Police were involved in the removal of the page from Facebook last week following concerns from the community.

A protest page was created, urging people to gather at Gnomesville on Australia Day for a picnic to support and protect the site.

Wellington Forest Cottage manager Wendy Perdon said it was encouraging the protest page gained five times as many followers as the original page.

“When I became aware of it I decided to organise a barbecue here on Australia Day, because it was the best way to show people who don’t understand community what we’re about and an opportunity for everyone to show the gnomes we love them,” she said.

She said the original Facebook page urged people to go to Gnomesville on the day to “smash beers, smash gnomes and smash heads”.

“I feel sorry for them, they don’t know what a sense of community is,” she said.

“So let’s turn it around and show them.”

Australia Day will see locals turn out for a family picnic day and sausage sizzle at Gnomesville from 10am-4pm.

“We’re putting out a call for any entertainers; it will be a real celebration of the community and the gnomes,” Mrs Perdon said.

“The best way to protect them is to have people here all day.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing people everywhere.

“Bring a picnic, bring a gnome and bring a sense of fun.”

If the picnic is successful, it may run as an annual event.

Mrs Perdon said the beauty of Gnomesville was how organic it was.

“No one runs or manages it, which is part of its charm,” she said.

“There’s no moderation of what goes on in here.”

Mrs Perdon, who lives and works nearby, said on a quiet day it was possible to hear people enjoying Gnomesville.

“You hear the car doors, then people walk in and you hear peals of laughter,” she said.

Gnomesville started in 1996 during the building of a roundabout that was controversial because it was so isolated.

Mrs Perdon says nobody knew who put the first gnome there; it just appeared one day to oversee the proceedings and was joined by more and more gnomes.

By the time the roundabout was complete, there were two teams of gnomes playing sport.

“The only shire intervention was when the gnomes were moved from the roundabout to the verge, because it was getting dangerous – people were stopping in the middle of the roundabout to look,” she said.

“Since then it’s been community driven.”