The Branxholm Welcome

It is the experience of many people moving to small country towns in Tasmania that they feel unwelcome. This Blog describes our Branxholm small town welcome and tries to make sense of it.

Not your traditional country welcome?

When city residents think of country hospitality, they may imagine friendly smiles and neighbours offering cups of tea and plates of scones. But our small town welcome was not community scones!

Rather, our welcome consisted of acts of petty vandalism and malicious gossip, which over the years escalated to major criminal acts with traumatising psychological impact.

The chaos of moving house

If you have ever moved house, then you know it can be stressful and chaotic. And, to make matters worse, I had to be away for work when we were moving in to our new house and property. It was an extraordinary cold August in 2001 and Graham faced most of the unpacking on his own. In fact, over 24 years on, some of our cupboards have never really been organised!

Branxholm small-town welcome takes it to the next level

Almost immediately our feet hit the ground in Branxholm strange things started happening on our property. (I may be remembering these things in order of impact and creativity, rather than chronological order.)

The first two weeks

It was a freezing-cold winter. I remember the cold well, because all the firewood on our back verandah was stolen. The daily rain, made it difficult to find dry firewood for our fire-place in the house. So, the house remained cold and I still shiver at the thought!

The small rain water tank supplying our house was emptied. So we had to buy a pump to get water up from the river. We endured strict water rationing for many months. In the following years, access to water was to become a major weapon in the hands of those who wanted us to leave.

We coudn’t get our TV to work. Oh, of course — the attenna wires had been cut. (I’m surprised they didn’t cut our phone line while they were at it…)

Our flush toilet stopped working. Investigations revealed more vandalism. A box of washing powder had been poured into the toilet of an unlocked shed on the property. Of course, the result was almost complete destruction of our septic system.

Then, our neighbour’s dairy herd from across the river invited themselves into our paddocks and back yard. I imagined our neighbours standing on the hill across the river laughing themselves senseless watching us desperately trying to get the cows back over the river! Our fence along the river had been vandalised, with every second picket pulled out. The electric-fence unit had been broken open and badly damaged, too.

And that was just the first two weeks!

Other Branxholm experiences

In later years we learned of other newly arrived residents having similar experiences. Mostly they had road-kill thrown under their house or–in one case–thrown on their roof. They also received the cold-shoulder and general unfriendliness from the usual suspects. But a common theme in response to any complaints about these welcoming acts was, why don’t you leave, then?

The Traditional Branxholm Welcome

By a strange coincidence, we randomly met a retired policeman, when on holiday at Cradle Mountain. This gentleman, with a distinctive Welsh accent, had lived in Branxholm in the 1980’s. So this lead to a conversation about Branxholm. When I told him about the mysterious vandalism happening on our property, he laughed and told us this was the traditional Branxholm welcome! He seemed surprised that it was still happening. Apparently certain families (he named them) were involved. His wife had been so unhappy in Branxholm that they had moved away!

Traditional Branxholm Welcome verified

By yet another random coincidence, a beautiful friend, who was a home carer, phoned us over ten years ago. She described a strange conversation she had had with an unwell older woman from Branxholm. Apparently this older woman told our friend about one of her proudest moments. We got them! were her words–implying that she had been involved in the harm done to our family. Coincidentally the older woman was from the family mentioned above.

But we must be a failed project–because we are still here!

Other small-town welcome experiences – we are not Robinson Crusoe!

I guess it’s good to know that our experience is not unique.

A recent study into the experience of people moving into small towns revealed some disturbing trends.

Dr Saleena Ham (Adjunct Research Fellow in Rural Sociology at the University of Southern Queenlsand) said during an ABC radio interview:

I’m receiving emails from people across all of the states, crying out with deep loneliness, at the hostility they’ve experienced in small towns, they felt it was hard to fit in, even when they turned up to volunteer or attend community groups.

Do you remember the time you and your friends started a secret club and didn’t let anyone else join? Well, it’s kind of like that in some small rural communities.

First-hand accounts posted on social media in Tasmania

Although it is easy to find positive comments about moving to Tasmania, I found empathy with the following posts, because they mirror our experience.

Locals see you as an outsider

I’ve got a mixture of friends, international and Australian, but very few are Tasmanians. It’s not on purpose at all, it’s just naturally evolved that way. I’ve found Tasmanians to be very friendly, but they can be a bit reserved. They’ll welcome you and treat you kindly and with respect, but won’t necessarily see you as one of them, and won’t necessarily take the initiative to include you.

A ‘mainlander’ is someone the community doesn’t know. You move here, become active in the community and allow yourself to be welcomed, you become an outlier.

We moved down from Sydney in the mid-eighties to Cygnet. The locals were not very tolerant of these “fucking hippies” “taking over”. Needless to say, school particularly sucked.

Locals are friendly but you definitely aren’t “one of us”…you definitely aren’t in the secret squirrel society.

They are ok if you’re happy with having quick chats here and there when you’re out and about, but try to get too close to the social fabric and they’ll cut you out.

Difficult to make new friends

Been here a year. Really just know my housemate. Could have made a bigger effort to make friends up in Burnie, but I honestly don’t know where to start?

I found everyone to be friendly, and we have made a couple of friends through my partners work place. However, I have found the opportunities to meet people in our age range organically a bit limited.

Please tell me how to make friends here. Everyone talks about community. I see local Tas community with their families etc but I am not included.

I have had so many people help and support me in my journey in Tasmania. Most of the people I’ve met are kind, but there’s a lack of openness here too, probably due to everyone knowing everyone and a fear of gossip being spread. It’s difficult to make deep connections.

You might “join local sports clubs you will meet a lot of people”. Yeah right!!! if 3/4 of the members went to the same high school, they’d still give you the “look” who are you type thing. Bt I do have a few good friends, note: all of them either moved from the mainland/overseas or those locals that have travelled to many different countries.

Tight knit communities don’t always welcome newcomers

Traditionally, most people have viewed tight-knit communities as a positive force – but that is not always the case. In fact a tight knit community may be insular, stagnant in belief and not open to new people, who may be viewed as outsiders no matter how long they live there.

Perhaps there is a fear of change? We’ve always done it this way, and new people may threaten the status quo. We own the history here. There can be resentment when newcomers presume to interpret the region’s history. We have our families and friends, and we don’t need new people to join in.

Gossip is a deadly tool used to exclude newcomers

Small communities often rely of word-of-mouth, leading to quick judgment or rumours about new people before they have had a chance to integrate. Many rumours are based on partial truths, misinterpretations and lies. And, once gossip takes root, its effects can be devastating.

Perhaps bullying and gossip is one of the reasons why smart young people are one of our region’s major exports?

Our experience of toxic gossip

In our case gossip has lead to people we have never met, having a negative opinion of us. Tragically, this extended to our son being bullied and excluded at school and prevented him from joining sporting groups. Even after leaving school, one of his mates warned him not to volunteer (Firefighter or Emergency Services) because the same bullies would be after him.

Even new people arriving in Branxholm have apparently been warned to stear clear of us. It is remarkable how long-lived the toxic rumours are and how so many people seem to know more about us than we do! I can only speculate about the rumours, but they may go along the lines of:

They stole the town’s water. You need a gold pass to go up to their place. They stop children accessing the river. They create chaos in the community. Everyone in the town hates them.

But given the severity of our shunning, some rumours must be far worse!

A friendly neighbour who arrived in Branxholm more recently admitted that she had been warned about us. However, she wouldn’t say why or who told her! Fortunately she didn’t believe whatever it was…

But the gossip appears to be part of the secret squirrel society. So, we are bemused and left guessing.

The emotional toll from the Traditional Branxholm Welcome

The physical shunning and whispered rumours have isolated our family–leaving us generally angry with members of our community. We don’t know what the narative is, or how to change people’s perceptions.

Some of the consequences of the toxic gossip included:

• Local Tradies refused to work with us
• A few locals parked covertly at the top of our property to spy on us–apparently to catch us out in wrong-doings (recent admissions by a few people)
• Local residents stayed away from our Tourism business launch and still refuse to attend any functions held on our property
• and so many more petty acts that seem comical and childish now.

We have a constant fear of being judged or misunderstood. So it is easy to keep to ourselves, to not become invested in community events and to just enjoy the peace and beauty of where we live!

The Branxholm Welcome – a call for compassion and kindness

Fortunately small towns do evolve–including Branxholm! There has been a turnover of residents. New groups are forming. Although we are still deeply affected by what happened to us, we are noticing a better more positive dynamic in our town.

At least, the Traditional Branxholm Welcome is dead now!

Read more…

I found some good reads while I was writing this Blog, and you may enjoy them too:

• The toxicity of gossip within community settings, Jussica Sweazley (2024)
• Why do small rural communities often shun newcomers, even when they need them? Misha Ketchell (The Conversation, ed, 2023)

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