Maleny Cooperatives

Brief

Kamala Alister writes:
Maleny is situated 100 kilometers north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Australia. It is surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, has stunning views of the Glass House Mountains, and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. It has a population of over 7,000 people. And it is a cooperative place.

Maleny has a long history of cooperative enterprise. On the 3rd May 1903, settlers started the first dairy cooperative in the region, the Maleny Cooperative Dairy Association. During its lifetime, it built 3 butter factories. In the 1940?s, the community got together to build the Maleny Under 5?s Centre Kindergarten in one weekend.

Today Maleny has seven legally incorporated cooperatives and an even greater number of similar social enterprises, which work in most areas of community life. These include: a consumers’ coop, a cooperative bank, a cooperative club, a workers’ coop, a cashless trading coop, a cooperative radio station, a cooperative film society, 4 environmental coops, and several community settlement coops.