Ask a local where they live, and the answer is Tamborine Mountain. Ask a lowlander heading up here for a break in our cool semi-rural ambience, and the answer is – probably again – Tamborine Mountain.

And almost everybody would know exactly where they mean. It is our iconic town, almost entirely on the plateau. As its important assets, it includes the Witches Falls, Knoll, Joalah and Palm Grove parts of Tamborine National Park. These are only accessible from the plateau, and spill over the edges.
But to a potential visitor looking at a map, or a planning bureaucrat bound by what the document actually says, their conclusions could be quite different. “Tamborine Mountain” could have several different interpretations. The first is obviously the geographic Tamborine Mountain. Then there are the plateau and escarpment area, originally defined in the early Development Control Plans. For something really odd, look at the area defined in the Growth Management Strategy.
But then Council went too far with Item 11 of a batch of twenty planning amendments proposed in 2022. It depicted a Tamborine Mountain community sprawling from the eastern and northern Shire boundaries, to the back fences of Tamborine Village and Canungra, and even reached Mundoolun Connection Road.
Going even further, it completely obliterated any recognition of our plateau township. That carefully planned entity within its escarpments houses 20% of the Shire’s population. Inevitably, it has its own problems and priorities. Gone at the whim of Council managers. That was just not on, and objections from many including myself, caused that Amendment to be withdrawn for further consideration.
This difficulty could result in seriously flawed Development Application approvals, and the problem must be resolved. I don’t see that plain “Tamborine Mountain” is viable, due to confusion with the geographic Mount. We must have a name, and it should incorporate “Tamborine Mountain”. In my submission I took the simple way and suggested “Town of Tamborine Mountain” or “Tamborine Mountain Township”. However, those lack some magic and I don’t think either would be regularly used. Then I had an inspiration. It fits, is memorable and raises a smile. Our plateau locality is sometimes referred to as our Island in the Sky. So how about “Tamborine Mountain Island”? I couldn’t take myself seriously, but there must be something suitable out there. Any thoughts?
Phil Giffard