Emotional response to amalgamation no surprise to USQ Professor

While some have been surprised by the strength of the response to the amalgamation of Queensland councils, it has come as little shock to USQ Professor Grace Pretty.

Professor Pretty, who has been working for years with various rural communities in Queensland said that research demonstrates how place of residence can become important to people.

'This is through psychological processes of place identity, place attachment and place dependence,' she said.

'While these processes are social, and associated with our relationships to family and friends in our immediate living environment, the actual physical landscapes of our everyday environments can also play a role.

'For some residents, threats to physical boundaries of landscapes become threats to personal identities, attachments and dependencies on those landscapes for physical, mental and economic well-being.'

Professor Pretty added that a change in surroundings could also affect the way in which people saw themselves, which is a further reason why she says there has been such an emotional response to the amalgamations.

'For some people, change in significant characteristics of their living environment threatens deeply held personal identity.

'Often a person is not consciously aware of this until the threat of loss occurs.

'They miss the landscape that has deep meaning of who they are, how they see themselves and their abilities to cope with everyday life stresses.'

In particular, Professor Pretty’s research on the Darling Downs had yielded interesting results.

'In the research, which had participants ranging from 101 to 12 years old, it was not only the elderly people with histories in particular areas that were sensitive to changes in the local environment,' she said.

'Young adolescents also talked of missing open spaces, parks and private green hideaways when urban development, or moves from the bush, disrupted their every day lives.'

As councils and communities across Queensland come to terms with the amalgamation, Professor Pretty said that people would continue to protest.

'Not everyone will be convinced by economic and infrastructure reasons for changes in environment,' she said.

'Change does not come easy – especially when it threatens identity.'