Nambour may have seen better days but it didn’t need saving, according to a local businessman who says people were inclined to take the town’s strengths for granted.  

Day and Grimes Real Estate agent Ian Black told the Nambour Chamber of Commerce AGM (November 25) that Nambour was still the centre of the Sunshine Coast hinterland and had plenty going for it.

“One of the things that is striking, at the moment, is the trend to try to come up with new ideas to reinvent Nambour. Funnily enough, I think Nambour doesn’t need reinvention. It will reinvent itself in time. What we need to focus on is what Nambour does now, and does well. And that is to provide services to the hinterland.”

Mr Black said people who drove up Currie Street — with more than its fair share of empty shops — might get the wrong impression of Nambour. “That (empty Currie St shops) is an issue that is sadly going to be with us for a long time as Nambour transitions,” he said.

Despite this Mr Black said Nambour’s redeeming strength was as a business centre for people of the hinterland. 

“If we can let people know that you can park in the CBD, once, and you can do your grocery shopping. You can go to do the banking. You can go to a doctor. You can go to the chemist and you can do any number of services and access any number of facilities purely and simply after parking just once. You can not do that anywhere else on the Sunshine Coast.”

Mr Black said while it was not the commercial metropolis that it used to be Nambour had many overarching strengths. “We are like the parents that gave birth to the Coast and now, like most families, the kids are doing better than the parents. And that’s what’s happened to the Coast and that’s why everything’s now happening there,” he said.

“But we have a role to play and we are very importantly positioned to take a lot of people who, if Nambour wasn’t here, would have to drive to Maroochydore to do everything they need to do. And thank heavens, from Maroochydore’s perspective, we are here and we take that load.”

Time to move forward

Chamber of Commerce President Mark Bray agreed. “You make a good point,” he said. “Sometimes Nambour gets caught up in its history, because it was the centre of the Sunshine Coast back in the day. In my view we’ve got to move on while certainly acknowledging the past and while not in any way downplaying its importance. Let’s try to focus on the positives of Nambour, move forward  and stop looking backwards. Let’s focus on Nambour’s existing strengths because we have a wonderful community here.

“There’s been an influx of new people coming to live and around Nambour which will bring a fresh perspective on the town.

“One of the great things about Nambour is that it has a genuine sense of community. People who live in and around Nambour love the town and are very passionate about it.” 

Rail duplication, SEP and tram are
keys to Nambour’s future

Meanwhile Div 10 Cr David Law saw the long-promised rail duplication to Nambour as crucial to the town’s future. But he said he’d been waiting 20 years for it to happen and it was up to the community to put pressure on both levels of government to keep the issue at the forefront of politician’s minds.

“I would encourage you to hold the relevant politicians to account and for all of us to make a lot of noise to get rail duplication to Nambour,” he said. ”I do that each time I see either federal or state representatives.

“It is such a ready-to-go project and it’s not happening because of politics and we’re being let down by that.”

Cr Law said Nambour needed to continue the work that was already happening to activate the CBD such as Reimagine Nambour, the Special Entertainment Precinct and the Tram Project. “Many people are coming to live here, many families, and we need to preserve this community and I’ll do everything I can to help.

“The question is  how we get those people coming to Nambour for things that they might go elsewhere for.”

Cr Law said Nambour’s Special Entertainment Precinct  status would help create local opportunities for cafes, restaurants and entertainment. “A whole bunch of people are working really hard on trying to achieve the entertainment side of that.”

Cr Law said business activity like that seen at Sunshine Coast Pinball,  La Salsa De Vida Mexican restaurant, Arden Dawn, Beach House Hotel & Mort’s Brewery, Stalwart Alehouse and Brewery,  Down Town and many others. 

“There’s a lot of people who are in hospitality and entertainment who, in spite of COVID, have been brave enough to open their doors. They’re hanging in there and they’re doing well, and we need to do all we can to help and support them to do more.”