Difficulty accessing ObjectControllers from controller up view hierarchy

In my current project (Ember 1.10 at present with Ember Data 1.0.0-beta.16), I am caching some Ember Data objects' attributes on their controllers. I am trying to avoid caching on the objects themselves, since I recall this not being recommended.

However, I am having trouble accessing the ObjectControllers from a controller further up the view hierarchy.

I have tried to boil down the issue in the simple JSFiddle (http://ift.tt/1D8UHTh), without Ember Data. I would like a way to access the ObjectControllers for the things from the IndexController. I have tried to use "needs" in the IndexController to import the ThingsController, but it doesn't seem to return a populated controller.

All thoughts gratefully appreciated, and I am open to answers of "you shouldn't need to do it this way and should refactor!"

Many thanks,

Andrew

<script type="text/x-handlebars">
    <h1>Hello</h1>
    {{outlet}}
</script>

<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="index">
    <p>Here is a list of things:</p>
    {{render 'things' this.model}}
    <button {{action 'change'}}>Change things</button>
    <button {{action 'test'}}>Test access to controllers</button>
</script>

<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="things">
    {{#each thing in this}}
        {{render 'thing' thing}}
    {{/each}}
</script>

<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="thing">
    <div>
        {{text}} ({{originalText}})
    </div>
</script>

App = Ember.Application.create();

App.Router.map(function(){});

App.IndexRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
    model: function () {
        return Ember.A([thing1, thing2]);
    }
});

App.Thing = Ember.Object.extend({
    text: '' 
});

App.IndexController = Ember.Controller.extend({
    needs: 'things'

    actions: {
        change: function(){
            this.set('model.firstObject.text', 'Hello2');
            this.set('model.lastObject.text', 'Goodbye2');
        },
        test: function(){
            console.log(this.get('model.firstObject.text'));
            console.log(this.get('model.firstObject.originalText'));
            console.log(this.get('model.lastObject.text'));
            console.log(this.get('model.lastObject.originalText'));
            console.log(this.get('controllers.things');
        }
    }
});

App.ThingsController = Ember.ArrayController.extend({});

App.ThingController = Ember.ObjectController.extend({
    originalText: '',

    cacheOriginalText: function(){
        this.set('originalText', this.get('text'));
    }.on('init'),
});

var thing1 = App.Thing.create({text: 'Hello'});
var thing2 = App.Thing.create({text: 'Goodbye'});