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Yeronga State School Officially Opens New Administration And Learning Centre

Yeronga State School has officially opened its new $11 million state-of-the-art administration and learning centre, located at the heart of the school campus.

Read: Construction Starts for the New Yeronga Community Centre at the Old TAFE Site

The site, which was once home to an old dental clinic, has been transformed for the modern education facilities including nine new classrooms for Years 2 and 3 students, flexible learning spaces and a STEAM ‘Curiosity Centre.’

The new STEAM ‘Curiosity Centre’ is a creative space that will enhance the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics curriculum.

The new learning centre at Yeronga State School also features a new administration area, seminar spaces for professional development, and new amenities, as well as a lift for accessibility.

School’s old dental building (Photo credit: Yeronga State School/Facebook)

On 13 February 2023, local member for Miller Mark Bailey and Education Minister Grace Grace joined the school community for the official opening of the new centre, which was designed to cater for enrolment growth.

Mr Bailey said the new learning centre was designed with the growing Miller community in mind, adding capacity for more than 200 extra students to attend their great local state school.

Ms Grace emphasised how the innovative project has given an old dental facility a new lease at life, after it was transformed into a new learning and administrative centre for the school.

“This project is a major investment in the school and the community of Yeronga and is an example of the Palaszczuk Government’s focus on creating good jobs and better services to enhance our great Queensland lifestyle,” Ms Grace said.

Meanwhile, Yeronga State School Principal Eunice Webb school community is delighted with the new facilities, which have been in use since Term 3, 2022.

“It really is wonderful to have all of our administration functions relocated to the centre of the school. The project has given the school community a real boost,” Ms Webb said.

Read: Message in a Bottle Found at Junction Park State School Finds Its Way Home After 86 Years

Delivered by Kane Constructions, 30 jobs were supported during the transformation of the old dental facility, with 17 apprentices and two trainees learning their trade on site.

Construction of New Yeronga Community Centre Begins

After nearly five years of planning, the construction of a new Yeronga Community Centre at the old TAFE Site has finally commenced.

Bryant Constructions, the appointed contractor, has been mobilising on site and has been doing excavation and piling work for the foundations at the start of February. The ceremonial turning of the sod took place on Friday, the 17th, with Mark Bailey MP, Graham Perrett MP and Cr Nicole Johnston.

The actual construction will begin at the end of February with a projected completion date at the end of the year. Pandemic delays affected the development’s progress and planning between 2020 and 2021 after the demolition of the old TAFE site in 2019.

The Yeronga Community Centre is part of a Yeronga Priority Development Area spanning three hectares and covering Villa St and Park Rd. The location is close to the Yeronga State High School and accessible to the arterial road network, rail and bus services.

The two-storey venue will become the permanent home of the Annerley Stephens History Group and All Gauge Model Railway Club and will give access to valuable social and support services.

The activated site is only the first stage of the development as future plans will also include a housing complex, retail centre, children’s health centre and an aged-care facility.

Learn more about the Yeronga Master Plan

The Beginnings of Collins Estate, the ‘Most Cheerful’ Address in Annerley

Did you know that Collins Estate was once described as the “most delightful” and “most cheerful” section of Ipswich Road in Annerley in the 1880s?

Prior to the separation, the Stephens Division, which had Annerley as its centre, was mostly a rundown suburb filled with dairy farms and the lands within the Collins Estate belong to the Parish of Yeerongpilly. However, after the 1880s, parcels of land were being auctioned off to the public.

The Collins Estate was established for residential development after ratepayers succeeded in their petition to create the Stephens Division as a separate entity from the Yeerongpilly Division.

In June 1887, Collins Estate was auctioned off by Hooker, Son & Elliott with 199 suburban allotments. The section covered blocks of land near Ipswich Road in the west and Ekibin Road in the south. It comprised five streets: Rose, Jane, Alice, Annie and Mary. These were later renamed to Lambton Street, Lotian Street, Bower Street, Real Street and Gustavson Street.

In its advertisements, Collins Estate’s selling points were its “rich chocolate soil” set among a “beautiful gentle slope.” This made the land ideally suited for growing fruits and vegetables.

Photo Credit: National Library of Austraia

This area was apparently the “envy of passersby” for its excellent roads. The coveted location was close to Junction Hotel, the first hotel in Annerley, and the tramway. These facets made the estate the most convenient place to build a home or business.

The auction resulted in 53 sales within two hours with a rate between £25 to £92 per land. The auction was well-attended and was considered a success.

Collins Estate Auction Success — Photo credit: National Library of Australia

Published 10 February 2023

Junction Hotel in Annerley Up for a Stylish Renovation

Junction Hotel, an Annerley landmark and one of the most popular pubs in the south of Brisbane, is set for a renovation into a stylish pub with a beautiful courtyard and a children’s play area.

Under the design made by Craig W Chandler, Junction Hotel will soon have an extension on the southeast section of the property. A glass atrium will be integrated into the hotel’s facade on Annerley Rd whilst the bottle shop will be retrofitted as a smaller space.

The planners said that the new design will not increase the floor size of the hotel nor will it also change the heritage-listed property’s appearance. A fig tree close to the property will not be impacted by the development as well.

“The proposal is consistent with the Moorooka-Stephens District Neighbourhood Plan as it is a at compatible scale with existing and likely future surrounding buildings and is consistent with the Neighbourhood Plan outcomes,” VGF Town Planners stated in the development application (DA A006180494).

“The proposed development maintains and enhances the site’s position as a high-quality place for residents and visitors of Annerley to live, work and recreate.”

“The site is highly accessible, situated within a District Centre and at the confluence of arterial roads, yet in proximity to nearby residential uses. The proposed development will continue to contribute, as it does, as a continuing and fully functional hotel, providing and delivering significant benefits of an enhanced, updated quality to the locality.

“To elaborate, the proposed development will contribute significant benefits to the area and will improve convenience and comfort of existing levels of hotel and other patronage attending the site for social and recreational purposes, and their continued quiet appreciation and enjoyment of the facility at yet further improved levels of satisfaction.”

Council is still assessing the DA filed on the 20th of December 2022. A spokesperson, however, stated that a possible revision of the plans could be recommended to preserve the heritage site.

Proposed VEND Market Place Annerley Gets Greenlight

Development site | Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au/

A proposal to establish a VEND Retail Marketplace on Ipswich Road in Annerley has been approved.

To be situated at 289 Ipswich Road, Annerley, the proposed development will have a similar design concept but a much smaller space than that of Virginia VEND Market Place. The site is improved by an existing two-storey commercial building that was previously occupied by “Wow Sight and Sound” and then “Pillowtalk”.

According to plans, the existing building at the 2,456 sqm site will be converted into a specialised indoor market offering an array of small business stalls and a cafe. The marketplace will also provide an innovative space for local creatives where they could come together and share their design knowledge and create within the community-based workshop space.

“Aimed at providing a unique retail offering, similar to the Virginia VEND Market Place, the proposal aims to embrace the natural and active commercial environment along this portion of Ipswich Road through an internal retrofit of the existing commercial building.” – Radian Planning Group.

Proposed Vend Market Place Annerley Gets Greenlight — Ground floor level floor plan | Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au/

No additional gross floor area or physical extension is planned for the existing building but rather some minor alterations to the existing car parking area at ground and basement levels for it to conform with current Australian parking standards will be undertaken.

The retail shop tenancy component of the proposal will have an approximated 662 sqm of gross floor area on the ground floor containing 52 shop spaces and 11 larger spaces. The existing mezzanine upper level will be retained and used for storage, staff office, and staff amenities.

Similar to Virginia VEND Market Place, the development is planned to be open from 7 am to 4 pm, Monday to Sunday.

Published 9-February-2023

Yeerongpilly Green Attracts Businesses Soon to Open

Yeerongpilly Green Riverside Village is gearing up to open and its retail hub is already attracting tenants, with six businesses signing leases for the site.

Read: Stage 1 Of Yeerongpilly Green Riverside Now Underway

BWS will occupy 149sqm of space at YG Riverside Village whilst Jimmy Rod’s barber shop and Jessica James Hair will have 56sqm and 67sqm respectively. A pharmacy with 220sqm space will also open at the site, along with a massage inn which signed for a 80sqm space.

Yeerongpilly Green is a new urban village comprising numerous key precincts including commercial, retail, residential and entertainment, alongside parkland and recreation areas.

The $850 million masterplanned community will have a full line Woolworths Supermarket, curated restaurants and cafes.

It’s a joint venture between Consolidated Properties Group, CVS Lane Capital Partners and the Queensland Government to turn 14 hectares of riverfront land into a major urban renewal project.

Consolidated Property Groups, one of the developers behind the project stated that one of the key things they want to deliver is significant retail amenity onsite to Yeerongpilly and surrounding residents.

Consolidated Properties Group Head of Retail Kieran Cox said the six new tenants had signed on in the past six months.

“It is very exciting to see the retail hub take shape at YG Riverside Village with six new retailers offering a broad range of services to add to Woolworths,” Mr Cox said.

“We call it YG Riverside Village because we want it to have a real community feel with residents able to visit their hairdresser, barber, bottle shop, massage shop and nail salon on site, and to know all the owners by name.”

Read: Check Out This Family-Friendly Cafe in Yeronga

Upon completion it will boast 50,000sqm of retail and commercial, and 3,000 new residents. The precinct is set to launch in mid to late 2023.

Then and Now: Waldheim, the Stephen Family’s Homestead in Annerley

Did you know that the heritage-listed Stephen’s Farm homestead on Waldheim St in Annerley was once the home of William Stephens, who helped shape what was then the borough of South Brisbane?

William acquired the property in the late 1880s through his father, Thomas Blacket Stephens, a wealthy businessman who was the sixth Treasurer of Queensland. The older Stephens owned heaps of properties and businesses in Brisbane and the Shire of Stephens was actually named for him.

When he passed away, his son managed his estate and continued the family’s legacy and influence.

Following his marriage to Pauline Anna Caroline Effey in 1900, William built a family house for £300 not far from his father’s old house on Ipswich Road, Annerley. He named the house “Waldheim,” which means “home in the forest” in German.

William Stephens — Photo Credit: State Library of Queensland

South Brisbane William Stephens Waldheim — William Stephens was the first mayor of the South Brisbane borough. Photo Credit: National Library of Australia

Waldheim Through the Years

Waldheim was originally believed to share a double gate to the left of the Junction Park State School and a laneway. Built as a timber structure with a corrugated iron roof, the house had distinct slim posts on the verandah and an elegant, decorative entryway.

The house remained in the Stephens family even after William’s death in 1925 due to a stroke. A few years before William died, however, the Stephen’s Farm homestead was subdivided and put up for sale via public auction.

Stephens Park Annerley — Photo Credit: Annerley-Stephens History Group/Facebook

In 1938, Pauline then sold Waldheim to George Hudleston Hurlstone Hardy, an entomologist and the founder of the Entomological Society of Queensland. After Hardy, Waldheim’s ownership was transferred to the Overseas Missionary Fellowship as the private residence of the State Secretary.

Between the 1950s to the 1970s, the property’s owners changed hands many times until it was turned into The Clansmen Restaurant, a sophisticated venue for many parties and celebrations in Annerley.

Old-time residents in the area, remember The Clansmen Restaurant all too well.

“The Clansmen used to make an amazing dessert called Edinburgh Fog. Whipped cream with Drambuie through it. Yum.”

“The Clansmen was 5 stars! I remember at the Clansmen all the females got a red rose in their menu and no prices, the males got no roses but got prices.”

“What a great night out at the Clansmen, known for its extensive wine cellar under the dining rooms.”

Waldheim in the Present

Today, the restaurant is gone and Waldheim is now a childcare centre called Little Ducks.

Little Ducks Annerley — Photo Credit: Little Ducks Childcare Annerley

According to realestate.com.au, Waldheim last went up the market for $1,200,000 in 2004. It was previously valued at just $200,000 in 2001.

Published 10 January 2023

Our Lady’s College, Annerley To Start Teaching Auslan In 2023

Our Lady’s College at Annerley will start offering Auslan or the Australian Sign Language in 2023, making it the first Catholic high school in Brisbane to do so.

Read: Then and Now: Waldheim, the Stephen Family’s Homestead in Annerley

In a social media post, Our Lady’s College announced that they will begin teaching Auslan as an ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) accredited course to Year 7 and 8 students starting this year.

The Catholic girls’ school, located at Chester Road, will also become the first school under Brisbane Catholic Education to teach the subject.

To do so, the school has already employed a teacher who will be co-teaching with Mrs Joanna Caldwell, their expert languages teacher.

“This was a carefully considered curriculum addition to support our already very inclusive and culturally rich school, but Auslan also offers a great career pathway for young women,” said Ms Andree Rice, principal at Our Lady’s College, Annerley.

The community at Our Lady’s College, Annerley believes it’s a wonderful initiative, with some hoping it would lead the way to the introduction of Auslan as a future language option in schools nationwide.

According to the Department of Education, nine schools in Queensland were offered Auslan as a LOTE (Languages Other Than English) subject back in 2020, with around 700 schools taking the subject. The numbers doubled in 2021, with 14 state schools teaching Auslan and 1,400 students taking it.

Some of the contributors to the increased interest in Auslan include the bushfires and the introduction of Covid-19 press briefings using the said language. In fact, many interpreters, including Mikey Webb, have become a regular feature at press conferences.

Read: Annerley: From Bush to Dairy Farm to Residential Suburb

“The pandemic and the bushfires have brought the issue of access to emergency information in Auslan back in front of mind and we have recently seen significant progress on access for Deaf Seniors,” said Brett Casey, CEO Deaf Services and the Deaf Society.

Confusing Annerley Road Sign to Be Rectified After 2 Years

Did you know that a confusing road sign, indicating that Mt Gravatt is to the west instead of southeast of Annerley from that point, has been standing on a roundabout along Ekibin Rd for more than two years? Traffic reporter Olympia Kwitowski recently posted a tweet about it.

Ms Kwitowski said in an interview that she regularly sees this Annerley road sign because she has lived all her life near the Jessica Andrews park on Ekibin Rd. She pointed out the mistake, which indicated that Mt Gravatt is to the west instead of southeast of Annerley.

After sharing the sign on Twitter, Ms Kwitowski received feedback that most of the locals haven’t really paid attention to the mistake. Some netizens said they’ve never noticed the wrong arrow pointing to Mt Gravatt despite using the road frequently.

However, those who did notice the mistake said that it has been that way for more than two years.

Ms Kwitowski’s tweet caught the attention of Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey who tagged Brisbane City Council to look into fixing the confusing sign.

Hey @brisbanecityqld… Mt Gravatt is south-east of the Ekibin Rd Annerley roundabout, not west… can someone rectify as quickly as possible so Santa doesn’t get lost?? 🎅🎄

Thanking you! Mt Gravatt kids thank you for fixing 👧 👦 🧒 https://t.co/yclje9YQ8S
— Mark Bailey MP (@MarkBaileyMP) December 19, 2022

Council’s Twitter account replied to Mr Bailey and said that work on the sign could be “possible within 20 working days.”

Proposed Changes to New Bus Network Impact Dutton Park State School, Other Schools

Photo credit: Brisbane City Council / brisbane.qld.gov.au

As public consultation draws to a close, find out how the proposed changes to the existing bus services will affect Dutton Park State School and some other schools, once the new Brisbane Metro becomes operational in late 2024.

Council recently released Brisbane’s New Bus Network which will introduce two new fully electric, high-capacity Brisbane Metro lines into the network. The two new lines will connect 18 stations along dedicated busways from Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street, and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to The University of Queensland.

Several routes are proposed to be realigned to connect to a metro or other high-frequency busway service including Routes 105,110,112,113,115, 135,155,161,170,172, 202 and 203.

Route 202 will be redesigned to operate between Carindale Shopping Centre station and PA Hospital (Cornwall Street) with the new route path connecting the service to M1 at Buranda busway station. Customers may transfer from Route 202 to Route 116 – Salisbury to City nearby on Annerley Road to access Dutton Park and South Brisbane.

Route 112, meanwhile, will be redesigned to operate between Griffith University station, Griffith University Mt Gravatt campus and Greenslopes station. It’s proposed for Route 112 to incorporate trips previously serviced by Route 114 – Holland Park West to City.

This merging would mean that the inbound route to the city will have Route 112 connecting to M1 at Greenslopes station whilst outbound from the city will have customers transferring from M1 to Route 112 at Greenslopes station.

Dutton Park State School, Block B, north elevation, 2018 | Photo Credit: Heritage branch staff, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Concerns were raised about the proposed redesigning of several routes and how it would impact the travel time and safety of students from Somerville House, St Laurence’s College, Dutton Park State School and Brisbane South State Secondary College.

Web-based community support group for rail and public transport, RAIL – Back On Track, however, welcome the opening of the Brisbane City Council Bus Network review, noting that “changes to a bus network need careful informed management.”

On the concerns raised by the impacted schools about the proposed changes and realignments, RAIL – Back On Track said that Brisbane Metro Line 2 (RBWH-UQ Lakes) will serve all of the schools mentioned.

“The new Brisbane Metro bus service will be far more frequent and direct than the low-frequency coverage routes proposed for change,” the Group said.

“For example:

Somerville House is within walking distance of South Bank train and busway stations (400 m). As such, it will have access to Brisbane Metro Lines 1 & 2 when it opens.
St Laurence’s College is within walking distance of Mater Hill busway station (~ 400 m). As such, it will have access to Brisbane Metro Lines 1 & 2 when it opens.
Dutton Park State Primary School is adjacent to Park Road Railway station and Boggo Road busway station (~ 300 m). It has access to a safe pedestrian walkway that connects both these stations. It will also have access to Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro Line 2 when they open.
Brisbane South State Secondary College has direct access to BUZ 196 and 192 (~ 180 m), and will have access to Brisbane Metro Line 2 from the busway stop inside Dutton Park Parklands (~ 260 m). The crossings are traffic-light controlled.

“Generally, schools generate public transport demand that is limited to a narrow window before school starts and after school finishes. As such, school demand alone cannot support a bus route that operates well outside of bell times, or when schools are closed (e.g. evening and weekends). All of the schools mentioned will be within walking distance of Brisbane Metro Line 2 when it opens.”

Cr Ryan Murphy, on the other hand, said that Council will continue consultations with the impacted schools noting the importance of the proposed changes in easing current congestion in the network during peak times and preventing potential problems in the future as the population is expected to grow by 25 per cent by 2041.