Organisers of Believe in Bendigo choose to engage in positive collaboration and narrative. They believe it is an opportunity for us to acknowledge the importance and power of diversity, which sets the scene right here in Bendigo. It is inclusive of all religions and ethnic groups.

In explaining its role to the community, business woman Margot Spalding and her Believe in Bendigo team particularly stressed the value offered to newcomers to Bendigo as a great place to live, work and play. The message is out there - everyone is welcome.

Last year Bendigo people were distressed by the riots which took place in this beautiful city that we are so rightly proud of, and which had its genesis in the desire of Muslims within our community to have their own place of worship. I had friends from as far afield as England and all around Australia who expressed their astonishment that the Bendigo they knew had become what appeared to them to be a racially divided, inward-looking community, with Muslim communities everywhere blamed for any number of terrorist threats.

That was such an unfair judgement on this city, as those who have lived here, as I have for many years, know that it has a very strong commitment to its refugees and immigrants, and is a very hospitable city to newcomers. I have only to mention the Karen people in Bendigo to be reminded of our generosity to newcomers.

We have places of worship for a variety of religions in Bendigo except for people of the Muslim faith. We have quietly embraced worshippers of, for example, Buddhism, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and more traditional religions, which have been a part of the history of this city since it was a goldfields settlement in the 1850s.

When it became clear that Bendigo had a strong, vocal group within the city who opposed the building of the mosque, it was a group of Bendigonians who stood tall and created a grassroots movement called Believe in Bendigo.

Many of those vocal groups who demonstrated in Bendigo were not local to Bendigo, but we also had our own homegrown variety.

Everybody has the right to oppose ideas and plans in a community but how much better it appears when it is done in a respectful and courteous manner, with grace rather than with violence and physical threats.

Believe in Bendigo held family picnic days; people proudly held aloft their bright yellow balloons, and instead of violent demonstrations next to the library and in Roslyn Park, we had peaceful family entertainment, stalls, and music. I watched as young families picnicked on the lawns around the library, children running happily and freely holding their yellow balloons high and chasing each other around the gardens.

Grassroots movements have a way of creating a life of their own.

Now that efforts to close down the mosque have been denied, the Believe in Bendigo movement is focussing on developing a movement to embrace all peoples, especially families, to celebrate this city of Bendigo, and showcase our city as a great place to choose to live.

ANNIE YOUNG