Not sure if my column in the paper is now going to be Saturday or
Mondays. Anyway the below aspiration was in todays paper. Hope you find
it interesting and feel free to comment.
The horse came to a brief stop its chest heaving after the series of
jumps, the rider pressed his knees in tighter and with a little urging
the four bar high jump with water trap on the other side widens in the
horses eyes.
The ex-Olympian rider, now teacher, leans forward in the saddle as the
horse clears the jump and water hazard. The attentive secondary school
girls are impressed. The Rockhampton Girls Grammar School Equestrian
class was gaining an international reputation and following,
particularly out of Asia. Justifying the brave entrepreneurial decision
the school board took several years beforehand to co-develop an
equestrian residential community at Hedlow.
The strategy was to develop an international standard equestrian centre
to attract more students, both nationally and internationally. By
making the equestrian centre the hub of an acreage residential estate
the costs and profits of the development could be shared amongst the
financiers of the project. Hedlow was identified as an ideal site, its
picturesque beauty, volcanic plugs, lake and creeks made it ideal for an
acreage lifestyle along with the planned horse trails, walking and
cycling tracks.
The Bruce Highway by-pass of Rockhampton and the improvements to the
Greenlakes Road, now the major route into Yeppoon and Byfield also made
the acreage blocks attractive to buyers, despite the must own horse
covenant. The spin-offs from the Equestrian Centre was not only an
increase in student numbers at Rockhampton Girls Grammar School, but the
centre was hosting show jumping events, holiday classes and tourists
wanting to explore the Hedlow district on horseback. Land set aside for
boutique horse related businesses and accommodation was now seeing
construction taking place. The CQ University Australia Rockhampton
campus was also benefiting from enrolments in the new Bachelor of Equine
Science Degree and their access to the Centre. The Capricorn Regional
Council was also busy with applications for more residential development
along Greenlakes Road, remaining sensitive to Hedlow’s unique eco
riches and potential.
This aspiration can happen if we make it happen. Our future is not to
see but to create. Do nothing and what will CQ be like after the
resource boom? We need to show how CQ can continue to make a significant
contribution to the state and nations economy after the boom.
Justifying the major infrastructure investment required now to help make
CQ the region we aspire to.