Residents stand up for the little men

Plans for a ‘‘smash up’’ party at Gnomesville on Australia Day have mortified the Ferguson Valley community which has decided to hold a picnic that day to deter vandals.

‘‘The best way to stop those who have no sense of community is to show them a community,’’ Wellington Forest Cottages manager Wendy Perdon said.

A Facebook page created earlier this month invited more than 200 people to an ‘‘Australia Day Gnomesville Smash Up’’ encouraging people to ‘‘smash down some beers and smash some gnomes’’.

Bunbury police officer in charge Phil Nation said the Facebook page was ‘‘unbelievably stupid’’.

‘‘We have been monitoring the page since it first went online,’’ Sen. Sgt Nation said.

‘‘If it is a joke or otherwise the behaviour is not acceptable and we encourage people not to be involved.’’

Sen. Sgt Nation said he was concerned about comments on the page which encouraged violence at a Bunbury pub and the skate park on Australia Day but warned there was consequences for anti-social behaviour.

‘‘If this character goes out looking for fights we will issue a barring notice which will ban them from pubs and clubs for six months,’’ Sen. Sgt Nation said.

Gnomesville was started by the localcommunity in 1996 when an anonymous resident placed a gnome at the Wellington Mill roundabout and it has since grown to a population of more than 3000 statues.

‘‘It is a grassroots attraction done by the community and it is growing every day—each time I come here there are new gnomes,’’ Ms Perdon said.

More than 190 people have spoken out against the plan to destroy the much loved tourist spot on another Facebook page, saying it is disrespectful to Australia Day.

Supporter Carol Stuart-Sutherland said she hoped the ‘‘fools’’ realised smashing gnomes was ‘‘dumb’’. ‘‘My partner, my son, myself and our families all love it out there,’’ she said.

‘‘The stupid people who organised this obviously don’t have any respect and probably never will.’’

Sen. Sgt Nation said the police had attempted to track down the creator of the page but the information provided online had been false.

The Ferguson Valley has put the call out to the Bunbury and wider community to come to the picnic on Australia Day and join the locals in a sausage sizzle.