Parks on Bribie

What's in a name

Parks on Bribie

by Barry Clark

Bribie Island Historical Society

Have you ever wondered why the park you walk through or exercise your dog in has that funny name? I think it is important to recognise and remember those who have contributed to the islands history, so this month I have written about just four public parks in different suburbs to explain how they were named.

A few recently erected park signs do have informative words on them that help residents and visitors appreciate why they are so named, but why not all of them? They provide background information for residents and visitors to appreciate those who made valuable contributions to the island over the years, and were recognised by having a park named in their honour. In most cases they were named some years ago to honour people who now seem to be forgotten. It seems to me that they may just as well be called Park A, B or C if the names no longer have any meaning. 

There are parks in all Bribie suburbs that have the name of an organisation, group or event, but many have been named for specific people. Here is just a bit of information about some Park names that may add value and interest for you. If you would like to know more about the name of a Park or Street please contact us on bribiehistoricalsociety@gmail.com

CLAYTON PARK - BELLARA 

SIDNEY CLAYTON worked in the Caboolture Dairy industry until he retired and in 1952 and was then elected Chairman of the Caboolture Shire Council. He served as Shire Chairman for 12 years during which time both the Bribie Water Supply and the Bribie Bridge were constructed. When the Bribie Island Bridge opened on 19th October 1963 the Government imposed a substantial Toll which lasted for 12 years until the bridge was paid for.
Following the opening of the Bridge the new suburb of Bellara developed and this park recognises Sidney Clayton being the Shire Chairman at that time. This park became the roost for millions of bats a few years ago causing problems for residents.

EDWIN SCHRAG PARK - WOORIM  

EDWIN SCHRAG represented Bribie on the Caboolture Shire Council for 8 years from 1971 to 1979. He lived at Woorim and ran his Real Estate business at Bongaree. Over many years he served the Bribie community in the Lions Club and Chamber of Commerce, and from 1976 to 1982 was founding President of the Golden Age Centre. In 1976 the Bribie community staged a major fundraising stunt to secede from Queensland and become our own “Republic of Bribie Island”, with Edwin Schrag as President, and his wife Phyllis as First Lady. This park recognises the significant contribution he made to the island.

BRENNAN PARK - BONGAREE  

BERNIE & SALLY BRENNAN came to Bribie Island in 1941, and after the War opened a General Store in the front of a wooden cottage at No 7 Toorbul Street. Brennan’s Store provided the basic needs of the few residents and the thousands of holiday visitors who camped in canvas tents in this park and all along the Bongaree Foreshore. In 1958 the shop became the islands first Golden Casket ticket agency, and sold the winning First Prize ticket to a local resident in 1965. Brennan’s Store served the community for 33 years until 1978, and over all those years Sally washed the kit for the Surf Club volunteers until her death in 2011. This park sign was recently damaged in an accident. Council have now installed a new one with appropriate wording added. Thank you. 

COL FISCHER PARK - BANKSIA BEACH 

Colin and Bry Fischer were early residents of the new Solander Lake development at Banksia beach from 1979. Their agricultural background resulted in their home garden on Solander Esplanade becoming a colourful showpiece of flowers and shrubs, winning many garden competitions, and being awarded “Best Garden in Caboolture Shire” on several occasions. Over their 22 years living here they witnessed the initial development of Solander Lake, which eventually grew to become the extensive canal developments of Pacific Harbour. They contributed thousands of volunteer hours to planting and beautifying the Foreshore area of Banksia Beach, and installing the Glasshouse mountain models in the Park named in his honour. I assisted Col to document his history of Banksia beach, but he died in June 2011 just before his book was published and launched by Bry at the Historical Society.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 
This article was published in The Bribie Islander, issue 48, July 2018, page 36.  thebribieislander.com.au 

Nostalgic Reflections of Bribie 50 years ago

The following article was printed in The Bribie Islander, issue 44, March 2018, pages 30-31.

History Page

By Barry Clark

Bribie Island Historical Society

50+ years on Bribie residents plaque, Brennan Park.
Photo: Barry Clark

The following item of “Nostalgia” was first written by Ted Clayton back in 2004, and is one of several documents he has shared with me recording his memories of Bribie Island. 

Ted has over 80 wonderful and challenging years of memories to look back on, and has lived on the island since he married in 1954. Ted and Pat Clayton are one of the “50+ years on Bribie” pioneers that I had commemorated on a plaque in Brennan Park. 

 Ted’s parents Ernie and Marion met on Bribie Island in the 1920s when they had rental properties and lived most of their time here until 1984. Ted grew up in Brisbane but spent much of his early childhood on family holidays on Bribie, attending the Primary School for periods during the 1940's.

Bribie Bridge under construction 1963.

In 1954 Ted married Patricia and they came to live on Bribie in a house Ted built himself at No.11 South Esplanade. As a carpenter Ted did contract building work and together they ran a bait and tackle store. Their family of three daughters and a son grew up on the island.

During the construction of the Bribie Island Bridge in the early 1960's Ted was the General Foreman.

Ted Clayton, Fishing
World cover, Dec 1978.
Photo: Barry Clark

Ted Clayton was also one of the islands most renowned fishermen and from 1970 wrote regular articles about fishing, and became a regular contributor and field editor for "Fishing World" for over 20 years. Ted's articles about fishing around Bribie Island created nation-wide interest.

Ted Clayton + big fish.

There is not a square inch of Bribie Island that Ted has not explored in his 80 years roaming the island.

In 1990 Ted and Pat moved from South Esplanade Bongaree, to live a quieter life at Whitepatch.

The following document is one of several that Ted has written to document and share some of his memories of Bribie Island, and I hope to bring you more of his great memories in the months ahead.

NOSTALGIC REFLECTIONS OF BRIBIE 50 YEARS AGO

BY TED CLAYTON

Fifty years ago when Pat and I were married we settled permanently on Bribie. The Place was paradise – there is no other description for it.

Making a living was a starvation pastime but that was the only drawback. 

In my Batchelor days I worked in the scrub in North Queensland. My parents had more use for my spare cash than I did and they repaid the favour with an allotment in South Esplanade. To make it vacant I had to move a small house that was on it to the back of the allotment to the south. My parents owned that block. It already had one house on the front. It was my first house move and I undertook it with more guts than brains. Looking back I wonder at my parents feelings. It was their house and they had a lot at stake. You are a bit thoughtless when you are young.

My partner and I moved a couple of big houses from block to block with the Council tree puller. A bit of sherbet could get you that. Tthere was no dirt for filling on the Island but sometimes a truck would conveniently break down outside the job. All perfectly good natured. Life was a bit simpler then.

The process with the houses was to jack them up – put longitudinal timbers on the stumps then place some more crosswise. The faces of both of these where they met was liberally rubbed with laundry soap (‘Velvet’). The tree puller was attached to the house and once the thing moved the timbers glazed and went quite well. There was a bit more to it than that of course. One had one metre stumps that were rotten and as soon as we started pulling half of them snapped and we had to get under it to salvage things.

I was very fit – I built our house in my spare time in twelve months. We had no floor coverings or curtains, we bathed in a basin. The Rentons were next door and both houses survived on 1,000 gallon tanks.

The Renton’s system, in the kitchen sink, was to wash themselves, wash the kids, wash the dishes then do the laundry. I made our furniture at night at a work bench in the main room. The Council would have a fit these days but no one thought it odd at the time. The toilet was a thunder box out the back. Pat accepted it all in good spirit.

The best advantage was the position. In front we had a pristine beach where one could swim and sunbake. Our children grew up with that. You could not put a price on it. Going fishing was as easy as crossing the road and stepping into a dinghy.

The roads on the Island were simply wheel tracks in the sand. That was South Esplanade – two-wheel tracks. There was not a shovelful of road gravel anywhere.

Early on we had a special Island Registration fee for our vehicles. In theory they couldn’t get onto the mainland.

Mostly we bought old ‘bombs’ that couldn’t run on main roads. One, I forget the make, needed an eighteen inch piece of flooring jammed between the gear lever and the dash panel to keep it in top gear. It had no brakes at all. You turned off the ignition coming into a corner and turned it on again as you came out. I had one vehicle, a Dodge Six, that had as much guts as any four-wheel drive that I have ever driven. 

Its failing was the steering box. It took about six turns of the wheel to have any effect. On a bush track you had a very active time. I used to drive it through the scrub to Dux Creek chasing mud crabs. That area is where Bellara now stands but in those days it was a very pretty marshy place with a lovely fresh water creek running through it. The old Dodge would chug through across a ‘corduroy’ of logs and up a greasy slope on the other side as easy as you like.

One of my most respectable was a Chev, a 1934 I think, that I bought in Brisbane for the equivalent of fifty dollars. It was fully registered, I even took it on the mainland once.
Today’s car buffs would cry. We did some shocking things to some lovely old cars but they were cheap and all that we could afford.

I once went to Brisbane car shopping with my building partner. He finally found one out near Mt. Gravatt. It was a Rugby in immaculate show room condition – hood, upholstery, the lot. He got it for the usual fifty bucks. I drove it back to Bribie. The barge was running by then. We took a hacksaw and cut it off behind the front seat down to the chassis. Everything but the front seat was thrown into the scrub. He fixed some rough hardwood on the chassis and called it a utility. It lasted three years. 

One of the jobs that I took on for a while was driving an eight-ton Bedford truck for the Rentons. Driving to the Darra Cement Works for cement was one task. A bit hairy because at first I had no idea how to get there. Cement had the advantage of being warm. If I missed the last barge I would crawl under the tarp and go to sleep.

I have told you that gravel for building was worth a fortune on the Island in the early days. I later did trips to S&S Gravel at the Pine River for gravel. What one was allowed to put on a truck was foreign to us all. ‘As much as it could carry’. It certainly never occurred to me that anyone would give you more gravel than you paid for. I paid at the office for the load and they directed me to an excavator that would load it. I stood back and watched. After a while the operator looked at me and raised his hands and his eyebrows. Apparently it was up to me to say when. I got to the gate and the mob in the office had a talk. The portable scales were working somewhere so they told me to take a dirt back road to avoid them. Things went OK until I reached a very steep hill and didn’t have enough power to get over it. All that I could see half a kilometre back down the track was a very rickety and narrow bridge. Fortunately I had Pop with me. I stood on the brakes, pulled on the hand brake, turned the motor off in gear and got Pop to put some big rocks under the wheel. Then I got into it with a shovel and put a pile of it into the gutter. You live and learn.

Another choice run was to Attewell’s saw mill at Caboolture for timber. Again you simply loaded all that you could get on. The long stuff piled up on either side of the cabin until you needed to be a snake to get into the seat. I had to back it down onto the barge and at low tide and that was a spooky business.

Another job that I took on for money was an eviction out at Woorim. The tenant wouldn’t get out. It required someone to stay full time on the front verandah for three days. I knew the bloke vaguely and he took it quite well. The inside of the place was a complete pig sty.

I put in a price and got the job of erecting steel towers along the Ocean Beach for the Coordinator Generals Department, and I also renovated one of the old navigation lights at the top end of the Island.

I put the lookout cabin on top of A.P.M.’s (Australian Paper Mill) one-hundred-foot fire tower. Most of it got put together on the ground and was lifted by a crane but I did the finishing touches hanging on like a fly. Anything for a quid.

Ted Clayton, 2004.

Reference:
Clayton, T. (2018) Nostalgic Reflections of Bribie 50 years ago. The Bribie Islander issue 44, March 2018, pages 30-31.

Capturing memories

DON MULLEN HONOURED BY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

At the September 2017 meeting of the Bribie Island Historical Society, Don Mullen was our honoured guest as he shared his memories of Bribie Island.

L-R: Barry Clark, Anne Mullen, Don Mullen, Graham Mills
September 2017 BIHS meeting
Photo: Barry Clark

Don Mullen first came to Bribie as a small boy in 1937 when his grandparents had a cottage here. He continued to have memorable weekends and holidays on the Island, coming by steamship and catching loads of big fish, for many years. When he later graduated as a Pharmacist and married his nurse girlfriend Anne in 1960, he purchased the one small Pharmacy business on Bribie Island and set up shop in Toorbul Street.

Over the next 50 years Don moved the growing Pharmacy business to other locations in First Avenue and later to Benabrow Avenue, where with his business partners he developed new commercial premises. As well as being the only “go to” person on the Island for heath and emergency needs, he involved himself in  many community projects and committees as a willing volunteer. He served on the Volunteer Fire Brigade, Ambulance, ANZAC Committee, RSL sub-branch, State School P&C, Catholic Church, Caboolture Rotary, Meals on Wheels and developed the Bribie Island Golf Club. He was also invited to be Patron of Chamber of Commerce, RSL, Golden Age and the Bribie Island Golf Club…..and has served this community long and hard for so many years.

Founder of the Bribie Island Historical Society, Barry Clark, conducted a filmed interview with Don a few months ago to capture, first hand, Don's recollections of life on Bribie over the past 80 years or so.

This video recording was then edited by past President Graham Mills with the addition of several hundred old photos from the Historical Society Database collection, illustrating the subjects spoken about by Don during the interview.

Don Mullen was a guest at the Historical Society September 2017 meeting where the video was first screened to the public, to a large and appreciative audience of over 80 members and friends. The video recording runs for just over an hour and is available for showing to interested groups on request.

Society President Lynne Hooper paid tribute to all the work Don and Anne have done over so many years and invited them to speak and answer questions. Both Don and Anne are still very active in the community and have contributed much to the success of the Historical Society. The large crowd also paid tribute to Warwick Outram who died last week after more than 40 years, writing more than 50 books about Bribie Island history, and also contributing to many of the same organisations as Don. Warwick Outram was invited to be the inaugural Patron of the Historical Society and has left a lasting legacy of the rich history of the Island.

We are reminded of how much some of the long-term Island residents have contributed to the wonderful community facilities we enjoy here today.

The Historical Society plan to conduct further interviews and capture other peoples stories while they can, so please contact us on bribiehistoricalcociety@gmail.com if you would like to offer some information.

Saving war relics

War Relic was Holiday Home on Bribie

Barry Clark, Bribie Island Historical Society

We have recently been contacted by a lady from Brisbane with wonderful childhood memories of living in one of the Fort Skirmish Military buildings at Woorim.

It is one of only 2 remaining buildings in the area of Rotary Park, which is soon to have informative signs erected and improvements carried out. The structure is known as RAN 4 and was the Control Room for submarine detection cable laid on the sea floor, across to Moreton Island to detect and destroy enemy ships. 

There were several defensive installations throughout Moreton Bay which are shown on diagram 1. After the war the military equipment was removed but the structures remained.

1. Diagram of Defence installation
during WW2.

There were 5 rooms in the Control room building, for various equipment and wartime observation activities, plus a toilet for the Officers and another for the ratings. The layout and use of the rooms during the war years is shown on diagram 3.  Further back from the sea was the accommodation camp for about 30 servicemen plus various other military structures. The only other building that has survived is one of the Generator rooms which is still visible in Rotary Park.

Soon after the war the submarine cables were recovered and most buildings were removed or lost in the shifting sand dunes. By 1953 the RAN 4 Control Room was almost out of sight under the sand.

2. In 1953 it was almost buried,
before the Olsen family moved in.

Between 1948 and 1953 the Control room structure was used as a "weekender" by Brisbane butchers Bertha and Ern Koppe under a special lease. They installed double bunks and turned the Loop, Wireless and Observation rooms into bedrooms, and the Artificers Workshop became the kitchen.
The lease was taken over by Ray and Joan Craft who continued to use it as a weekender until 1958.

They installed a wood stove, but were unable to leave anything at all in the building when they were not there as it had no windows and was not secure.

3. Military use of rooms during WW2.

4. Rooms as Holiday home for
Olsen family 1958 to 1969.

Bribie Island was still quite remote in those days with only a car ferry from the mainland to the island, and a population of about 400 people.

The road across the island was rough and basic and there was only a sandy track from the Hotel north to the Control room.

Other families also leased Gun Emplacement structures opposite Fourth Avenue. Viv Daddo and family had use of the tiny Generator room still standing in Rotary Park.
Everything required for the holiday visits had to be carried in and taken back home afterwards.

On 12th March 1958 Frank and Oral Olsen took over the lease of RAN4 Control room and continued to use it as a holiday home for the next eleven years until end January 1969.
By 1970 the building was so broken down and unsafe that it could no longer be used.
Helga Newmann (nee Olsen) recently wrote the following letter to the Historical Society with her memories of those days, and provided a diagram of how they used the rooms as a home.

My memories of holidaying at "The Fort" Bribie Island 

by Helga Newmann (nee Olsen) April 2017

Between March 1958 and January 1969 my family (parents and five children) holidayed at various times (school holidays) at Bribie Island staying in "The Fort" leased by my Uncle Francis Lloyd Olsen (Frank Olsen). We would catch the barge  over from Toorbul Point to Bribie Island then drive across the island towards the ocean beach.

The road in to the fort was only a poorly maintained sandy track through the bush. First thing when we arrived Dad started the windmill so we could have water and got the kerosene refrigerator going. There was no electricity so we used primus lanterns for lights, a kerosene refrigerator and a wood stove. I don't remember stockpiles of wood for the stove so maybe we had some other means of cooking but I don't recall. Maybe a primus stove.

The windows would have had bars but I don't recall whether there was glass in them. The sand dunes actually came right up under the windows (within a foot of the windows) on the beach side. People used to wander along the beach and stop to look in the window. Many a time you'd surprise somebody looking in at you.

We used to swim and fish in the surf right in front of the fort. We also did lots of walking going to some of the inland lagoons. It was wonderful at night to lie in bed and listen to the only sound - the ocean breaking on the shore - and shadowy figures walking past the doorway when Mum and Dad passed with a lantern.

Saving Our War History

After 1970 the Control building continued to deteriorate and became extensively vandalised over the next 25 years, until in 1996 the newly formed Rotary Club of Bribie Island initiated a project to refurbish the building. Volunteers worked for many months inputting thousands of volunteer hours to uncover the building, clean and paint the interior rooms and external structure.

5. Control room before Rotary Restoration in 1996.

6. Restoration work by Rotary volunteers in 1996/7.

When completed it was almost as good as new and was positioned just above the high water mark. Despite the efforts of Rotary there was no interest by State or Council to provide adequate protection or signage.

7. After Rotary restoration vandals struck again in 2000.

In subsequent years king tides and storm surges eroded the protective sand dune in front of the Control Room, and vandals continued to break into the building and deface the restoration work.

8. Storm erosion in 2011 almost claims Control room.

9. Protective Sandbags after storms of 2011.

A major storm surge in 2011 removed large quantities of sand and seriously undermined the structure until it was almost lost.

Council were then required to construct a large sand bag protective wall around the building, which now sticks out over the beach and is washed by the daily tide.

10. What it looks like inside today.

Bribie Island Rotary Club have urged Council for many years to recognise the significance of these structures and to improve the facilities in Rotary Park and erect their informative signage. This work is scheduled to take place soon and it must be hoped that this will raise public awareness and respect for these important historical relics.

For more than a decade the Historical Society have urged State Government to recognise the almost complete loss of World War 2 structures at Fort Bribie on the north of the island. There are now very few remaining structures remaining intact. I have recently taken 40 people, as one of Council's Public programs, to see the inside of the Control Room and appreciate the role of Bribie Island in WW2. The interior is rapidly deteriorating due to extensive concrete cancer, and its ultimate collapse seems inevitable. Such a pity.

It was lovely to hear from Helga (nee Olsen) with her memories of many exciting holidays with her family, living in an empty concrete bunker on the water's edge ... a million dollar location.

We should all be reflecting on just how close Australia came to being invaded during the war, and the strategic role of the buildings and those who served on Bribie Island during those challenging years.

Acknowledgements
Thank you to Helga Newmann (nee Olsen) for her kind permission to reproduce her memories of "The Fort" Bribie Island.

The above article was published in the June 2017 issue (pages 14-15) of 
The Bribie Islander https://issuu.com/thebribieislander/docs/35_bis_june_2017

Further Information
Dr Richard Walding's webpages on Fort Bribie
http://indicatorloops.com/bribie.htm - has Loop Hut Floor Plan

http://indicatorloops.com/fortbribie.htm