Tecoma is a quiet town in the Dandenong Ranges 40km east of Melbourne.

More than two thousand residents live in the area, which is characterised by its protected parklands and National Parks. 

In 2011 McDonald’s lodged a planning application for a 24-hour outlet with drive-thru in Tecoma, which elicited a record number of written objections from local residents to the shire council. 

The 1,170 objections raised concerns relating to traffic, litter, noise, crime, impact on existing local businesses, schools, parklands, the demolition of the historic Hazel Vale Dairy building and the development not befitting the character of the area.

The Shire Yarra Ranges Council unanimously rejected the proposal, only to have their decision overruled by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, who deemed the overwhelming objections of the local community “irrelevant”. 

The residents of Tecoma refused to accept the development and launched a remarkable grassroots campaign, which spread across the world, involving thousands of people and hundreds of Gnomes. 

Tecoma, “the little town that roared”, made itself an international cause. Here’s an example article on CNN.

My involvement

Around October 17th, 2012 I was working in real estate, and had just completed a sales appraisal at a property in Boronia. I had the radio on 3AW, and a caller called in sounding very distressed. She outlined how the community had come together to create a community garden on a vacant site in Tecoma, and now the police had arrived and were trying to evict the protestors who were “sitting in” at the garden. It sounded interesting, I had some time, so I figured I would go up and take a look at what was going on.

As I pulled into the carpark at the rear of the site (in my c-class Mercedes and wearing a suit), a couple of the protestors approached my car. As I got out, they angrily demanded to know of me “Are you Maccas lawyer?”. WTF? “No, I am a real estate agent.” I said without giving it another thought. This just seemed to agitate them more, as they thought I had something to do with the garden site. I quickly explained that I had nothing to do with anything, I was just here to see what was going on, and they calmed down a bit after that.

There were perhaps 50 people there at that stage, but more were arriving as time went on. As the caller had suggested, there were a couple of police on site as well, and a fencing contractor who had been called to erect fencing around the site. It emerged that the site owner was also in attendance. There was a lot of shouting going on, and it was clear that the protestors weren’t going to allow the contractors to install the remaining temporary fence, and the police were overwhelmed by the number of people there.

In an effort to calm things down, the police asked to borrow one of the protestor’s loud hailers. He then explained that everyone in attendance was trespassing, and the land owner was requesting that everyone leave the site.

The protestors were making it clear that they weren’t going anywhere. The land owner was becoming more agitated with the police, demanding they “do their job”. The police said “look around you mate, there’s two of us and too many of them”. That’s when the land owner asked to speak directly to the protestors. As he raised the loud hailer to his mouth, I watched intently to see which way he would go. Would he try reason, common sense? He did no such thing. He essentially called them all trespassers and was very rude and aggressive. Things got a little heated, the fence guys realised there was little chance of them completing their work, and they left. Soon afterwards the police left too.

It had been an exciting afternoon. I had never been part of such an event before, and so I began talking to people, getting an understanding of what was happening. I discovered a very kind and welcoming community of people. Each of them had different concerns. Some were worried about rubbish, some were concerned about traffic, others simply hated US multinationals. All of them had their reasons, none of the reasons seemed invalid. I asked how I could keep in contact, and it was immediately apparent that there were as many different “sub groups” as there were opinions.

am proI walked away thinking about all of this, and decided that I could help. I would build a website. One central place for all of the information to be collated and shared. That website became Burger Off. I am proud of the contribution I made, and was honored when approached by the National Library of Australia to include the site in its official archives. Visit burgeroff.org using Trove.

The Age Article featuring me

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/kill-threat-probe-over-mcdonalds-tecoma-protest-20130731-2qygu.html

Timeline

Early 2011

Project Launch

The Tecoma Village Action Group was sent 1,170 written objections to the Yarra Ranges Council. The objections included concerns about increased traffic and rubbish, as well as the impacts on established local businesses.

October 11, 2011

Council rejects proposal

The council met at a specially-hired reception centre for a vote on the development of a McDonald’s restaurant on the Burwood Highway, near the intersection of Sandells Road. About 650 people turned out to hear the decision and record their objections. The council unanimously rejected the proposal, prompting McDonald’s to take its plans to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a review.

October 10, 2012

VCAT overturns decision

A year later, VCAT overturned the council’s decision, allowing the development to proceed. VCAT concluded that the problems identified in the submissions are “not so significant that they cannot be managed through permit conditions and final design solutions”. It placed a number of conditions on the development, including landscaping and paint colours in line with the surroundings. The full decision is here.

October 14, 2012

Community garden created

Local residents gathered at the site, planting a community garden to protest against VCAT’s decision. They began a 24-hour-a-day vigil at the garden until police intervened in November. Protesters began writing to the Yarra Ranges Council, calling for it to appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court.

October 23, 2012

Council rejects appeal

The council voted against pursuing action in the Supreme Court, six councillors to three, ruling it would not be a responsible way to spend ratepayers’ money.

November 9, 2012

Police raid garden

Police intervened at the protest site, clearing out tents and the community garden.

November 15, 2012

Meeting with Minister

Residents held a meeting with the Planning Minister, Matthew Guy to express their concerns. They asked him to put planning overlays in place in the Dandenong Ranges to prevent similar developments in the future. The protest group Burger Off says McDonald’s declined his offer to meet its representatives.

December 11, 2012

Petition tabled

A petition containing 3,775 names was tabled in State Parliament. It requested the Legislative Assembly “do everything in its power to provide legislation that will prevent more fast-food chains being built in the Dandenong Ranges”.

March 2, 2013

Community march 1.0

About 3,000 people marched from Belgrave to Tecoma to protest against the development.

July 1, 2013

Roof occupation 1.0

Four protesters began camping on the roof of the old Hazelvale Dairy building to prevent McDonald’s from bulldozing it and others picketed the site outside.

July 3, 2013

Police assault

Police moved in on the protesters.

July 3, 2013

Union support

Unionised construction workers walked off the job at the Tecoma site, citing solidarity with protesters and occupational health and safety concerns.

July 8, 2013

State Cabinet campaign

The protesters moved their message to Melbourne, campaigning outside One Treasury Place where a State Cabinet meeting was taking place.

July 16, 2013

Maccas sues community

McDonald’s began court action against eight members of the group.

July 17, 2013

Court documents served

Members of the broader protest group were served with court documents, ordering them off the site at Tecoma. 

July 28, 2013

Community march 2.0

About 4,000 people take to the streets of Tecoma to protest against McDonald’s and support the so-called Tecoma Eight.

July 28, 2013

Roof occupation 2.0

A lone woman climbs onto the roof. She was replaced later in the week by another woman who stayed on the roof for more than a week.

July 31, 2013

Petition goes viral

The group says more than 61,000 people have joined its online petitions against the development.

August 6, 2013

Massive police raid

About 50 police moved onto the site before dawn. They arrested the woman who was camped on the roof and allowed contractors to resume work. There have now been nine arrests since the protests began but the opponents have vowed to fight on.

August 7, 2013

Demolition begins

Work to demolish the old Hazelvale Dairy, Saffron Cottage and Hippie Haven began.

August 21, 2013 

More cops

Police charged a tenth protester, a 56-year-old man, accused of pushing a security guard in front of a truck.

August 27, 2013

Tecoma eight in court

The Tecoma Eight face court in Melbourne saying they object to being singled out by the company.

September 17, 2013

International press

Four of the protesters flew to Chicago, the global home of McDonald’s, to present their online petition to the company’s chief executive, Don Thompson. They took out a full-page advertisement in the Chicago Tribune newspaper and placed 30 inflatable kangaroos at the front of a McDonald’s restaurant in the city.

October 29, 2013

SLAP lawsuit fizzles

McDonald’s agreed to drop its legal action against the eight protesters.

November 22, 2013

Flash mob

Protesters staged a flash mob at a Melbourne comedy show.

January 30, 2014

Picket knitters rock!

The “Picket Knitters” unveil an 11-metre long knitted banner at the McDonald’s site.

April 7, 2014

Picket the opening

Protesters picket the official opening of McDonald’s in Tecoma.

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