Save West End

Apart from a few areas that need to be cleaned up (regular hangout for drunks and junkies) I love the place, it’s the closest I can get to the European/Spanish athmosphere in Australia. Clean it up, improve, but no more concrete high rises!!

Long sunny days, but no fancy concrete, was the fabric of the pavement where once I walked in West End. Never shall the people in West End spell the past, as new places always surface, not in the way of postcards, but wrinkles bearing a passport of their uniquely individual blood, found nowhere other than the place where which I grew up in, West End.

Oh, West End! The tales behind the buildings are to no end, as the streets all dance together, as a trio or a quartett, because their
facades are now the last witness standing in a high court of history, even before the botox builders came in to spin their plastic promises of fame and fortune. But the heart of West End will always be kept sharp, not unlike the scissors once blessed by the then artists of local hair, Kay and Desi, because like anything made of such honesty, it will never fall easily or surrender like a whim, because the skeleton of such a community are like the stumps on which the houses were bulit: forever. Amen!

My wife was born and raised in Exeter Street and is at heart a West Ender. Whenever we travel to Brisbane we always visit even though the family no longer lives in West End, it still feels like home to her and it feels like a family kind of place to me too.

The challenge facing you all is the same challenge faced by Sydney when the wealthy developers wanted to destroy old Sydney, in particular the Rocks.

The truth is unless you have a powerful ally, like the NSW Builders Laborers Federation, you will lose and more of Brisbane’s history will be flushed down the toilet into the bank accounts of the wealthy developers and the corrupt politicians who help them.

Is there any social conscience left anywhere in Queensland?

c.

Hi all,

I’m currently studying Conservation and Land Management and as a part of my studies I’m required to research a place of Cultural Significance and I’m in need of some feedback from stakeholders of the area. If my findings and report are sufficient, I will happily give my work to whoever wants it if they wish to make lawful steps to protect West End.

ABOUT CULTURAL HERITAGE
Contrary to popular belief, a site of cultural heritage does not necessarily have to be old. Registering a new site can be extremely beneficial to uphold the site’s original aesthetic/structural integrity and lawfully prevent its demolition.

A potential Heritage Listed site can be valued for many reasons, namely indigenous, cultural, aesthetic, historical, social, spiritual, architectural, scientific or educational merit or symbolism.

ABOUT WEST END
West End is a really important suburb in Brisbane because it’s telling of the evolution or patterns of our local history. Just a walk down Boundary Street will tell you a story of tolerance and intolerance, diversity, poverty, the working-class, student life and the music/arts scene. Contributing places of interest to the Heritage Commission will preserve West End from uniformity and urban development.

Most people know the Lizard, especially if you frequent the West End area. You may see the Lizard as a landmark, public art, urban-design, a playground, the embodiment of the unique West End dynamic or something else.

Whatever the Lizard is to you, let me know what you think about it, what you’ve seen going on there, how you think it reflects the surrounding area and the people that live there – I just need some sort of feedback. Even if you think the Lizard looks shit or was a waste of government funding let me know – any sort of opinion in welcome! Please email me at nokicat@hotmail.com

The bend in the river that contains ‘West End’ as we call it has always been a special place. Before Colonial settlement it was a sacred place known to the many Indigeneous tribes as a self-contained eco-system unto itself; the river creating a fertile area of land surrounded on almost all sides by water. The hunting was so good there, and the land so sacred, that no tribe was permitted to actually live there. It was a hunting ground, and it was a meeting place. The forest was dense and filled with wildlife, the river clear and abundant, and the people were happy. Today, West End is still geographically almost an island. And as such it is still an eco-system unto itself. Now this fact is reflected not in hunting and fertile forests, but in the Community itself. West End is ALIVE. The people there are one. There is no division by fence and road. The place has a pulse that everybody moves to together. It may have been clearfelled, planted out, built up and habitated, but it is still the same place – it is still the same abundant eco-system it always has been, and will always be. This is why West End is special.

Yes it started many moons ago at my great Aunty Merille also aka Maree at 36 Hardgrave Road where my great Aunty had flats for men of West End , At the time I didn’t know my Aunty, but I was compelled to find out about this great Aunty who was a seamstress. She used to tailor clothed for women and men. She was a fantastic woman who had no children and a Dutch husband who left her alone for many years.

He came back into her life in the late 1980s when he came home to die. He had asked her to forgive him for leaving her. She was so kind and gentle and let him stay with her until he was admitted to Mt Olivett hospital to die.

I was so impressed with this beautiful great aunty of mine who was alone and fragile. My great aunty could not cook but when she did she would put the unpeeled veggies in one pot and cook it up.It didn’t matter if it was stale or green or overripe she would cook it and eat it.

My family are and were great people and were all of Lebanese decent and brought over their culture and happy spirits with them. They were all in business and all in the clothing and hardware stores here in early years of West End. They owned houses in Hardgrave Road and in Melbourne Street. My mother went to school at St Marys Catholic school and so too did the other relations and cousins.

I just love West End because it is so cosmopolitan with the rich different cultures. I remember the Greeks and Vietnamese. I love the variety of life that sure is here. It is a place where I find everything and anything

I love West End and I guess they will have to carry me out and bury me at Dutton Park that’s how much I love West End.

“Lana Bambi” is my nick name. West End was a part of my life as I have lived here over 25 years. I remember when there were only 3 snack bars here. But look at it now: she is beautiful and is in her prime, blooming with culture diversity, flavours and rich aromas you cant forget. How she has grown up and is still growing the very first shop here in west end was Micks Mixed Nuts on Hardgrave Road and still is standing there today. It should be listed as an historical building as one of its first and originals of West End.

Lana of West End. with a proud family history that helped make West End what it is today.

West End is a sanctuary. It is a laid back Brisbane suburb with a unique atmosphere and culture that cant be found anywhere else in Brisbane. West End is not only loved by it’s residents but also by the residents of many other Brisbane suburbs. Although I do not live in West End, I frequent the area quite often and I know that whenever you’re in West End it just feels like any troubles that you’re having disappear.

West Ends unique and irreplaceable culture and heritage needs to be protected at all costs. What I want to say to Campbell Newman and the Brisbane City Council is be careful what you tear down, because you cant replace it. Nor can you restore the faith that residents of Brisbane have in you. The backlash coming from this proposal will not be restricted to the residents of West End, you will be disgruntling many Brisbane residents from various suburbs which love West End just like the locals do.

Over the last year West End has become my home. I have lived in many places in Australia and around the globe but I have never come across anything so attractive, so warming and so magnetic as what I have found in our blessed West End. I adore its street scapes, parks and quirky bits. It is so open and friendly, so easy to make new friends and everyone is so accepting. The interconnectedness of neighbours and cultures is easy to see and appeal to so many visitors (who I’ve heard confess they wish the urban community they lived in was the same way…). Most importantly, the indigenous heritage of Kurilpa is highly respected, regarded and valued.

Every city has a cultural heart- whether it is Fremantle in Perth, Soho in London or Montmartre in Paris. These are the places that keep the city pulsing and alive with creativity. Each is a unique place which fosters the arts and an alternative essence to life. West End needs to be honoured and valued for what it truly is- Brisbane’s colourful and collective heartbeat.

Orleigh Park, the bend of the Brisbane River, the Goanna, the Moreton Bay Figs, the jacaranda, poinsiana and frangipani trees, the froggy park, the galleries, the music venues, the cafes and restaurants, the green grocer, Avid Reader, Inpsire Gallery Bar, Davies Park markets, the possums, the bush turkeys, the friends, the vegie gardens, the dogs, the schools, the kids, the mums and dads, the dolphins, the birdlife, the Thomas Dixon Centre, the GoMA and Cultural precinct, the community gardens, the Boundary Street / West End festival, Southbank, yoga, bike riding, drumming, singing, loving, teaching……..all these things make up West End and much much more……………….
our lifeblood.

Tonight we shared memories of the West End Community House.

‘Listening to stories and the creativity. The chance to develop your creative side. Its a good safe environment to do it. There is a very interesting assortment of people here too. There was a time we got up and sang, it was a joint effort, a joint story about the choir,’ Dave says.

‘I keep coming back because its interesting, everyone has a story to tell,’ Lorraine recalls.

‘I remember the first time I met you in Boundary Street. We had just started our West End Storytelling project on the internet and we interviewed you and then you started coming to the storytelling group,’ Daryl remembers.

John says, ‘I’ve been coming since I met Malcolm, a long time. We do art group. We used to play darts. And scrabble too. I’ve known Malcolm and Jo and Kat for a long time, they feel like friends.’

Tony is not a stranger to West End, ‘I started in a duplex in Drake Street that has since been pulled down and replaced by extremely valuable property. Then I moved to Hill End’s most exclusive address, a seven story block of flats on the top floor. I had to go to the laundromat in Hardgrave Road and met West End people. Then working for Micah I got to meet people at West End Community House. The most important thing about coming here is that I mix with people as friends, with neighbours. For me that’s very important that I don’t just come into this area as a social worker. West End is my first home in Brisbane, having been a bit of a regular in the group now, I’ve had this extended relationship with the house.’

John remembers the second day, starting the painting group, ‘I did a portrait of someone in the painting group, then the second day I was here Malcolm went to Scotland then came back with the idea of the place where people meet on Mondays and Thursday, at Campbell’s Club. I made a banner for that. We started doing plays and sketches and few since then.’

‘Would you say West End Community House has helped you get involved in other things as well?’

‘Yes, the history of community houses, working here is kind of the same as Seven Stone at Coorpooroo and in Toowoomba, there’s concrete around here and its hot. Community houses started as an idea of Paul Keating’s. Its gone beyond his idea of socialising. Its turned into something more than the initial idea of community houses. Its developed further. It was a political idea at some stage but its done more than the idea of it. Its better than what was first pitched. Except finance is always a problem.’

Lyn first came here when she got to know Campbell’s Club, ‘Dave was doing placement at Campbell’s Club and since then I’ve been doing drama and choir and coming here. Its been interesting. Its a social outing. Its something to do.’

Ted can fill in the gaps, ‘I was around longer than all of you, it started out with an idea that West End needs a house. Next year its 20 years, I’ve known Jo and Peter and the others a long time. I always kid Malcolm but Malcolm is part of the institution here. We’ve had a lot of social workers do their placement here. Jo was the main one who organised breakfasts on Thursday mornings. They try to do their best with Tasworker, advising people about accommodation and disputes over tenancy. Its really gone from strength to strength. Kat was going to go overseas but then decided to stay here, they try to make a sense of community. They decided to keep the AAA stand in Boundary Street going. They try to have accommodation and legal advice on Fridays and help people best they can. They hang out with indigenous people there. Jo has raised his family in West End. I didn’t mind doing things for Glenys, I helped her put the clock up and she’d listen. They’re very good to me, they buy my Big Issue.’

Daryl was asked to do a community storytelling workshop here, ‘back when Allison was the Community Worker. They asked me to do community workshops in these rooms. After those two workshops we kept the storytelling group going. West End Community House has always been willing to try different things. When we said, ‘hey lets have a busking festival and involve storytelling’ there were people who said, ‘yeah let’s support that’ and storytellers got involved and told stories with musicians and Japanese drummers and god knows who else. West End Community House is one of the things that keeps the community pulse in West End alive.’

‘You talk about it like the spirit is alive’

‘It is. Its being used.’

‘This is my first time. I heard about it from some friends. My friend Jos helps with breakfast on Thursday mornings. I used to work next door. I was looking on the internet and I thought wait its actually near our office. Its almost hidden, which is a good thing also. Its the community of West End that knows about it.’

‘Its an old Queenslander with verandas. That’s important. Its wooden with verandas and that adds to it.’

‘It’ll be 20 years next year’

Nic remembers the first time he came in here, ‘its like other community houses I’ve come to. There is just something sedimented in the walls, in the whole vibe of the place. You can tell that this place is important to people, there is a good feeling about this place.’

What are your memories of West End homes?

There were a whole lot of people involved in organising the Kurilpa Derby this year, from those who attended our first planning meeting (when we decided to broaden the focus from just wheelchairs to all sorts of friendly wheels), to those we grabbed on the day and hit them with “how about you be the other judge on the judging panel?”
As some of those people sat on my veranda that Sunday evening, debriefing and savouring each other’s good humour, we got into reporting the comments we’d overheard during the day. Without a doubt the most satisfying one was “This is so West End”. “Who did you hear saying that?” I asked Darren and he replied “Just about everyone!”
How often have we heard our old folk (or us if we are in that category yet) say things like “When we were kids we’d make our own fun with a piece of string and a couple of clothes pegs”? Well at the Derby we couldn’t have had more fun and all we needed was someone to close the road for an afternoon. Close off the street and they will come!
Our local elder representing the Jaggera people, Auntie Mulinjarlie, was once again the event’s patron leading the parade on her mobility scooter adorned with the flags of multicultural Kurilpa and formally welcoming us all to the land on which were playing. And for most of us it was also the land in which we were living. It seemed like everyone there was either a resident or a resident in spirit. Sure we could have swelled the numbers with spectators from everywhere else but this was a community event not a commercial venture or a numbers game. As it is those spectators were probably at Brisbane Festival’s Racecourse Road event that was happening across town at the same time.
It also seems that “What’s it in aid of?” and “What are you raising money for?” or “Are you raising awareness of something?” were common questions posed to a lot of us both before and even during the event. The Derby was just getting the community together for a bit of fun but it seemed strange to be saying it. When you think about it most events these days seem to be “in aid of” something. Now sure, there was a stand drawing people’s attention to the Local Area Plan and what it might do to a community that plays in the street at the drop of a hat but the event was really just about making our own fun.
It’s sometimes easy to get so caught up in defending what you hold dear that you fail to indulge in and develop the very thing you’re defending.
And what about next year? I was gushing about the day to a friend of mine from interstate and his remark, which I suspect was mischievous, was “And next year will you have jumping castles and beer tents?” No trouble coming up with an answer to that one. Next year I’d like to see even more local people having the same kind of fun and an even broader representation of groups that make up our fantastic community.
The budget for the event was $2,850. Local businesses generously donated prizes that were awarded, at the judges’ random discretion, for anything from “cutest dog on a pushbike” and “most elegant” to “first past the post”. There were no stalls selling anything and there was no entry fee. Now how was that for value?!

I hope they never build a high rise on the Kurilpa Hall. The other Friday night I was walking down Boundary Street and heard this wonderful African drumming coming from Kurilpa Hall next to the library. I thought of all the amazing community events that have happened there over the years.

In January the Transformers Choir Group used to meet every Wednesday at 11 and rehearse till 2.30. They’ve been going since January. We’re doing a Christmas performance in the Queens Street Mall. We had our first public appearance in the Kurilpa Hall. Malcolm, and a few dignitaries, got an invite. We performed at City Hall too, once in front of 400 people, and we got a standing ovation.

The choir is based on Melbourne’s Choir of Hard Knocks. Kurilpa Hall has great acoustics. It’s the best hall for a Choir in West End. It’s got a good conductor and good singers and people wanted to come along, but of course, it was the right hall. Nothing is worse than trying to sing or perform in a dead space.

Transformers isn’t the only choir to sing in Kurilpa Hall. There have been many choirs over the years. One of them was the Combined Union Choir who sang with the West End Storytelling Group in a performance called ‘Gabbing with Chords’. Members of the storytelling group told stories and the choir responded with songs.

Peter told a story about going fishing with his son. ‘I’ve got three sons, my son Mark was the middle one he was fanatical about fishing. We were living at Mudjimba Beach up the Sunshine Coast. He suddenly started making things out of cork, putting sinkers and hooks on them. He made something with a big bit of cork. He had bits of line with hooks and sinkers, whiting hooks and things.
‘He said, ‘Pete I’m going to catch something big’ and I said, ‘trying to catch something big doesn’t mean you will catch something big’.
‘I said, ‘we’ll try to go fishing though’. Even though it was impossible to fish with what he had made. We didn’t have a car, so I had to cart all the fishing equipment a few kilometres while he rode ahead on his bicycle. By the time I got there he had a big fish that was about a metre long.
‘I didn’t know what it was and I said, ‘what is it Mark?’ and I said, ‘that’s impossible, where did you catch it’ and he said, ‘in there’.
‘And it was just a little drain. He said he saw the fin of the fish going around like a shark’s fin and he just cast out near it and got it hooked and it was some huge Herring fish.’

Dave reckons it was a Giant Herring.

‘It weighed about 6 pound. What happened was he said, ‘I don’t want to fish anymore’ and I said, ‘we have to fish, we don’t fish together if you are gone’. But he went with the big fish, he rode home with it across the handlebars of his bike. And I had to walk home with the rods and gear. When I got home he’d gone with Jimmy to get the fish weighed. He came home and said he was going to be in the newspaper with his fish. He won awards for catching the biggest fish that weekend. He continually proved that impossible things happened if you believe that you can happen.’

That’s right. Dave says that’s the law of fisherman, you have to believe impossible things can happen. That’s the moral of the story.

The Combined Unions Choir sang a sea shanty in response to Pete’s story. The performance got away from normal storytelling to have a choir there showing their skills.

Malcolm remembers singing in ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ in the Kurilpa Hall. Ted remembers there’ve been lots of parties there and he told the Wolf story there once. Dave Sanderson remembers the hall well, rehearsing with the choir. Then I went away for a week, right, and I came back, I think, on the Thursday because it was on the Saturday, and it went gangbusters. I didn’t tell a story because Interpol wouldn’t let me.

The Kurilpa Hall for community and political meetings. Including one in 1987. That was a meeting called by the head of the Expo committee, Llew Edwards, the former Deputy Premier. He’d been appointed to run Expo, it was a hot issue in West End because people were being kicked out. He came to tell everyone how good Expo would be for West End. The hall was bursting at the seams. Sam Watson was there and talked about the history of the local indigenous people. Llew acknowledged that and tried to tell the crowd there was nothing he could do about it. He took comments and questions from the audience.

Ciaron O’Reilly, a well known peace activist and good bloke, got up and said ‘Dr Edwards I don’t know if you’ve kept up with the latest Expo in Canada, they were running so far behind schedule that they got prisoners out of jail to help out. I just want to tell you that if I’m in jail and they want to get prisoners out to build Expo 88 next year, Ill refuse to go, I won’t work’. It was funny because he was often in jail. In 1990 he did end up in jail for disarming at B52 bomber during the Gulf War. He doesn’t cause anyone who isn’t making war any harm.

The Kurilpa kitchen is on every Monday and Thursday. It was started to give people nutritious meals. It’s a real West End institution.

There must be thousands of stories about the Kurilpa Hall. We’d love more West End people to up stories about Kurilpa Hall.

West End is one of the best places to live in Australia. Please do not ruin it.
It is definitely world heritage class as far as suburbs goes.
I’ve lived in many countries and visited even more but West End is the best. We love it love it love it…

West End is my home.

I feel a sense of belonging in this community. Through my work, I’ve researched the factors that are proven to keep people safe and healthy and able to cope with the difficulties of life without turning to negative coping strategies such as drugs and alcohol, or other harmful behaviours. The evidence is clear. A sense of connection to others, to a place, person and community, is essential as a key protective factor in the prevention of mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, and to keep people safe and healthy when they are experiencing difficult times.

West End is my community. This is where I feel connection to place, person and community.

This community will be lost if the proposed developments go ahead. What then happens to the people who live here? What happens to our sense of safety and belonging?

If I wanted to live in an overpopulated concrete jungle I could live in the city. I live in West End because I need to be a part of this community I relate to. We each seek out communities that mean something to us, that suit us, and fit with our ways of thinking and living. An overcrowded concrete jungle that chases away the West End arts and music community is an excellent way to destroy one of the few places in Brisbane I still feel I belong.

My story is about community, and the fear I feel about losing this place where I belong.

This is the second share house that I’ve lived in West End. I’ve just moved in, I already I feel like I’m home and that I belong to West End.

Where else do you get such a multicultural melting pot? Lebanese, Italian, Greek, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Indigenous, Caucasian and I’m sure a whole bunch more ethnicities here to boot? Where else do you get a thriving arts scene? Galleries, art spaces, music venues popping up all over the place. Where else do you get an amazing market right on the river? Where else do you get families, students, young people and retired people all in such a small geographical area?

I guess the point I’m getting to is that West End has a really healthy, diverse community. I don’t think I’ve lived in a place where people care about what happens to there suburb as much as West End. This makes me very happy and I feel extremely privileged to live here. Its about the people and the space. What a shame if it all goes?

Alex

By Neale Gentner, 52 year old motorcycle enthusiast and historian, Nambour.

In 2007, as a spin-off from information unearthed during my research into the 1926-1935 Harley-Davidson “Peashooter” racing motorcycle, I wrote a well researched and historically accurate article on the Speedway which operated at Davies Park from 1927 to early 1932.

Briefly: August 06, 2007, marked the 80th anniversary of the opening night of the Davies Park Speedway in West End, Brisbane.

During its period of operation, Davies Park Speedway broke much new ground, many of the accepted practices of speedway racing were pioneered at Davies Park and it should thus be remembered as a speedway venue of world significance.

Most of the racing at Davies Park Speedway was done under lights, on Saturday nights (125,000 candlepower, according to the first program).

Racing was normally underway by 8.00pm and concluded at 10.30pm.

Motorcycle racing on dirt tracks had been going on worldwide for over 2 decades when Davies Park Speedway was opened.

The significant new element, to what is now accepted as Speedway, was the small size of the Davies Park track and resulting close proximity of the spectators to all the action.

Speedway was a new rendition of gladiatorial chariot racing, set in an arena under lights, with fast action, impressive sound and flames belching from the then popular stub exhausts, together with the wonderful aroma of hot castor oil and burnt methanol. Patrons who sat in the front rows raised their race programmes or newspapers to protect themselves from the shower of dirt each lap as the riders went by, and they loved it!

At the conclusion of the racing, patrons of Davies Park Speedway were invited to continue their evening’s enjoyment by having supper and dancing at the Paris Café and Trocadero dance hall.

It was from Davies Park at West End that motorcycle speedway was launched to the world commencing in London in early 1928.

It is probable that flooding of the river bank site several times during the early 1930’s contributed to the demise of the Davies Park Speedway.

The last Speedway meeting at Davies Park, was held on January 09, 1932.

A permanent memorial plaque at the site of Davies Park Speedway to perpetuate the site’s historical significance is long overdue.

Davies Park should not be developed to feed the greed of the few.

Neale Gentner

Neale Gentner, Historic Road Racing his 1939 BSA Silver Star at Lakeside circuit 1997 (another battle, recently partly won)

I am very interested in West End, as I have lived inner-city all my life (in Spring Hill), and find the proximity to the city both a blessing and a curse. I spend most of my weekends running around West End, sampling the unique culture and enjoying the community. Everyone is always friendly and willing to talk, going out of their way to help others and make them feel part of the community. Although there is fast access to the CBD, I find that the council intrudes on daily life in inner-city suburbs on the basis of repairing and restoring the community. For all of my primary school years, Bedford Playground in Spring Hill was a run-down but dearly loved green area, that has now been turned into a very modern picnic area and I fear that even this will be on it’s way soon. I would hate to see this happen to West End, and I fully support the Save West End campaign.

I have lived in West End for 20 years and value the community which lives here, the space which incorporates great diversity of style and affordability and adequate open space. So far we have avoided the awful standardisation in building, design and style which is driven by real estate and vested interests within government and council. It’s the people which make the community and so it is imperative that their needs are adequately met in planning i.e. parks and open spaces for kids to kick a ball, schooling nearby for families. Let’s be more creative in the way we design for growth so that Brisbane retains it’s natural beauty, it’s architecture and its winding river. Putting high rise down the river bank at West End is condemning this city to the bottom rung in terms of lifestyle and tourism!

My daughter and I moved to West End a couple of years ago, making us fairly recent arrivals in our street. Our street has students, older Italian families with great gardens, academics, kids, vege patches and a multitude of chooks in backyards. {including my own beloved feathered gels}. For the first time in years I know the names of many of my neighbours.

We love the special and gentle culture nurtured in West End. I love that pedestrians and bicycles are respected over the car. Viva the Bicycle!

I am hugely concerned about the impact of immense levels of new dwellings as we already have to contend with some many cars packing into the suburb. It will be bad enough when the Hale Street Bridge opens.

We have artists, activists, community gardens, enviable restaurants, cafes, music, culture, friends and a respect for a gentle pace here. Obscene over-development will severely threaten our special way of life. People come here on weekends to enjoy the uniqueness of West End, but it will be smothered by concrete and car fumes if this development plan goes ahead.

I am reminded of a piece of street art I saw the other day which said ‘Where’s the War on Greed?’

Get out of the car and enjoy the freedom of a bicycle!
Deirdre