Heavenly Beverley : March 2026

"An Inconvenient Truth" was a documentary created by former United States vice-president, Mister Al Gore, with director Davis Guggenheim and producers Laurie David, Lawrence Bender and Lesley Chilcott, designed to educate the world about global warming way back in 2006. This film was a factual response to the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" which vividly illustrated the effects of climate change on ordinary people.

I have borrowed and altered the title of Mister Gore's movie in order to discuss what I believe are some rather Uncomfortable Truths that Must Not Be Spoken About right here in Heavenly Beverley. I will not be talking about life and death for our town's residents, but rather a slow decline in our population and visitors that may see Beverley shrink to an insignificant pimple on the landscape.

First things first. We chose to move to Beverley in January 2011, after the driest year on record. We saw potential in the empty shops, the neglected main street and the generally grey appearance. There were literally clumps of skeleton weed rolling across Vincent Street. Beverley resembled one of those Wild West settlements we see in cowboy movies. Yet, we still fell in love with Beverley and decided to make the town our home.

We then enjoyed a revival of new businesses and general beautification of Vincent Street. We cheered the Beverley Heroic, the Easter Art Prize, the Platform Theatre and the opening of our new Visitors' Centre.

We opened the East End Gallery in part of the Forbes Building in 2014, expending to fill half of the premises in 2016 as well as Michael's completion of his 90 square metre Man Cave. Having sold our original house in 2016, we moved into our brand new home, dubbed 'Station House' (directly behind the Forbes Building) in 2017.

The decline of businesses and empty shops, not to mention the misleading information about the Red Vault Cafe (it is CLOSED, everybody, with no clue about its future), the continuing frustration of the IGA's rigid hours, the lack of support for those initiatives such as the Vincent Street Emporium and the East End Gallery and the haphazard arrangements of manning the Visitors Centre have been particularly apparent over the summer months.

Beverley should be a magnet for both new residents and visitors alike. How many residents have read the plan for the expansion of our town - "Beverley 2035", which is an eighty-five page discussion document aiming for a population growth to two and a half thousand in the Beverley Shire over the next nine years?

I have read this document.

Where are the anticipated new residents going to come from? I would hazard a guess that more than a few of them will arrive from Perth, which is increasingly becoming unaffordable for families, renters and pensioners. What will these new arrivals expect from Beverley? They will expect services that they previously accessed in the metropolitan area.

So, let's take a good hard look at Beverley's services -

the IGA's continual refusal to open Saturday afternoon and part of Sundays and public holidays may ring the death knell for the supermarket. The stock is expensive, limited and may be of poor quality. Visitors complain about this situation to us every week. With Coles now delivering to Beverley and more people using the internet to shop, IGA risks becoming obsolete, unless they change their practices.
Businesses on Vincent Street may consider extending their hours, as well as making sure they adhere to those hours. There is nothing more frustrating to visitors expecting a business to be open, only to discover it isn't...
Public holidays are particularly important days for visitors to Beverley. Some businesses are missing the point. Only this morning, a large contingent of motor bikes arrived outside the Beverley Bakehouse, expecting it to be open. It wasn't...
The Red Vault is causing immense angst. The Red Vault is still listed as OPEN on Google Maps, which is entirely false. The Red Vault in CLOSED and has not been operational since before Christmas, providing no information as to its future. I have asked the Shire of Beverley to contact the owners to ascertain its status. I have heard nothing...
Those businesses that are open on weekends and/or after hours need promotion and support by the Shire. The Beverley Dome Roadhouse (located on the corner of Hunt Road and Vincent Street) provides a seven-day-a- week destination for food, groceries and fuel. The Vincent Street Emporium is a charming enterprise for clothes, gifts, the quirky and the unusual. And the East End Gallery opens every weekend, often later than our publicised 5pm closure time.

I am now going to throw in some questions specifically for local residents. When was the last time you patronised the East End Gallery on a weekend? When was the last time you brought family or friends into the East End Gallery? And for those residents who have, what do you consider the value of the East End Gallery to Beverley?

When we moved to Beverley, the Shire workers seemed to take great pride in their work. Now, I believe that is not the case. I asked for a work order to be enacted almost two weeks ago to clean the litter and debris along Anzac Lane, which comes off Vincent Street and is regularly used by residents and visitors accessing the public toilets. This work has not been done...

I am tired of complaining (in writing) about the rubbish, the skeleton weed infestation and the dead and dying trees and plants in the Vincent Street precinct. We have taken to hand watering our garden in front of the East End Gallery, so our little patch is green, attractive, flowering and alive.

Outside the East End Gallery - Saturday 28 February...

I have also sent the Shire lists of plants that do well in Wheatbelt conditions, how to tackle boggy areas, and education on the use of water, fertilisers, soil, mulch, soil tonics and sprays. The exposed matting in front of the public toilets is a trip hazard and the use of glyphosate to control weeds between plants has been a disaster. All of which has been met with resounding silence from the Shire.

Vincent Street should be maintained to the highest level of attractiveness in order to bring residents and visitors to town. We are competing with every other small town. I believe Beverley Shire workers need to be 'fit for purpose' for these jobs and receive training and supervision.

There is a perceived shortage of available housing for workers in Beverley. I have approached the Shire about renting our Studio to a single worker or a couple. The chemist next door to us has a one bed-roomed unit sitting empty. Farmers in the Shire have empty houses but are hesitant to rent to workers. I believe if the Shire approached those owners who have empty properties and offered to rent them directly, that arrangement might be more appealing.

The Shire needs to actively explore avenues, such as contacting owners of empty houses, for workers now, whilst we wait for new housing to be built.

The Shire has targeted the creation of a multi-generational facility for Beverley as a priority in "Beverley 2035". This would be funded as a new build sometime in the future. In the meantime, the old Beverley Supermarket building on the corner of Vincent and Forest Streets sits vacant.

The Shire should actively encourage the creation of (at least) a youth centre in the old Supermarket Building. A good start would be to contact the owners, who also own the Red Vault.

I believe all of Beverley's residents need to embrace the future rather than be fearful of it. If Beverley does not move forward in its attitudes, then we risk our town becoming a backwater rather than a rich and vibrant community that welcomes all.