said.

Hennessy was born in Quilpie and his fiancée came a year ago from Brisbane.

Words in This Story

council -- n. a group of people who are chosen to make rules, laws, or decisions about something

resident – n. someone who lives in a particular place

plenty – pronoun a large number or amount of something — often + of

fiancée -- n. a woman that a man is engaged to be married to

1 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

2 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

3 overwhelming   

adj.势不可挡的，压倒的，无法抵抗的

参考例句：

• The flood was overwhelming and the city was soon drowned.洪水来势凶猛，很快这个城市就被淹没了。
• The act was adopted by an overwhelming majority.该法案以压倒多数通过。

4 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。