2014-10-14 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda - Pages 51 - 117

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                               14 OCTOBER 2014


Eumundi is a small rural town with strong links to its heritage. It has good access to the Bruce
Highway and the Northcoast Railway line. Most of the commercial and retail businesses are
focussed on the main street of Memorial Avenue and the twice weekly markets have become
synonymous with the town.

Eumundi has a primary school but high school is usually accessed at Cooroy although students
also attend private schools at Nambour, Peregian Springs and Noosaville.

At the 2011 Census greater Eumundi had a population of 1,388 persons, 28.67% of whom were
under the age of 20 and 12.31% were 65 years or older. The median weekly income is lower in
Eumundi than in the rest of this study area. There were 553 private dwellings and just over 74%
of housing is owner occupied. Most housing consists of separate houses.

Eumundi is a strong community in its own right. Residents have ties with Noosaville and Cooroy
but also with Nambour and other centres. Accessibility to the highway and railway allows
residents to easily access employment and infrastructure in various areas.

Most of Eumundi is within the State electorate of Noosa but the outer extents fall within Nicklin.

Community of Interest

The Regulation makes it clear that one of the critical aspects taken into account when the
Change Commission considers an issue such as this is the question of community of interest.

An assessment has been undertaken by Council staff to determine to what extent a community of
interest exists between the EDV area and the Noosa Council area. Essentially, the question of
community of interest looks at where people engage – their living patterns, shopping patterns,
use of community facilities etc.

The key indicators of an overall community of interest are as follows:-

Access to shopping facilities – From Eumundi, it is 8km to the nearest supermarket (IGA) at
Cooroy while it is 12 km to the supermarket at Yandina. For the area of Eumundi Range, the
convenience of the Cooroy shopping centre is even more pronounced. For the Doonan and
Weyba Downs area, the Noosa Civic and Noosaville shopping precincts are the most convenient
with strong patterns of access to those shopping precincts from residents in those areas.

Access to other business services – The commercial nodes at Noosaville and the Shire Business
Centre are the primary service centres for the northern end of the Sunshine Coast. Professional
services such as accountants, lawyers, architects etc are available in this area and these firms
have service areas which include the EDV area. While there are some local firms providing
these types of services (particularly in Eumundi) the major or specialist types of business
services are situated in the commercial nodes at Noosaville and the Shire Business Centre.

Access to community facilities – Many of Noosa Council’s community facilities are accessed by
residents of the EDV area. This is a strong indicator of where residents of this area go to access
community facilities. For example, each year, the Noosa Council libraries at Cooroy and
Noosaville issue over 65,300 items to residents of the EDV area. There is a higher level of use
for residents in the Doonan area than other areas of EDV. Noosa Council records also indicate
that 140 residents of the EDV area are regular members of the Noosa Aquatic Centre which is
surprising given that Eumundi has its own pool however, that probably reflects the fact that the
NAC is a 50 metre pool and has a number of swimming clubs / groups. There is lower
membership of the Noosa Leisure Centre (only 33 regular members) but there would be a
significant number of other residents who would participate in sports such as basketball, futsal
etc as members of clubs and teams.


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