Village’s identity crisis

By Paul Pickering
KNOX City Council has heard an impassioned plea from Ferntree Gully villagers who say the area is suffering from a suburban identity crisis.
In the hours preceding the council’s first meeting of the year, community organisation Friends of Ferntree Gully Village (FFGV) enlisted the support of Dobson Ward councillor Karen Orpen in their bid to revitalise the forgotten alcove of the foothills.
Newly elected FFGV president John Silcot says his town’s displacement from main roads makes it easy to overlook, both geographically and politically.
Mr Silcot believes that, at the very least, the town needs upgraded gateway and road signage to direct people to the shopping precinct.
His concerns, raised at the council’s public question time, were endorsed by Cr Orpen who urged her colleagues to reconsider the issue which was first raised in March 2006.
“It is the only shopping centre in Knox without main road frontage,” she said, “it’s a special place that needs some assistance.”
Cr Orpen said she shared Mr Silcot’s embarrassment with road signage, suggesting that the sign on Dorset Road belonged in Ferntree Gully’s Ambleside historical collection.
In Tuesday 23 January’s meeting, councillors said the council would have to consult VicRoads about the signs.
Mr Silcot said he believed the area’s inadequate signage was an apt metaphor for the community’s decreased visibility.
“People don’t know the difference between Upper Gully and Ferntree Gully,” he said, “it’s very much a cul-de-sac.”
In his formal letter to Knox CEO Graeme Emonson, Mr Silcot expressed the need for new signs to promote trade, identity and community spirit within the Ferntree Gully Village.
Mr Silcot is urging traders and residents of the foothills to support FFGV’s push to revamp the town.
“Everybody’s got a soft spot in their heart for Ferntree Gully, everybody knows it,” he said, “but they’ve never been here.”