CO-OP NEWS
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Aug/Sep 2007

So Long And Thanks For All The Co-Ops!
By Maple Street Co-Op Director, Peter Pamment

On Saturday 30 June the Maleny community came together to give our co-op queen, Jill Jordan, a rousing send off and to thank her for her significant contribution to the Maleny community over the past 30 years.
Those present heard stories of how she facilitated and assisted the community develop many ventures, especially the Maleny co-operatives, including our own Maple Street Co-op, formed in late 1979.

Jill first came to Maleny in August 1970. She wanted to escape the 'rat race', and found Maleny attractive. Land prices were reasonable, the land was green and beautiful, and the spirits welcoming and warm. The newcomers were often misunderstood by the locals and known as the 'hippie drop-outs', whilst being envied by their city colleagues for having the guts to break away.
As Jill said on Australian Story (ABC, 2001): "After I'd been living up here for about a year, I sat on a knoll up at the top of the valley up here. It's a funny thing to say, but I swear that the land spoke to me and said, 'You need other people here to help you look after this.' And it was at that stage that I decided that I would form a community."

As we know now, Jill did more than just build a community at Frog's Hollow - she helped build the whole community of Maleny and the co-operatives to service and supply the needs of the rapidly-expanding population of newcomers looking for a better quality of life.

The co-ops, like Maple Street Co-op, the Maleny Credit Union, LETS and the Maleny Enterprise Centre, added to the community by supplying quality food, financial and business services and, most importantly, many part-time jobs and the associated skills for personal development.

Jill's passion is embodied in a holistic set of values that have held firm during her time in Maleny. Jill believes that we need to live more lightly on the earth, and that the co-operative movement, with its strong community principles, is the best way to organise all social and business enterprise. In a nutshell: 'people and environment before excessive profits'.

The seven co-operative principles - 1. Voluntary and Open Membership; 2. Democratic Member Control; 3. Member Economic Participation; 4. Autonomy and Independence; 5. Education, Training and Information; 6. Co-operation among Co-operatives; and 7. Concern for Community, means that leadership within our Maleny co-operatives is more about roles than power bases and hierarchies, something Jill has helped us develop into a fine art.
What most impressed both locals and newcomers was Jill's energy and passion as a community activist - a real 'doer'.

A Sagittarian born in the Chinese year of the Rooster, Jill was always rushing around, networking and motivating people to be more proactive, organising groups and events. What really drove Jill was the process, involving people and having fun doing it.

As we know, you can't always predict or force an outcome on a resilient community.

Sometimes she was too far ahead of the collective spirit and the process would stall, then she would gracefully backtrack and bide her time until the community or new people came along to embrace the idea or concept.
While many of us use the local co-ops Jill has been involved with, some are unaware of Jill's involvement as a community and co-operative activist around the last two co-operative principles. Jill and a few other locals were active in the Co-operative Community Council, which organised 'co-op education weekends' to promote the Co-operative Principles, share stories, skills and ideas around the local co-ops.

These education weekends enabled people to better understand how to become involved in the co-ops as management, staff or directors. The Co-operative Community Council was also active in working with the Queensland Co-operative Registry to develop the upgraded Co-operative Act. The Council's lobbying lead to changes in membership rules of the current Act, such as minimum numbers of members, to better reflect the requirements of Worker and Community Settlement Co-ops.

Another of Jill's goals has been to practice what she preaches. She was driving a small car, living in a simple dwelling and spreading the environmental message from her first days in Maleny. "Reduce, reuse and recycle" and the Wastebusters co-op were her way of life.

Walking up Maple Street with Jill, picking up all the rubbish as she went, could be an enlightening moment in anyone's life! She was calling on the Maleny organisations to undertake triple-bottom-line reporting, and supported ecological sustainable development from the early 1990s.

Now, with the rest of the general community catching up, it's up to the younger members of our community and members of the Maleny co-ops to lead the way.
Jill has left Maleny for the film boom town of Bowen, to look after her aged father Jack. I am sure she will miss her busy lifestyle and friends here in Maleny, as much as we will miss her. She will be coming back every three months or so for business meetings, so we can catch up with her at these times. Jill's diary was always full, with extra notes written down the side margins. Now it may be a little more sparse, with entries like "take Jack for a swim at Horseshoe Bay" or "hair cut for Jack".

Lets hope the busy bits on her trips back to Maleny include things like "dinner at The Upfront Club" and "must remember to go to Maple Street Co-op to buy some..." - and 'LETS' hope Bowen appreciates her as much as we do.
Thanks Jill!

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", August/September 2007; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au, website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]