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The outback village of Quilpie from the air
Photo: Leon O'Neil / dpa
The Australian outback settlement Quilpie is in the middle of nowhere - surrounded by red earth and sparse vegetation. The municipal council had a special idea to attract urgently needed workers: It decided without further ado to provide plots of land free of charge - if interested parties agreed to build a house on the 1,000 square meter property and live there for at least six months. The vague hope: at least a few families would move to the remote village in the south of Queensland. But then the authorities were overwhelmed by inquiries.
Local media recently reported that more than 250 applicants from Australia, but also from Great Britain, New Zealand, India and Hong Kong had applied within just under two weeks.
However, only Australian citizens and residents of Australia would be eligible for the A $ 12,500 grant, it said.
"To see this interest was overwhelming"
Investors had also got in touch, as well as bricklayers, craftsmen and painters who were looking for work and wanted to help with the construction of the houses, the broadcaster ABC quoted Justin Hancock, who had the idea for the initiative.
“It would have been a huge success for us if we could get five families to move to the area.
But to see this interest was overwhelming. "
There are currently around ten job offers in Quilpie, from bank clerks to waiter, said Mayor Stuart Mackenzie.
"We need people who want to work here in the region, but we don't have enough houses to accommodate them."
The rush is mainly explained by the rise in real estate prices during the corona pandemic in large parts of Australia - triggered by record low interest rates and the long lockdowns in the largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
Most of the inquiries came from the metropolis of Brisbane, which is almost 1000 kilometers to the east, which shows that many Australians are now looking for affordable housing in smaller cities.
bam / dpa
