I came to live in Port a couple of years ago and it wasn’t long before I became intrigued with a quaint and quirky local folk custom, or so I thought. Every day when I walked from my unit, whatever direction I walked in, within ten minutes I was sure to stumble across a mattress on the footpath. Not always just one, but sometimes two, three and so on.
I have observed strange local customs around the world in societies both primitive and advanced, and this looked awfully like some kind of offering to the local spirits or gods. Then I discovered that not only mattresses were offered but sometimes there would be couches and cabinets, televisions and computers, just about anything really, but nearly always a mattress or two. No wonder there are so many bedding retailers in this town. Sometimes they stay there for days, sometimes weeks, even months, getting sodden with rain and shabbier by the day. Then mysteriously they would disappear – apparently accepted by the appeased deity. But alas, soon to be replaced by yet another scruffy offering. In fact, it is an on-going perpetual offering.
Now, as I take my tongue firmly from my cheek, let me say that if this was done in the Brisbane suburb I came from, the offender would be hit by a hefty fine – except for the annual clean-up of that suburb when everyone could clean out their old furniture, but then you wouldn’t see any again until the next year.
This town is in a beautiful, natural setting and it could be stunning if the citizens showed some aesthetic appreciation of their surroundings and kept it clean and attractive. Doesn’t the local council operate a public rubbish dump, and if so, shouldn’t they enforce the use of it? The local elections are coming soon and I will vote in them for the first time, but I would like to know which candidates will promise to clean up this otherwise glorious town.
Once a year the country has a ‘Clean-up Australia Day’ which is a bit of a joke, when Port needs one 365 times a year.
Mick Fauntleroy
Port Macquarie
