Ayr is located 88 kilometres (55 mi) south of Townsville on the Bruce Highway between Top end of Queensland and Brisbane to its south. produces the most sugar cane per square kilometre in Australia. The town has a total population of 8,281 according to the 2016 census of which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.7%. Unlike other cities, most of the people living in Ayr were born in Australia and 85.4% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 37.3%, Anglican 15.7% and No Religion 15.0%.[1]
By Jan Smith – https://www.flickr.com/photos/26085795@N02/4887722864/, CC BY 2.0, Link
If you visit this town on your way to beautiful beaches of northern Queensland, you would feel the same kind of welcome as you do in most small towns of Australia. BUT not any more.
The town has become the center of controversy when a racist poster was placed up in one of the shops, telling foreigners and backpackers that they’re not welcomed. Although Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin condemned the people responsible for the poster,[10] the memories of a white only Australia policy that was abolished a long time ago, still seems to find favour among the shopkeepers. Little do they realize that they are driving the tourists away from their town and risk the town of Ayr disappear in an economic black hole like many mining/agricultural towns in Queensland.
The profanity-laden poster pasted on a shop window reads: “Unless you are of Northern European descent, speak English and you are not a thot (sic) or degenerate, f*** off, because you are not welcome here”. (Thot, is an Australian slang for “that ho over there”.)
Within hours of being notified, Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin issued a statement condemning the “vile” poster targeting backpackers. “I’m appalled … the person responsible should hang their head in shame,” Cr McLaughlin said. “We wholeheartedly welcome backpackers to our region, not only for the crucial work they do in our horticultural industries but for the cultural diversity they add to our community.”
[And see the offensive poster here ….]
Source from Wikipedia also.
