Pallara

Pallara: Timeline to 2009

Aboriginal presence – in the Oxley Creek region for perhaps 60,000 years

• 1824 – Moreton Bay Penal Colony – Pallara lies within the “50 mile limit” where no settlement is allowed. Outpost at Cowper’s Plains to supply stock.
  1828 – Early explorers (Logan, Frazer, Cunningham) cross the area
• 1840c – a navigational “Blunder” by a drunken bullocky en route to Ipswich gives the area its name
• 1842 – Penal settlement closed, free settlers allowed
• 1851 – Freneys settle along Oxley Creek and Old Brisbane Road.
• 1859 – Separation – Queensland becomes an independent colony
• 1865 – Stanborough – 1st local teacher – settles on Oxley creek in Pallara
• 1870s  – Edward Freney develops sawmill and sand-mining
• 1875 – Thomas Scanlan owns major part of Pallara
• 1892 – “Mildura Estate” sub-division into 10 acre properties
• 1893 – Economic recession; Major Flood – Freneys sawmill wiped out
• 1898 – Acacia Ridge named – includes the Blunder
• 1901 – Federation of Australia
• 1906 – Massa buys west of Ritchie Road
• 1914 – World War I
• 1918 – Mussigs buy in Willawong
• 1920s – Tobacco farms tried in North Pallara/ Willawong
• 1920s – Sydney-Brisbane railway constructed through the district
• 1927 – Archerfield aerodrome clearing begins (opened 1931)
• 1930s – Depression years – Small scale timbergetting continues
• 1940s – World War II – Archerfield hosts Aust. US and Dutch air forces.
• 1948  – BCC Sanitary dump established
• 1950 – “Macadamia” sub-division – immigrants and battlers begin to populate the area.
• 1951 – Trial bus service by Spinks
• 1952 – Petition for mail delivery to Ritchie Road
• 1955c  –The “Blunder Bus” takes children to Acacia Ridge school
• 1959 – Richie Road school opens
• 1961 – Electricity connected to most of Pallara
• 1964 – Moonie oil pipeline crosses the suburb
• 1966 – 400m bitumen strip laid in front of school
• 1966 – Possible suburb names submitted by Progress Association
• 1969 – Man walks on the moon: town water nears Pallara
• 1969 – Roma to Brisbane gas pipeline runs through the area
• 1971 – Pallara name officially gazetted
• 1973 – Pallara Monster sightings reported
• 1974 –  January floods cover low-lying areas, many evacuated to the school
• 1976 – School name changed from Ritchie Road to Pallara
• 1977 – Willawong murder report
• 1981 – Willawong – toxic liquid waste dangers revealed in Senate Inquiry
• 1983 – Doolandella/ Pallara Residents Group formed to fight sand mining
• 1984 – School silver Jubilee celebration
• 1988 – Australia’s Bicentenary and Brisbane Expo
• 1989 – The Pony Club moves into Army property in Brookbent Road.
• 1994 – ACE Waste – protests re NSW hospital waste, emissions
• 1996  – Flood destroys Brookbent Road bridge, BCC announces Willawong dump to close
• 1997 – Pallara Parklands open on remediated sanitary dump
• 1999 – School’s 40th Anniversary, Blunder sand-mining ended
• 2000s – Developer interest in buying up land for sub-division increasing
• 2004 – Inaugural community Toad Hunt, Pallara –Willawong Newsletter begins
• 2007 – Rural Pallara part of the Urban Footprint in the SEQ Regional Plan
• 2008 – BCC bus depot for Willawong – and still no bus service for Pallara., Moonie pipeline closes
• 2009 – May floods highest since 1974
• Queensland’s 150th, School’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, Pony Club moves out, as first high density sub-divisions begin

Pallara suburb and school (centre right) 2009
Source: Pallara State School

For more information:

“Pallara  School and Community 2009”

“150 Years – Richlands, Inala and Neighbouring Suburbs in Brisbane’s South West”