The idea of The Grove here in the upper Kedron Brook valley suburbs of Upper Kedron Ferny Grove Ferny Hills Arana Hills and Keperra/Grovely emerged through the re-localisation movement:
- realising the need to commit to somewhere to do whatever we can to adapt and prepare this the best place on earth to be for the future in the face of global climate/ financial & food/ water crises overpopulation and resource depletion
- here we are at the edge of Brisbane with a lot of rural and environmental resources close by and the benefits of the city too.
- committing to place matters because it takes time and resources to build and prepare
- frustration with poor resourcing of our local area for resilience
- an urgent desire for the place where we live to be
- meaningly and fun to live locally
- well resourced
- alive
- well-connected
- prepared
- informed and focused
- a realisation that for resilience the geography and ecology of this area is key
- we’re in a big valley (35 square kilometres) surrounded by high hills which are watersheds
- we’re in the upper catchments of Cedar Creek and Kedron Brook and Cabbage Tree Creek.
- five suburbs are nestled closely together in this valley and surrounding low foothills: Arana Hills Ferny Hills Ferny Grove Upper Kedron and Keperra (Grovelly). You could stretch it and include parts of Everton Hills.
- parts of this have a well-established identity as “The Hills” but this is exclusively Ferny Hills Arana Hills and Everton Hills – by failing to include the other three suburbs that cluster together in this valley and foothills area it divides the valley artificially in two with an us-them boundary. Council and Federal electorates aggravate this but the State electorate brings us together.
- this is a growth region especially in the Upper Kedron area so the population centre is swinging more in that direction especially younger families
- Ferny Grove Station marks just about the centre of the area
- how do we all come together as one community undivided? Kedron Brook defines the geography of this region more than any other feature. It is the Kedron Brook watershed that has created the valley the folded foothills. The upper reaches of Cabbage Tree Creek over the low ridge in Ferny Hills/ Arana Hills also needs to be included.
- the valley is bounded at the lower end by the Thompson Range behind Great Western Super Centre at Keperra coming down to Church Rd and then down to the Brook.
- the valley is home to a little over 30 thousand people and studies suggest this size is sufficient to make a community to attract the key resources needed.
- the area is clearly definable and naturally bounded.
- the area is big enough to make it reasonable to seek recognition for it as a ‘node’ deserving of adequate resourcing