It was 30 years ago and only for a term that Phil Giffard was a councillor for Tamborine Mountain but his legacy lives on.
The 95-year-old became an accidental and reluctant representative of the people just three years after he and his wife, Pam, moved to the mountain from the Gold Coast.
“We came here in 1991 from the Gold Coast,” he said.
“We were immediately made welcome and felt at home. It was the first time I’d been involved in a community because work commitments prevented me.
“I realised the locality was at risk from unsuitable and incompatible development.”
After writing numerous letters to the Tamborine Mountain News, one day the editor asked him to write a column.
As the 1994 election came around locals suggested he run.
“I was not a people person; I was an introverted engineer,” he shared.
Pam sat down with a piece of paper with the pros and cons, and it was decided he should give it a go.
His appointment coincided with the Council putting together the development control plan and Phil was instrumental in facilitating the input of various groups and the community.
“The aim was to protect the values of the locality for the long term for residents and tourists. That didn’t mean stop development it meant different development.
“The plan took four years. It set the form of what Tamborine Mountain now is. The trick is because the main roads don’t go through the residential areas.”
However, Phil said the State Government has since moved to standardise planning schemes which didn’t suit the uniqueness of mountain and coincided with the previous Council coming into power.
“The mountain is an asset that has to be protected. It has such inherent value for tourists and residents that those values have to be protected,” Phil said.
“People like the feel of the place but then want to convert it into where they came from, but after a while most understand the values for what they are.”
He said the mountain is already densely populated and to cover it with houses would be a sad loss.
After leaving the council Phil and Pam settled properly into retirement and enjoyed travelling until Pam suffered an accident 13 years ago and Phil became her carer.
Four years ago, Pam passed away, leaving Phil a widow after 64 years of marriage.
“My daughter said I became dysfunctional for a while,” he shared.
The former electrical engineer’s ambition to protect his home remains strong and he’s reinvigorated towards public life, including fighting the Kidd St development as it currently stands.
“I came out of it (the Council) quite a different person to when I went in. I’d learnt to communicate with people,” he revealed.
