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Capalaba town looking north. Clockwise from middle left: Mobil garage, Old Cleveland Rd, original Capalaba Hotel and beer garden, Danny Holzapfel’s garage, 1965

HP0791

Capalaba & Sheldon

Information and images from resources held in Local History Collections, Redland Libraries. Local History website localhistory@redland.qld.gov.au or 3829 8311

WARNING: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this document may contain the images and/or names of people who have passed away.

Capalaba town looking north. 1965 HP0791

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Quandamooka people ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

Settlement ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6

A school ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8

The Divisional Boards ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

1902 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 10

Capalaba School 1939 .................................................................................................................................................... 14

A PIECE OF HISTORY - 2 SEPTEMBER 1945 ..................................................................................................................... 16

Council Amalgamation 1949 .......................................................................................................................................... 17

Drive-in Theatre ............................................................................................................................................................. 19

The Leslie Harrison Dam ................................................................................................................................................. 21

Capalaba High School ..................................................................................................................................................... 23

Sheldon ........................................................................................................................................................................... 23

The Commonwealth Games ........................................................................................................................................... 23

Expo 88 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 24

Redlands Indigiscapes Centre......................................................................................................................................... 25

1973 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 27

Population boom ............................................................................................................................................................ 28

2021 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 29

Tingalpa Creek Bridges ................................................................................................................................................... 30

Coolnwynpin Creek Bridges ........................................................................................................................................... 35

Sources: .......................................................................................................................................................................... 37

Appendix 1...................................................................................................................................................................... 39

Contents Reviewed & updated May 2021

Owen brothers’ store and garage, Old Cleveland Road Capalaba West, 1950s HP00224

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Quandamooka people have lived on and around this area for tens of thousands of years. Geological evidence dates occupation at a minimum of 21,000 years. Local people identify the Noonucal, Gorenpul and Nughi as the traditional owners of the Island and adjoining areas. Food supplies were plentiful. Fishing, hunting and gathering were part of the communal economy, with people collecting food according to their carrying capacity, and food shared according to families’ needs. Dugong as well as fish such as mullet and tailor were caught with nets, sometimes aided by dolphins. Turtle and shellfish were also collected. Oysters, mullet, crabs, cowrie, prawns, cockles, eugarie, mussels and turtle were common foods at different times of the year. Other foods hunted and collected at different times of the year included kangaroo, wallaby, goannas, flying foxes, birds, possum, and bandicoots, native fruits and berries, honey, and drinks made from flowers. Bungwal/dingowa the rhizome of a fern, was pounded into flour, to make a type of damper or bread, and once a year a journey was made to the Bunya Mountains to gather bunya nuts, which could also be used the same way, or eaten roasted or fresh. This journey was either made on foot following well-worn tracks, or at least part of the way via the Maiwar (Brisbane River) which had the advantage of being able to carry the huge Bunya nut cones home and across Quandamooka land and islands. Nuts could weigh upwards of 10kg, could be eaten raw, roasted or ground between stones to make flour, which was used to make what would later be called journey-cakes (or Johnnie cakes). Grind stones have been dated back more than 30,000 years, making Aboriginal people the world’s first bakers.

Google maps

Corroborees and other ceremonies were an integral part of community life, and huge regional celebrations were likely to have had ceremonial, spiritual, social, cultural and economic significance. When the first Europeans arrived in the area in the 1820s, Aboriginal people in the area we now call Redland City numbered more than 5,000.

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Campsites and permanent dwellings existed wherever there was fresh water nearby, and according to early Europeans, large villages existed in the area of the Bloomfield and Middle Streets intersection between Ross Creek and Doobawah (Raby Bay); Ormiston near Hilliards Creek; near Eprapah Creek near the site of Lake Sherrin Homes for the Aged on Boundary Road Thornlands; and ‘down from the Capalaba Rifle Range’ so possibly to the west of Judy Holt Park where a creek with waterholes runs through, and on into Tarradarrapin Creek. The banks of Tingalpa Creek (named Tunim Creek for a short time in the 1840s) were also well populated, along with Moogurrapum, Coolnwynpin and around many smaller seasonal creeks and some deep water-holes. Tracks existed between these sites, and these were later used by Europeans, becoming roads. Other tracks continued on to the Brisbane River (Maiwar) and out to the Toowoomba Range, and north to the Bunya Mountains. One such waterhole was described in Oral History interviews with early Capalaba residents Tom Blunt and his sister Iris Daley, who spoke about their childhood in the southern part of Capalaba, and a large water hole that they frequently visited. Tom: We used to go and swim there. There was a beautiful big waterhole that was tidal and salty, and it was down where another little Creek run in from Mt Petrie. We used to call it The Pocket, and that would be about a quarter of a mile up from the dam wall. Everybody from Capalaba used to go and swim in that what we called The Pocket. It was beautiful and deep. Otherwise, that was all timbered. Where the dam was, it was mostly timbered. Your sister Iris spoke of an area on the creek that had big sandstone cliffs. Whereabouts would that have been?

That was on our property. It was actually a tributary to Tingalpa Creek. It would have been part of Stockyard Creek,

and it was like a big elbow, the shape of it, and on one side of it was huge cliffs, you know, 50 or 60 feet high,

vertical. On the other side it just tapered up to a normal slope, and we had a boat on that. There were a lot of fish,

and there were actually caves in under the water in that. There were big rocks used to come up in dry time, but it

never went dry. It was just completely fed, and it was a huge hole, but that again is totally submerged now.

QImagery 1936

Iris:

Now, you did say to me that some of the old people living at Capalaba when you moved here had told you about how some of the Aboriginals used the waterholes. Well, we were told that the Aboriginals used to come right up from way up Ipswich and further on, Beaudesert and that, because those lagoons never went dry. They were very deep. We used to swim in them and you could be swimming along, and all of a sudden it would get icy cold, which would indicate how deep it was. We were told that Capalaba to the Aboriginals meant "Place of Many Waters." And do you remember what sort of wildlife, fish— Yes, there were fish, mullet and perch; there were platypus. It was running water. Running creeks would run into the big lagoons and continue down to Tingalpa Creek eventually. And that property is now under water? Yes, I think most of it is. There might be a little bit of it on the hillside, further up towards the Mt Gravatt/Capalaba Road, but most of it is under water.

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. Warner’s 1842 Survey map shows a track heading south west from Raby Bay, and a large waterhole

John Bingle entered Moreton Bay in 1822 in search of a place, preferably with a river that might suit a new penal settlement. He didn’t find any major rivers but he provided some of the earliest recorded descriptions of the coastline. Later that year, New South Wales Surveyor General John Oxley was sent by Governor Brisbane to assess a number of sites, including Moreton Bay, as potential convict settlements. By sheer coincidence, he met Pamphlett and Finnegan, and on their information he explored and named the Brisbane River. His party also explored the southern part of the Bay and reported that Point Lookout was on an island. As a result of his visit, the Moreton Bay penal settlement was set up at Redcliffe. It moved within months to what is now the Brisbane central business district.

It was first suggested (by John Dunmore Lang) in 1837 that Brisbane become a capital/seat of government for a new colony, and the first steamship entered Moreton Bay that year. However, the colony of Queensland did not come into being for another 22 years. Until then, Moreton Bay was part of New South Wales.

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Settlement began from May 1839. No more convicts were sent to Moreton Bay and the non-essential ones were withdrawn. This marked the end of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, and moves began to open Moreton Bay to free settlers. Opening Moreton Bay accelerated the pressure on the indigenous people, and created further significant changes to the region.

Government surveyors Dixon, Warner and Stapylton began surveying Brisbane in preparation for the first land sales. Until this time, free settlers were not allowed within 50 miles (80 kms) of the Moreton Bay penal settlement (Brisbane), which is why there was no official European presence on the mainland parts of what is now the Redlands Coast at this time.

Government surveyor Robert Dixon began surveying Stradbroke and Moreton Islands in 1840. He and Surveyor Warner also surveyed the coast from Brisbane River to Innes (Coochiemudlo) Island. Dixon named Mt Cotton after Major Cotton and Coochiemudlo Island Innes Island after Lieutenant Innes of the 57th Regiment of Moreton Bay. He also named Macleay and Russell Islands, Victoria Point and Pt Halloran. Dixon also recommended to Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell that Cleveland Point was suitable for a landing place. This was one of the key events which led to Cleveland Point being a serious contender as the Moreton Bay port.

In May 1842 the Moreton Bay penal settlement was officially proclaimed closed and the area in a 50-mile (80 km) radius was opened to free settlers. In July the first public sale of Brisbane land was held.

Image: Qld State Archives

The first sale of land at Capalaba was held in 1853. Most buyers were interested in the area for its grazing and farming potential. At this time the Sheldon and Burbank region was known as Upper Tingalpa.

In the years from the first white settlement until the introduction of the car and bitumen roads to the area, people were certainly restrained by geography. These communities existed and were interdependent in a region with little to define it, other than a creek and a pub in Capalaba and a creek and a railway siding in Thorneside. Travellers usually passed through on their way to somewhere else. Residents, however, have strong ties to the landscape generally as the environment affected their lives and their ability to live off the land. In 1856 galvanised iron arrived in Brisbane for the first time and progressively replaced ironbark shingles as roofing. In 1859 the new state of Queensland was created. Previously it had been part of New South Wales. Brisbane businessman Johann Christian Heussler was appointed by the new Queensland Government to recruit German settlers for the new colony. In the following years, many Germans settled in Queensland, including at Mount Cotton.

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Railway building began in Queensland in 1860, and the first Queensland Government ministry was formed and met in May. Robert GW Herbert was elected Premier. The first parliament had 26 elected members in Legislative Assembly and nominees in Legislative Council in 16 electorates.

Some of the district’s earliest timber licenses were issued to Capalaba residents in 1865, including to the Willard brothers James and Edward. Timber-getting was an important industry, especially around the Albert, Logan and Tweed rivers. Timber was used for buildings and ship building. It was also one of the main exports to England.

In 1871 tenders were called for a bridge over Tingalpa Creek. In 1872 the tender of Walter and Weber was accepted and work had begun by March 1873, and in 1874 the long awaited bridge was officially opened over Tingalpa Creek.

The 1874 Tingalpa Creek Bridge alongside the Rocks Crossing. Image 1928. HP0248

Until then, road travel between Brisbane and the district had been along rough, corrugated surfaces, with river fords that were particularly dangerous after dark. At Capalaba, the first crossing was between what are now Geldart Road and Allambie Crescent. Rocks Crossing was described by one as literally a “treacherous” collection of rocks strewn across the creek * see Appendix 1. An alternative story to this was recounted secondhand by history enthusiast Merv Beitz in 1994: "Tingalpa Creek, that creek right at Capalaba, as you come through the shopping centre and you cross over. It's a four lane bridge there now, but in the beginning there were rocks there, and they built the first bridge by just laying down two gum trees, we'll call them, and nailing great big planks across, and that's where people came across. It was told to me by an old gentleman of 70 to 80 years of age, who came on one of our bus trips. He grew up as a boy at Victoria Point on a farm, and he remembers when the crossing at Capalaba first had a bridge. It was just down level with the top of the water. If you had lots of rain and a big high tide, there was no way of getting across that bridge. The water would come up and probably cover the bridge to a depth of two or three feet or more”. Timber and farm produce was mostly transported down the creeks or to jetties, then by boat to markets.

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In 1877 the first hotel on the site of the present Capalaba Hotel was built, just to the south of the Rocks crossing and the newly completed bridge. A paddock and horse changing station was set up for the horses used by the coach and mail services, opposite the hotel.

Royal Mail coach from Cleveland in front of 1877 Capalaba Hotel with Dahbee Singh in box, publican Robert Jarvis on the hotel verandah with his family and standing behind the coach possibly the Daveson brothers who changed the horses from their paddock across the road, 1884. JOL1746 HP0016

A school was established in 1874 after the parents in the rural community adapted a slab hut to house it, possibly the Willard’s first home, on the banks of Tingalpa Creek. The government provided furniture and equipment. Until then children had to travel to Cleveland, to Ormiston from 1872 or to Wynnum. Once the building was ready, the Education Department then provided the equipment and teacher, Mr. Henning. Furnishings within the school were "insufficient in quantity, badly placed, and poor in quality", according to an inspector's report, three months after the school opened. The school, known as Tingalpa Bridge (Provisional) was opened on August 4th 1874. 20 students were enrolled, but absenteeism was a major problem.

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The Tingalpa Creek Bridge had opened the same year, so the school may have been named for that. But there may well have been a timber foot bridge similar to others in the area, so that children could cross from Capalaba town on the western side of the creek. Possibly also to provide access the Wharf Reserve, used by Burke’s steamers.

Drawing of the 1874 Tingalpa Bridge School. Capalaba ‘77

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Two years later in February 1876 the Education Department closed the first school and opened another on the north side of what is now Broadwater Road, just west of Mt Cotton Road, on land owned by Mr Heinemann. It was named Upper Tingalpa (Provisional). 21 children were on the roll, although attendance was still irregular and it was feared that parents didn't actively encourage their children to attend. But it was this site on Broadwater Road that caused more havoc amongst parents. They wanted the school to return to the original site! In an attempt to please everybody an Inspector of Schools recommended a site on Mount Cotton Road as a compromise. The third school was on the corner of a then unnamed track between Mount Cotton Road and Bone (Ney) Road, now called School Road. It opened on July 5 1880.

Capalaba School, looking east from Mount Cotton Road, 1920 HP5274

The Divisional Boards Act came into effect in 1879. The Tingalpa Divisional Board was formed, a huge shire covering what is now the Redland City and surrounding areas, much of Logan in the south and some south-eastern Brisbane suburbs in the north. It met for the first time at Mr Heinemann’s house at Mount Cotton. (In 1902 the divisional boards were renamed shire councils). In 1885 the Cleveland Divisional Board came into being, and it included Cleveland, Thornlands south to Eprapah Creek, as well as Ormiston, Wellington Point, Birkdale to Tarradarrapin Creek. Most of Capalaba remained in the Tingalpa Divisional Board area, along with Redland Bay, Victoria Point, Mount Cotton, Sheldon/Upper Tingalpa, and Logan south to the river. The actual township was called Tingalpa, and it was on the Brisbane side of Tingalpa Creek.

A select committee was set up in 1886 to look at the viability of a railway line between Brisbane and Cleveland. At the time, the Government was keen to open up land for settlement and to encourage agricultural pursuits. Many existing landowners, especially farmers, promoted the suitability of their district’s rich soil for agriculture. The proposed route caused considerable debate, with Capalaba residents keen to see it pass through their area. They argued the coastal route was already well serviced by boats and was unsuited for residential development, unlike the Capalaba area. However, the coastal route won the day, and some people argued that this had a major effect on the future development of the Capalaba area.

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The Tingalpa Divisional Board calculated the entire population of the Tingalpa area at 1173 people in 1895.

Flying foxes were perceived as vermin and a threat to farmers after a sudden increase in their population particularly in the southern parts of the district in 1896. Farmers petitioned the Tingalpa Divisional Board to eradicate them. A record of over 20 miles per hour over rough roads was set in 1897 in the glamour event of bicycle racing, the Brisbane to Cleveland road race.

1902 saw the Divisional Boards renamed Shire Councils, and in 1909 residents of Capalaba and surrounds renewed their request for a railway service to the area. A petition was prepared asking for a report on the potential of a tramline or light rail from Stone’s Corner to Belmont, with a view to eventually extending the line to Mt Cotton and Redland Bay. The line opened to Belmont and operated until 1926 when it was declared uneconomic. It never went through to Capalaba, Mt Cotton and Redland Bay. When the electric line came through decades later in the 1980s, residents of the Capalaba area again asked that they be included on the line but again to no avail.

The Tingalpa Shire Council raised the bounty on flying fox scalps to 2 pence per head in 1910, and asked the Postmaster General to extend the Cleveland-Redland Bay telephone line to Mount Cotton. Permission was granted in April 1911.

The Cleveland Divisional Board (Cleveland Shire Council from 1902) covered the area east of a line following Tingalpa Creek from the North, down to Eprapah Creek in the south. It encompassed the country known to Aboriginal people as Cullen Cullen and Nandeebie/Indillie. The Cleveland Shire roughly covered what are now the suburbs Wellington Point, Ormiston, Cleveland and Thornlands. The rest of the current mainland Redland City remained in Tingalpa Shire until amalgamations occurred in 1949. The islands were administered by the state; Stradbroke would become part of the Shire in 1948; Coochiemudlo Island in 1962; the Southern Moreton Bay Islands (SMBI) in 1973. In 1890 the Cleveland Divisional Board was divided in to become 2 divisions, basically east-south in one, and north-west in the other.

Cleveland boundary Redland Boundary

The Sunnybank-Mt Cotton Railway League and the Redland Bay Railway League were formed around 1912 to lobby the Qld Government to establish a railway between the two centres and on to Redland Bay. The population of the Tingalpa Shire was 1262 people: 665 males and 597 females, according to the Bureau of Statistics.

1913 - speeding motor cars and the damage they caused to roads and bridges not built to withstand the weight and usage, led to moves by the Automobile Club and other organisations to lobby the State Government to take over the main roads and that the Shire Councils raise funds impose a wheel tax to be ear-marked for upkeep on these roads.

In 1914 Tingalpa Shire Council Chairman, Isaac Dennis, attended the opening of a stone crusher owned by the Sherwood Shire Council. He reported that it was capable of crushing gravel for 1 shilling 3pence (13c) compared with the existing rate of 6 shillings (60c) when done by hand.

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Capalaba Hotel and post office with cyclists at front; known as ‘League of Wheelmen’, 1910 (Note ladder for lighting gas lamp) HP0848

In Mt Cotton a resident asked Tingalpa Shire Council to offer a price for dingo scalps, as they were ‘a pest at the moment’. Flying Foxes were also on the ‘hit’ list, and there was a 2d (2c) per head bounty on flying foxes in Tingalpa Shire.

Flying fox shooting party, 1914 HP0394

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The Tingalpa Shire Council passed a bylaw limiting the speed of automobiles and velocipedes (cars and bicycles) to 12 mph (20 kms), except on corners and around railway stations, intersections of places of public gathering where the speed was 4 mph (7 kms).

In 1918 some cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria led the Queensland Health Department to ask the Cleveland Shire Council to appoint a health officer for the shire. The Council replied that there was ‘no resident medical practitioner in the shire, it being too healthy to make it a paying proposition.’ And the population was less than 300. Nevertheless the Health Department persisted and the first shire health officer was appointed. Until then, residents of Cleveland Shire and the northern parts of Tingalpa Shire went to doctors in Wynnum and Beenleigh. A case of malaria in the district in 1921 raised concerns about the relevant authorities’ methods of controlling mosquitoes. It was later found that the man had contracted the disease while on active service overseas during World War I.

The 1877 Capalaba Hotel, sporting a new roof, was run by the Dollerys in the 1920s

HP0249

The Queensland government followed south-eastern states and declared an open season on koalas in a bid to relieve the rural crisis. Although wildlife groups advised the government that the koala neared extinction, the slaughter went ahead, and the koala population was all but wiped out. In Queensland alone it is estimated that by the time the ‘cull’ ended in 1928 around 10-12 million koalas had been killed for their fur. The following year the Nature Lovers’ League asked the Tingalpa Shire Council to protect koalas in the shire. However hunting was only stopped after US President Hoover banned the import of koala skins into the US, the biggest customer. Hoover had apparently worked in the Australian gold fields in his younger days and was quite fond of koalas. In 1928 R.D. Frew offered to survey the whole district and canvass householders about electric power, and to give an estimate of the costs of installing electric light. The Cleveland Shire Council accepted the offer.

Also in 1928, a track was named Finucane Road and declared to be part of the main Cleveland-Capalaba Road by the Main Road Commission. At the time, all road travel was along Old Cleveland Road East through Birkdale, Wellington Point and Ormiston. Residents of these areas opposed having another route opened because of the possible detrimental effect it may have had on their businesses. Second house built on Finucane Road, 1942 HP0801

In 1931 electricity came to the district. The northern parts were wired up first.

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The district’s first strawberry festival was held in the home of Bill Airey on Redland Bay Road near Coolnwynpin Creek in 1933 to raise funds for the Capalaba School of Arts hall. The Festival was revived in October 1958, this time at Victoria Point, where it ran for a couple of years as a fundraiser for the QATB (Queensland Ambulance). Then in 1965 the festival moved to the Cleveland showgrounds, where it flourished for more than 3 decades.

In 1935 after koala ‘culling’ ceased, there was a groundswell of community concern about the survival of koalas in the wild, and in October 1935, Cleveland Shire Chairman Mr G J Walter officiated at the opening of Holliswood, a zoo and refreshments kiosk created by Mr Hollis of Capalaba, on the corner of Mount Cotton and Cleveland Roads at Capalaba, opposite the hotel. The animals had been brought to Capalaba by Mr Hollis from a zoo at Mt Cootha. This site is now occupied by Capalaba Park Shopping Centre.

The new Holliswood Zoo extended south between Redland Bay Road and Mount Cotton Road, and adjoined vast tracts of bushland that at that time allowed the koalas to spread out easily as numbers increased. The zoo was fairly short-lived, closing within 15 years, but by then koala numbers had increased and they had flourished in bushland through Capalaba, Sheldon and Daisy Hill.

That same year Relief workers (unemployed people between the 2 world wars) were given work around the district in an early ‘work-for-the-dole’ style scheme, especially on the foreshores and reserves. Retaining walls, reclamation work and tree plantings were carried out. The relief workers also repaired roads and jetties.

A new bridge across Tingalpa Creek was opened in 1935, and another across Coolnwynpin Creek, allowing Finucane Road to create a direct route through from Cleveland to Brisbane. This new bridge was a little further south than the old one, at the site of the current bridge [2019].

The opening of Tingalpa Creek Bridge, 1935. Frank Burbank leaning on white post. HP0844

A new two-storey hotel was built on the site of the old Capalaba Hotel in 1936. By this time, the area was increasingly popular with Sunday drivers, and many residents, including around Capalaba, opened roadside stalls selling home-grown fruit, vegetables and sometimes honey. Willard’s Farm, now known as the Pines was one of the favourite destinations.

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The 1936 Capalaba Hotel, image 1940s HP0250

Capalaba School 1939 Tom McGrath and the class of 1939, Capalaba School. Tom taught at Capalaba for over 25 years.

Back row L-R: George Boucher, Jack Nairn, Sally Boucher, Thomas Patrick McGrath, Dulcie Routledge, Brian Shearer, John Atkinson

Middle row L-R: Viva Dollery, Wilma Routledge, Shirley Downs, Jean Shearer, Daphne Steel, Valerie Boucher, June Greasley

Front row L-R: Ronnie Wilson, Ivan Fredericks, Alan Langridge, HP0863 In 1943 around 300-400 American soldiers were camped on the land behind the Capalaba hotel, with their officers billeted in the hotel. The area was farmed by John Fredericks, who ran dairy cattle. Mrs Dollery cooked for the 10- 12 officers. The land behind Willard’s Farm had a radio station set up on it, and the farm itself was also commandeered. At that time it was owned by Rosemary Cotton. General Douglas MacArthur was a visitor to the radio transmission hub during this time. Among other things, the Americans introduced Coca Cola and expressions such as “Okay”.

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Frederick’s dairy farm; greyhound track to left of cultivated paddock, Coolnwynpin Creek on right, 1940. HP0865

Frederick’s dairy farm was bounded by Tingalpa Creek to the west and north, and by Coolnwynpin Creek to the east. It was often subjected to flooding during heavy rain. This flood was in the late 1940s. The area under water is now the site of the Capalaba soccer fields, which still flood from time to time.

HP0866

Patricia Kelley and Peter Fredericks on the lake behind Fredericks’ home, near the end of Banfield Lane, 1940

HP00864

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A PIECE OF HISTORY - 2 SEPTEMBER 1945

This message announced surrender by the Japanese on that day: it came into the Signal Center used by the 832nd Signal Service Company on the 7th Floor of GHQ, SWPA in the AMP building in Queen Street, Brisbane. It was received at the overseas radio station (probably the one at Capalaba) and was transmitted to the Signal Center via teletype. It was received in "Clear" Classification. It was the first message to pass between Japan and the United States over an Army Circuit since Pearl Harbor. It was sent from Radio Station WVLX on USS Teton in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. It was a message from the Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur.

Image: Australia @ War

HP0811

During World War II, Land Army Girls were stationed in many parts of the Shire. This group was stationed in Redland Bay, 1945

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In 1948 the Capalaba Greyhound Club began operating, using a track behind the Capalaba Hotel.

Council Amalgamation 1949 In 1949 the Redland Shire came into being, when parts of Tingalpa Shire (Thorneside, Capalaba, Mount Cotton, Redland Bay and Victoria Point) and the whole of Cleveland Shire merged. This local government merger was one of several in south-east Queensland at the time. The suggestion had been around for a long time; as far back as 1907 the Cleveland Shire Council had considered the advisability of amalgamating the two shires.

The first chairman of the new Redland Shire Council was JHN (Norm) Price, formerly the chairman of the Cleveland Shire Council. The main issue for the new council was the same as before: the endless building and maintenance of the district’s roads, parks, jetties and foreshores.

Local History collection, Redland Libraries

The post-war years were affected by austerity measures that had been taken during the war, and for many Capalaba residents this continued into the 1950s. There was a shortage of building materials, including metals. Many families lived in what they called humpies made from old car crates, fence posts and any metal they could find for a roof, sometimes clad with tin that had been salvaged by splitting open old kerosene tins.

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Often while they were building their more permanent humpy, residents had lived in shelters simply made by hammering flattened tins to saplings, sometimes for a few months. Nails hammered through bottle tops became roofing nails; ant’s nests broken up and mixed with water made a thick paste which was spread out to make a floor. It dried like concrete.

Bathing was often done in the creek, and water had to be boiled in a copper tub for the laundry. It wasn’t uncommon for men to have 2 or 3 jobs. George Neller (pictured in 1952 in front of his house in Bone Road) farmed, delivered water from the creek, and sawed timber at the Sawmill Road (Avalon Road) sawmill.

HP0693

Five pound (2.5 kg) flour bags were stuffed with rags, then a lot of them would be sewn together in a large square, to make a kind of doona called a “Wagga rug”, which then had a calico slip cover over it. They also used the flour bags to make curtains, pillow cases and underwear.

Image: Museum of Riverina

In 1950, 45 pupils were enrolled at the Capalaba State School. Numerous new businesses opened in Capalaba, including service stations, a butchery, fruit shop and bakery. In November 1952 the first meeting of the newly formed Redlands Trotting Club was held in Capalaba. The new club was affiliated with the Redcliffe and Capalaba Racing Clubs. Trotting and horse racing had thrived throughout the Redlands from as early as the 1880s.

In 1953, Council called a 12-month moratorium on petrol stations because it was concerned about a glut of them, especially around Capalaba.

Around the Capalaba district, residents were hoping to build more substantial, though still very modest homes. After many years of turning a blind eye to temporary buildings in the Shire, Council decided to stop giving building permits because they were finding the owners never got around to building a permanent structure. However, between March and June 1953, 40 new dwellings were approved by Council, most were in Capalaba.

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Home under construction in Daveson Road Capalaba, 1950s HP0231 and HP0232

In July 1954 a public meeting was held to discuss unequal representation by Council in the new Redland Shire’s two divisions. People attending the meeting claimed their elected representatives all lived around the Cleveland area, and that as a result roads in Wellington Point, Birkdale and Thorneside were neglected in favour of those around Cleveland. They called for the formation of a third division to take in Birkdale, Capalaba and Wellington Point as far as Hilliards Creek. They were advised to lobby Council and State Government on the matter, which they did successfully. The new divisions (Capalaba/Birkdale/Wellington Point; Cleveland/Victoria Point/adjacent areas; and Redland Bay/Mt Cotton) were proclaimed on 13 January

Drive-in Theatre In 1955 a full day and night telephone service became available at Capalaba, and Queensland’s first drive-in picture theatre was opened at Capalaba in the week before Christmas, on land between Redland Bay Road and Mount Cotton Road, previously occupied by the Holliswood Zoo.

Images JOL: HP1009 & HP1010

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In 1956 Council set up a special subcommittee for subdivisions in May because of its concerns about subdivisions in the Shire:

“Tracts of land of little or no agricultural value are attracting buyers who like the idea of owning broad acres and yet are close to the city to take on more lucrative jobs than the cultivation of such low yield territory can give. They are also attracted by the idea of a low deposit, and pay as you sweat. They have as a rule no experience whatsoever of the highly complicated business of growing crops and marketing them under our normal conditions, and it is the fate that such who buy these subdivisions to make a living off them will be the victim of over optimism that impels councillors to examine with the greatest of care plans for over all subdivision of large areas.”

At its February 1961 meeting, the Redlands Chamber of Commerce decided to concentrate its efforts on the supply of water to the Redlands. In April, Redland Shire Council accepted its Finance Committee’s recommendation to spend £4,000 ($7,500) for an investigation into a residential water supply in the Redlands. Three schemes were being considered: two on Tingalpa Creek and one on North Stradbroke Island. By September the Tingalpa Creek dam was the preferred option. The population of Capalaba (at that time including Sheldon and Capalaba West) in 1961 was 1,509.

That year, the railway line to Cleveland closed, due to lack of passengers and/or goods using it. In January 1962 Council accepted the recommendations of consulting engineer John Wilson and Partners to build the Tingalpa Creek dam. The report suggested that the reticulated water supply would cost Redlands residents about £17 ($30) each a year. Also in 1962, the Redland Shire’s first High School opened, in Cleveland. In 1964 Sawmill Road was re-named Avalon Road, following years of debate. A sawmill had operated there since first settlers had arrived, from the 1860s.

Capalaba town looking north. Old Cleveland Road running left to right, with the 1936-built Capalaba Hotel top left. Redland Bay Road opposite the hotel, 1965 (Fredericks house just out of photo, top right hand corner). HP0791

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By 1966 Council reported more than $19,000 was owed in rates arrears in the Shire, with more than half coming from the rapidly developing Capalaba area. On 19 April 1966 Redland Shire Council Chairman Dick Wood knocked down the first tree at the Tingalpa Creek dam site, marking beginning of construction. Capalaba residents requested a police station be built in their area.

Bone Road had been unofficially known by that name for many years, for farmer David Bone, but in 1966 was officially named Ney Road (meaning ‘new’).

Spillway, Leslie Harrison Dam under construction, 1967 HP0779

The Leslie Harrison Dam was finished in 1968. The Shire’s first houses were connected to town water at the end of the year, courtesy of the Dam. The reticulated water encouraged more people to move to the Redlands.

Council reported that during 1968/69, dwelling approvals showed most residential development was taking place in the northern part of the shire, with Capalaba having more than twice as many as the next highest suburb, at 64 approvals. By this time, approvals Alexandra Hills on the northern side of Finucane Road had started to increase rapidly.

Two piggeries were approved in Thornlands and one in Capalaba, four poultry ventures were approved in Redland Bay, three in Thornlands and one in Capalaba.

George Turner & pigs Finucane Road, 1960 HP0798

Negotiations were under way with Mrs Fredericks to purchase her land for future parkland and in October 1968 the Council's Parks and Recreation department arranged to purchase part of her land while allowing her grazing rights for a further five years. Ultimately this land was used as landfill and the subsequent soccer club. Councillor Holzapfel suggested naming the park John Fredericks Park. The land was formally acquired in May 1969.

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The Capalaba Shopping Centre strip on Old Cleveland Rd was opened by the Federal Member for Bowman, Dr Wylie Gibbs, on 19 June 1969. The centre had seven shops, two offices and parking for 43 cars.

Old Cleveland Road shops, Capalaba, 1979. HP0931

In 1970 two Karreman brothers began hiring their trucks to Redland Shire Council during the day, and used the same trucks for carting to Brisbane at night.

Many subdivisions were approved, including on Ney Road, Capalaba in 1971. Green Acres Caravan Park opened in June on Mt Cotton Road, about four miles from the Capalaba centre. Planning began in 1972 for a new soccer club at Capalaba, then in 1973 the Capalaba Tavern opened. In 1974 lobbying began in earnest for a second high school in the shire, at Capalaba.

Capalaba Meals on Wheels began operating in March 1975 and the Capalaba Girl Guides group was formed that year.

In 1976 670 students were enrolled at the Capalaba State School. Plans to build 18 new shops in Capalaba prompted comments that Capalaba would overtake Cleveland as the trading centre of the Redlands and the Capalaba Chamber of Commerce was formed. Karreman Bros purchased land on West Mount Cotton Road from Tom and Betty Blunt, on which they began operating a quarry, over time becoming a major employer in the area, and the target of protests about dust.

The Redland Shire became sewered from 1976, fixing the many drainage problems that had previously prevented some areas being subdivided, which in turn allowed for even more population growth.

The new Capalaba greyhound track was officially opened in October 1977 by State Treasurer Bill Knox.

Greyhounds racing at Capalaba.

HP2068

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Capalaba High School opened in 1978, with about 200 students. On 5 June, the Capalaba Chamber of Commerce buried a time capsule in the base of a flag pole in Capalaba. The time capsule is to be retrieved in 2078.

The Capalaba drive-in held its last screening on its original site (the old Holliswood Zoo land, now the Capalaba Park Shopping Centre) in December 1979. The drive-in had originally opened in 1955. It was re- opened in a new location further along Redland Bay Road near Neumann Road.

Sheldon was named as a suburb in 1980, combining the southern Capalaba and northern Mount Cotton within the new suburb boundary. By 1980 plans were being made for the railway to return to the Redlands. Councillor Peter Hunter called for the proposed railway to travel via Capalaba and Alexandra Hills as these areas were the fastest growing in the Shire. He also wanted to see the rail link extended to Redland Bay.

The Capalaba Salvation Army Corps began operations in February, followed by the Capalaba Girl Guides Hut in March, and later in the year by the opening of the Police Citizens Youth Club Degen Road.

A new bridge was built over Tingalpa Creek at Capalaba, in the same location as the 1935 bridge.

Capalaba Park shopping centre was officially opened in March 1981 by State Minister Russ Hinze.

Capalaba Park was built on the site of the Shire’s first drive-in theatre, which re- located further south on Redland Bay Road, near Windermere Road.

Capalaba Park Shopping Centre opening day, 1981 HP1014

The Commonwealth Games in 1982 saw Old Cleveland Road into the city widened to 4 lanes from Chandler, making the Redland Shire now an ideal place to live and commute to Brisbane for work. Many visitors to the Brisbane Games also made their way to the Redland Shire, and some returned later as new residents. The extra lanes soon went right through to Capalaba, then on to Cleveland.

Chandler velodrome Old Cleveland Road, 1981 QAP356310029

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The Shire’s population was around 52,000 in 1983. Capalaba was the largest population centre with 7,480. 1160 pupils were enrolled at Capalaba State School and 1130 at Capalaba State High School.

The Leslie Harrison Dam wall was raised, doubling the dam’s capacity, as water supply was struggling to keep up with the population growth. In 1984 Council began planning to bring water from the North Stradbroke Island to the mainland via a pipeline to the Southern Moreton Bay Islands and on to the mainland.

The Capalaba ambulance station was officially opened by State Minister for Health and the Environment Brian Austin on 17 May 1986.

Stock photo CC2

Expo 88 in Brisbane brought fresh visitors to the Redlands throughout the 6 months that it was open. Again, some returned to live in the Redlands.

A joint research project was established in 1989 to collect data on flora and fauna, especially koalas, of the Leslie Harrison dam catchment area. Redlands, Logan and Brisbane city councils, two state government departments and Queensland University were involved.

The following year Redland Shire Council rejected a Brisbane City Council proposal to use the Leslie Harrison Dam as a water sports venue. The dam was to be preserved as a source of unpolluted water. Council also opposed an application by Brisbane City Council to rezone land near Leslie Harrison Dam for a golf course.

In 1990 the new water treatment plant at Herring Lagoon near Eighteen Mile Swamp on North Stradbroke Island began sending treated water to the mainland to augment supply from Leslie Harrison Dam.

The new $1.5 million Capalaba Police Station was officially opened by Police and Emergency Services Minister Nev Warburton and the Member for Manly Jim Elder in 1992. McDonald’s opened in Capalaba in 1993, bringing ‘fast food’ to the shire. Redland Shire Council announced plans to buy or resume 16 residential properties in Loraine and Rickey Streets, Capalaba, for a community facilities complex.

Capalaba Central Shopping Centre opened in November 1994. Work commenced on the bypass road – Moreton Bay Road - at Capalaba.

Redland Shire Council’s Capalaba Town Centre was officially opened on 20 April 1996. It included a library, customer service centre, function room, commercial kitchen, art studio, exhibition area and amphitheatre. Capalaba Bus Station was constructed as part of the town centre precinct, but moved around 50m north to Redland Bay Road just a few years later, then 20 years later it was augmented by a Bus Interchange – Park and Ride on Moreton Road.

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RCC Image

Plans were announced for the first six storey building in Redland Shire, on the corner of Lorraine and Rickey Streets, Capalaba. Capalaba’s six-cinema Birch Carroll and Coyle complex opened at Capalaba Central Shopping Centre on 4 December. The re-located Capalaba drive-in held its last screening on Australia Day in 1997.

In 1999 Residents fought successfully against a proposal by Bunnings to build a new hardware store on Old Cleveland Road in Capalaba.

Redlands Indigiscapes Centre opened in 2000 in Runnymede Road Capalaba.

RCC Image

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In 2001 a former Australia Post employee reported that a number of employees and former employees of Capalaba DC in Dollery Road were seriously ill and that this might be from electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from the adjacent electricity substation. The claims of a cancer cluster extended beyond the workplace to the 3-4 acre of land with 16 businesses on it. In total the cluster involved 60 people, 15 of whom had died. There were also concerns about contamination from chemicals and biological agents leaching into the soil as the area had been an unofficial tip. Subsequently the workplace environment was assessed and found to meet appropriate standards for OHS. The investigator recommended the population should be kept under review, and that the workers who had worked at Capalaba DC since it first opened should be identified and this clearly recorded on each person’s HR file. The first decade of the 21st century saw many road upgrades, new roundabouts, traffic lights, and fauna crossings. In 2008 the Redland Shire became a City and 17,592 people called Capalaba ‘home’ (no longer including Sheldon)

In 2010 Capalaba West’s almost 300 residents (to the west of Tingalpa Creek) became absorbed into the Brisbane City Council area of Chandler, and the Capalaba Master Plan was adopted. This included a Koala policy.

The rapid growth is evident. But some things haven’t changed … the land between Tingalpa Creek and Coolnwynpin Creek, behind the hotel where the US Troops camped, still floods! John Fredericks Park flooded in 2011 and again in 2012, just as it had always done during heavy rains.

John Fredericks’ dairy farm, 1940s HP0866 John Fredericks Park, 2012 Rural Press

The Rocks Crossing area was nominated for heritage listing.

In 2014 Seqwater lowered the dam level and the spillway gates were removed for the ongoing safety of the Leslie Harrison Dam and commenced a dam upgrade project which is due to finish in 2019. Seqwater intends to leave the spillway gates off the upgraded Leslie Harrison Dam.

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1973 Old Cleveland Road / Finucane Road L-R Old Cleveland Road East from centre top – down; Willard Road parallel to Old Cleveland Road East; John Fredericks Park centre left

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Population boom: Up until 1970, growth in the Redlands had been slow and steady, and then it boomed. There had been no new schools opened since 1916, until Cleveland High School opened 44 years later in 1962. The next primary school, Alexandra Hills, didn’t open until 1975. That was the start of a boom, during which time 26 new schools have opened, giving us a total of 37 schools.

We had a permanent water supply after the Leslie Harrison Dam was built (1968).

Sewerage resolved the many drainage problems that had existed throughout the Shire, and which had been preventing high-density development (1976).

A four-lane road was built between Capalaba and Brisbane (1982) then extended to Cleveland (1988) making a daily commute much faster, and the Redlands became an attractive prospect for those wishing to live outside of the city, while still being able to work there.

The trains returned (1986) which added another option for commuters.

The Commonwealth Games (1982) and Expo 88 (1988) brought many visitors to the area along the new fast roads, and many stayed or came back later to live in the Redlands.

As farmland was developed, the infrastructure that had existed to ensure produce reached markets in prime condition had started to disintegrate; this in turn made it harder for the remaining farms to sustain their viability, and so the temptation to sell to developers became harder for farmers to resist as the demand for housing increased.

So what had happened to trigger this rapid growth?

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2021 Redland City Council’s Biosecurity Officer Joshua Abbot came across what appeared to be an old log crossing on the upper reaches of Tingalpa Creek at the end of March 2021, while monitoring and noting the location of weeds in an area to the west of Avalon Road. He noted the spot’s GPS location (see aerial image below). About 350 hectares of land on both sides of Tingalpa Creek at that point had been owned from the late 1930s by the Pittendreighs who operated a sawmill there. At the time it was at the southernmost dead-end of Sawmill Road (renamed Avalon Road in 1964) and all the surrounding land was thick bush, as this 1936 QImagery aerial shows:

On 18 May 2021 the Local History team, Angela Puata and Gillian McNeill accompanied Joshua Abbot and Redland City Council Environment Officer Boyd Essex on a bushwalk to try to find the old Tingalpa Creek crossing again, and after about one and a half hours of trudging through the un-cleared bush, we arrived at the site. After recent rain events, the creek’s water level was a bit higher than it had been on his first visit, but the old crossing point was still clear to see. The logs were almost 3m long, laid parallel to each other. Much of it was now hidden by clumps of Lomandra. Remnants of the old log crossing, 2021 Boyd Essex

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Along the way there were some huge old Tallowwood trees that hadn’t been logged:

Joshua Abbot and Gillian McNeill beside the old Tallowwood tree

Tingalpa Creek Bridges

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The 1935 Tingalpa Creek Bridge 1946 QImagery

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Remaining foundations of the first European crossing of Tingalpa Creek at Capalaba. The Rocks Crossing consisted of two huge logs laid across the creek via large hewn rocks, with a platform of thick planks laid across the top of the logs to form a low bridge. It was only 1-2 feet (30-40cm) above normal water level and during times of heavy rains or extra-high tides, water ran over the top of it, and it became quite treacherous. Red and green beacons were erected at the top of the bank (on the Capalaba Hotel side) to indicate whether or not it was safe to cross at night. HP3470 (2013)

Site of the original Tingalpa Creek Rocks Crossing, and the first high bridge built in 1874. The bridge utilised some of the old rock foundations. This was the main Cleveland-Brisbane Road. The 1935 (and current bridge, duplicated in the 1980s) crosses Tingalpa Creek south of the old crossing point, on a new more direct road to Brisbane. Capalaba Hotel on the [Old] Cleveland Road Redland Bay Road

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1874 Capalaba Bridge over Tingalpa Creek at Capalaba, at the Rock’s crossing site behind the Capalaba Hotel, photographed in 1900. HP0907

1874 Capalaba Bridge over Tingalpa Creek at Capalaba, at the Rock’s crossing site behind the Capalaba Hotel, photographed in 1900. HP1921

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Opening of the new Capalaba Bridge over Tingalpa Creek, Old Cleveland Road Capalaba 1935/36. Frank Burbank leaning on post. This bridge was south of the 1874 bridge, at the site of the current 1980s 4-lane bridges. HP0844

Tingalpa Creek Bridge Capalaba, 2020. Site of the old Rock’s Crossing and 1874 bridge. Redemap

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Coolnwynpin Creek Bridges

The 1920 Coolnwynpin Creek Bridge 1946 QImagery

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Coolnwynpin Creek Bridge, Old Cleveland Road Capalaba. Built & photographed in the 1920s. HP0867

Coolnwynpin Creek Bridge, Old Cleveland Road Capalaba, 2020 Redemap

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Sources:

Mary Howells: Places of the Redlands

Tracy Ryan: Redlands master timeline 1770 – 2010

Cleveland Shire Council: Minutes and Rates records

Tingalpa Shire Council: Minutes and Rates records

Redland Shire Council: Minutes and Rates records

Rural Press: Redland Times and Bayside Bulletin

Redland Libraries: Local History Collections including Oral Histories and Images

Queensland State Library

Queensland State Archives

National Library of Australia: Trove

National Archives of Australia

Queensland Births, Deaths & Marriages

Historical Title Deeds

Post Office directories

Ancestry Library edition

Redland City Council Cemeteries Register

Queensland Heritage Register

Queensland Government historical maps and aerial imagery

Other sources as noted in document The document has been prepared for general reading rather than as an academic document. For that reason, referencing has not been included in it. However, all research has been thoroughly and diligently undertaken to academic standards by using primary sources as much as possible; existing academic papers, theses, and books; and by cross-checking information across more than one source. Personal recollections from memoirs or Oral Histories have all been cross-checked against historical records unless otherwise stated. Detailed references are available on request. Names and places, and language: Names, places and language have been included as recorded in their original context. While every effort has been made to avoid offensive material, historical records reflect the norm that existed at that time, and it is important that they are reproduced truthfully.

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Aboriginal Place names are acknowledged: Cullen Cullen - Wellington Point, Birkdale & Thorneside Erobin - King Island Nandeebie or Indillie - Cleveland, Thornlands, Ormiston, Alexandra Hills Doobawah - Raby Bay Quandamooka - Moreton Bay Kapallaba - Capalaba Joonggabbin - Sheldon Jungalpin or Tungipin - Mount Cotton Talwalpin - Redland Bay Warrer Warrer - Victoria Point Eprapa - Pinklands Minjerribah - Stradbroke Island Canaipa - Russell Island Jencoomercha - Macleay Island Goochie mudlo - Coochiemudlo Island Ngudooroo - Lamb Island Tindappah - Garden Island Teerk Roo Ra - Peel Island Noogoon - St Helena Island Milwarpin - Green Island Mubanbila - Bird Island Guwawanewa - Goat Island Perulpa - Perulpa Island Karragarra - Karragarra Island Mulgumpin - Moreton Island Pulan - Amity Point Mooloombah - Point Lookout Goompi - Dunwich Karboora - Blue Lake Bummiera - Brown Lake

To find more information about some of the stories included in this timeline, search in the library catalogue via the Local History link or by clicking on the Libraries or Discover Redlands Coast link on the Redland City Council website https://www.redland.qld.gov.au and following the links to Local History.

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Appendix 1 Rocks Crossing and the Tingalpa Creek Bridges by Mary Howells Capalaba is the gateway to the Redland Shire. It has always been an important site in the road link to Cleveland, especially as a crossing place. Earliest evidence of European usage of the land may be found in the 1841 survey of Tingalpa Creek, conducted by James Warner. He noted bridges and fords along the track between Cleveland and the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, which was situated at Coopers Plains. This included a ford suitable for drays, which is now under the Leslie Harrison Dam. It would have been in evidence in an extension of Geldart Road and Allambie Crescent. When he surveyed a road between the proposed town of Cleveland and Brisbane in 1850, he selected a crossing just north of the current Capalaba Bridge. This crossing was more suited to individual horses than drays.

During the 1860s, the mail was carried between Brisbane and Cleveland once a week by horseback. By 1867 tenders were called for mail service twice a week by coach via the township of Tingalpa which was surveyed on the eastern side of Tingalpa Creek in 1863. The mail coach, which was also used to transport passengers, had to cross the ford at ‘The Rocks’, as the Capalaba crossing was known. It was treacherous and could only be negotiated at low tide. The other troublesome creek crossings on the road to Cleveland were at Coolnwynpin Creek and at the Fellmongers Bridge over Hilliards Creek at Ormiston. By 1871, the Department of Public Works called for tenders to construct either a causeway or a bridge over Tingalpa Creek. It was constructed in 1873. Soon after the construction of the bridge, the second Capalaba Hotel was built on the site of the current hotel.

It operated as both post office and hotel from about 1875, although the publican, William Jarvis was not issued with a license until 1877. Now that the coach and mail service were firmly established in the area, a changing station for the horses was set up by the Davesons in a paddock opposite the hotel.

As early as 1882, a proposal was made by Councillors Gilbert Burnett, of Wellington Point and Michael Ryan of Cleveland, to construct a new, more direct, road to Cleveland. A public meeting was held in Cleveland to gauge public support. The meeting was chaired by William Finucane of ‘Cleveland House’. His career had been a broad ranging one, including the establishment of the first newspaper in the colony of Queensland; a position as chief clerk of the police department and the commercial agent for Queensland in southern Europe. He also had extensive knowledge of land development. It seems that Mr Finucane conducted an unofficial survey of the road that now carries his name, as it appears on an 1890 military map. When it was finally constructed in the early 1950s, his eldest daughter, Mary Crowle, wrote to the Redland Shire Council explaining that she had assisted her father in the original survey, and requested that the road be named after him.

The catalyst for the construction of Finucane Road came following the Main Roads Department’s declaration of it, in its unformed state, as a main road in 1928. The Depression obviously played a role in the delay in construction, but so did farmers who lived along Old Cleveland Road East. The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce was in favour of the proposal. However farmers from Wellington Point and Ormiston presented a petition of 450 objections to the new road. Members had a vested interest in the old route remaining open. Although they argued that this would mean an extra road in need of maintenance, in reality they were worried about the effect it would have on their businesses, and the viability of the settlements of Ormiston and Wellington Point.

When Finucane Road was finally completed it did have an impact initially on the farms along Old Cleveland Road East, but other issues were coming in to play at that time also. Following the removal of the railway in late 1960 further road upgrades were needed in the area to facilitate road transport to the new markets at Rocklea. In tandem with these improvements was the growing demand for housing lots in the Redlands. Shire Chairman, Norm Price, made a decision at that time, to make land available for housing in the areas of poorer soils. That decision and the subsequent building of the Leslie Harrison Dam, led to the spectacular growth in the area and the development of the ‘satellite township’ of Alexandra Hills. In the process, Capalaba grew into the major business centre it is today.