There has been growing interest in the teepee floating in Lake Ginninderra.

It turns out it’s a protest by UC student William Woodridge against student accommodation provided by CLV (Campus Living Villages) Australia.

Jason Who has tumbled a lengthy piece about what’s going on:

So Bill was a lodger at student accomodation provided by CLV (Campus Living Villages) Australia. They are a international organisation in the business of student accomodation catering to universities. Before 2008, The university residences were run by the University itself and there were some protests from students prior to the take over of residences by CLV. Nevertheless after CLV took over the on-campus accomodation at UC not surprisingly the prices of student accomodation increased to as much as 30 – 50%, this is not including new fees and charges which CLV felt like they had to implement. Many will think “well tough that’s life” yes, but when you consider that a university student if unreliant on parents or guardian for finances may have to work up to 30 hours a week to pay the $180 – $280p/week on rent you might understand the frustration many students have. The tipping point for Bill was unfortunately for him a fire alarm fine which he set off whilst cooking. Because of this he was hit with a $380 fine. Ultimately he chose the decision he made because he refused to live under a money orientated organisation with very little thoughts on their customers. As a student this left him stranded and homeless. He refused to kowtow to a large profit driven institution so he took the first step into designing a teepee. A floating teepee for that matter, where he could live rent free and not have to worry about the bureaucratic nonsense involved in living under the direction of CLV.

[Photo by Jason Who]

UPDATE 21/02/12 16:34: Michael Jones has sent in a set of pictures: