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Rain min 12° - max 23° Are we really hillbillies?
Published 12:00a.m. 18th May 2008
Updated 10:43a.m. 19th May 2008
Is that the sound of banjos duelling or cultures clashing?
Claims that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sees his old stomping ground as Deliverance country have outraged some Sunshine Coast residents but found supporters among others.
One-time Labor PM-elect Mark Latham wrote in a Financial Review column last Thursday that Mr Rudd was fond of saying “once you leave Brisbane and cross the Pine Rivers you can hear the sound of banjo music” – a reference to the banjo-guitar-duelling scene from the disturbing 1972 film Deliverance.
It prompted the question: Was the former Nambour schoolboy really suggesting the Sunshine Coast is some sort of nest of what Americans call “crackers” or “peckerwoods”?
One blogger on thedaily.com.au who agreed with our Kev said there were many uneducated or poorly educated “narrow-minded hillbillies” on the Coast.
Another wrote: “Sounds like a fair comment to me ... you just need to walk around any shopping centre at the weekend on the coast to see the ‘great unwashed’ dragging their banjos.”
A reader from Alexandra Headland said that six months after moving here, their family was already planning to leave: “To say that this place is like something out of the deliverance is so true! There's more culture in a container of yogurt than the Sunshine Coast.”
But others reckon Mr Rudd was way off the mark and suggest there are other places far more deserving of the Deliverance comparison – including Tamworth and Wyong in NSW and the Riverland in South Australia.
Trevor Thompson of Yandina wrote: “Lived all of my 60 plus years here in the Sunshine Coast, travelled extensively, noticed and experienced other cultures, and you know what? I wouldn't live anywhere else. For those recent blow-ins who winge about our culture, it's not us that has to change it's you. Like it or leave.”
Nationals leader and Wide Bay MP Warren Truss believes Mr Rudd should apologise.
“This is an astonishing comment for a man born north of Brisbane, in Nambour, to make,” he said.
“If correct, he is suggesting that the majority of people living in Queensland are just like the duelling banjo-plucking hillbillies from the famous scene in Deliverance.”
Mr Latham claims he heard the comment made during many meetings and discussions with Mr Rudd in 2003 and ’04.
Mr Latham’s previous claims about Mr Rudd have largely “been on the money”, Mr Truss said.
“(And) Labor has plenty of form on this sort of bush-bashing. Paul Keating (former PM) used to say, ‘if you’re not living in Sydney you’re just camping out’.”
So the question is: did he or didn’t he?
“It is a ridiculous and laughable claim,” Mr Rudd’s senior press secretary, Lachlan Harris, said yesterday.
When we asked “well, did he or didn’t he”, he gave the same answer.
No one else, including Mr Truss, has fared any better.
“Mr Rudd was three times given the chance to deny making the comments which strongly suggest he thinks that more than two million Queenslanders are uneducated banjo-playing hillbillies,” the Nationals leader said.
“In each answer Mr Rudd claimed he ‘didn’t even understand the reference’. It is also not a denial and certainly not an apology.
“If Mr Rudd has made these comments then he is a disgraceful elitist.”
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Recent Comments
You have to wonder don't you...the whole QLD Labour Party apparently thinks that there is no intelligent life outside Brisbane. Sort of like when the First Fleet arrived in Australia and declared that the country was uninhabited...terra nullius ! That's us.
If he did say this, sure it was a sledge against the rest of us, but it could have also been a tactical comment made in jest as he was being jibed about where he came from. Who really thinks the party powerbrokers at the time (namely, Mark "Who?") would have given a rural-entrant into politics much credit or favour ?
Let's face it, for decades we've been seen as the Gold Coast's poor, under-educated, un-cultured, talentless, second-rate cousins anyway. Time to get thick skin and let Mark "Who ?" slip off into the never never (to be heard of again !), I reckon. What about you, Billy-Bob ?
Where they hide for the rest of the week is a mystery but shuffling around shopping malls seem like their prime cultural activity.
They are the ones shouting at their kids called Jayden, Kayden, Tyler and Britney.
Come on, you all know it's true! No one moves to the Sunshine Coast for the culture.
Maybe it's because of all the rugby league players?
Anyway, it doesn't upset me. I'm just going to ignore it and sit on my verandah playing my banjo.
I just see this area very differently - after having travelled interstate and abroad and worked in various regions of Queensland including Brisbane.
I love the place. The lifestyle, the people, the places ... (hmmm, do I have to say "the paper" to get this printed ? :))
Each to their own, but let's not forget to be able to laugh at ourselves.
Life is too short to take seriously all the time - its not like you're going to get out of it alive anyway :)
I wonder if the Nambour school is where he learned to speak in Beaurocratic Automaton Jargonese. Is that on the curriculum in Nambour.
Riddle us another Ruddle Kevin.
I am always amazed seeing the barefoot hillbillies do everything from grocery shop to putting petrol in their cars. It has made me wonder, "Where's the banjo?"
To talk about the under-educated people here is also bang on. I am also a believer in good and bad in every part of the world, and that we can all move forward and improve by taking the good from other places and learning from the bad. When we've tried to show people about some of the good things we brought with us, it wasn't met with warm reception. It is almost as if people here are offended by a foreigner coming to 'their country', and trying to being new ideas in....
Mr.Rudd has every right to freely speak his mind. For one thing, he's actually lived in this area...so he has as much right as any other local to speak his mind.
In my opinion, no apologies are needed. If people are offended by this, they ought to take note that it isn't only Mr. Rudd who thinks this way, and do something about it.
Now that I am living in Auckland, believe me, there are plenty of banjo players over here too :-)
We apparently have a problem with hoards of people wanting to live here. The least you could do is move on and make room for them.
There'll be no watermelon pit spittin' in his direction from up here. He was happy enough to claim his humble beginnings as a platform whilst at the same time using it as a doormat.
Next time the good old boy visits we'll treat him politely...and them make him squeal like a pig.
Besides, this is small cheese to what he will end up doing to all of Australia - we should be so lucky if we get off this lightly>
Just a case of sour grapes from a guy who unraveled like a ball of string once the pressure was applied.
Trevor Thompson
Yandina
There are things I don't like about the coast compared to Sydney or even Brisbane but when I weigh it up I don't want to live anywhere else.
The name of the yacht that helped with the sea rescue off the coast today was named.....Deliverance!
Maybe we are wearing our hearts on our sleeves? maybe we are just a bit too sensitive??
I must confess I think the people of the entire sunshine coast over rate the area .. I"ve lived pretty much along the entire Eastern Seaboard ( well at least, from Rocky to Merimubla - and you know what?? they all have their pro's and cons .
I once asked a tourism officiando )(who so fulsomely praised the coast as the only place in the world to be _ what the Sunshine Coast had, that other places such as the mid north ocast, the south coast the far south coast didnt have.
His answer??? ( and this from a man who knows tourism and his area) ..
" Well - we have the beaches and the hinterland"
It made me wonder how the tourism industry manages to survive with that kind of intelligence ..
He was a bit taken aback when I told him the entire east coast of australia has "the beaches and the hinterland... all the way from cape york to bloody Dandenong!
Then I asked him why he was vehemently opposed ot Theme Parks ..
His Answer ?
"We dont want people coming here to go to theme parks!"
um Hello????? people are what makes the tourism industry tick ... and, to a great extent, the economy!!
I do despair for that kind of thinking .. and this man was in Mooloolaba -- not Nambour!!
but poor old kevvy Rudd he's not the brightest lamp in the showroom -- and Im sure he's still trying to understand why the Chinese leaders paid little heed to him on his recent visit there..
How do you say " who is this upstart" in Mandarin??
I've never really thought about the cultural merits of any place I've lived. What I read, the movies I watch, theatre I see, music I enjoy, conversations I have and food I eat is completely up to me. Where I live has never really had any impact on my cultural life.
In a place as big as the Sunshine Coast, if you can't find like minded people to hang out with (and sit around discussing how culturally superior you are to the rest of us) then I reckon you're just not trying!
As for our Kev - I bet he did say it - most people I know crack gags about the town they grew up in....big deal.
In the meantime, for those rushing away from the Sunshine Coast - I'm sorry you haven't had a good time here - but don't be too hard on us....we're not so bad.
I like a lot of that hillbilly music. Especially that Cajun and Zydeco stuff from the mississippi delta and the Louisiana swamps.
Ashley Robinson wants to put nude cyclist colonies on all of our swampy canelands. Why not an Everglades Swamp Deliverance themepark. We are good at digging canals and lakes. And we have lots of swampy canelands. PERFECT !
Call it "consumerism" or "selfishness" or even "self interested".
To deny the Coast its culture is to deny the "charm" it has. Did I say charm? I meant shallowness.
The culture here on the coast is exactly as you put it - filled with consumerism and selfishness. I think you've got to add the fact that part of the charm here is the absolute resistance to change.
I often hear "You're from Americer..."
Well, I am not from "Americer..."
And, for the record...It's pronounced AMERICA...not AmericER.
The resistance to change is to disuade 'newcomers' from settling and staying into this 'culture'.....I've come here with open arms to those I meet and ready to experience a new way of life. I consider myself to be an extrovert, never having to try to hard to socialize and make new friends but have found myself feeling like I am trying to break into a tough crowd....very much, it is like being accepted by a colony...and so yes, the Deliverance does indeed fit the bill....banjo players and all.
Yes there are a lot of shallow people on the Coast. You can pick them a mile off. They're the ones who are constantly saying that everyone else around them is shallow.
On the flip side my wife (from Smellbourne) has continuously bagged the Coast for not having any culture. I too had to use the Caboolture Yoghurt reply and quickly grew tired of all the negativity.
The shoeless hillbillies do exist and mainly come out to play in Nambour every second Thursday.
In Brisbane I had never been subjected to some of the eye openers that I have regularly seen in Nambouring.
Eg. At Nambour Plaza an 8 monthish pregnant woman with a cigarette hanging off of her bottom lip, screaming "shut up you little F***ing ****! " at the small crying baby cradled in her arms. ;
But then culturally on the flip side you have things like the Noosa Long weekend or Opera in the Park.
In Brisbane it was Woodridge , in Melbourne it's Broadmeadows but just maybe Kevin Rudd gets it, Education is the key to lifting the standard whether it be Tasmania or Gympie or Toorak.
At the end of the day all of the differing social classes poke fun at each other.
Just hope that you're not being listened to by some "tell all political has been" who can still get an editorial ear !
At the Quad Park Hoedown we could have entertainment from Big Billy-bob from Boreen on the Harmonica and Krudd on his banjo playing a version of....wait for it....Way down up on the Swannee River!! (guest vocals from Wayne)Oh dear I crack me up!!!!
I have plenty of mates here dude, I get on with most people I meet.
However, if you wish to deny the plastic people and their plastic persona that dwell in this area; fine. Bury your head in the sand. It is prevalent, growing and like any good monster it keeps getting stronger.
Take a look around. Road rage and general traffic behaviour, the prosperity driven land hungry capitalism make me rich atmosphere in this community is very real. And the sad thing is, it seems to come at no cost and as long as it makes someone wealthy, then we celebrate them for it.
I feel sorry for the Nambour people (lived there myself for a few years) and how they get judged. I find Maroochydore and Mooloolaba have just as many hillbillies but more of the plastic generation than Nambour
But you wouldnt know anything about that now would you?
Why should we care if this wannabe feels the need to keep himself in the spotlight by making claims such as this?
If you don't like the Sunshine Coast - LEAVE! We don't want you here and we need to decrease the population anyway, so here's your big chance - get out and stay out!
To all those who complain about us having no culture, you can go and see your plays and sip your wine and try and tell everyone how knowledgeable you are and how much you've seen the world and how amazing it and you are. I'll be happy in the knowledge that I have my family and friends close by and that we are well and happy.
Perhaps you could quote us a few examples of regions or cities where the people are much "nicer" and how, in your experience, they go about being so much nicer than us. We might be able to learn from your collective wisdom.
Anyone been to 'Bats' theatre lately?
Yeah the coast IS a cultural wasteland but you'll need a crowbar to get me out of here after a couple of decades.
Can't wait for the high point of my year now...the Nambour show.
They are the ones who are cultured, and wise enough to admit to their environment.
Every area's got their downside, and people who live there know it. It is only those who suffer from hubris that look foolish.
Every place on earth has it's good points and bad points. Choosing to live in any articular place is really only a matter of personal preference. If you don't like it here there are plenty of other places where you can live.
I have no vested interest in the Sunshine Coast to give me any level of "hubris". I have only lived here for a few years. I was born and lived most of my life in Sydney while frequently travelling the world for business.
I have visited your ex home of AMERICA - not AmericER - many times and received a great deal of my post graduate education there. Every place I visited had its good point and its bad.
I prefer living on the Sunshine Coast and I'm happy to make allowances for some of the things which are missing here. Some of Australia's most highly educated, successful and cultured people also choose to live here. Not to mention some of the Worlds friendliest people. I don't know who you mix with.
I include Brisvagas in my cultural backyard as its 'only' a quick trip down the road to the ballet, theatre or whatever fix you can't get here.
And if Bris is still your cultural backwater, your backyard could stretch all the way to New York or London or Mars.
I'm confused now. Maybe the Labour Party is correct in Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd's assessments of us. Its a shame that they wait until they have been elected to government to tell us what they think of us. There was no talk of this before the Federal election was there?
Hillbillies are generally good people might not agree on many things but that doesn't matter. Most would agree despite the faults (no Turkish Pizza or Turkish sausage with which to make your own), it's a great area to live. Kevin can have Brisbane as much as he wants and say whatever he likes about the Sunshine Coast, it wouldn't change the enjoyment of living up here.
Go to bed earlier, I say, instead of spending so much time at 'gallery openings' and 'first nights'.
The early surf waits for no one-cultured or otherwise!
Everyone stop what they are doing and buy a CD by 'Bela Fleck & the flecktones'.
Banjos are great instruments that require allot of talent to play well.
Have fun
Conservative politicians?
Chris Cummins?
Mayor Alison Degrossi?
Fair go mate.
And I love how you manage to bring up religion again. And just how many hillbillies do you know on a personal level Jason?
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