Gnome and Away

THEY tend to do local government differently in the Borough.

When the smaller councils in our region were amalgamated into the mega City of Greater Geelong council in the early ’90s Queenscliffe held out and remained its own entity. The Borough defiantly retains the “e” at the end of it’s name.

And now they are arresting garden gnomes.

You might think the smallest local government in Victoria — covering 36sq km — would have sympathy for the small in stature decorative figures. But you’d be wrong.

The Borough are taking a zero tolerance approach to the spontaneous depositing of gnomes on roundabouts in Point Lonsdale.

They have sent in the “gnome police” — council workers — to seize the Point Lonsdale six.

Just like the police when they hit a suspect with all possible charges (known in the force as “a hamburger with the lot”) council has alleged a litany of potential infractions against the placement of the gnomes.

It is an “inappropriate use of a roadway”, they could pose “a traffic hazard” and they might be stolen gnomes.

There will be some who agree with the council and who will see the ceramic statuettes as posing a safety risk and having no business setting up base on a public roundabout.

And then there will be those like the locals in today’s report or the onlookers who apparently shouted, “shame, shame”, as the gnomes were apprehended by a council worker.

They see this as a joyless crackdown on something a bit different, something otherwise adding a bit of brightness and levity to people’s days and to an otherwise pretty dull and barren roundabout.

We live in an era where people (particularly in the public sector) are a little overboard about safety. They can overestimate just how risky a given situation can be, they can be overly cautious and they can be overly fearful about the operation of the law.

Sometimes a little fun is just a little fun.