Australian Town Has Unusual Plan to Get People to Move There
2021-10-27
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1The Australian Outback town of Quilpie is home to 800 people.
2The town hoped its offer of free land might draw five new families to the community.
3In less than two weeks, the town has received more than 250 requests for information about the offer from around Australia and other countries around the world.
4The town leaders came up with the idea to deal with a housing shortage.
5The lack of housing made it difficult to fill jobs in the remote area of western Queensland state.
6People who buy land, build a house on it for less than $560,000, and live in it for six months can receive a $9,400 payment, known as a grant.
7A block of land in Quilpie, about 1,000-square meters, sells for around the same amount as the grant.
8It means the town is effectively giving the land away.
9The idea for the grant offer came from Justin Hancock, head of the town council.
10The 30-year-old spent six months in a retirement home when he first arrived in Quilpie this year because of the area's housing shortage.
11Quilpie has recently needed workers in healthcare and education.
12It also needs people who can fix cars and prepare meat and many other kinds of workers.
13Questions about the free land program came from as far away as Britain, India, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
14But home buyers need to be Australian citizens or permanent residents to be a candidate for the grant.
15Hancock said recently that getting five new families to the area would be a big success.
16"To see the interest," he added, "it was a little overwhelming."
17The word overwhelming is used to describe something that is very strong, confusing, or difficult to deal with.
18Real estate prices have increased greatly across much of Australia throughout the coronavirus crisis.
19Lockdowns in the largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and low interest rates have sent people to search for larger homes in smaller towns.
20Most of the interest in coronavirus-free Quilpie has come from the state capital, Brisbane, a city of 2.4 million on the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers to the east.
21But there is also interest from Melbourne, Newcastle, and Western Australia state.
22Both young families and retired people are considering the Quilpie move.
23They have different reasons.
24"People who are coming out of lockdown are saying 'I want wide open spaces,' and we have plenty of that," Hancock said.
25The area that Quilpie is in, known as a shire, covers 68,000 square kilometers.
26Two grants will be received by Quilpie locals, one by council employee Tom Hennessy, 23, and his 24-year-old school teacher fiancée, Tessa McDougall.
27The couple bought a block of land in August.
28"I love Quilpie. It's a great place. Everyone's friendly," Hennessy said.
29Hennessy was born in Quilpie and his fiancée came a year ago from Brisbane.
30I'm John Russell.
1The Australian Outback town of Quilpie is home to 800 people. 2The town hoped its offer of free land might draw five new families to the community. In less than two weeks, the town has received more than 250 requests for information about the offer from around Australia and other countries around the world. 3The town leaders came up with the idea to deal with a housing shortage. The lack of housing made it difficult to fill jobs in the remote area of western Queensland state. 4People who buy land, build a house on it for less than $560,000, and live in it for six months can receive a $9,400 payment, known as a grant. 5A block of land in Quilpie, about 1,000-square meters, sells for around the same amount as the grant. It means the town is effectively giving the land away. 6The idea for the grant offer came from Justin Hancock, head of the town council. The 30-year-old spent six months in a retirement home when he first arrived in Quilpie this year because of the area's housing shortage. 7Quilpie has recently needed workers in healthcare and education. It also needs people who can fix cars and prepare meat and many other kinds of workers. 8Questions about the free land program came from as far away as Britain, India, Hong Kong and New Zealand. But home buyers need to be Australian citizens or permanent residents to be a candidate for the grant. 9Hancock said recently that getting five new families to the area would be a big success. "To see the interest," he added, "it was a little overwhelming." The word overwhelming is used to describe something that is very strong, confusing, or difficult to deal with. 10Real estate prices have increased greatly across much of Australia throughout the coronavirus crisis. Lockdowns in the largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and low interest rates have sent people to search for larger homes in smaller towns. 11Most of the interest in coronavirus-free Quilpie has come from the state capital, Brisbane, a city of 2.4 million on the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers to the east. But there is also interest from Melbourne, Newcastle, and Western Australia state. 12Both young families and retired people are considering the Quilpie move. They have different reasons. 13"People who are coming out of lockdown are saying 'I want wide open spaces,' and we have plenty of that," Hancock said. The area that Quilpie is in, known as a shire, covers 68,000 square kilometers. 14Two grants will be received by Quilpie locals, one by council employee Tom Hennessy, 23, and his 24-year-old school teacher fiancée, Tessa McDougall. The couple bought a block of land in August. 15"I love Quilpie. It's a great place. Everyone's friendly," Hennessy said. 16Hennessy was born in Quilpie and his fiancée came a year ago from Brisbane. 17I'm John Russell. 18Rod McGuirk reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. 19_____________________________________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21council -- n. a group of people who are chosen to make rules, laws, or decisions about something 22resident - n. someone who lives in a particular place 23plenty - pronoun a large number or amount of something - often + of 24fiancée -- n. a woman that a man is engaged to be married to