Changes...

Once upon a time a group of farmers from Lancashire settled in an area in the north of the fledgling settlement of Brisbane. The area, which would become known as Everton Park, was covered in scrub, much of which was cleared for grazing and vineyards. This photo was taken in 1910 and shows South Pine Rd, with Stafford Rd intersection on the left, mid photo. The man on horseback is the postman (that track/road where the postman's horse is standing is Gordon Pde) who has brought mail from Alderley.

The suburb remained quite rural until after WW2 when huge tracts of housing were built in the area. Then in the late 1950s, a huge warehouse/distribution centre for an early supermarket chain, Brisbane Cash and Carry (BCC) was built on land bounded by Sth Pine Rd and Stafford Rd. (At various times I've written posts about those paddocks of Murphy's Dairy seen beside the warehouse buildings...the remnants of which still exist to this day.)

Those readers who know Brisbane might notice the TV towers on the range.

BCC would be eventually taken over by Woolworths and the complex would be a big employer of local residents. A Woolworths' supermarket was built in the 60s/70s but it had long been abandoned when I moved to the suburb. Eventually though the complex was moved to Acacia Ridge and the site languished. 

Over the years plans for redevelopment of the site by the owners, Woolworths, were submitted for approval ; some plans were rejected outright and the owners of close-by shopping centres put in objections and one development company decided to pull out. But eventually early in 2014 things started to happen.

The demolition took months!! As well as the big warehouse buildings and the old supermarket, the big trees on the site were demolished too...

And I took photos on my phone or camera whenever I noticed progress on the build.
Obviously a lot of earthworks after demolition and carting off of all those bricks from the buildings!

 The site is so big that there are 2 frontages. The next photo shows the work from the old entrance on Southpine Rd...

 Then suddenly in August 2014, (well us locals felt it was sudden...one day nothing, then next day!) large walls appeared...this was the new Woolies supermarket...

Eventually work began on another building on the site...Masters a hardware store.

In the meantime work continued on the new supermarket and shops...

Showing construction progress from Dec 2014 to April 2015

And then the box shaped buildings at the other end of the site began to 'morph' into the familiar looking Masters...showing photos taken January to April 2015

And of course by late April this year, there needed to be lots of tidying up and landscaping the site as it was to open for business in May...

The supermarket was the first to open. DH and I went for a look a few days after the official opening...
The balloon arch was still there from the Opening :-)

 Above the entrance to the supermarket is a collage mural of the original buildings on the site...

 These 2 gentlemen are obviously VIPs from the Distribution Centre Days...

 The exterior,,,

 Looking north...food outlets and a gym.

Now one more photo...the corner of Stafford Rd and Sth Pine Rd...photo taken yesterday. Its a bit different from that first photo in this post! The corner I'm referring to is behind the postman in that old photo.

DH and I still continue to shop at the Coles supermarket across the road as the staff know us. We also continue to patronise our usual coffee shop instead of the fancy new one near the Woolies' supermarket entrance.

Changes coming in my suburb...

Firstly, I've noticed that people are dropping in for the Grow Your Own Blog Party. It's lovely to have you come and visit and that post is here.
A little while ago I wrote about a large neglected  eyesore site in my suburb. Well within a week of my writing that post, things started happening!

Those trees...

 Chopped down...

Remember that derelict supermarket...

The signs went up on the fence...

Removing the asbestos took several days...
Then the heavy equipment moved in and demolition started in earnest...

Then a a day or so later, only the pillars and the roof remain...

The local newspaper ran an article saying that work had finally started on a brand new Woolworths Supermarket and 25 specialty stores on the site. A Masters Hardware would be also built at some stage but would not be opening until mid 2015.

A view showing the huge area covered by the old bulkstore; the old supermarket is on the left out of range

 Today I took some more photos. The old supermarket is completely gone, there is a huge sign announcing the new supermarket and the fence has been draped with the name of the development company.

The roof of one wing of the old bulkstore has been removed. Locals are wondering whether the big brick building will house the new Masters store and the roof was removed to enable modern air conditioning and insulation to be installed. 

 So it's a case of 'Watch this Space'!

Another walk around my suburb....

Last March I wrote a post about the part of my suburb that is a few minutes walk from my back gate. I posted photos of what was the remnants of a dairy farm and on which now the present owner fattens a few beef cattle ready for market.
Paddocks at the end of the back street...

 The old farmhouse...

In this post I'll post some photos of the part of my suburb which is on the other side of the main road which runs through here. I took these photos last May when DH and I walked home from the protest meeting at the local high school. The state government planned to close the local high school so many, many people came together to protest this action...(and the school eventually was saved from closure)

DH was given a sign to carry....



The next photo shows part of the group of concerned citizens at the meeting in the school hall...







Now for the photos taken on the walk home...
Making our way to the gate...

 Now we are walking down Stafford Rd and here is this swathe of bushland, just down from the school gates

The poor old front fence has both star pickets and very old wooden posts that would have been there for years!

Looking back towards the school, showing the wonky fence...I think this swathe of land is owned by the state government...it has been kept mown and tidy...

But now we move on to some not so well kept property

A surveyor's peg amongst the undergrowth???

 Not looking good eh?

 Some water can be seen in the next photo. Many years ago a little stream flowed through the area from the other side of Stafford Rd where Coles etc are now. When the shopping centre was built, the stream was piped underground and also under the road...

Pipe bringing the stream's water across/under  the road....

Now we can see large brick buildings through those trees and the grass is mowed...

And then we come to a padlocked big gate and you can see a little booth...

 Behind the booth we can see big buildings...

I think you have guessed that these buildings are empty. This is the old Woolworths ( a large supermarket chain here in Australia; this was one of their giant warehouses) Bulk store which employed so many locals in its heyday, but this large site has sat empty, unloved and as an eyesore for many many years. A number of plans for redevelopment have been submitted but as yet nothing has really happened. Plans for the site range from retail, entertainment and residential precincts, and the latest rumour is that the giant hardware chain Masters, is going to use one of the huge buildings. 

Many people drive down Stafford Rd past this site not realising that a low set building in front of the bulk store was actually a Woolworths supermarket...one of the very early ones! The local graffitists have mistaken it for a large canvas...it's covered in 'tags'.

 Another view of this vintage supermarket...sad really...

 The end of one of the large brick buildings that make up the bulk store.

So there you have it; another view of my suburb. We are just over 8 kilometres from  the Brisbane CBD and any eventual developments of this large site will probably tend towards a fair bit of residential I would guess.